Basically, we cover up all the shelves and lay out as many tables as we can fit into the shop; on top of these we put all the yarn we’re discontinuing. There could be whole ranges of yarn, shades of yarn and some you might not have seen before. There will be odd balls, several balls and packs of balls, no matter what, all balls are €3 each.
There are things to consider: you have to book your slot, you only have 20 minutes (you’re timed), you have to prepare, dig out the patterns, check your favourites on Ravelry, make sure you know how much double knit/aran/chunky you need. Have a look at the post linked above if you’re not sure and make sure you book your place quickly before they all go.
You’d think as I own my own yarn shop that the last thing I’d want to do on holiday is go to another wool shop wouldn’t you?
Of course not, rather disappointingly I only managed to visit 3, maybe 4 if you count the market stall too. If time had allowed there was at least 2 more I could have got to – next time I will.
Ramshambles
My first port of call was a lovely little shop called Ramshambles in York. Located at 46 Shambles, York, North Yorkshire, YO1 7LX. The shop reminds me of our old premises in Midleton with it’s ‘Old Curiosity’ windows, whose display of brightly coloured yarn enticed me in. Katey the owner is lovely and delighted to help, like our shop the place is packed to the ceiling with yarn, patterns, needles and notions. There were lots of lovely yarns from King Cole, Debbie Bliss, Noro and Highland Textiles. My naughty purchase was a hank of Ramshambles own hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester Sock Yarn in a riot of pink yummynous called Vaudeville.
There were other lovelies just calling to me from the shelves but I had to be strong and resist because as I’ve other new birthday yarn to use too and I have yet to master knitting in the bath or shower without getting your yarn wet.
The second shop I managed to call to was Babes in the Wool in Hull. They can be found at 113 Newland Avenue, Hull HU5 2ES and the owner (whose name I’ve forgotten, sorry) is lovely. The shop is nestled in a busy street and draws you in with it’s large window. There is a good stock of yarn including ranges from King Cole, Woolcraft, Katia and Debbie Bliss. I was rather smitten by the Blue Faced Leicester Aran from Debbie Bliss of which I purchased 3 balls (possibly with a future grandchild knit in mind).
My third shop was Knit & Stitch in Doncaster at 26 Market Place, Doncaster DN1 1NE.
I have to confess to having been here before and had to return because it’s just so lovely. This time the windows were happily full of huge balls of aran and garments in pretty colours.
The new purchase is the one on the right
I was on a mission though to purchase another ball of Jarol Pure British Wool Aran to go with one I’d bought on my previous visit. As I discovered a this pattern in The Knitter shortly after my last visit and think the yarn will be ideal for it. However, I’ve just realised I need another ball, usually a perfect excuse to return to the shop but it’s not exactly what you call local is it? I shall have to persuade my friend (real strong arm tactics needed, not) to pop in for me.
Whernside Cushion by Alice Underwood
My best friend recently moved back to Doncaster (hence my visit) and she was tempted by a lovely soft angora by Rowan and a 50/50 blend aran by Katia for her mum. The shop is jam packed with yarns from King Cole, Sirdar, Katia, Debbie Bliss and Noro. Again there was yarn calling me and if that wasn’t bad enough Knit & Stitch also sell patchwork fabric. Upstairs there’s the fabric come classroom with a whole wall full of edible ‘sew me’ cottons. Knit & Stitch have two other shops one in York and one in Maltby and I’d really recommend a visit if you’re ever near one of them.
Lastly, I managed a quick visit to the wool stall on Doncaster Market which sells James C. Brett yarns and lots of buttons. Some of which I purchased for my daughter Dina’s latest cardigan.
Based on the woolly joy I discovered on my trip I’d definitely say a trip to the area would be worth it if your ever there.
I have posts to write about holiday wool shopping and holiday knitting but I returned to work today to discover that one of my favourite yarns is being discontinued.
Rico Poem Aran
Poem Aran for those of you that need reminding is a beautiful, multi-coloured pure wool. Each luscious 50g contains 100 metres of pure yarn love. Most people tend to use it as a fantastic substitute for Noro Silk Garden or Kureyon and it is best used in plainer patterns that allow the beauty of the yarn to shine through.
Our shadow scarf hangs in the shop and is created using two different shades of the yarn. By working in 2 row stripes the variegation of the yarns make for an interesting colour pattern. This scarf takes 2 balls of each shade.
Poems aran also felts, this little handbag also took 4 balls to knit
If that wasn’t enough to tempt you, then maybe this will be.
As you might expect my life is being dominated by squares at the moment. In my naivety I thought this latest charity collection would be lovely and simple – really! What was I thinking?!
So there’s the making of the squares, that bit is simple. Except I’ve had to take an executive decision and forgo the making part to move onto the blanket stage. This involves the all important selecting of the squares and laying them out into a blanket. (this can take a while)
Then there’s the sewing:
Sew 4 squares together to make a strip
Sew 5 strips up to make a blanket
Sew all ends in
Crochet the border
Now to be fair to blankets look absolutely beautiful, particularly because they’re made up of multi-coloured squares that you probably wouldn’t put together if you had the choice. Mixing the colours and styles up really adds to the eclectic feel of the blankets and hones in on the popularity of ‘Shabby Chic’ at the moment. Truthfully, you could probably sell the blankets in a vintage store FOR A LOT OF MONEY with the current trend in all things handmade. Don’t worry I won’t.
I won’t…HONESTLY.
The good news is we have 40, yes 40 blankets in various states of completion, which is fantastic and has made all the work worthwhile. We still have approximately a week left to get as many squares in before we have to send of the blankets, so please keep at it.
In the meantime I’ve just discovered that I’m short of a square to complete the blanket I’ve been sewing up, so I’ve had to crochet a quick one.
Blocking your knitwear can really enhance your work by bringing out details and shaping. It can also make your garment sit better when wearing. Sometimes after knitting and sewing up I can be quite desperate to wear my work but will always try to block regardless. Without exception all lace work should always be blocked to open up the stitches
Most of the time after sewing in my ends I will wash my finished garment. I tend to use Soak, a delicate washing liquid in which you quite literally ‘soak’ your clothes. A sink full of cool water only needs a teaspoon of the washing detergent and you leave your garment submerged (soaking) for about 15 minutes. You should always check whether or not your yarn is colourfast but in most cases I’d only be washing one garment at a time so it’s never really a problem. The great thing about this washing liquid is that there is no need to rinse (yes, I did say no need). If your using Woolite or something similar you will have to rinse your garment through at least three times to get rid of any detergent.
After soaking you should squeeze out any excess water remembering not to wring as you could stretch your hard work. You can always place your work between towels and use pressure to extract more water (stand on it). If I’m honest however, I tend to tie the garment tightly into a clean pillowcase and put it in my washing machine on the spin cycle. You can control the intensity of spin on my machine which helps.
Once spun I pin the garment out to size on my childrens play mat using rust proof pins. You can of course buy expensive blocking mats, they tend to be made of the same material as the mat I use but come complete with the measurements on them.
If you don’t have these mats you can use several old towels or maybe your ironing board for smaller projects. The mats are easy to locate, I have 2 packs one of which was bought in Tesco whilst the other was bought in Smyths Toy Shop.
Use the actual measurements if available on your pattern. My waistcoat is supposed to be blocked to 36″ around the chest, but after being washed the yarn has relaxed a little and it is coming up at 38″. I’m happy with the extra roominess but would always advise you knit, wash and dry your tension square to ensure you knit the correct size. Obviously, I didn’t do that here – oops!
I have used the pins to ensure my bands and collar lie properly (I hope so anyway) and have inserted extra pins under each bobble on the pockets to try and make them stand proud when dry.
You will tend to find drying your work can take some time. If at all possible try to leave it somewhere warm. If using towels underneath you might find you will have to change them to prevent them from becoming smelly and in turn making your garment a little musty.
This is the method I tend to use to block my work although there are other methods. If at all possible avoid using an iron to press your garments as this can make your stitches flatten or worse still if you’ve used acrylic, melt. The only time I would have used an iron is if my garment had been made in 100% cotton. Then I held the iron above the work and used the steam from it to help set the garment. If you’re in a rush you can pin the garment out first, spritz with water from a plant spray and leave to dry.
Please Note:- Be careful when blocking rib, I know one person who stretched her stitches so tightly that when dry the rib was completely flat. Remember you are trying to enhance your work.
If you haven’t tried it before why not block your next project to see the difference.
Some of you might be aware that this lovely little waistcoat (Buttonbox from knitty.com) has been my latest wip and I’m happy to report, it’s finally finished. As is usual for me, I really enjoyed knitting the actual garment but grew weary trying to get the pocket tops, button bands and collar done. In reality there really wasn’t much work in knitting any of it though, I’m just moaning.
The construction is 1 piece knitted from the from the bottom up, adding a little shaping at the waist and splitting when you reach the armholes to work on the back and fronts separately. The shoulders are joined together using a 3 needle cast off adding to the ‘clean lines’ of the garment.
The added texture of the bobbles on the pockets and at the top of the back of the vest add a little bit of extra detail, whilst the waist shaping ensures the garment accentuates in the right places and gives a little shape to the overall silhouette.
I used Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran yarn in Graphite and it took a little under 4 hanks to knit up the medium size.
It’s a great pattern, I’d have no problem recommending it and I might even knit again.
I thought it was time to update you all on the progress of my ever increasing blanket which is now 54.5″/138cms. As you can probably imagine knitting the 2 rows per day is taking much longer now on account of the blankets size. To be on the safe side I need to make sure I have three quarters to an hour spare when I start to knit. Unfortunately, our weather is anything but May like which has inadvertently been a godsend as there is some warmth from the blanket.
Sitting under the weight of it whilst knitting in heat is not great.
I think I have a little over a months worth of knitting left before I’ll reach my target length of 6 foot.
In order for you to judge the length and to give you a bit of a giggle you can see me modelling the blanket so far. I’m 5ft3 on a good day.
Some of you may recall we knitted 14″ blankets for the maternity hospital a couple of years ago now and the pattern many of us used was knit on the diagonal.
20cms/8″ or there about
The beauty of the pattern was that you started with 1 stitch and increased by 1 stitch on every row until you’d reached your desired size. You then knit one row plain and begin decreasing 1 stitch every row until they’re all gone.
Easy peasy!
8inch/20cm Charity Blanket Square
Materials
Any weight of yarn
Appropriate size needles for yarn
Eg: Double knit yarn = 4mm,
Aran weight = 5mm
Chunky yarn = 6.5mm
Super chunky weight = 10mm
Abbreviations
K – Knit
KFB – Knit into the front and the back of the next stitch
K2Tog – Knit the next 2 stitches together
Instructions
Cast on 1 stitch
1st Row – Knit into the front and the back of the stitch, (2 stitches).
2nd Row – K1, KFB, (3 Stitches)
3rd Row – K1, KFB, K to end, (4 Stitches).
You can see that by increasing in every second stitch a decorative border is produced. Repeat row 3 until either of the sides is approximately 8”/20cm (please note you are working on the diagonal).
Next work one row in knit without any increase.
To decrease K1, K2tog, K to end.
Repeat this decreasing 1 stitch on every row until only 2 stitches remain, K2Tog
As our collection of winter woolies for Chernobyl draws to an end we are happy to announce our next charity project.
Global Missions Ireland (Charity No: CHY13718) is a Cork based charity that undertakes in missions both at home and around the world. Locally they run feeding programs to reach the people in the City of Cork.
On foreign missions they work with the local church to reach out to the most vulnerable and marginalised in society. The charity’s main aim is to run mission trips, which provide people with an avenue to work abroad or help a community, which they feel, are in need. They send people from the medical field, construction industry, teachers, housewives any sector that they find will help in the country that they are working in.
This year Global Missions have got a team going to the ‘House of Hope’ retirement home in Vanadzor, Armenia. Here there are 80 men and women taken out of deplorable conditions to live in safety and comfort. It was set up to house the elderly community who had been living in derelict buildings and containers since the earthquakes in 1988.
The team will be running feeding programs, giving bread made in the ‘ House of Hope’ bread factory to those in the community that are in need. They will also visit with social workers other in the locality that are in need of help to try and rehabilitate and rehouse them into better conditions.
These elderly people need our help as they have very little and Global Missions has specifically asked if we’d be interested in making lap blankets. These will help to keep the residents that little bit warmer whilst at the same time giving them a gift of kindness they can cherish.
Calling all of you that knit and/or crochet for your help. We’d also welcome those of you that sew or can be a little creative with felting old jumpers.
What we’re after?
As we’re making lap blankets these can be either the complete, finished article or 20cm/8″ squares which we will sew together to make blankets 100cm x 120cms/40″ by 48″
Squares can be made using any yarn however, please remember these blankets will need to be washable and warm. Chunky yarn will knit up quicker and remember that you can always use more than one strand of yarn together. Two strands of double knit worked together is the same as using a chunky yarn.
Squares can be in any pattern/design of your choosing and we have no colour preference. knit, crochet or as I mentioned before sewn or felted it really doesn’t matter. Take this opportunity to use up your leftovers.
Spread the word – we’d love to hand over as many blankets as possible. Tell other knitting groups, schools & colleges, residential homes, church groups, etc.
The closing date for our collection is Saturday 3rd August. It would helps us enormously if you are making squares if you could send them in sooner if possible to allow time to sew them up. Even if it means giving them in in batches.
There are absolutely loads of lap blankets available on www.ravelry.com
There are also loads of patterns available for 20cm/8″ squares out there in cyberspace, just type ‘knit a square’ into your web browser.
The Knitter/Simply knitting Magazine ran a campaign for Refuge last year in which they asked for squares the same size to be donated. You may well have a copy of the magazines neatly filed on a shelf. Crocheting a square should be simple enough as you just stop when you’ve reached the right size.
I intend to pop up a few square patterns when I’ve knitted some examples but I wanted to get the collection underway.
Technically speaking if your tension is correct, casting on 28sts (loosley) with chunky yarn on 6.5mm needles will give you 20cms horizontally. Knit in stocking stitch until square is 20cms vertically and cast off loosley.
Hint: I’m terrible for casting on/off too tight so I use a needle at least one size larger
The latest issue of Knitty has been released and as ever there are some truly beautiful patterns so be sure to go and have a look for yourself.
My three favourites in this issue are:
Lunatic Fringe
Lunatic fringe by Jennifer Dassau is a beautifully, quirky shawl knitted in Terra by The Fibre Company which is an aran weight yarn. Knitted from the bottom up, creating the fringe as you go to form an unusual, asymmetrical shape.
Easy As Pie is a technicolour blanket by OneHandKnits and is knitted in Sirdar’s Baby Bamboo which is a standard double knit yarn. Clever use of short rows and colour work creates this vibrant, funky blanket.
Last but not least and one that I have had to add to my ever extending ‘to knit’ list is Buttonbox by Elizabeth McCarten. This beautiful waistcoat is knitted in one piece using Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter yarn which is an aran weight. The shaped waist and shawl collar make it a very flattering style, whilst the little box stitch pattern adds enough interest to the overall look of the knitted fabric.
If these patterns haven’t been enough to tempt you (why?), it might just interest you to know that there is a new coloum in the magazine – ‘Techniques with the Neurotic Knitter’. Kristin Fraser aka The Neurotic Knitter has a look at cast ons this issue via videos. The techniques she covers for Spring/Summer are the Backwards Loop, Cable, Knitted and the Long Tail methods. Great if you only know the one cast on method.
i also urge you to check out the Templeton Square Competition Winners to see just how ingenious some knitters are.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 