Tag: chunky

New, New, New

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

The very much anticipated Pompon Party from Rico arrived in the shop last week.  As you can see from the photograph, the 6 new shades are baby inspired and great for blankets and cushions.

2013-10-11 10.20.05

Sadly, as you might expect some of the old shades have been retired to make way for the new colours, including the beautiful cornflower blue and the cheerful carnival multicoloured Pompon Print 😦

I’m often asked if I could post up the information sheet I give you when you purchase the yarn and I will ASAP, promise.

In addition to all the lovely yarn I’ve been unpacking of late these little beauties arrived yesterday and were waiting for me when I got home.

2013-10-11 16.33.44

 

 

 

 

2013-10-11 16.33.002013-10-11 16.33.28

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve been fans of McAnarcks Buttons for some time now and this is the latest batch from Fran.  All handmade, aren’t they lovely?  I’m sure they’ll sell as quickly as ever, so if you’ve been waiting on them to come back in get into us quick fast.

Shall have to go now as I really must finish my latest shop sample – a little raglan cardi.

Happy Knitting!

 

More Items of the Woolly Persuasion

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

Two more beautiful yarns for you to cast your eyes over.  Some of you may have already seen them in the shop though as I’m a little late getting the photos uploaded, sorry.

First there’s Rico Essentials Super Chunky

100m per 100g of squishy 50% wool & 50% acrylic

Knits to a tension of 9stitches to 12 rows on 10mm needles.

Great to use as a substitute for all your super chunky patterns

2013-09-28 17.50.43

Here’s my Super Chunky Ribbed Tea Cozy shop sample.

2013-10-05 12.31.19

Lastly for this post is Rico Essential Big

Each 50g contains 48 meters of smooth yarn which will show of your stitches perfectly.  Neither a standard chunky or super chunky the yarn is again made up of a 50% wool/50% acrylic blend.

Knitting up with a tension of 11 stitches by 16 rows on 7/8mm needles.

bigThis is the cowl I made recently for the shop sample modeled by what most be the most tolerant daughter in the whole wide world.  Her enthusiasm for the job at hand is obvious don’t you think?

2013-10-05 18.27.22

Not sure the hand over her face is doing much to hide her gorgeousness though.

Happy Knitting!

Some Of The New Stuff (items of the woolly persuasion)

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

As I mentioned on Facebook last week we’ve had so many deliveries arriving that I’ve found it a little difficult to keep up with everything of late.  Those of you that know me, know I struggle with organization at the best of times 🙂

Like everyone that knits or crochets I still get excited at the prospect of new yarn, it hasn’t stopped just because I own a shop, if anything it’s worse.  When i open the boxes the sense of desperation to get playing with the new goodies is a bit overwhelming.  I tend to select a display garment pattern when choosing the yarn and will often order an extra pack to knit it in.  At this time of year I find myself a bit bogged down with things to knit and my number of WIP’s increases alarmingly.

So in order to get back to some bookwork and knitting here are some of last weeks arrivals and I’ll pop some more on a second post.  Another bag has already arrived this morning to be unpacked too – woolly heaven?  Most of the time, anyway.

Happy Knitting!

2013-09-28 17.54.48
Sirdar Faroe Chunky
The new colours in Sirdar Baby Crofter
The new colours in Sirdar Baby Crofter
A Wee Willie Winky hat shop sample in the new Baby Crofter
A Wee Willie Winky hat shop sample in the new Baby Crofter
Wendy Mode Chunky (love the colours especially the blue)
Wendy Mode Chunky (love the colours especially the blue)
New shades in Wendy Merino DK
New shades in Wendy Merino DK

Look At The Pictures

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

Loads more yummy yarn has arrived over the last few days and I’m trying to stay ahead and photograph them as they come in for those of you that use the blog to plan your trips in. It’s definitely becoming more difficult because of the sheer volume of supplies and my ever growing list of shop samples to get knitted.

Undeterred here’s some of the latest arrivals.  I think it might be quicker to just do pictures.

2013-09-19 17.52.50
New shade in Rico Essentials Merino Aran
New shades in Sirdar Snuggly Double Knit
New shades in Sirdar Snuggly Double Knit
New Hayfied Aran With Wool 100g
New Hayfied Aran With Wool 100g
New Sirdar Snuggly 4ply
New Sirdar Snuggly 4ply
Gorgeous Katia Merino 100%
Gorgeous Katia Merino 100%

In addition to all the lovely new yarns there have been more books and patterns.  Here are just a few to wet your appetites.

books
New books from Sirdar
New Sirdar Snuggly DK patterns
New Sirdar Snuggly DK patterns

They’ll be lots more to come, watch this space.

Happy Knitting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week Ending 7th September

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

Wow!  We had an amazing amount of squares and blankets handed in last week and at this rate we’ll easily make our new target of 83 blankets.

2013-09-10 16.21.47

Last weeks donations include squares and blankets from the following people-

Noreen handed in 3 blankets, 2 of which Lucy joined to make 1

Linda = 2

Kirstie = 18

Cati = 1

Elizabeth = 1

Betty Holland = 16

Breeda Ryan = 35

Martina = 35

Mary Donnelly = 4

Mary Mac = 12

Lise = 32

Joan = 4

Lucy = 4

Total 164 squares and 2 blankets

2013-09-10 16.23.12

Keep em coming please.

Happy Knitting!

Blanket Update

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

IMG_0777

Last week was a bumper week for our blanket collection and some of you may have already seen the photograph I’d posted up on our Facebook page of the 5 blankets Lil had completed.  In addition to Lil’s contribution we also received 30 more squares from the clients at Oak Lodge, a full size blanket , 51 squares from Lucy, 2 from Edwina, 5 from Mary O and 1 more from Dina.

At my last count that means we have 61 blankets although only 52 of them are fully finished, some still have to be sewn.  The collection will be going on until the last week in November so if you have time please get knitting or crocheting.

Happy Knitting!

Holiday Knitting

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

I have been promising to get a quick little post up about the knitting project I took with me on my recent trip to England and as there are so many new yarns, books, patterns, etc to tell you about there’s no time like the present.

As we were staying with our best friends you could guarantee there would be a good deal of talking into the wee small hours and there was.  So I needed something that wasn’t going to be full of lace or require much pattern watching and everything I was knitting (some of which I still am) didn’t fit the bill.

Dina my daughter is always adding things to her Ravelry queue, she loves plain and is always in need of more jumpers.  Having gone through her list of Ravelry favourites and discarded the bulk of them because they’re mostly 4ply (not happening) we agreed I’d make the Il Grande Favorito by Isablell Kraemer.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/il-grande-favorito

P1070024-001_medium

Having knitted Dina a good few jumpers in the past, some of which haven’t ever seen the light of day I was reluctant to use the lovely merino she originally selected.  We compromised and as the jumper is a chunky knit I used a strand of King Cole Haze (now discontinued) and one of King Cole Moods held together.

Like all good knitters (?) I knitted my tension square (actually I really did) and cast on on the ferry crossing to England.  The jumper was completed by the time I got back back to Ireland as I took it with me everywhere in the car with us to try and squeeze some rows in.

me

I even managed to get a bit of knitting in at the Pickering Steam Fair and the jumper would have been finished sooner had I not realised I’d picked up one less stitch under the arms than necessary – when I came to knit the cuff! One whole sleeve ripped out and re-knitted.

Even so it was a great, easy, top down project and Dina loves it, even if it doesn’t look like she does here.

007

I’ll happily make her another in Merino now and have even added it to my ‘to do’ list as it’s a very flattering knit.  I think I might put a little waist shaping in for good measure too.  If you have a look at the projects tab on the pattern page you can see other knitters have used a combination of stocking stitch and reversed stocking stitch.  The pattern does cost €4.50 to download but I think it’s worth every cent.

Happy knitting!

Autumn/Winter Ranges Are Beginning To Arrive

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

I’d like to be able to say that I have only recently started to think about new yarns for the coming Autumn/Winter season, but I’d be lying, really lying.  The truth is I started to look back in March, watching for the anticipated coming trends and beginning to consider shades and textures.  The actual yarn companies start to show their yarns as early as May and having to plan ahead can be a little difficult at times.

It’s clear from all of the yarn companies that super chunky yarn is going to be big, really big, with everything from accessories to garments.  There’s also a definite move towards creating home furnishings in knitting and crochet, which is great for those of us that like to decorate our houses too.

For us, it’s important to try and get our new ranges in in stages; most of it will arrive in from September on.  There are however several exceptions, one of which is Swift Knit from Stylecraft. 064 We’ve gone for 9 fab colours and I’m already busy knitting a shop sample with the grey. (see the photo at the bottom) Each 100g contains 60metres/66yards. It consists of 80% acrylic and 20% wool and knits to a tension of 8.5 stitches to 12 rows on 10mm needles. And all at the great price of €4.90 per ball

063

062

061

As you can see there are lots of great patterns, which makes it a little difficult to choose one to knit.  So far I’ve whittled it down to either this one –

050

or this one –

051

and this is the pattern I’m already knitting as a shop sample and for Dina.

023

It only takes 3 balls and is a lovely quick knit, providing you don’t do what I did and read the pattern wrong!  You’ll then have to frog your work and start again.  I’ll pop a photo of the finished cowl up when I’ve persuaded my model to pose for me.

Which pattern has tempted you the most then?

Happy Knitting!

Stash Dash Time

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

 

stash 13

For those of you that have been before you’ll know what it’s all about, the rest of you would probably best to read this previous post here http://knitmidleton.com/2012/07/23/everybody-keeps-asking-me/

 

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.

 

This is what you should be expecting.

IMG00109-20120902-1703

Happy Knitting!

 

Everything Has Gone Square

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

002

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:

  1.   Sew 4 squares together to make a strip
  2.   Sew 5 strips up to make a blanket
  3.   Sew all ends in
  4.   Crochet the border

 

001

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.

007

Happy Knitting!