Tag: cork

Toasty & Textured

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I feel like I’ve wasted so much time this week trying to post here, Ravelry and Facebook without any success because our internet has been so poor 😡  So the first thing I did when I arrived at the shop this morning was upload lots of photos to store in my various media libraries, ready for the next few posts.  I also managed to get the pattern for my latest hat Toasty & Textured up on Ravelry at last too ⭐

The hat is knitted in 1×1 moss stitch with Rico Essentials Big on 7mm needles.  I’ve also knitted up a couple with Rico Flame and will try and persuade Dina, to let me take a photo or two 😉 at the weekend to post here.

January can be a difficult month for some after the extravagances and the build up of the festive season, even the most positive among us can feel like the wind has been knocked out of us a little.  I’m fortunate in that Dina’s birthday is on the 16th, which gives us something to enjoy and this year she’ll be 25!!!  So to ♥celebrate♥ I’ve made the pattern for Toasty & Textured free to download until the end of the month with the coupon code 25. 

Be sure to enter 25 before you checkout and remember to share you’re projects so we can see.   The hat is super speedy to knit and will work for both men and women.  I’m hoping to find a couple of sneaky hours to have a play with combining some of my stash yarns and will post photos of the results here if they work.

Happy Knitting!

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The Madness Has Been & Gone

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By the madness I mean the build up to Christmas Day, which I convince myself every year that I’m not going to buy into, only to find on Christmas Day that I have 😞 Maybe though, that’s part of the fun?

Unlike previous years I really didn’t manage to get as many presents knitted or even generally handmade as I would have liked to.  The year seemed to rush by faster than a speeding car and before I realised it it was the end of November and I’d only knitted the one gift, a Hitchhiker for a friend of mine.  Of course I’d forgotten to take a proper picture of it before I’d mailed it, so this is one I’d posted on Instagram whilst I was knitting it.

hitchhikerI used a ball of Rico Poem Superba in green and a ball of King Cole Merino 4ply.  The Poems Superba is variegated, so the greens change as the scarf grows.  I found it a really lovely pattern to follow, with only 8 rows and by using 2 colours, the stripe effect meant I really didn’t have to concentrate on which of the rows I was on.  A lovely happy accident.

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Nearly everyone that would wear one received a knitted hat of some kind, mostly these ones though.  The pattern is very basic and I should be able to get it up on here over the next couple of days.

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Nostrils shouldn’t be that big should they? It’s obscene 😬

 

I liked them so much that I’ve even made one for me.

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Tate looks rather fetching in Leann’s one too, bless him.

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Some friends including my Secret Santa recipient received my crochet baubles, which I loved making once I’d figured out what to do.  I used several resources to help me, but the circles kept getting bigger because of the trebles.  After trying a few different things I decided double crochet was the way to go.  A couple of you have asked for a pattern already, but I’m not sure if I can write it up as a ‘proper’ crochet pattern, so it might end up being more of an instruction sheet?

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Last but not least was the jumper I’d been making for my hubby Con in secret.  Many of you will have seen me trying to get a few rows done in the shop; especially if you popped in the few days before Christmas when I was frantically trying to get the sleeves finished.  I’ll write up a separate post to tell you all about it and I might even be able to get a photo of the man himself wearing it 👨

Cobblestone

Since finishing the jumper I’ve cast on and started knitting Cobblestone by Jared Flood for Durahn my son.  I’ve also been sticking to my morning walk everyday, regardless of how cold it is and both Kye and myself have been going a bit photography mad with our phones.  This morning’s walk produced some beautiful snaps, all with no filter too 📷

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He pinched my hat.

 

 

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2 of my dogs trying to drink from one of the frozen troughs. The black one usually dunks her head in, but even she’s not daft enough to do it when it’s this cold, right?

 

 

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No wait…. She really is that daft.

 

I’ve also been watching far too many cheesy movies including the must see Guardians of the Galaxy which inspired me to make my own mix tape on Spotify.  If you fancy having a look at what tracks I’ve included my profile is lmillar72.  More mix tapes to come me thinks 🖭

Happy Knitting!

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December Chill

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2014-11-29 16.38.51

Following on from my Ophelia post, a good few of you asked about the pattern for the hat Dina was wearing.  Ever organised 😕 I obviously had the pattern written up.  To be fair I did, but it was on Post-it Notes rather than on the computer and it was no where near ready for anyone else to have a look at.

Since then it’s been typed up, test knitted and corrected and is now up on Ravelry Here for €2 but it’s free to download on Ravelry until Midnight on Christmas Day with the checkout code Ophelia.  (Enter it before you checkout.)

It only took the one ball and a couple of hours to knit up and should work with most chunky yarns or even 2 strands of double knit yarn held together like this one.

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I used 2 strands of King Cole Galaxy Double Knit.

Happy Knitting!

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It’s Christmas

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Last night the knitting group decended on the Pepperstack Bistro for our Christmas get together.  I think it’s obvious that good fun was had by all in attendance and we all left full to the brim.  The food as always, was tasty and filling and the staff were as lovely and attentive.

We all took part in the Secret Santa Christmas Tree Decoration Swap, as you can see from the photos the standard of knitting and crochet this year was quite high.

The whole gang (those that could make it)
Wait a minute I was there too.
See
Sadie, Rachel and Mary
Caroline & Orela
orela, Michelle & Elizabeth
Lee Ann & Mary
Fiona & Deidre
Deidre & Clare
Edwina & Dina
Our Secret Santa pressies.

With only 14 more sleeps to go until the big day there’s not that many more hours left to get those gifts made up (if you’re like me anyway).

Happy Knitting!

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Drum Roll Please ……. Smudge Yarns Have Arrived

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Look at the lovely parcel that arrived yesterday.  (Actually there were 4 more but lets look at this one now)

OK so from the outside it doesn’t look so great and you’d never know what was inside, unless of course you’ve spotted the sticker?

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Can you make out what it is now?

The anticipation is actually killing me, all this photo taking lark is completely against my inner self screaming ‘just open the damn thing’.

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Gorgeous, hand dyed here in Cork, Smudge Superwash Sock Yarn is €23 per 100g.  There’s five shades to choose from at the moment and each beautiful 100g hank contains 300 metres of blended 4ply yarn, 70% wool/30% nylon.  Not just for socks, I’m thinking a shawl maybe, but I do ♥love♥ my socks…..

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Happy Knitting!

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Sirdar Ophelia

LeftFootDaisy6 Comments

 

ophelia ball

I’m not usually too much of a fan of furry yarns, but of late I’ve noticed there are changes underfoot.  I even caught myself pondering colours for a project and warming to mint?  Those of you that know me, will know I’m not really a pastel kind of girl, quite the opposite usually, but combine the mint and my new found amour with fur and it’s fair to say I’m concerned 😮

In fairness to myself the fur I’m alluding to is in colours more to my usual taste and it is so incredibly soft, that I’d defy any of you not to be smitten too.

The yarn I’m referring to is Ophelia from Sirdar.

Each 50g ball contains 95metres/104yards of this yummy yarn which also has a glimpse of lustre from it due to the metallic thread running through it.  Ophelia knits to a tension of 14 stitches by 19 rows on 6.5mm needles and is perfect for making garments and accessories, as well as gifts.  Ophelia is machine washable and easy care.

opheliaOphelia is available in 10 shades including white and cream which could also be useful to those of you considering making cardigans for Communion and while we’re thinking along those lines, what about a cover up for a Winter wedding too?

Despite how busy things get round here when Winter hits, I did manage to find the time to have a play and whipped up a really quick hat – beautifully modelled by Dina my ever suffering daughter.

Her co-operation, as you can see was very forthcoming….

I’d caught her off guard when she was sweeping after we’d closed on Saturday, hence the broom.

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Me being me, couldn’t resist popping it on her head – oops, I slipped 😉

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Not sure exactly what she was about to say, maybe it was Festive or Fluffy? 

2014-11-29 16.38.51♥Beautiful♥

Come to think of it I’m rather lucky she didn’t bop me with the broom.

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Still smitten I used another colour to knit my Heart Decorations

One ball for all 3 and they’ve already been referred to as boudoir hearts.  Wonder if I’ll get away with giving them to my Secret Santa recipient?

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Happy Knitting!

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So Much Yarn

LeftFootDaisy3 Comments

There have been so many yummy yarnny deliveries of late that the stock rooms are fit to burst and there’s a danger that I’ll go in one day and never return o_O

There were 2 deliveries last week, 2 the week before and there have been 3 so far this week, with at least one more due.  Sadly, this does mean that I’m a little behind when it comes to telling you all what’s in and even more behind with knitting my samples for the shop 😳

Cracking on then –

Last week was a good week for those sock knitters among us with several different items arriving in to help keep your toes toasty.  The Knitpro Karbonz in 2.5mm are back and I’ve also stocked up on the 2.5mm Knitpro circulars too.

Now for some yarn porn

2014-11-14 09.29.043 delightful shades in Opal Beachcoming

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The almost complete range of Opal Solids

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Something we haven’t had for a while now – 6ply sock yarn.  It’s the Daydreaming range from Opal.  Can’t wait to give 6ply (double knit to you and me) socks a go 💡

Another new addition and one completely at the other side of the woolly spectrum is Flame from Rico Yarns.

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Flame from Rico, is a lightweight super chunky yarn, note I said lightweight.  Each 50g ball contains a whopping 90 metres and knits to a tension of 10 stitches to 14 rows on 10mm needles.  it’s a wool blend, 40% wool/60% acrylic and I’ve opted for 6 of the available 7 variegated shades (2 of them were very similar).  Reasonably priced too at €4.99 per ball – Bargain!

flame

We have patterns too and I’ve promised Dina a cardi but I have to cast on a jumper I’ve been promising Durahn first.  In the meantime I think I might get a hat knitted up for the shop and possibly the odd Christmas gift too.

flame hat

Happy Knitting!

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Favourite Yarns – New Shades

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If I don’t finish this post now, it’s going to be Monday before I get back to it as I’m going to The Knitting & Stitching Show at the RDS in Dublin tomorrow ♥ 

The yarn companies really seem to have got their act together in terms of colour this season and have selected some beautiful hues to add to the palettes in their existing ranges.

Snuggly

Our most popular yarn in the shop is probably Sirdar Snuggly Double Knit and I’ve decided to add 5 new shades to our range.   Look at that blue.

Supersoft Aran

I’m loving the new aqua colourway in Supersoft Aran, but looking at the 3 new shades together they all look great.

 

Baby Chunky

Something similar again in Baby Hayfield Chunky yarn too.

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Two pretty additions in Sirdar Baby Crofter.

BuzzTwo more in Bonus Buzz.  Every time I see the turquoise and grey colourway it make me think of knitting a stuffed robot for some reason?

Bonus AranLast but not least are 2 more shades in Bonus Aran Tweed and 1 lovely new shade in Bonus Aran (my son will be getting a jumper in this).

I’ll try and get some photos of the show tomorrow to share.  A friend has recommended a few of the stalls already, I’m particularly looking forward to seeing the Latvian Knitting Kits.  Hopefully, the rain will have stopped.

Happy Knitting!

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The Sweat Shop For Knit Happens

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Dina my daughter said to me on Saturday “to be fair mum you never do things by half” and whilst I’m loathed to admit it, she could be right.

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The best thing about taking on a big project like the Knit Happens Knit a Stocking for the East Cork Rapid Response Campaign and the blankets before, is the laugh we manage to have as the countdown begins.  This Saturday was no exception, as my lovely knitting ladies turned up in force to help with the ‘quality control’ aspect of the campaign.

Every stocking that has been handed in so far had to be checked to ensure it was complete.  I’d noticed as they were handed in, that some of the little socks were without hanging loops, or had ones to small to successfully hang on a tree.  We also wanted to separate the novelty stockings, as we’re hoping to try and sell these for €5 each on a ‘Lucky Dip’ basis.

I need to say a big thank you to the following friends, for generously giving up their time on Saturday afternoon only to find themselves squashed into the kitchen with bags and crates of stockings.

Fiona, Lucy, Sadie, Deidre, Martina, Michelle, Shirley, Agnieszka and Lee Ann.

Hopefully, you can tell from the photos that we managed to have a laugh.

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There’s more to sort and we’re hoping they’ll be a good few more stockings handed in too.  In the meantime we managed to get through a good few of them and have checked, counted and re-counted the little stockings into bags of 50.  These will be distributed to the businesses around the East Cork area, that have kindly agreed to try and sell some of them to help the collection for the East Cork Rapid Response.

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81 bags ready to go so far, or to put it another way 4050 little Knit Happens Stockings which we hope will become €8100.

Happy Knitting!

 

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StashBot

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stashbot

 

What is StashBot?

Flipping Fantastic! That’s what.

I follow Hannah Fettig aka KnitBot on Instagram and reccently saw a post to announce that she had released her Stashbot idea as an app for IOS.  Originally, you could purchase Stashbot as a paper version from woolly stockists but the app version takes it to a whole new level of portability.

So what can Stashbot do?

Basically, Stashbot has been developed to make it easier for you to work out the average yarn requirements for certain, everyday garments in different sizes.

 

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Searching stitches per 10cm

 

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Searching stitches per inch

 

 

The first thing to note is that it’s based on tension/guage in other words the number of stitches knitted per inch or per 10cm’s.  For example a standard aran weight yarn will knit to a tension of 18 stitches per 10cm’s or 4.5 stitches per inch.

Please note – that if you are using cm’s your yarn requirements will be displayed in metres and if you’re using stitches per inch it will be shown in yards.

Using this tension we can then check how much yarn on average, it will take to knit our chosen project in stocking stitch.  The app suggests that you should reference the next size up for more textured knits.

At present the projects include

  • Vest/Shrug
  • Cropped sweater, 3/4 sleeve
  • Average length sweater
  • Long sweater/tunic
  • Hat
  • Mittens
  • Scarf/shawl/infinity cowl
  • Socks

There is an extensive range of sizes included on the app.

  • Sweaters in sizes from 16″ to 62″
  • Hats, mittens and socks from baby to XL adult
  • Scarves in small, medium and large and

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Here you can see that if I wanted to knit a tunic for your average size two year old, with my standard aran weight tension, I’m going to need approximately 360 metres of yarn.  As I want to add a bit of texture with some moss stitch and maybe the odd cable I look to the next size up, this advises that my project will take 420 metres.  I have 600 metres of yarn to use up, so looking at the requirements for a hat for myself I can see that I should easily be able to complete both projects.  To be on the safe side I’d knit the sweater first though 😉

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The lovely people at Stashbot welcome questions and feedback and have even incorporated a ‘contact us’ button at the top of the page.  I, being my usual annoying self, found myself contacting the Stashbot team almost immediately to champion the addition of a super chunky, 9 stitches to 10cm tension.  I’m happy to say I received a reply within a couple of hours to say they were already working on possible updates, yay!

I wonder if they’ll include a crochet element too?

Unfortunately, for those of you non iphone people, the app is currently only available on IOS but there is an email subscription that you can sign up to for notification when the app becomes available on Android here.

Stashbot costs $4.99 to download from the itunes Store.

I LOVE IT!

Happy Knitting!