Tag: hat

Peter Pan Hatti

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Peter Pan have embraced the idea of ‘quick knits’ with their latest woolly release Hatti.  (technically there is no wool, but you know what I mean)

Hatti is aimed at kids although the knitted hat fits me.  Each ball comes with a free knit and crochet pattern on the ball band and one ball makes one hat complete with colour coordinating pompom for the top!

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It’s made from 80% Acrylic / 20% Polyester and there’s aapproximately  95m / 104 yds in each 50g ball.  The knitted hat uses 5mm needles and I had it made within a couple of hours.  It’s a lovely simple pattern just 2×2 rib with no shaping.

Hatti is available in 4 shades and is €7.15 per ball.

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There’s another similar yarn and pompom knit called Duo which I’m knitting up at the moment.  I’ll post about it as soon as I’m done.

Happy Knitting!

Notes From Week Ending 25th January 2014

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Wow!  January will be over in a few days, how did that happen?  I need to catch up quickly, does anyone have a magic ‘get everything done’ potion I could buy?

Rushing quickly on.

There were several deliveries last week most of which was restock although there were a few new goodies.  Unfortunately, in my haste to unpack them I forgot to take photos of most of them although I did manage a quick snap of the new Candyfloss yarn from Robin.

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Sadly, there’s one shade missing, if memory serves me correctly it’s a bright pink mix.  Candyfloss is being sold as a super chunky with a recommended needle size of 10mm’s but it’s most definitely not.  You could probably use up to an 8mm for scarves and neck warmers but for garments and hats I’d treat it as a standard chunky yarn and use 6.5mm needles.   I hope to get a sample of the yarn knitted up for the shop so you can see what it’s like as there are no designs to go with the yarn.

The bright colours make it an obvious choice for children and it’s 100% acrylic so it’s easily washable.  The 200g ball has approximately 280 metres/306 yards and costs €6.95.

Included in this delivery there was also 4 shades of  the mohair yarn ‘Air’ from Wendy which is made up of 70% Kid Mohair, 30% Nylon  and knits to a tension of 18-24sts x 23-34 rows depending on your chosen pattern.  The 25g ball has approxamitley 200m in it and it’s €7.25 a ball.
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It would be an ideal yarn to use for my Easy Lace Scarf 

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I’ve already started to knit a little communion bolero sample for the shop, it only takes 2 balls so I am aiming to have it finished by the end of the week.

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One last thing before I go, with all of the controversy surrounding all things charity at the moment I thought I’d share the receipts and card we received for money collected from the bags of buttons on sale in the shop for St. Vincent de Paul.  As promised the full price of the sale goes to the charity.  (sorry for the bad photo)

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Happy Knitting!

 

 

How to use Clover Pom-pom Makers

LeftFootDaisy6 Comments

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Being often asked to demonstrate how to use the pom-pom makers from Clover I thought it might be a good idea to pop up a post about them.  Warning though, the post is photo heavy and I’ve tried to cover everything I’ve been asked about them, so apologies beforehand for waffling on a bit.

These clever little gadgets are available in the following sizes with all but the extra large consisting of two makers.

X Small –  20mm & 25mm

Small – 35mm & 45mm

Large – 65mm & 85mm

X Large – 115mm

Clover have also developed heart-shaped pompom makers which I will demonstrate on another post later.

1st Step Open both sides of the maker.

You will notice that it is made up of two separate pieces that slot into each other, this is to allow you to take your completed pompom out.

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2nd Step Begin winding your yarn around one side of the maker

I tend to start from the centre of the semi-circle, holding my yarn against the curve and wrapping my first few turns over the end to secure it.  I’ve had the most success with my pompoms by keeping the yarn fairly taut when covering the arcs.

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Continue to wind the yarn around one side of the maker until it is almost full. Be careful to try and keep it to ensure a more rounded pompom.

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4th Step Break your yarn off, close your first side in and complete the second side of the pompom.

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5th Step Cut a piece of your yarn long enough to tie round your pompom.  Remember to make it long enough as you can use this to sew your pompom on. Then, using sharp scissors and following the groove between either side of the maker, cut around the pompom, making sure you snip each thread completely.

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6th Step Wrap your piece of yarn between either side of the maker and tie in a knot tightly being careful not to break your yarn.  (some wool may not be strong enough to do this, so you can always use a scrap from another kind of yarn)

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7th Step Open both sides of the pompom maker and separate it to reveal your squidgy pompom.  Roll it around in your hands a few times and give it a little trim – don’t cut your ties if you need to sew it on to anything.

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Voilá! Pompom magic.

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Happy Pompoming!

New Year – Time For Change?

LeftFootDaisy4 Comments

Two days in to 2014 already and my brain has been working overtime on things to do in the coming year.  I’m not a New Year Resolutions kinda girl, so whilst I’ve made a mental note to quit the indulgences of the past couple of weeks, get back on my anti-inflammation diet and try to do more exercise in the coming year I’m not going to be too upset if I fall off the wagon, so to speak.

There are however, things I am going to try to alter in the hope that some little changes will allow me a little more time to do some of the more important things like, dare I say it – Exercise more 😦

Top of my list is to get more organised, already I can hear my family groaning.  I do try really hard to set myself deadlines, but it’s sticking to them that’s the problem.  My head gets so full of ideas for the shop, designs, kids crafts, etc that I easily get distracted.  So I’m going to get better at writing things down, that way hopefully, I won’t be constantly running through my ‘list of possibilities’ in my head.

I’m also extending this writing it down thingy to my ongoing projects too, as I’ve been slack with posting them onto Ravelry and have wasted at least a couple of hours mentally running through what I made in 2013.

From what I can remember I made the following, but I know I’ve missed some things.

1 cardigan for me

1 jumper for Dina

2 waistcoats (1 for the shop, 1 for me)

2 pairs of socks and 2 single socks (need to make a 2nd lace one and I’m now half way through the other 2nd sock, see below)

12 hats

8 scarves/cowls

Moody Blanket (must do icord border)

Poncho

Wrap

3 – tea cosies

6 Crochet bunting triangles

5 knitted/crochet brooches

Christmas Angel

4 Baby Cardigans

sample squares for the shop

Blanket squares for charity

Innocent Smoothie hats

If I’m honest, it doesn’t seem like a lot of knitting, must try harder.  As a little extra note to self “should also knit from my stash a little more”.

Starting as I mean to go on here’s my last/first project of 2013/2014.  I’m just about to start the heel flap so it should be finished by the weekend.

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I’m also going to start another Il Grande Favorito with some beautiful Sirdar Connemara from my stash.

All sounds very good so far, but I have a small confession ……..

Whilst waiting for the photos for this post to upload I decided to clear up my email inbox a little and now I’ve become distracted by this lovely DIY Fair Isle Hat deigned by Meg Myers for Classic Elite Yarns.

Which yarn would work best now?

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Happy Knitting in 2014

xxx

Top Woolly Gifts This Year

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

As there are only 3 more shopping days for your loved ones to get down to the shop, I thought I’d show you our most popular gift items this year.

In no particular order ……

All things Knitpro Symphonie

knitproThe new Knitpro Karbonz Sets have also been popular.

karbonz-spitzen-setThe extra special Knitpro Box of Joy

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Clover Pompom Maker are a great stocking Filler.

Clover-2-Pom-Pom-makersThe heart shaped ones are a little bit different too.

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The very gorgeous Hedgehog Fibres.

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Scarf Yarns

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Gift Vouchers

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Cushendale Boucle

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Let us interrogate you for a bit about the person, give us a budget and we’ll make up a kit.

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Happy Knitting!

Delicious Yarn

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

I dropped a little hint about this lovely yarn from Hedgehog Fibres in my last post.  Having unpacked it, lined it all on the table, looked at each individual hank and generally just fawned over it for some time, I feel I can now share.

Twist Sock is 100g hand dyed yarn. Beata the lady from Hedgehog Fibres describes it as a blend of 80% Blue Faced Leicester wool and 20% nylon. High twist will ensure durability and marvelous stitch definition. Soft, yet durable and machine washable. Best of both worlds!

With colours that shift beautifully from one to another. Randomly dyed to prevent striping or pooling, as much as possible, my yarns create variegated effect that looks good in plain stockinette or advanced stitch motifs.

No dye lots, dye is applied randomly, therefore no two hanks are the same.
Machine wash. 4ply. Approx. 365m/100g

What’s not to like love?  Not just for socks either, there’s sooo many lovely 4ply projects out there.

Now I guess you’re gonna want to see the colours?

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The photos really don’t do the colours justice, you’ll have to come and pay us a visit to see the deliciousness (can yarn really be this gorgeous?).

Happy Knitting!

 

 

 

 

December is Here – Lots to Tell

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2013-12-05 14.33.39Tis’ the season to be jolly …….

There’s no time to hang about so, rushing straight into what’s going on here for December.

There’s Harlequin, a new chunky yarn from Stylecraft, great for those quick knits, There’s some lovely pattern support for it including my favourite, this fab cape come poncho thingy.

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There were also 3 new shades to add to our range of Stylecraft’s Kwik Knit which seems to be really popular for cowls and scarves at the moment.

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There’s also another new scarf yarn from Tivoli.  Lace is €12.95 a hank and like most of the scarves it’s a one ball = 1 scarf knit.  It makes quite a full scarf and is selling like hot cakes.

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Lastly (for now anyway) our Special offer this month is on Sirdar Freya which some of you might recall I knitted the hat in last month.

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There are 8 lovely shades and being a chunky it will knit up fast.  A little goes a long way, I made the hat with one ball.  There’s some lovely pattern support for it too including the accessories below.

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I could be off to unpack some yummy hand dyed yarn now, more about that next time.

Happy Knitting!

Tivoli Husk

LeftFootDaisy4 Comments

husk2 tivoli spinners

I wanted to quickly show you the new yarn Husk from Tivoli although I’m not sure the photo above does it any justice.

I’m not a massive fan of novelty yarns myself preferring the look of a good stitch pattern however, I’m a little smitten especially with the little bolero that you can knit in it (see the bottom pic).  I cast on the scarf last night and will have it knitted and hanging in the shop to squidge for next week.

Husk knits on 6mm needles and the hat and scarf pattern comes free with each purchase of the yarn.  It takes 1 ball to knit the hat or the scarf and the yarn retails at €6.99 a ball so it’s great for a gift.

This bolero pattern is also available in the Woman’s Way Magazine.

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Must go as we have a super busy day full of classes in the shop today.

Happy Knitting!

Drool

LeftFootDaisy6 Comments

It’s no secret that I love Danish Designer Vibe Ulrik Sondergaard’s knitting designs.  I would go so far as to say that she’s in my top 10 of knitting designers. Elizabeth Zimmerman is without a doubt, number one – her Baby Surprise Jacket is iconic and worthy of the highest praise, and don’t get me started on the rest, there’s the Totem Jacket, the February Sweater……

Anyway, back to Vibe.  ‘Lullaby Knits’ is the latest book of designs to be released by Vibe, published by Collins & Brown. The book has the same vintage feel as Vibe’s previous book ‘Labour of Love’ that I cooed over for some time. This time, however, the designs are all for babies, with the largest size for 18 – 24 months.  The exception is a beautiful lace wrap for mum.

If I’ve counted correctly there are 22 patterns in the book: seven sweaters, six cardigans/jackets, three vests and six patterns that fall under the accessories heading.  It’s difficult to pick my preferred designs as all of the patterns are photographed beautifully, with the most gorgeous of little models dressed in the knitted items. However, if my arm were twisted I’d have to go with the following

The Stay on Ribbed Boots are so sweet. Sadly, the pattern is for one size only (0-3 months).

2013-11-08 10.23.58The Cable and Daisy Stitch Sweater is beautiful and very like my favourite pattern ‘Matilda’ from the previous book ‘Labour of Love’.

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The Garter Stitch Jacket is knitted in aran weight yarn, making it a super quick baby knit and one on my list to make in a hurry.

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I’m usually able to decide on an absolute favourite pattern with most of the knitting and crochet books I see, however, this time I’m torn between two. Both are jumpers, both are unisex, you decide.

This is the Small Cable Sweater

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Whilst this is the Little Tree Sweater

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I might have to find some time to knit both and see if one of the designs wins through.  The only trouble with that is that I no longer have little people small enough to wear the finished garment, so they’ll be ones for the Grandparent Box  (no pressure there!).

In the meantime back to the Christmas gift knitting I go.

Happy Knitting!

So Excited

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It’s silly, I know but I was so excited when three big boxes arrived from Katia just before closing on Thursday.

Inside there was more of the popular Merino Flash and a pack of a new aran we’re looking at possibly stocking, but there was also ……….

2013-11-23 07.33.16The very Christmasey scarf yarn Boulevard (Christmasey is a new word for any of you that haven’t heard of it yet) and……….

2013-11-22 17.06.41A lovely new warm red/rust shade in the Merino 100%, and wait for it……….

2013-11-22 17.07.54This riot of colour.  I’m so daft – you’d think I’d have gotten over it by now having had a yarn shop for so many years.  All I’ve been thinking about is what sample to make for the shop. Azteca is 100g of beautiful, multicoloured aran weight yarn. The picture just doesn’t do it justice, it really has to be seen in the flesh.  Maybe squidged and stroked a little too.

Happy Knitting!