In 2017 I really amped up my handmade gift making, between knitting, crochet, baking, etc, I really tried to be more mindful of the gifts I gave. Whilst I hope the presents were appreciated and will be useful, what surprised me most about it, was how it made me feel. The joy of making something specifically for a loved one, friend or in the case of charity knitting, someone in need, has me wanting to make all the gifts I can in 2018.
I think I’m really beginning to get the hang of this Portuguese Knitting ♥♥♥ (famous last words).
I’ve been on a bit of a tidying up kick of late, so my black bin bag purchases have increased at an alarming rate and I’ve made several trips to the charity shop and rubbish tip so far.
After spotting a write up on Centenary Stitches in issue 83 of The Knitter, I knew I’d have to add a copy to my library.
Centenary Stitches is a beautiful book of vintage knitting and crochet patterns, re-worked from traditional garments and patterns for the feature film Tell Them Of Us, a film based on World War One solider Robert Crowder who died whilst serving in the army in 1917. The film tells the story from the point of those he left behind in the small village of Thimbleby in Lincolnshire.
Despite many of the records from WW1 being lost or damaged, Robert’s family had held his memory dear and kept a remarkable archive of unpublished material, enough to make a film with. The film goes some way towards exploring the shocking reality of living ‘normal’ every day life then being thrown into the terror and torment of war.
Elizabeth Lovick, volunteered her services when Pauline Loven, the costumer for the film put out a request on Ravelry to find help re-creating a knitted jacket as worn by the original Grace Crowder(Robert’s sister) and which was typical of the period.
Elizabeth in case you don’t know, is a knitwear designer specialising in traditional Shetland Lace designs. Her book The Magic of Shetland Lace Knitting provides a beautiful reference for anyone interested in lace stitches and the beautiful pieces that can be made using them.
From this single design, sprang over 70 garments for the film and subsequent book of patterns, which was a collaboration of over a hundred knitters from across the UK and USA. The patterns are for children and adults, garments and accessories. There’s even a dog coat and a set of baby reins (I know some people frown on the use of these, we’ll save that for another day).
In addition to the fabulous patterns, there is a lovely description of the village of Thimbeleby written by Pauline Loven, who also talks about the WAG film making group and what’s involved in being their costumier. Elizabeth Lovick has included a brief history of knitting in WW1 and the challenges faced in translating vintage knitting patterns.
Most importantly, there is a little history of Robert Crowder written by his Great Nephew – Robert Holland, including excerpts from letters written by Robert’s brother William Crowder, to the historian Peter Liddle about his war experiences and some much cherished family photos.
Of the 70 or so patterns it’s difficult to chose ‘favourites’ as I’m actually quite smitten with lots of them. If pressed, I’d have to go with Cosy Cat by Alison Casserly which is a short crochet waistcoat, worked in aran weight yarn.
The Rough & Ready Cardigan by Judith Brodnicki is an extremely versatile aran weight cardigan for both children and adults.
Judith is also the designer of William’s Waistcoat, which is a great aran weight knit, that I know my hubby would love (Christmas maybe?).
The Mersey Wrap translated from a Fleicher’s Knitting & Crochet Manual by Tina Kinnar and knitted in double knit yarn is simplicity at it’s best.
The garment that started all of this – Grace’s Jacket by Elizabeth Lovick,is truly beautiful. Elegant, whilst utilitarian and Knitted in double knit yarn, I can’t wait to find some time to get working on it.
Definitely a book worth having, you can purchase it in traditional ‘paper’ format or as a digital download. To have a look at all of the designs included in the book, follow the link here for the Ravelry patterns page.
Happy Knitting!
There seems to be so much going on at the moment that I feel like I’ll fall behind if I don’t begin sharing some of it with you and there’s too much to put in a Facebook post, so please excuse the disjointed nature of this post. It’s probably a truer indication of how my mind works – on a good day that is 😁
(The balloon flower was gifted to me by one of my young students, Miriam, yesterday morning and it set the tone for a lovely day.
The sun was shining and I finally managed to get round to photographing these lovely blankets that Jackie Dunn whipped up for the Chernobyl Children’s Trust. Aren’t they just fab?
As are the scarf and 7 hats that she also made 💕
Some of you might have already noticed that I’ve finished my 3rd pair of socks this week. I had literally been dragging my heels over knitting them because they’re not really my colours and was planning on using them as boot socks. However, I’m prepared to swallow my words and admit to rather liking them.
Just so you know, I’ve knitted them in Heart & Sole sock yarn from Sirdar in shade 107 (Hip Hop) with 2.5mm needles and they’re really comfy 🙂
I’m on a total sock knitting binge and am actually making two separate pairs at the moment, one is a 6ply pair just to see what they’ll be like (I’ll be sure to let you know). The second pair are flying up, so much so that I’d reached the gusset part earlier today, but we were off to see Fast & Furious 7 and I needed knitting 😕 So I decided to risk it and try to work my decreases in the dark movie theatre, what’s the worse that could happen?
I’m dead chuffed with my cinema knitting. Not only did I manage to work my k2tog decreases neatly and without dropping a stitch.
I also completed my ssk’s too and 5 rows of the leg, despite being thoroughly engrossed in the antics of Dom, Brian, Letti, Hobbs and the rest of the team.
Happy Knitting!
Come and have a look at what you missed if you couldn’t join us and if you were there it’s time to see the photos.
It was all hands on deck to set up between the shop closing at 5 and the launch starting at 7.30pm but we managed and it was lovely to be able to see the design samples knitted up.
The Happy Out Mitts that Sara had knitted up looked fab in the the Cinnabar shade of Smudge Yarns 4ply.
The Hip Hop Hat sample shown here is knitted in Smudge Yarns double Knit. The beautiful blue shade is Cairn, whilst the lime green is Fuggles, a name you just can’t say without smiling 🙂
Confession time now, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the Crosshatched Cowl, it didn’t really appeal to me. However, I’m a convert, seeing the knitted sample in the shop last night really changed my mind about this piece. The colours in the Pencil Roving really pop with the Herringbone Stitch, it tempted quite a few people too, judging by how much of it was sold.
As I mentioned in the previous post about the book launch. There were kits for the Beaker Shawl Knit Along available last night (I also have a few available here in the shop). Much discussion was given over to choosing the complimentary colour for the KAL and as you can see from the photo, the choice was a made harder by the sheer scrumminess of shades available in the lace weight.
Don’t forget that if you ‘cast on’ your shawl via Ravelry by Sunday you’ll automatically be entered into a draw to win a hank of Smudge Yarns Laceweight yarn. (I’ll pop up a quick post later today on how to this for those of you that haven’t ever done this before.)
I kicked things off with my usual chit chat, minding my p’s and q’s a little and then handed things over to Sara so she could share with us how the book came about.
Sara handed the gauntlet over to Evin to tell us a bit more about the book and the ethos behind the yarns used, before we moved on to the socialising, laughing and general merriment.
The turnout for the launch was fantastic, it’s great to see fibre folk coming out to offer their support and better still when it’s for local knitterly people.
Dina my lovely and ever suffering daughter, went round with the camera gently persuading everybody to smile. Having reviewed the photos, it evidently meant she wasn’t in front of it at any time. Does anyone have photographic evidence that she was there?
See those smiles. Fiona, Rachele, Sadie and Lee Ann seem to be enjoying themselves.
As do Noreen and Liz.
Hilda and Catherina posing for the camera (I think I spy a KAL kit there). Isn’t Catherina’s crochet Granny shawl beautiful?
Smiles all round from Joan, Erin, Sara and Carol.
Clare and Michelle doing a great job of enjoying themselves and plugging the book at the same time.
I managed to get in on the action too, laughing of course with Orela and Edwina.
How lucky am I? My best friend Snadra was over from England too.
I know some of you will be eager to hear about the raffle prize, but I’m not quite ready to tell you yet.
It wouldn’t be a book launch, without a book signing or two as demonstrated here by Sara and Evin.
Having roped the lovely Carol Feller in to draw the winner I’m really happy to say Noreen won the hamper of goodies, can’t wait to see what she makes with the ‘special edition’ yarns.
I know you’re probably wondering…..
Yes, I did.
Happy Knitting!
It’s all been confirmed, we’ve sat down, deliberated, cogitated and digested and I am now happily able to announce that the These Islands book launch will take place on Thursday 9th April from 7.30 to 9.30pm
These Islands includes eight never before published patterns for hats, a cowl, shawls, fingerless gloves, and boot cuffs using locally-processed wool made from the fleece of Irish, Scottish, or British sheep with names. The patterns are designed by Sara Breitenfeldt, Suzanne McEndoo, and Evin Bail O’Keeffe.
Suzanne currently lives in Edinburgh so won’t be able to make the launch however, both Evin and Sara will be available for book signing, laughter and fun.
A Cork resident, Evin is the author of the 2014 Blog Awards Ireland award-winning craft blog EvinOK.com. In addition to being a busy mum and her blog, Evin also managed to find the time to write and release her book Bake Knit Sew, which showcases a year of creativity in baking, knitting, and sewing. The book offers a complete year of projects! With over 50 full-color photographs shot on location here in scenic Cork. To find out more about Bake Knit Sew or to order your copy head over to the Anchor & Bee website here.
Many of you will already have heard of Sara, now a Midleton resident too, as is the creator and owner of the hand dyed yarn company Smudge Yarns. Sara’s beautiful yarns are available to purchase via her website or in a handful of shops around Ireland, including mine 🙂 There is also a Smudge Yarns Facebook Page here and a Ravelry Group too for you to join should you want to show you’re appreciation.
The gates open at 7.30pm for the book launch, with everything kicking off ♥ proper ♥ at 8pm. This will be a ticketed event due to the size of the shop, so spaces are limited. There will be refreshments, book signing and all ticket holders will be automatically entered into the craft hamper raffle (more details to follow later, watch this space).
Tickets are €5 each and can be purchased in the shop with me or via the Smudge Yarns website here
In addition to the book, Sara hopes to have some of her yummy yarn on sale to tempt you, she will also officially launch her Beaker Folk Shawl Knit A Long on the night. Kits will be available to purchase at the launch and we hope to get as many of you casting on for the KAL as possible.
As a special incentive to get involved, everyone who “Casts On” the project on Ravelry before midnight on Sunday 12th April will be entered in a draw for a special limited edition skein of yarn.
The shawl can be knitted in one of two sizes, either as a smaller shawlette, or as a larger wrap. The photographs shown here have been taken from the book and have been knitted using Smudge Yarns Hand Dyed Lace Yarn and 5.5mm needles. The featured colourway if you’re interested, is the beautiful denim hues of 💙 Beara 💙
If you’d like to have a closer look at the Beaker Folk Shawl, we’ve a sample garment on display in the shop at the moment.
I’m really excited to be able to showcase this brilliant book and hope some of you will be able to join us on what promises to be a great, fibre related evening.
Happy Knitting!
Since 2015 began I’ve been inundated with questions about our next charity knitting campaign, what it is and how you can get involved. With lots of you eager to get to work I’m conscious that for now at least, I don’t really have anything in particular planned.
In part it’s because the Knit Happens Campaign still needs to be completely wrapped up before moving forward. The ECCR have given me a rough total of the money they have from the campaign and I can happily report that I have lodged €2157.23 in the Knit Happens Credit Union account 🌟 🌟🌟 I hope to be able to pop up a post in the near future with the total amount of money raised, how many stockings we still have left and what we’re going to do with them.
Then there’s all the other stuff to contend with, including my biggest enemy at the moment time ⏰
As it’s unlikely that little ol’ me is going to master the dimensions of time when it will in itself take time, I can do my best to give you some ideas so you can put your needles and hooks to work.
I had heard recently that The Girls Club Cork were after chemo hats and have spoken to Caroline at the service to confirm this. The Girls Club Cork is a cancer support centre that offers advice, assistance and a good night out to members and their families. If you’d like to know more about the service and what they do, pop over to their website here.
So Where do you start?
Having typed ‘free knitting patterns for chemotherapy patients’ into the Google search bar, I can happily confirm that there are dozens of them out there for hats. Many of them on sites dedicated to knitting for charity.
Here are just a few of the ones I’ve discovered.
All Free Knitting – knitting
Headhuggers – Knitting & Crochet
Bevscountrycottage – knitting & Crochet
Ravelry – knitting & Crochet
There are a few things you need to bare in mind when making hats for chemotherapy patients.
You can drop your finished hats off to the centre which is at 26 St. Paul’s Avenue, off Lavitts Quay, Cork (near the entrance to Paul Street Car park). It’s best to give them a ring to check if they’ll be open, the phone number is 021-4949090.
In addition to the chemo hats, The Girls Club Cork are also running the Blankets of Hope Campaign. Their Facebook Page is here and to be honest the poster says everything you need to know so I won’t rattle on. Having run a similar project in 2013, I can testify that knitting squares an blankets are an ideal way to get involved and to use up your stash.
I’ve had a look around for other campaigns and haven’t really found any that are running at the moment, other than the ones where the deadlines are this month like Knit a Daffodil for Daffodil Day and Age Action Shamrock’s Appeal, so if you know of any please be sure to let me know.
Something worth mentioning is setting up and running your own project for charity. You could organise a coffee morning and sell knitted and crochet goods, giving the money raised to your chosen appeal. Another option is to encourage the people in your local area to get involved and organise a community art project. Ideas including yarn bombing a school, park, street lamp-posts or an event and collecting donations, the possibilities are endless.
I’ve loads of ideas for small, easy knits that are great to get people knitting and small enough to encourage people to part with a Euro or two. I’ll try and get some time to run up a couple of them and post here, so you can see what I’m on about.
Be sure to let me know if you hear of any other charity in need of bits and bobs.
Happy Knitting!
As the name of this posts suggests, it’s gonna be a quickie as I have woken up this morning with a bit of a cold virus, which currently seems to be manifesting itself as a miniature someone 👾 thumping on my eyeballs 👀
I have managed to get some baking done and have cleared away all evidence of the whirlwind that is Wednesday baking. I’ve met a rep, looked at new yarn and attempted to clear my desk and get on with some paperwork. It’s not working though the combination of dust from the desk and the constant need to sneeze 👃 are getting the better of me.
What a fantastic excuse, if ever one was needed to go and get comfy and do a little 💟 knitting 💟
So very quickly, I just wanted to show you the lovely new shades in Sirdar Snuggly DK that have arrived in.
They’re fun and bright and definitely invoke thoughts of summer sun, the book of new patterns is in too for you to peruse but don’t forget Snuggly Dk is a standard double knit yarn and will therefore work with any double knit pattern.
I said it’d be short and it is, on a last note if you search ‘virus’ on Ravelry you get some lovely little patterns for viruses including this little one by Krista Frank, which is her amigurumi interpretation of the cold virus. I think it looks too sweet to be creating the way I’m currently feeling, so it must be another kind of virus altogether.
Happy Knitting!
The Winter edition of Knitty was published in December and I’ve only just managed to spend some time reading through it now? I say reading through it but that doesn’t seem the right turn of phrase, maybe it should be ‘clicking’ through it? Anyway, as I settle down in front of my computer enrobed in as many woolly layers as possible – there’s a window in front of my desk, a big drafty one, but the view (above) is beautiful.
I love the individuality of Knitty, which isn’t as reliant on the ‘big boys’ within the industry purchasing advertising and promoting their own agenda because it’s online, rather than in print. Not that I’m against knitting magazines, far from it, a quick glance into my office would confirm that, it’s just that Knitty appeals to the more creative, experimental side of me I guess.
As usual it all makes for a good read and being the 50th issue it’s jammed packed with articles, reviews and patterns.
Cracking on then
In Cool Stuffs there are reviews for several of the most recently published knitting books and the good people of Knitty also have a look at the Double Pointed Knitting Needle Sorter and Gauge and the Eszee Twist Tool for Spinners.
Donna Druchunas Ethnic Knitting Adventures article on Fighting Prejudice in Knitting and in Life makes for an interesting read. I shan’t go into more detail here in order to encourage you to take 5 minutes to have a read yourselves. The piece works as a great introduction to The Slouchy Saami Hat designed by Donna’s friend Susan Santos which she created after a visit to the Nordiska museet — the Nordic Museum in Stockholm.
Susan took her inspiration from the exhibitions of Swedish folk art and fashion from the Saami (or Sami), the Arctic indigenous people of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. The traditional folk costumes of the Saami are often adorned with bright bands of weaving in geometric and floral designs, if you’re interested in knowing more, pop over to Roman K’s fantastic blog dedicated to folk costumes.
Franklin Habit’s Stitches in Time column has a pair of vintage gloves for us in the 50th issue. Franklin has adapted the pattern from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, oh how I’d love even one of them. Knitted in 4ply yarn the gloves are sized to fit a man, however Franklin explains that simply shortening the fingers should make them a better fit for women as the ‘hand’ part of the glove is quite elastic.
Amongst my favourites in the pattern section are
Alice by Juliett Turjoman – a very unusual hat, knitted in aran weight yarn the hat is made in 3 seperate pieces. Juliett was took inspiration from Parisian designer Alice Bernard who was a successful couturière and hat designer during the Roaring Twenties
Lean On Me by Anna Maltz – a dazzling, slim fit tank top which I adore. It’s worked in double knit and has steeks, but could prove so tempting that it has to be knitted :-0
Smithfield Pullover by Amy Christoffes – a cosy, oversized, top down, aran weight jumper. No endorsment is needed as it obviously sells itself. My only problem would be making sure it didn’t wander off with ♥ Dina ♥
I also love Minetta by Kirsten Kapur but as beautiful as it is, there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s knitted in 4ply (sob), one day…..
Last but not least in Knittyspin there are a couple of interesting articles well worth a look at including one on jar dyeing by Laurie Osbourne.
Why not pop over to Knitty if you haven’t already and have a look for yourself 🙂
Happy Knitting!
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 