Tag: hats

Look What We All Did?

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I’ve spent the last few days trying to gather up everything we’ve collected in for the The Kyl Assylum in Belarus.  As you can imagine my office tends to resemble a very untidy wool shop at the best of times but there are times when the whole thing just gets out of hand.  Lately the problem has worsened as the sample balls of wool fight with my stash, the paperwork and the ever increasing number of carrier bags containing donations.  As if that wasn’t enough, my son shares the office so I can keep a watchful eye on his computer use and ‘spend some time’ with him whilst he battles aliens on his XBox 360.

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It was lovely to go through everything again, some of the items are so beautiful.  In total there were 30 Scarves and 24 hats to send to Kyl  via the Bureen Chernobyl Project.  In addition to the hats and scarves we also received a couple of boxes of toilitries to pass on and we had a good rummage and found a good few jumpers too.

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Some of the donations that came in have been more suitable for children so I have separated these out and will be forwarding them on to The Children’s Chernobyl Trust for them to pass on to needy boys and girls.  In addition to the 31 hats and 13 pairs of gloves we’ve had 13 baby and toddler cardigans donated too to pass on.

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Thoroughly, embracing the tidying up bug I also managed to go through the XBox king’s old clothes and sorted out everything that he’s grown out of to send off with The Children’s Chernobyl Trust items.

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Happily there’s now space to house all the knitted squares were hoping for.

Happy Knitting!

The Latest Project is Underway

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I’ve been dying to get to work knitting a garment in the Wendy Supreme Luxury Cotton Chunky Yarn since it arrived into the shop last month and finally my endless list of ongoing project has reduced (slightly).

The top above is constructed by knitting the back and fronts up to where the lace pattern ends and then joining them with your part knitted sleeves to knit the yoke as one piece.  The lace pattern itself is very simple, 4 rows, only one of which forms the lace with yarn overs and working 2 stitches together.

The back lace section
The back lace section

The yarn is lovely to work with, it’s a chunky so hopefully this will be a fairly quick knit.  There are a good few patterns available and I was spoilt for choice with the amount of shades as we’re stocking 12 of the 13 available.

The left front so far
The left front so far

My initial choice was the dark cornflower/royal blue but I’ve seen another jumper in this months copy of The Knitter that I rather fancy in that shade.

What was I saying about reducing my ongoing projects?

Happy Knitting!

Yesterday’s Goodies

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Here’s a quick snap of the lovely new sock yarn that arrived in yesterday.  It’s the Sweet & Spicy range from Opal and there are 8 gorgeous shades all 4ply of course so they can be used as a substitute yarn for other 4ply garments.

Tempted?

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These are the adapted Alice Mitts I made yesterday to show the girls at the Children’s Knitting Group this morning as there are a few of them that have asked to make them next.

Happy Knitting!

 

I used the Colourbrushed Chunky from Tivoli, which is very reasonably priced (€3.95 for 100g), soft and comes in very child friendly colourways.  Even better than that I probably have about half the ball left, so it’s 2 pairs for the price of one.

Truly Scrumptious

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Truly Scrumptious Yarn from Fyberspates
Truly Scrumptious Yarn from Fyberspates

After my blogging procrastination of late it should come as no surprise that I have had loads of ideas for posts but very little time.

I must however, tell you all about the lovely lace weight and 4ply  yarn that came in from Fyberspates.  It’s been on display in the shop for a fortnight now but I kept forgetting to take photos or the light wasn’t great.  Sweeping all of this to one side here it is.

Jens Green, Treacle Toffee, Rose Pink & Slate Lace
Jens Green, Treacle Toffee, Rose Pink & Slate Lace
Teal, Gold, Purple & Cherry Lace
Teal, Gold, Purple & Cherry Lace

Made from 45% silk & 55% Merino the lace has 1000m per 100g hank and the 4ply/sport has 365m per 100g hank and both completely live up to their name and who doesn’t like a little luxury?

Deep Chestnut, Teal, Jens Green, Natural, Cherry, Purple & Baby Pink 4ply
Deep Chestnut, Teal, Jens Green, Natural, Cherry, Purple & Baby Pink 4ply

There are books and patterns from Fyberspates too and both yarns work as fantastic substitutes,.  I’m actually planning on knitting my Winter is coming Shawl in the gorgeous Deep Chestnut 4ply for the Knitguard KAL on Ravelry.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/winter-is-coming-shawl

Winter is Coming Shawl by Sally Cameron
Winter is Coming Shawl by Sally Cameron

I’ve also knitted Childry by Elly Doyle but will have to take a photo and post it up here for you to see. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/childry

Happy Knitting!

Review: Petite Purls Knitting Magazine

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petit

http://petitepurls.com/index.html

Petite Purls is a fantastic online magazine that specialises in knitting patterns for babies, toddlers and older children.  Having said that, there are crochet patterns and sewing patterns too, all for little ones.

The magazine is published four times a year in January, April, July and October and is packed full of ideas.  All of the patterns are free, for personal use only. Although not available to download as PDFs, it takes no time to copy and paste into a Word document to print off.

The magazine was first published in Summer 2009 and was the result of an online friendship between Allegra Wermuth and Brandy Fortune.  Joan Bebe joined the creative duo as Technical Editor and Petite Purls was born.

Petite Purls concentrates on independent pattern designers; they will never publish a pattern from a company or a pattern publisher, although sometimes they may publish from a book.  There are such lovely patterns available for free, you’ll be spoiled for choice.  One of my favourite sections is the ‘Basics’. Here you’ll discover beautiful, basic patterns, which are great for beginners but also ideal for encouraging your creativity by changing stitches or using colourwork.

Garter Bottom Cardi
Garter Bottom Cardi

The latest addition to this ever-growing section is the Garter Bottom cardigan – it’s a lovely design by Amy Grace and is available in sizes 12 months, 2, 3 and 4 years. It is made in Spud & Chloe’s Sweater yarn, which is an aran weight.

All of the patterns are graded by ability, and under the name of the pattern and the designer there is a scale from young girl to older woman.  The younger the lass, the easier the pattern.

Issue 14 is the current edition and as per usual there are several patterns I’ve already queued.  Who could resist Belle & Beau by Megan Grewal?

Belle & Beau
Belle & Beau

It’s knitted in aran weight yarn and has sizes from 3 months to 8 years.  Whilst I do adore the tree or the flowers on the bottom cardi, it’s the multicoloured yoke that I love.

Entropy Vest
Entropy Vest

My other favourite is the Entropy Vest by Anjali M available in sizes 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 years.  The little argyle detail is cute and quirky but the tank top would look just as good plain.

When the latest issue is released the patterns do go up on Ravelry so some of them could look familiar.  The site also has an archive of its back issues – all worth a look.

Be sure to check out White Caps by Daniela Nii from the Spring 2100 issue http://petitepurls.com/Spring11/spring2011_p_white.html

and Little Letterman by Danielle Reiner in the Fall 2010 issue

http://petitepurls.com/Fall2010/fall2010_p_littleletterman.html

If you’re still not convinced, I defy you all not to love Capuchon by Tagil Parlmutter in the Fall 2011 edition.

Capuchon
Capuchon

Don’t you just love it?

Happy Knitting!

Look at the Lovely Donations

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Edwina made this

As most of you are already aware we are constantly encouraging everyone to knit or crochet for charity.  At least once a week I hear the words ‘I use to knit all the time, but my kids/grandchildren won’t wear knitted jumpers anymore’.  Hopefully, this is becoming less the case as all things woolly have become quite fashionable of late and some of the coolest people are donning Aran jumpers or oversize sloppy hats, and there’s no denying the current trend for super chunky cowls.

So knitting is the rage once again but if you remain unconvinced perhaps you could be persuaded to pick up the needles or your hook again and get to work on creating some much needed winter woolies for our current charity – The Kyl Assylum in Belarus. If you want to know more have a read through my previous post here http://knitmidleton.com/2012/11/15/our-latest-charity-collection-is/

The lovely scarf above is a beautiful 4ply, yes I did say 4ply, number knitted by Edwina.

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Sinead’s Mum made these

This lovely trio of hats were knitted up by Sinead’s mum, they also dropped off a bar of soap to add to the toiletries collection to send out to Belarus too.

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In addition to the knitted items, Mary also grabbed a bargain batch of gloves and hats to include and whilst some of them are for children they will still be passed on to needy smallies via the charity.

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Teresa O’Flynn has sent in some more baby raglan jumpers and cardis.

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Lastly there’s these lovely hats that a lady dropped in to us to forward on.  Unfortunately, she didn’t leave her name so if anyone know who she is let me know and we can credit her beautiful work.

So if you’ve the time…….. all donations will be sent to worthy, reputable causes and will be very much appreciated by those in receipt of them.

Happy Knitting!

Open the Box

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Look What's Arrived?
Look What’s Arrived?

So, this box arrived at the shop on Friday and there are  no prizes for guessing where it came from. As anticipated the yarn inside is lovely.

For our initial delivery of Knitcol from Adrafil we have gone with 6 of the most popular shades – 46, 55, 56, 58, 59 and 62.  (If the light is good tomorrow in the shop I will take a photo)

For now the shade card will have to suffice.

Knitcol Shade Card
Knitcol Shade Card

Knitcol is 100% superwash merino wool.  Each 50g ball contains 125m, knits as our standard dk and retails in the shop for €5.25.  There are free patterns available on the Adrafil website here.

We hope to add to the range of shades we stock if the yarn proves popular.

Happy Knitting!

Our Latest Charity Collection Is………..

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OK, so I know we’ve already been busy knitting and crocheting for this charity however, the charity is involved with so many different projects (all as needy as the rest), that I feel sure I’m not asking too much of you all again.

This time we’re hoping to help the 500 residents that live on 5 floors of the Kyl asylum.  Many of the children that the charity work with in the orphanages out in Belarus end up going to Kyl asylum when they turn 18.  Conditions are hard with the total allowance for clothes and shoes per patient being €3 annually.  The Chernobyl Children’s trust have been working with another group The Bureen Chernobyl Project and have recently managed to collect in approximately 1000 pairs of secondhand shoes as the residents had been using cardboard on their feet whilst working out in the fields.

We’ve been asked for hats, scarves and mitts again and in addition maybe some socks and legwarmers, anything to help to try and keep out the cold.

Bureen Chernobyl Project

A lot of the links I put up for our previous collection will still be valid as are

Easy hat pattern

http://knitmidleton.com/2012/07/06/quick-chunky-hat-great-for-charity-knits/

Easy scarf pattern

http://knitmidleton.com/2012/06/02/easy-rib-scarf-for-chernobyl/

Previous blog post with links to more patterns

http://knitmidleton.com/2012/06/01/knitting-for-chernobyl-childrens-trust/
Our collection will run until the end of March when the next containers will be traveling to the area, so you’ve plenty of time to get cracking.  Items will be accepted in all colours of the rainbow, so break out the stash and use up your leftovers.  The residents are both male and female and all are over 18 although they will be slight for their ages.
We’ve also been asked to collect any unwanted needles and wool in for the residents some of whom love knitting.  If you can’t knit or crochet maybe you could be persuaded to drop off some personal hygiene products like soap, shampoo, etc. which we will also be collecting in (all new and unopened please, with as long a ‘use by’ date on)

A big thanks in advance for all of your help AGAIN.

Happy Knitting!

Time for a Little Feedback

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Having just sent off two rather large boxes full of knitted and crocheted garments for preemies it’s great to be able to come back to you all with a little feedback from one of our previous collections.

Our collection for the Chernobyl Children’s Trust earlier in the year for knitted hats, scarves and gloves was extremely successful thanks to the fine brigade of people that gave up their yarn, time and skills to ensure that we were able to hand over several black sacks full of winter woolies.

Deena at the charity has very kindly got back to me with a couple of photos of the children wearing some of the items.  The photos were taken earlier in the summer at the holiday camp the charity arrange for disabled children and their families to attend.

Vika modelling one of the knitted hats.

This is one of the little girls Vika modelling one of the knitted hats on a balmy summer’s day; however I’m sure she’ll be grateful of it now it’s much colder in Belarus.

Sveta and her mum Galina

Sveta and her mother Galina are in the picture above sporting their scarves, with a little help from Deena on the left.

I hope, like myself, you enjoy knowing the items crafted by all of us are actually going where they’re supposed to and that the right people are benefiting from our work.  The charity itself is wonderful and everyone involved are so generous of spirit, time and resources that I find them totally inspirational.  I know they are presently looking for more people to become host families, and if any of you are interested, or know someone who would be, please get in touch.

Our next collection (details to come) will be for another project The Chernobyl Children’s Trust is involved in too, so I hope we can rely on your continuing support.

Happy Knitting!

They’re Off!

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After months of knitting and crochet it’s now time to send off our teeny, tiny creations to the Irish Premature Babies Charity.

Didn’t we do well?

Our Preemie Collection

In addition to all of the items pictured there are still some to collect and add at the shop but for now our totals are as follows –

Hats & Bonnets = 228

Cardigans = 180

Blankets & Sleep Sacks = 140

Booties & Socks = 13 pairs

There is also a little Paxton sitting on the side here knitted by Dina, awaiting sleeves which will be completed by the end of the day (yes I’ll be doing it).

I’m so very proud of how many items we’ve managed to collect and want to extend a huge message of thanks to all of you that gave your time, your creativity and your yarn to make the delicate, little creations.  It’s great to see how much the collection has inspired so many of you and I know there have been a good few ‘retired’ knitters that have been persuaded to pick up their needles once again and knit for this charity.

I’d also like to say a big Thank You to the East Cork Journal for promoting our collection in their newspaper, the article really helped to highlight the charity.

I understand the charity are sending all of the donations to one warehouse, where they plan to sort through them and divide them up into hampers.  These will then be sent to the hospitals around the country.  The charity intend on having the parcels to the hospitals for World Premature Baby Day on November 17th.

A big thanks once again to all of you that helped with this collection and if you couldn’t do something this time, maybe we could persuade you to pick up you hook or needles for our next collection?  (more info to come very soon)

Happy Knitting!