kids knits – Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet

I have at least a couple of posts for you this week, this being the first it’s supposed to be about this months woolly and not so woolly, additions to the shop. However, I’ve been so moved by the movie I saw last night that it would seem slightly criminal not to mention it. Especially as I was dreaming about it last night and haven’t stopped thinking about it all day either.

My first visit to the Triskel in Cork City was yesterday to see Patrick’s Day – wow!

Patrick’s Day if you haven’t heard, is a film about a young man (Patrick) with Schizophrenia and the lengths his mother will go to to ‘protect’ him. It throws up loads of things to ponder, not least the right for every man or woman to experience an ‘adult’ relationship and by adult I’m not necessarily talking about a sexual relationship it could be friendship or love. Regardless of how the relationship between two adults manifests itself there is always an emotional side and it’s this aspect that the film centres on.

The cast were fantastic particularly Moe Dunford who plays Patrick, his performance was outstanding. There were several parts of the film that made for uncomfortable viewing, but compelling none the less. I urge you to pop over to the Patrick’s Day Facebook Page and watch the trailer to see what all the fuss is about for yourself. The relationship between Patrick and his mother is central to the film and trying to put yourself in her shoes, is painful to say the least. We’d all go to great lengths to protect our children from the moment they’re born, but are our decisions always the best for our children? I can’t wait for knitting on Wednesday night so we can debate the whole thing over tea, cake and stitching.

Moving on to matters less serious and more woolly.

The shop sale has drawn to a close and I now have my kitchen/classroom back which means the return of Saturday knitting group -hooray 🙂 As you might expect there are still sale balls of wool remaining, so I’ve filled up the €3 baskets at the top of the shop and we will continue to use the Green Bin concept to bring you a super bargain or two.

At the moment the Green Bin contains Rico Glow Worm for €4 per 100g ball.

Last week we took delivery of Country Tweed DK from King Cole in six beautiful shades. Country Tweed has been around for a little while now but I thought it filled a variegated double knit shaped hole on our shelves nicely. Each 100g ball contains approximately 280 metres/306 yards of yarn made from a blend of acrylic, wool and viscose and costs €6.99. It’s a standard double knit yarn so will work with most dk patterns, but I’ve chosen a good few designs that specifically use the Country Tweed for you to peruse. Personally, I’d like to find some time to have a go at using Broomstick Crochet to make a scarf with the yarn. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about pop over to the photo tutorial by Ashley Little here on Craftsy.

Does anyone else fancy having a go too?

We’ve also taken delivery of a couple of shades in Stylecraft’s Merry Go Round yarn to see what the response is like. It’s a basic 100g ball of fun, colourful acrylic, specifically aimed at smallies. I could only find a photo of one of our shades but it’s a pretty one 💗

There’s also been a delivery of something really rather un-woolly, but they smell heavenly. Whilst at the City Hall Christmas Craft Fair I couldn’t resist making a few gift purchases from the Celtic Candles stand. I ended up burning one of the gifts 😄 in the shop over Christmas and a good few of you commented positively on the aroma, so I thought ‘why not?’.

Celtic Candles are an Irish owned, family run company that produce candles, reed diffusers, lip balms and other products, but it was their Organic Range of candles that caught my eye (should that be nose?). Anyway, think essential oils, think 100% plant based wax and then select your aroma. Maybe you want to Relax with Lavender, Geranium and Tea Tree or what about Recharging with Neroli, Clementine and Geranium? The 20CL Aromapots have a burn time of up to 50 hours for €16.99 and the 9CL Votives should burn for approximately 25 hours for €6.99. Interestingly, you can use the candle oil on your skin as a massage oil 🎂

I’m off to get a few rows of knitting done, hope you are too?

Happy Knitting!

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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.

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?

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.

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.