So Yarn Shop Day is very nearly upon us, 1 more sleep until the fun begins.
As promised here’s a little peek at some of the goodies on offer tomorrow on our market stall outside the shop.
They’ll be all of these books and more all down to €5 each with some going for as little as €3.
All of the packs of yarn on the stall will be €20 each, including the multi packs.
There will be other yarn in the special bins for €3 a ball and the day will be full of on the spot give-aways. Not to mention the raffle and the competition to find the fastest Knit Happens stocking knitter.
It seems like I’ve been trying to write this post for weeks now what with computer and internet problems *sigh*
Anyway….
Yarn shop day (taking place on Saturday May 3rd) is all about you showing your love for local yarn shops. It is also an important opportunity for bricks and mortar shops – such as ourselves – to remind our customers how valuable our personal experience and knowledge of all things wonderful and wooly really is.
Whilst the online yarn market is fantastic for those that cannot manage to get into a shop or can’t find something particular it is also unfortunately taking away from the tradition of local yarn shops. There is nothing better than going into your local yarn shop and having a good squidge and play with the wool, as well as getting hands on help and advice. Knitters and crocheters alike are an enthusiastic bunch and our shop has often played host to a number of excited discussions about new projects and ideas between strangers that have bonded over their love of the craft.
Yarn shops are fast becoming an endangered species and every week I will have someone come in and say how nice it is to have found a wool shop because they no longer have a local one. A visit to the yarn shop was something I looked forward to as a child and even now I still get excited when I go to a new place and discover they have a yarn shop to explore.
So in the spirit of all things woolly we are planning the following events, giveaways and special offers to celebrate Yarn Shop Day.
The first 15 customers to spend €25 or more receive a baby knits goody bag.
11am – There will be a demonstration on how to use the amazing Clover Pom-Pom Makers.
2-4pm – We are holding a competition to see who can knit a “Knit Happens” stocking the fastest.
There will be a woolly raffle with prizes including Knit Pro needles, Scrumptious Yarn and a variety of books. (Details of the raffle will be posted here and on Facebook in the coming days.)
A free Sparklemouse pattern will be sent to your via e-mail when you spend €5 or more.
Clearance packs of yarn and books will be available to buy throughout the day on our market stall outside at less than even Stash Dash Prices.
Throughout the week we will try (I stress the word try) to pop up photos of some of the items that will be putting on the market stall and using as raffle prizes.
The time has come to accept that my addiction for all things woolly might be getting a little out of hand. I know, I know, most of you had probably already spotted it some time ago now and for those of you that know me, you’ll know it’s not going to stop any time soon.
Facing the facts, I need to make space before I disappear into one of the stock rooms and never return -“suffocation from yarn, there are worse ways to go”.
After discussing it with friends, family and anyone who’ll listen, I’ve decided to give in and try an ecommerce site. My lovely customers have been asking me to do this for years now and I’m concerned they’ll think it’s so much more than it is (apologies in advance).
It is a clearance shop, with clearance prices. The yarn will only be sold in packs of 10 balls and you can buy as many packs as you want at the much reduced prices.
I intend to work my way steadily through the boxes of Stash Dash yarn one at a time and will therefore be popping up new products on a weekly basis (I’m aiming for Tuesdays). The yarn will be from all the companies we stock and will include acrylics, wool, cotton, blends, etc, though once it’s gone it’s gone.
Postage here is still extremely expensive, with An Post the cheapest at this stage.
They’re prices are – €6.50 for 500g/1kg or €7.50 for 1.5kg/2kg
You can of course purchase your packs of yarn on the website and collect them from the shop, but I’d ask you to contact me to ensure I have it waiting for you at the shop for collection.
We’ll see how it works, maybe it will go so smoothly that I can be persuaded to look at running with a proper online shop at some stage.
Included with our regular delivery of books from The Book people this month was Knitting with Giant Needles by Hanna Charlotte Erhorn and published by Dorling Kindersley.
If I was to be completely honest, on first glance I wasn’t that impressed with the content of the book however, I decided to give it a proper chance. Armed with a cuppa I spent some time perusing the pages and have since revised my opinion.
Using big needles or crochet hooks isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. Big tools can be a little different to get use to holding and you will probably have to change your technique a little, but the speed with which you can finish a project is fantastic. I love the look of chunky stitches and the added interest they bring from the texture. Big knitting is a great way of incorporating knitting into your home with chunky cushions and throws, bathmats and even wall hangings.
Back to the book…..
As you might expect with a book from DK, everything is photographed beautifully and explained very clearly. There are a couple of pages at the front of the book discussing chunky needles and yarns and towards the back of the book there is a great techniques section covering basic knitting, sewing up and crochet.
In total there are 35 projects in the book, most of them would fall under the heading ‘accessories’ or ‘frippery’ , however most of them are cute and quirky and would make great gifts.
My only complaint is that there isn’t a pattern included for the beautiful, crochet hearts shown on page 9 of the book, but I’m sure Attic 24 has a version on her blog.
I’ve picked 5 of my favourites to show you
Soft Baskets
Draught Excluder
Bobble Hat
Zippy Purse
Cat House
This one to be fair is a little questionable
Cosy Footwarmer
Overall not a bad little book for The book People price of €8 and it would be a great book to give with a couple of balls of super chunky yarn and a set of big needles as a gift to a newbie knitting friend.
The number of projects I’m currently working on has gotten a little out of hand lately and I only realised how bad things were getting when I opened a project bag and discovered about a third of a blanket knitted in beautiful, Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino that I’d completely forgotten about. Hoping to regain control I frogged it! All 600 metres of it!!!! Ouch!
So in an effort to overcome my problem and in the hope that I’ll manage to complete some of the ongoing wip’s I’d like to confess.
Wip mania
Sorry for the awful pic, the sun wasn’t shining my way.
So…. They consist of
A piece of green knitting that needs to be felted and made into brooches.
One lace sock that needs it’s equally lacy partner.
3 balls of yarn for a gift that needs to be knitted ASAP as the birthday is looming.
There’s a beautiful piece of red knitting belonging to 8 year old Aoife from my children’s knitting group that needs sewing up into a cowl.
There’s a shop sample jumper in Stylecraft Stars.
Another shop sample is the woolly sheep I’ve made in Sirdar’s Snowflake Chunky and Snuggly Dk that needs sewing up and stuffing but I’d like to make some more legs so it’s a little more multi-coloured.
There’s the blue, grey and red Alice Cardigan that I’m knitting for myself.
More socks for me too.
Ongoing are the Knit Happens Stockings for the East Cork Rapid Response.
Whist I was pulling out my patterns and books I realised that I’ve also been working on a jumper for my son Durahn, but have stopped because I need to check his measurements.
Also, if this really is a confession, then I should probably include the bag of crochet bunting that I add to occasionally. The two easy, cinema knitting scarves that I have hanging on the back of the door and my beautiful Moody Blanket. The main part of which is finished but I need good light to photograph knitting the applied i-cord edge for a ‘how to’ post.
This is the missing, offending jumper for my son. It’s beautiful and the yarn is lovely to work with but he’s 6 feet tall so it’s gonna be the right size even if I have to tie him up to measure him.
How many wip’s do you have on the go? I hope it’s not as bad as me.
I can’t even claim that they’re mostly for the shop this time.
Happy Knitting!
(we’re going to sweep gracefully over the three other projects I frogged and the crate full of items that just need sewing up too 😉 aren’t we?)
As you’ve probably noticed from the last 3 posts there’s been rather a lot of new stock arriving in the shop of late and there’s at least one more new yarn still to come.
This time I wanted to let you have a quick look at the new shades in some of our favourite standard yarns. The ones we’ll always have.
With no further delay, lets launch straight in with 3 new colours of Sirdar Snuggly DK (there is a 4th but it kind of looks grubby)
2 really pretty colours in Sirdar Snuggly 4ply and although rather feminine I do think the Custard would look lovely in combination with blues in a stripy baby cardi.
4 new shades have also been added to the Sirdar Baby Crofter range. 2 brights and 2 a little more subtle the 1st is definitely my favourite this time.
We’ve also taken delivery of new shades in Bonus Dk, Aran and Supersoft Aran and as with all new seasons from Sirdar they have released a wad of beautiful, new designs to compliment the new shades.
Here’s just a few for you to cast your eyes over.
Baby Crofter designs now also showing the yarn being used for older children’s garments
Just a few of the new Sirdar Snuggly DK patterns
The suppliers are finally starting to listen, some of the new crochet patterns that have been released.
Lastly (for now), I wanted to give you a quick look at our lovely woolly sheep cards, that I’ve managed to locate after spotting them a good few years back. Ideal for the woolly enthusiasts amongst us.
We were actually meant to have this yarn in before Christmas but it sold out completely and I decided to run with something else instead, but the patterns still arrived and having discovered them recently whilst trying to be organised I thought ‘why not’.
The yarn is a standard chunky with a multicoloured look that’s not too busy and I guarantee you’ll be as surprised as I was to hear it’s 100% acrylic. I saw and felt the scarf in the pattern below and was pleasantly taken aback when I realised. Needle size is 6.5mm and knits to a tension of 14 stitches by 20 rows over a 4″/10cm square, the 100g ball contains 118 metres/129 yards and costs €5.25..
I’ve opted for 6 of the 8 available colours to begin with and quite fancy making the ladies jumper, but will probably end up going with the baby one instead due to number of friends expecting at the moment. All of the shades have been named after music festivals including Glastonbury and Secret Garden and whilst a chunky yarn might not be the kind of knitwear that instantly comes to mind when you think of sunny summer days. it’s definitely what’s needed when the sun goes down.
As a standard chunky it will knit to most chunky patterns, here are the Festival designs I love the most.
I’ve had a quick look on Ravelry to see what people have been making with the yarn already and there seems to be a mix of knitting and crochet. MMKMads has knitted a Braided Knit Headband in it and it looks lovely, have a look at the pattern, it’s free.
Sirdar Bonus Buzz DK is a bright, cheerful, multi-coloured yarn, with each shade having up to 6 colours in it. Machine washable, great value and incredibly colourful, making it the perfect yarn for children. It’s great for making fun accessories, such as hats, mitts and scarves.
As it’s part of Sirdar’s Bonus range there are no specific patterns for it (yet), but it is a true double knit, so will knit to any double knit pattern.
Each 100g ball of 100% acrylic contains 280metres/306yards so it will go a long way and costs €3.99. Knit to a tension of 22 stitches by 28 rows to 4 inches / 10cm square on 4mm needles
I think both of these garments would look great knitted in Buzz Dk, each of the patterns are free to download, just click on the links.
Sirdar have listened to our requests and developed a beautiful, mercerised cotton double knit yarn. Available in 18 jewel shades it certainly draws you in with the eye.
Sirdar Cotton Dk is ideal for both knitting and crochet projects and if you’re stuck for inspiration you should have a look on the Sirdar website at the 18 new designs they’ve created specifically for this yarn. Of course, it goes without saying that as Cotton Dk is a standard double knit yarn, it can easily be used as a substitute in most dk patterns. However, as always be sure to consider the drape and design of the yarn the pattern was originally written for.
The yarn is made using mercerised cotton to create a subtle sheen and incredible stitch definition so it’s the perfect yarn for lace knitting, cables and crochet work.
Each 100g ball contains 232 yards/ 212 metres of 100% cotton and knits to a tension of 22 stitches by 28 rows on 4mm needles to 4″/10cm square and costs €6.65.
These are 4 of my favourite designs.
I hope Sirdar’s Cotton Dk will end up becoming one of the companies standard yarns and who knows it might even push them to consider releasing it as a 4ply too.
Stylecraft have come up trumps again with their latest yarn Stars.
Reflecting the latest fashion trend for sparkling and lustre effects, Stars is a lightweight blended yarn with a metallic filament and small Payette sequins throughout to bring a beautiful sheen together with a subtle sparkle to your knitting. Made up of 75% Premium acrylic, 10%Polyester, 10% Metallic Polyester and 5% Sequin.
Stylecraft has taken care while developing this DK yarn to ensure Stars is soft and brings a delicious drape to the designs knitted in it. The colour palette focusses on icy pastels, from stellar white to quartz pink and aqua blue with the addition of amethyst and noir for those who like a bit of drama.
A couple of the large spinning mills have released similar versions of this yarn and on first look they might seem like a more economical purchase however, you have to look at the meterage. Each 50g ball of Stylecraft Stars costs €4.80 and contains 150 metres of yarn in comparison to another I can think of that only has 110 metres.
Knitted as a standard double knit there is a great range of designs to support the yarn too including a beautiful bolero that would work beautifully as a Communion Cardi.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 