Tag: knitmidleton

Time for a Little Feedback

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

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!

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments

 

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!

Chunky Basket Rib Hat

LeftFootDaisy3 Comments

Before you read on I feel I owe it to you to apologies in advance for the terrible photos, I keep taking more and they’re just not getting any better because of the glare of the sequins.  A good few of you will have seen me wearing the hats by now so hopefully you know what they look like.

I’d been dying to use the sparkly, sequined, chunky yarn ‘Galaxy’ from Rico when it first came in last year and finally decided to make a hat (no surprises there).  It’s fair to say I’m a little bit of a hat lover, obviously since having the shop they now tend to be of the knitted kind, but I love all hats.

My first hat purchase when I was about 13 was a vintage purple hat from the 1920’s which I absolutely adored – not sure what became of it.  Since then there have been trilby’s, cloches, flat caps, beanies both bobbled and not,70’s styled huge hats, straw ones, berets and slouchie ones I JUST LOVE EM ALL!

It shouldn’t come as a shock to find out that I love knitting them too, their quick to knit and can be great way to show of the most intricate of patterns or ‘over the top yarns’ that you just wouldn’t make a whole garment in. There also ideal to give as a gift.  Every year I think I have enough of them and then the madness sets in and I have to make more……….

So here’s my chunky beret in Rico Chunky Galaxy

Hat Size

To fit the average sized woman’s head, at least I think my head is of average size?

The blue hat is approximately 21cm/8.5″ high, whilst the purple one is 19cm/7.25″

Tension

14 stitches x 19 rows in stocking stitch

Abbreviations

k – knit

p – purl

st(s) – stitch(es)

s1 – slip stitch

k2tog – knit the next 2 stitches together

yf – move yarn forward to front of work

yb – move yarn to back of work

Materials

2 x 100g balls Rico Galaxy Chunky

The purple/green hat only took 1 ball whilst the blue hat used about a quarter of the 2nd ball

5mm & 6.5mm needles

Darning needle

Basket Rib Pattern

1st Row (rs) – Knit

2nd Row – Purl

3rd Row – K1 *s1 purlwise, k1: repeat from * to end

4th Row – K1 *yf, s1 purlwise, yb, k1: repeat from * to end

These 4 rows make up the basket weave pattern

Directions

Using thumb method and 5.5mm cast on 73 stitches.

1st Row – k1, p1 to last st k1

2nd Row – p1, k1 to last st p1

Repeat these 2 rows 2 times more and row 1 once more (you will have worked 7 rows in total)

8th row – k2, m1 to last 3sts, rib 3 (109 sts)

Change to 6.5mm needles and begin working basket weave pattern.  The purple hat took 6 sets of repeats and the blue hat took 9 repeats.

Shape crown

Decrease Row 1 – k4, k2tog to end (91sts)

keeping pattern correct work 3 more rows

Decrease Row 2 – K3, k2tog (73sts)

work 3 more rows of pattern

Decrease Row 3 – K2, k2tog (55sts)

work 3 more rows of pattern

Decrease Row 4 – K1, K2tog (37sts)

work 3 more rows of pattern

Decrease Row 5 – K2tog (19sts)

purl 1 row

Final Decrease Row  – K2tog (10sts)

Leave approximately 12″ of yarn, cut and thread through remaining 16sts using a blunt tipped darning needle to secure.  Sew seam

Leave approximately 12″ of yarn, cut and thread through remaining 8sts using a blunt tipped darning needle to secure. Sew seam.

Is it possible to drown in wool?

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

Ok, so I probably mean suffocate, but you get what I’m trying to say.
As it’s full knitting and crochet season right now it seems like there’s at least one sizable delivery arriving in each week, and to be honest it’s hard work.  There’s the lugging backwards and forwards of the sacks of yarn, as most of them still get delivered to the house. Then there’s the sorting, checking and recording of the yarn/patterns followed by what can only be described as a ‘nightmare’: the inevitable task of trying to find space in the stock room.  While summer yarns present their own problems – cottons, linens and bamboos are firmer yarns so it’s difficult to squeeze extra on the shelves – in winter the yarns are bulkier, squidgier, and to be honest dangerous.

Today, I was stacking a pile of new yarn behind one of the doors in the stock room (it’s the only space I could find!). There was a protest made, the yarn tumbled down, closing said door, which I promptly banged into while being attacked by the falling yarn??????  Unsurprisingly, I gave in and packed up several sacks of yarn to bring home to store in the stock room here.

In the three huge sacks and one rather large box that I unpacked last week there were loads of goodies from King Cole including:-

Galaxy Chunky
Galaxy Chunky

Galaxy chunky is the same great yarn as the double knit version that King Cole released around this time last year but as the name suggests it’s a chunky weight and is available in the six shades pictured.  To complement the yarn there are some great new designs, some of which would knit up in next to no time, great for gift knitting.  In addition to the Galaxy Chunky we also bought a really lovely sapphire blue in the double knit version.

Sapphire

Sapphire, a beautiful baby yarn also arrived in.  As did Glitz which is similar to the sapphire but in more adult/Christmas shades. I assume the red will be quite popular for little people knits.  Both yarns have a little lame running through them for that little bit of a sparkle.

Glitz

As you might expect there were new shades in Value Chunky, Wicked, and a few shades in another baby yarn Melody, which is very similar to Sirdar Baby Changes.

Last but not least is the beautiful 4ply Merino in eight scrumptious shades. This yarn has great meterage at 180 metres per 50g ball.

4Ply Merino

I’ll be writing another post over the next couple of days to let you know what’s in the boxes waiting in the hall to be unpacked now!

Happy Knitting!

You Forget How Small Babies Are.

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

I’m really lucky I have 3 beautiful children, that make every day special and I don’t mean that in the hearts and flowers sense, more in the ‘count my lucky stars’ way.  It’s been a good number of years since I had super small babies of my own and to be honest my womb very rarely nudges pangs of broodiness my way anymore.  However, there are exceptions and the new book ‘What to Knit When You’re Expecting’ by Nikki Van De Car is one of those times.

The cover photo hints at what’s to come and expect a rush of ‘ahhhs and oooooooo’s’ to overcome you, whilst your brain tricks you into forgetting all about the sleepless nights, stinky nappies and desperation to talk to any adult as long as they speak ‘grown up’.

There are 28 patterns for simple mittens, baby blankets, hats and sweaters inside according to the cover which in no way explains the delights inside.  The designs do include the afore mentioned articles in addition there is a skirt, dress, legwarmers, sleepsack (above) and bloomers.  The book is set out under the three trimesters with the patterns (where appropriate), in 3 sizes 0-3months, 3-6 months and 6-12 months.

My favourite patterns in the first trimester section of the book are:-

Summer Sky Blanket

The Summer Sky Blanket is knitted in Blue Sky Alpaca Worsted Cotton which is absolutely gorgeous but an American yarn and therefore difficult to find.  The blanket is made using 5mm’s so any standard weight aran yarn should work as a replacement.  I quite like the cotton look and would probably use Rico’s Creative Cotton Aran as my substitute.

It goes without saying that the Baby Cosy pictured on the front of the book is particularly divine and is knitted in a chunky weight yarn

In the second trimester section of the book it would be more a case of what I want to knit first.

Autumn Leaves Cardigan

The Autumn Leaves Cardigan is so beautiful and something I’d love in my size.  It’s made in a double knit yarn and is super sweet.

Striped Boatneck Sweater

The Striped Boatneck sweater demonstrates how a simple little pattern can have stunning results.  The use of double moss stitch on the bands adds great detail and the design lends itself to both girls and boys.  Again it’s knitted in a double knit yarn.

Cuffed Trousers

The Cuffed Trousers in double knit are a fabulous addition to every babies wardrobe and the addition of the little tabs makes them super practical for chubby little legs.

(oh god I so need grandchildren – be just my luck they’re allergic to wool?)

Time Flies Booties

The delicate little Time Flies Booties in the third trimester of the book, are so pretty that I’d quite like to display several pairs of them in vintage, candy colours on a shelf.  The shelf would be in my imaginary house that is always clean, tidy and organised too.

Maddox Hat

I’m also fond of the little Maddox Hat which is a great design for keeping the chill off babas ears.

Hannah Jacket

My absolute favourite garment in the whole book though has to be the Hannah Jacket.  Maybe it’s because I love duffle coats, or it could be the use of an applied I-cord edge or the clean, simple lines of the design.  Whatever the reason I think it’s a fabulous little design and would work well for either sex.  It would be a great pattern to have in larger sizes as all kids look great in a duffle coat (some adults too).

What To Knit When You’re Expecting is a great buy for those of you that like to knit for babies, or in my case long to.

Happy Knitting!

Bergere De France

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment
Bergere De France Duvetine

It seems we’re getting orders in all the time at the moment and I’m struggling slightly to keep up.  It’s like Christmas every day though opening sack after sack of gorgeous yarn and patterns.
One of the companies I’ve been looking at stocking for some time now is Bergere De France and this week I took delivery of our first order from them which included the lovely, squidgy yarn Duvetine.  Duvetine is  chunky yarn with a recommended tension of 12sts to 17 rows when knitted on 6.5mm needles.

Of the 8 shades available I ordered 6 with my particular favourite being the blue/turquoise.

I think I could possibly have fallen in love with the blue because I love this.

Duvetine Poncho

In addition to the Duvetine I also ordered a few individual packs of yarns to ‘try out’ before I decide whether to begin stocking them as with many European yarn companies Bergere De France’s yarns are not all standard, which means they will only really work with certain patterns.  Talking of patterns I did get a little carried away with ordering patterns, books and magazines from Bergere – purely in the name of research.  As many of you may have already seen on the Facebook page I indulged in a few knitting bags and notions purses.  I also ordered some of their quirky little buttons but it would seem there’s been a little mix-up with those so they’ll be a little bit delayed.

In addition to the new bits from Bergere there have also been new goodies from Knitpro, Clover and Rico and if that wasn’t enough 19 shades of Cushendale Lace yarn arrived in too.  The 1 ball 1 scarf yarn makes an ideal gift to give at Christmas and it’s homegrown too.

Cushendale Mohair

I’ve knitted a sample up in ‘Storm’ and it’s on display in the shop, I think the scarves/wrap would look great doubled up in 2 different shades, pop in and have a look if you have the time I guarantee you’ll love it too.

Happy Knitting!

 

 

More Has Arrived

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment

A second batch of Autumn/Winter goodies has arrived in.

Nina

Some of you have probably already seen the post I put on the Facebook page about the new scarf yarn from Wendy – Nina.

The caffeine had started to take affect.

I’m a little smitten with it myself and have been seen on several occasions sporting one of the scarves.

There were new shades in some of our favourites, of course I only remembered to photograph one – this was after the photo at the top of this post.

Wendy Merino DK

A lovely new sock yarn or 4ply depending on what you prefer – Wendy Roam Fusion.  It’s available in 5 lovely shades, at least 3 of which have been subliminally singing my name since they arrived.

Celtic has also come in: 8 shades of tweedy, chunky yarn with great pattern support. It’s a blend of 30% wool and 70% acrylic.  Knits to a tension of 14sts x 24rows on 6.5mm, the ball is 50g/85m.

Wendy Celtic Chunky

I’m hoping to knit this up if I can find the time?

Hopefully, they’ll be a lovely delivery of Merino DK and Alpaca Silk Aran today or tomorrow.  I’ll take pics and post them up for you all to see.

Happy Knitting!

My Favourite Easy Lace Scarf

LeftFootDaisy4 Comments
Kid Silk Old Shale Scarf

I have no idea where the time this week has run away to, I feel even more behind than usual and it’s only Monday?  Having promised to post this pattern up a good while ago now I thought I should finally try and get round to it.

I think it is one of the simplest and most effective lace scarf patterns which lends itself so well to lots of different yarns however, I think it looks prettiest in a mohair.  Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze is beautiful, but to be fair it is a little expensive.  Kid Silk from Austermann is the same great yarn but a little kinder on our ever-suffering pockets.

You Will Need

1 Ball of Austermann Kid Silk

5mm Needles

Darning Needle

Scarf Dimensions (unblocked)

Length 140cm/55″

Width 20cm/7.9″

Tension

There’s no specific tension for this piece – you want it to be looser than you would usually work the yarn.  For example if you’re working with a double knit and your tension is usually 22sts on 4mm (average) you would need 5mm’s.  The Kid Silk has a ‘haze’ which means it will hold much more than some other yarns, allowing you to use much larger needles than you would do normally.

I have a friend who makes this same scarf but on 8mm’s and it looks really pretty so you can experiment with your needle sizes.

Abbreviations

k – knit

p – purl

st(s) – stitch(es)

ws – wrong side

y0 – yarn over

k2tog – knit the next 2 stitches together

Pattern

Cast on 40sts loosely and work 4 rows in plain knit, this creates the garter stitch border.

The garter stitch border

1st Row – Knit

2nd Row – Purl

3rd Row – Knit the first 2 stitches, (K2tog) x 3, (yo, k1) x 6, (k2tog) x 6, (yo, K1) x6, (k2tog) x3, knit last 2 stitches.

4th Row – Knit

These 4 rows form the pattern work until scarf reaches your chosen length, remembering to leave enough yarn to knit the 4 rows of plain stitch at the end of your scarf.

Cast off loosely and sew in ends.

The garter stitch edge

By knitting the first and the last 2 stitches on every row the garter stitch border runs the whole way round the scarf.

Block if desired.

As I already mentioned I love this pattern and one of my favourite scarves was made for me by my good friend Sandra.  She used exactly the same pattern but knitted with Rico Essentials Cotton DK.

Old Shale Scarf in Rico’s Essential Cotton DK

This version was knitted in Baby Alpaca by King Cole.

Baby Alpaca from King Cole

Have a play with different weights of yarn remembering to keep your needles at least 1 size larger than the size given for the yarn.  We’d love for you to post pictures of your finished scarves up on the Facebook page www.knitinmidleton.com

Happy Knitting!

A Really Hectic Week

LeftFootDaisyLeave a comment
Stash for the Dash

It’s felt like I’ve been chasing my tail all week; my daily list of things to do hasn’t been completed once in the last week. Even writing this post hasn’t been simple.  I started it yesterday but my internet connection was so slow I gave up.

In addition to my usual manic weekly workload I’ve also had two other pressing items to get ready.

The first, and probably the least interesting, are the two assignments that I have had to complete for the course I’m currently taking.  It coincides with the voluntary work I do for the Citizen’s Information. To be fair to me, I thought I’d agreed to do a very different amount of work on the course than what it’s materialised into.  The sad thing is that given more time I could have made more of an effort; instead my assignments could be described as ‘half-hearted’ at best

The second, and much more interesting, is all the preparation for the ‘Stash Dash Day’. I didn’t realise there would be so much work involved.  I’ve been busy clearing out yarn that’s been put away all over the stock rooms – moving it, sorting it and then having a really tough time persuading myself that I don’t need to procure more yarn for my personal stash while I sort.

Super Chunky & Novelty

Today the hubby took all the yarn over to the shop, along with tables, sheets, tablecloths and lining paper to cover the shelves.  When I met him at the shop it soon became clear – to him that is, that the job in hand was a big one.  He set about covering up the shelves and setting up the tables and moving boxes, while I began the humungous job of trying to sort out the shop.

Double Knit

The first thing to go wrong – the lining paper ran out!!! Undeterred, hubby went and purchased the next best thing: you guessed, it bin bags, green ones!!  So the idea I had in my head of the shop looking somewhat OK while the mayhem of disorderly sale yarn is everywhere has been somewhat smashed.  My head is a lovely serene place that I hope to reside in one day.

Still, the shelves of stock yarn are completely covered so there can be no confusion over what is in the sale.

The second thing to go wrong was the sellotape ran out. I simply had too many packs of yarn to close up before the yarn decided to take over and engulf me.  At this point I was sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by boxes and baskets full of yarn while trying to make up full packs to make it easier on Wednesday.

Aran & Chunky
Aran & Chunky

Local shop to the rescue and a rather speedy 3.5 hours later the shop is ready for it’s first ‘Stash Dash’.  I was quite shocked by the amount of yarn I had pulled out to clear and even more taken aback by how much stock I still have.

Looking over the yarns for the day I can safely say there’s a fantastic mix, with everything from lace weight to super chunky.  I’ll be posting up some of the yarns on Facebook just to try and keep you all updated.  For some reason there doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of aran weight, but I think that’s probably because everything we have in stock currently sells well. Apologies to all you aran lovers out there.

Laceweight, 4Ply & more Dk

If all that woolly work wasn’t enough for one day I also went to see Rico’s new yarn collection for the coming Autumn/Winter Season.  So many lovely new yarns and a few not so nice ones.  It was a job to curb my enthusiasm and I could feel myself drooling over some of the truly scrummy yarns.  Had I had a chance I can safely say some of the samples could have found their way into my handbag.

I have ordered quite a few as you might expect – oops!

If memory serves me right my order includes two new DKs – a great new baby one and a variegated lightweight one, one gorgeous super chunky, two completely different standard chunky yarns – one was kind of earthy, the other was glitzy, one furry aran and possibly an earthy one and lots and lots of lovely patterns.  Almost forgot to say I also ordered some new shades in 365 Aran: scarlet red, navy and chocolate brown.

Like I always say “it’s an illness”

x

Easy Rib Scarf For Chernobyl

LeftFootDaisy2 Comments
A speedy rib scarf for Chernobyl

Despite all the wonderful scarf patterns available out there it’s amazing how often I’m asked for basic scarf patterns. A good chunky 2 x 2 rib scarf is in my opinion, one of the best as it’s double sided and unisex.

This one uses 2 strands of double knit yarn held together to produce a chunky effect of course you could also use a standard chunky yarn.  I tend to find I have more double knit yarns in my stash and using 2 different coloured yarns can produce some interesting affects.

Scarf Dimensions

Length 40″/101.5cm

Width 5.5″/14cm

Materials

2 Balls Sirdar Crofter Dk

7mm Needles

Darning Needle

Pattern

Using thumb method cast on 36 stitches.

Work every row in 2×2 rib – (knit 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches repeat these 4 stitches )

Knit until scarf is as long as desired or all of your yarn is used up – remember to save enough to cast off, approx 3 times the width of the scarf.

Sew in your ends.