Last night the knitting group decended on the Pepperstack Bistro for our Christmas get together. I think it’s obvious that good fun was had by all in attendance and we all left full to the brim. The food as always, was tasty and filling and the staff were as lovely and attentive.
We all took part in the Secret Santa Christmas Tree Decoration Swap, as you can see from the photos the standard of knitting and crochet this year was quite high.
The whole gang (those that could make it)
Wait a minute I was there too.
See
Sadie, Rachel and Mary
Caroline & Orela
orela, Michelle & Elizabeth
Lee Ann & Mary
Fiona & Deidre
Deidre & Clare
Edwina & Dina
Our Secret Santa pressies.
With only 14 more sleeps to go until the big day there’s not that many more hours left to get those gifts made up (if you’re like me anyway).
I’m ♥loving♥ this pair and they’re doing an excellent job of adding a festive feel to the shop counter. I do have a confession though…..my friends Noreen and Liz made them for me along with the Tinsel Owl below. Big thanks to both of them, they are without a doubt, skilled when it comes to making knitted toys.
The snowmen are made using Sirdar Snowflake (dk for the smaller of the two, chunky for the larger) and Stylecraft Special DK for the accessories The biggest chap stands approximately 11 inches tall whilst the shorter one is about 8 inches high.
The design has been created by Sue Jobson for Sirdar, pattern 4513 and the girls assure me they’re a fairly straightforward knit. As with all toys, it can be easier to sew as you go, otherwise the task can seem a little daunting if you leave it all to the end.
Loving the addition of the red on the robin’s breast, much more appropriate me thinks 💡
Here’s the afore mentioned owl, he’s a rather big boy and is the largest size on the pattern. He still only took the one ball of King Cole Tinsel and he’s proving even more popular than the hedgehog at the moment.
As you can see it’s pattern 9022 I think they’d make a lovely little present for someone, especially as owls are so popular at the moment. I think I’d rather like a little white Snowy Owl perched on our Christmas Tree.
This is Knit’s latest addition to the Knit Family Menagerie, there’s only one problem though – he doesn’t have a name yet 😯
I knitted him up using pattern 9019 from King Cole Yarns, however the wool Luxe Fur, is impossible to purchase because it’s completely sold out EVERYWHERE 😦 Undeterred, I decided to try knitting the design up using Tivoli Husk as a substitute instead and I think you’ll agree he’s turned out great?
He’s the baby bear and there’s also a mummy and a daddy bear (medium and large) on the pattern. He was fairly simple to knit up and the trick is not to stuff him to firmly with toy filling, otherwise he won’t be so cuddly.
The pretty knitted garment hanging behind our friend the bear is called The Pheasant Shawl by Julie Ferguson which I’d spotted in issue 73 of The Knitter in June and instantly fell in love with. A naughty purchase of yarn for said garment happened on a trip to York during the summer and I managed to find some time in amongst knitting all the other projects to get it made up. The yarn used is a double knit from West Yorkshire Spinners from the New Country Birds Collection and is 100% Blue Faced Leicester.
Unfortunately, I ran out of the multicoloured yarn several rows before I’d completed the main part of the shawl, which means the shawl is slightly smaller than the size specified on the pattern.
The colours are beautifully autumnal, unlike most of the clothes I own
There have been so many yummy yarnny deliveries of late that the stock rooms are fit to burst and there’s a danger that I’ll go in one day and never return
There were 2 deliveries last week, 2 the week before and there have been 3 so far this week, with at least one more due. Sadly, this does mean that I’m a little behind when it comes to telling you all what’s in and even more behind with knitting my samples for the shop 😳
Cracking on then –
Last week was a good week for those sock knitters among us with several different items arriving in to help keep your toes toasty. The Knitpro Karbonz in 2.5mm are back and I’ve also stocked up on the 2.5mm Knitpro circulars too.
Now for some yarn porn
3 delightful shades in Opal Beachcoming
The almost complete range of Opal Solids
Something we haven’t had for a while now – 6ply sock yarn. It’s the Daydreaming range from Opal. Can’t wait to give 6ply (double knit to you and me) socks a go 💡
Another new addition and one completely at the other side of the woolly spectrum is Flame from Rico Yarns.
Flame from Rico, is a lightweight super chunky yarn, note I said lightweight. Each 50g ball contains a whopping 90 metres and knits to a tension of 10 stitches to 14 rows on 10mm needles. it’s a wool blend, 40% wool/60% acrylic and I’ve opted for 6 of the available 7 variegated shades (2 of them were very similar). Reasonably priced too at €4.99 per ball – Bargain!
We have patterns too and I’ve promised Dina a cardi but I have to cast on a jumper I’ve been promising Durahn first. In the meantime I think I might get a hat knitted up for the shop and possibly the odd Christmas gift too.
I’m happy, no throwing cartwheel ecstatic, to report that we’ve done it!
We’ve managed to collect our target 5000 stockings for the Knit Happens Campaign and more 🙂
The stockings have been checked, counted, bagged up into 50’s, (checked twice) and sent out in counter top boxes to the lovely East Cork Rapid Response people to distribute for sale around the East Cork area.
So far you should hopefully be able to find them at the following outlets.
Castlemartyr Resort
Garryvoe Stores
Ladysbridge Post Office
Greengrocer Castlemartyr
Castle Holistic Clinic Castlemartyr
Pobail Scoil na Trionaide Youghal
Cobh Leisure Centre
East Ferry Rowing Club
Robinson Tyres Midleton
Ballymacoda Post Office
Crowleys Youghal
O’sullivans Gortroe
Brodericks Garage Shanagarry
Sammy Revins Butchers Youghal
Read n Write Youghal
Sean Twomey Butcher Youghal
Crees Card Shop Youghal
Castlemartyr Florist
Centra Cloyne
Cloyne Post Office
Youghal Library
Wallis Bar Midleton
Midleton Park Hotel
Results Fitness Midleton
Dr. Morehan Killeagh
Colemans Newsagent Killeagh
Arcade Midleton
McCarthys News Midleton
Well n Good Midleton
4home Midleton
Costcutters Carrigtohill
Dr Dorans Surgery
Centra Carrigtohill
Bramley Lodge
Garveys Supervalu Cobh
Murphys Centra Cobh
Keatings Londis Newtown Cobh
Rosies Aghada
Days Whitegate
Nutrition Club Midleton
Ladysbridge Market
Old Thatch Killeagh
Community Radio Youghal
Big, big, big thanks to everyone involved so far.
We’re still in need of more outlets and would love to hear from any in the East Cork Area that would be happy to sell a few stockings to help raise funds for the East Cork Rapid Response. If you see the boxes in any of the places mentioned, please take a photo and share it on the Knit Happens Facebook Page so we can give a little nod to all of those supporting the campaign.
There has been so much going on lately that I’m struggling a little more than usual to keep up.
On Sunday as I’d mentioned, I went to the RDS for The Knitting & Stitching Show. Unfortunately, for my ever suffering husband, my car decided it really had had enough of driving back and forth on the Dungorney Road.
I feel the need to point out to those of you that won’t be familiar with the afore mentioned road, that I mean ‘road’ in the loosest sense of the word. Imagine a road as smooth as silk, a pleasure to drive, that your car no matter the age, make or model, glides smoothly over.
The road from Lismore (where I live) to The shop in Midleton, is the exact opposite.
So Coni and I headed off in the wee small hours and arrived pretty much as the doors to the hall were opening. As usual there was a right mish mash of vendors, many with yummy woolly, fabricy goodness, lots of papercrafting and embroidery too, but there were quite a few stalls selling everything from clothes to hard skin removers, which as always is a little disappointing.
Happily there were a couple of stalls with new items on them including 2 new Irish companies that caught my eye especially.
Denise Pinnegar is the woman behind the new Irish business Unravel, which she runs from her studio in Co. Wexford. Denise has created several knitting and crochet kits which use Irish Yarns, find out more about Unravel here.
The Bead & Button Emporium is the brainchild of Sharon Murphy who has developed a unique collection of hand-crafted jewellery, buttons, beads and more. Working with polymer clay, Sharon’s wares are beautiful and imaginative with a little quirkiness thrown in for good measure. As a fan of all things buttons I’ll certainly be looking into the possibility of becoming a stockist of The Bead & Button Emporium goodies.
The other items I purchased were material for my son to make himself a pair of trousers and some grey denim to make a dress for me. A hank of beautiful Coolree Yarn to have a little play with, a couple of books to add to my library and the ball of Katia Chevrolet is so I can knit it up an see if I’d like to get it in for the shop. I also picked up one of the fantastic Latvian Mitten Kits from Hobbywool as they were just to tempting to resist.
If that wasn’t enough excitement for one week TV3 met us at the shop first thing in the morning yesterday to film a 2 minute piece on our Knit Happens campaign for the lunchtime and evening news. Lee Ann Flemming a friend and one of our knitting group regulars was persuaded to come along and join me for the filming, bedecked in and rocking her woolly creations (thanks babes).
The cameraman Rory was a genius and really managed to bring out the beauty of the stockings when he zoomed in for the piece and I was really happy with how pretty the shop looked on the film.
What wasn’t shown on the clip was how much of an ‘accomplished’ knitter Paul Byrne is 😉
All of this publicity, on the telly and in the newspapers as fun as it looks, is to try and get our message out there and raise awareness of the very necessary service that is the East Cork Rapid Response.
Today I have 100 flatpacked boxes to get ready for the next stage of our Knit a Stocking Campaign – Selling Them.
We hope to have the boxes in the shops and business in the East Cork region, that have agreed to help us raise funds by the end of this week, so keep an eye out for them. It would be great if some of you could take the time to post on the Knit Happens Facebook Page if you notice one of our boxes.
Tomorrow is the launch night and I have to make a speech – wish me luck.
Wendy yarns have really pulled out all the stops this season, first there was the rather lovely Ramsdale double knit yarn that I spoke about in my last post and now there’s Serenity Chunky.
As the name would imply the yarn is a standard chunky weight and suitable for patterns using a tension of 14 stitches to 20 rows on 6.5mm needles. Made from 20% Fine Alpaca, 10% Wool and 70% Premium Acrylic the yarn is super, squidgy soft and due to a some kind of manufacturing process the Alpaca is thrown to the surface of the yarn which gives it a fantastic lustrous look.
There are 13 autumnal shades to ‘oo’ and ‘ahh’ over, if you’re anything like me that is? Each 100g ball contains a generous 140 metres and costs €5.90 making it a very reasonably priced yarn for al your chunky projects.
As you might have already guessed I’ve been frantically knitting garments to display the new yarns in the shop and at this time of year there tends to be a good few of them to get through. As a result I looked around for a small persons garment to knit using the Serenity Chunky and decided to go with Snug by Hinke. The pattern costs €4.50 to download however, there is also an aran weight version of the pattern available and you can purchase both versions as an eBook for €6.
(I should point out I haven’t blocked my little Snug cardi in these photos)
The cardigan has been cleverly constructed to have minimal seaming at the back of the neck and over the shoulders and contains references to all of the techniques included, which include using a provisional cast on and grafting. There are 4 sizes – newborn to 4 years and the stretchiness of garter stitch knit sideways will ensure the cardigan is nice and roomy, so it will last for some time. The design element of the fold back cuffs also means they can be rolled down as little arms grow.
I made the second size and used about 2 and a half balls of the Serenity Chunky. There is a little finishing up along the front borders in crochet which I took up and around the hood because I like the look of it..
Last but not least are the oversize toggles, which I couldn’t resist sewing on with lime green yarn for a little bit of extra interest (not that it’s very clear in the photos).
Overall it’s an interesting little pattern, great for learning new techniques if you’ve never used them before and as there are over 1500 projects on Ravelry it’s obviously quite a popular choice too.
Ramsdale is one of the new yarns released by Wendy for Autumn/Winter 2014. It’s a pure wool, double knit yarn so as you would expect the recommended needle size is 4mm with a knitted tension of 22 stitches to 28 rows.
Each 50g ball costs €4.99 and contains 112 metres of woolly goodness, which should of course be hand washed.
There are 10 Autumnal shades in the range, sadly the first hasn’t arrived in after stock issues with the manufacturer. This little glitch is made even more annoying as it’s the shade I’ve knitted up as a sample garment (Grrr).
However, the garment is lovely. Some of you might have caught my sneaky photos on Instagram of it being knitted and then blocking in the sun?
The pattern is called Poolside by Isabell Kraemer and costs €4.90 on Ravelry. Knitted top down the design is detailed and easy to follow and contains instructions for seven sizes from XS to XXL, I’ve made the small (35″ chest) as the top part of the jumper is meant to be fitted. In total I used 9 balls of Ramsdale having knitted it slightly shorter, to fit my 5ft 3″ frame and I blocked it quite vigorously to open out the lace.
BeforeAfter
I loved the look of the lace pattern before blocking, but wanted the garment to have a more A-line shape to it, which I achieved by stretching and pinning it out whilst damp.
The good news is it’s on display in the shop for all to see, which is bad news for me, because I won’t get to wear it for a good while yet.
As most of you already know we were closed for most of August whilst we refurbished the shop. I know from talking to a lot of people the general consensus was that the shop was fine and dandy the way it was. However, for me when we moved into the new premises 2 years ago I didn’t have time to get it just how I wanted it and it had been really bugging me, hence the August break.
Whilst many of you will have seen the transformation in the flesh, there are a good few of you that are unable to get into us regularly or purchase from us via mail-order.
So let me take you on a little tour…….
On entering the shop you’ll happen first upon our new knitwear display area. My super talented hubby has gone bonkers with copper pipe (he’s a plumber) and made me this beautiful display rack, which compliments the mannequins perfectly.
Behind the mannequins there’s my upcycled vintage suitcase and my now gold painted hat stand.
Looking down the shop there are shelves running down most of the left hand side to meet the counter, which we have moved in order to open up the shop floor completely. The shelves are packed with weights from 1ply to dk and we’ve managed to do away with the pattern stand by slotting the folders and books in between the yarn.
For those of you that were colour spotting on Facebook you’ll probably have noticed the ribbon stand has received a lick of aqua paint or two.
To the right or the ribbon stand there’s the basic acrylic corner (part 1)
Part 2
We’ve moved the buttons to the other side of the acrylic stand and the haberdashery supplies seem to fit in just nicely next to them.
Next comes the aran weight unit. Complete with gaps for some of the new yarns due in.
Where the counter was previously and some might even say the piece de resistance, are the vintage cinema seats and upcycled tyre coffee table.
Last but not least is the chunky/super chunky stand – I haven’t completely worked out where all of the new yarn that’s on order is going to squeeze in there yet though.
So far the response from everyone has been extremely positive ‘the shop seems bigger’, ‘there’s lots more light’, ‘it’s easier to see everything’ and everyone loves the upcycling with my hubbys copper pipe work receiving the most praise.
Have I tempted you to come and visit? It’s a bit of a work in progress as there’s still things I’d like to get done so I’ll keep you posted.
At this stage I have a good few of you plagued with my constant pushing of The Craft Club’s Guinness World Record Yarnbomb attempt in aid of The Little Haven’s Hospice. If any of you have missed pop over here to my previous post to find out all about it.
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The final project goes on display in the gardens of the hospice on the 25th August so I sent over a shoe box stuffed with items earlier this week and this photo heavy post is to share the the lovely little items dropped off by some of you and which will contribute to the spectacular efforts of The Craft Club to raise a good few smiles and highlight a very worthy cause.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 