Tag: knitting

It’s A Bit Bonkers Round Ere Of Late, Ain’t It?

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Wow!

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Knitting!

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Favourite Yarns – New Shades

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If I don’t finish this post now, it’s going to be Monday before I get back to it as I’m going to The Knitting & Stitching Show at the RDS in Dublin tomorrow ♥ 

The yarn companies really seem to have got their act together in terms of colour this season and have selected some beautiful hues to add to the palettes in their existing ranges.

Snuggly

Our most popular yarn in the shop is probably Sirdar Snuggly Double Knit and I’ve decided to add 5 new shades to our range.   Look at that blue.

Supersoft Aran

I’m loving the new aqua colourway in Supersoft Aran, but looking at the 3 new shades together they all look great.

 

Baby Chunky

Something similar again in Baby Hayfield Chunky yarn too.

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Two pretty additions in Sirdar Baby Crofter.

BuzzTwo more in Bonus Buzz.  Every time I see the turquoise and grey colourway it make me think of knitting a stuffed robot for some reason?

Bonus AranLast but not least are 2 more shades in Bonus Aran Tweed and 1 lovely new shade in Bonus Aran (my son will be getting a jumper in this).

I’ll try and get some photos of the show tomorrow to share.  A friend has recommended a few of the stalls already, I’m particularly looking forward to seeing the Latvian Knitting Kits.  Hopefully, the rain will have stopped.

Happy Knitting!

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Quick Super Chunky Knits

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At the beginning of the month I shared a Ravelry link to the pattern for the Dropped Stitch Cowl by Abi Gregorio.  As i mentioned at the time I was planning on knitting up one rather quickly after having fallen in love with the pattern.

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The first one I knitted was for Dina in the awesome bright red Rico Super Chunky and I’m happy to report she loves it, so much so that it’s never going to be left in the shop long enough for people to see.

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So when 5 new colours in Rico Creative Twist arrived in I knew the Dropped Stitch Cowl would be the ideal quick knit for a display garment.  It took a little over the one ball and I’m actually going to knit up a stripey one as a Christmas gift using a ball of the grey with the remaining burgandy yarn.

I hate taking ‘selfies’ but there was nobody here to help me.  basically my arms aren’t long enough to hold the camera far enough away and my hands are too small to hold the phone and press the button.  However, in the spirit of ‘we’re all friends ere’, ta-dah!

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Add this pattern to your Christmas Knitting list, you won’t be disappointed and neither will the recipient.  The only problem will be everyone else asking you to knit one for them.

Happy Knitting!

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The Sweat Shop For Knit Happens

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Dina my daughter said to me on Saturday “to be fair mum you never do things by half” and whilst I’m loathed to admit it, she could be right.

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The best thing about taking on a big project like the Knit Happens Knit a Stocking for the East Cork Rapid Response Campaign and the blankets before, is the laugh we manage to have as the countdown begins.  This Saturday was no exception, as my lovely knitting ladies turned up in force to help with the ‘quality control’ aspect of the campaign.

Every stocking that has been handed in so far had to be checked to ensure it was complete.  I’d noticed as they were handed in, that some of the little socks were without hanging loops, or had ones to small to successfully hang on a tree.  We also wanted to separate the novelty stockings, as we’re hoping to try and sell these for €5 each on a ‘Lucky Dip’ basis.

I need to say a big thank you to the following friends, for generously giving up their time on Saturday afternoon only to find themselves squashed into the kitchen with bags and crates of stockings.

Fiona, Lucy, Sadie, Deidre, Martina, Michelle, Shirley, Agnieszka and Lee Ann.

Hopefully, you can tell from the photos that we managed to have a laugh.

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There’s more to sort and we’re hoping they’ll be a good few more stockings handed in too.  In the meantime we managed to get through a good few of them and have checked, counted and re-counted the little stockings into bags of 50.  These will be distributed to the businesses around the East Cork area, that have kindly agreed to try and sell some of them to help the collection for the East Cork Rapid Response.

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81 bags ready to go so far, or to put it another way 4050 little Knit Happens Stockings which we hope will become €8100.

Happy Knitting!

 

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StashBot

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stashbot

 

What is StashBot?

Flipping Fantastic! That’s what.

I follow Hannah Fettig aka KnitBot on Instagram and reccently saw a post to announce that she had released her Stashbot idea as an app for IOS.  Originally, you could purchase Stashbot as a paper version from woolly stockists but the app version takes it to a whole new level of portability.

So what can Stashbot do?

Basically, Stashbot has been developed to make it easier for you to work out the average yarn requirements for certain, everyday garments in different sizes.

 

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Searching stitches per 10cm

 

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Searching stitches per inch

 

 

The first thing to note is that it’s based on tension/guage in other words the number of stitches knitted per inch or per 10cm’s.  For example a standard aran weight yarn will knit to a tension of 18 stitches per 10cm’s or 4.5 stitches per inch.

Please note – that if you are using cm’s your yarn requirements will be displayed in metres and if you’re using stitches per inch it will be shown in yards.

Using this tension we can then check how much yarn on average, it will take to knit our chosen project in stocking stitch.  The app suggests that you should reference the next size up for more textured knits.

At present the projects include

  • Vest/Shrug
  • Cropped sweater, 3/4 sleeve
  • Average length sweater
  • Long sweater/tunic
  • Hat
  • Mittens
  • Scarf/shawl/infinity cowl
  • Socks

There is an extensive range of sizes included on the app.

  • Sweaters in sizes from 16″ to 62″
  • Hats, mittens and socks from baby to XL adult
  • Scarves in small, medium and large and

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Here you can see that if I wanted to knit a tunic for your average size two year old, with my standard aran weight tension, I’m going to need approximately 360 metres of yarn.  As I want to add a bit of texture with some moss stitch and maybe the odd cable I look to the next size up, this advises that my project will take 420 metres.  I have 600 metres of yarn to use up, so looking at the requirements for a hat for myself I can see that I should easily be able to complete both projects.  To be on the safe side I’d knit the sweater first though 😉

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The lovely people at Stashbot welcome questions and feedback and have even incorporated a ‘contact us’ button at the top of the page.  I, being my usual annoying self, found myself contacting the Stashbot team almost immediately to champion the addition of a super chunky, 9 stitches to 10cm tension.  I’m happy to say I received a reply within a couple of hours to say they were already working on possible updates, yay!

I wonder if they’ll include a crochet element too?

Unfortunately, for those of you non iphone people, the app is currently only available on IOS but there is an email subscription that you can sign up to for notification when the app becomes available on Android here.

Stashbot costs $4.99 to download from the itunes Store.

I LOVE IT!

Happy Knitting!

 

 

Introducing The Big Green Bin

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Many of you have enquired as to when Stash Dash will be taking place so you can stock up on woolly bargains in time for Christmas gift knitting.  Sadly, as a result of many things including the refurb, Food Festival, Yarndale and family issues it is not going to be possible to organise the event properly.  So I’ve been wracking my brains for a way to clear the yarns we’ve been putting by, but to still give it a bit of a buzz and ensure you all get a good bargain.  Cue The Big Green Bin.

Before you meet I feel it only right and proper to give you a brief history on The Big Green Bin.

The bin has been with me for a little less than 24 years. I bought it, along with it’s twin, to use to store my then baby’s toys. Since it was first purchased it has been rather well travelled and used and ended up at my dad’s for quite a long time, because it kept things safe from the mice that attacked everything in his Lock Keeper’s Cottage.

When my dad died it came back to me and since then it has again been keeping things safe from the mice, moths and damp, this time in one of our outdoor storerooms.  I’ve been using the bin to store…… yarn, no surprises there I guess.

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The bin, as you will see in the shop, is not your ordinary refuse type of bin you can buy now, oh no.  It’s extra sturdy, smooth and really rather cool (as bins go).  Being 24 years old it’s stood the test of time rather well and I’m unsure you’d be able to tell its age just by looking at it.  Talking of 24 year olds, something, or should that be someone, else that’s 24 is Dina, who I rather bullied into this for me.

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Isn’t she lovely? Bless her she had a stinking cold too.  In case any of you are wondering yes, that is the scarf I made her a while back and even more exciting, she’s wearing a pencil skirt her brother made her.  Yey!
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Me thinks she’s slightly sad about being put in the bin 😉

Anyway, I digress (something I do far too much).

The plan is to use The Big Green Bin to clear yarn, but and it’s a big but, the clearance yarn will only be available at the much reduced price for 1 week. Some will even be less than our usual Stash Dash price of €3 per ball.  That means you have to grab it while you can, come in, send someone in or get it sent by mail order.  However, you do it, if the yarn is something you want act quickly.

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Our first yarn to go into the bin and be available until we close on Saturday 11th October is…….

Stylecraft Lullaby for €2 per ball.

I wrote a post about the yarn including all the necessary information and photos of the shades last year and you can find it here.  To be honest I’m only having to clear it because we just don’t have the space since the refurbishment and I had to choose which yarns to let go.

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I’ve been having a bit of a play with it over the weekend and have been using it to crochet up a cushion cover for the shop. There’s still a bit to do, but I’m finding Lullaby lovely to work with and the colours seem to lend themselves well to being striped.

Happy Knitting and/or Crocheting!

Wendy Ramsdale

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Ramsdale ball

Yes it is as lovely as it looks.

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.

ramsdale shades

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.

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Before
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After

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.

2014-09-11 11.15.17The 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.

Happy Knitting!

Come Into Our Crochet Garden

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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.

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Happy Knitting!

(should that be crochet?)

More Baby Knits

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I’ve been so busy trying to plan for our refurbishment that it’s ended up being a couple of weeks since I wrote my last post, despite having tonnes to tell you all about.

My needles and hooks have come close to combusting with all the use they’ve been getting.  I’m currently mid way into at least two projects for the shop and I’ve just started another.  I’ve been baby knitting for my friends first grandchild and another friend has just had a baby too :-0 and then I was trying to crochet up a few bits for The Craft Club Yarnbomb, oh and I’ve been crocheting for the shop too.   (I’m so excited about the refurb, sad I know)

I thought you might like to see the little cardi I knitted up for baby Sean as it’s one of my all time favourite patterns.

Beyond Puerperium by Kelly Brooker is going to set you back about €4.20 via Ravelry here  and it’s worth every cent.  The pattern includes sizes newborn to 2 years with options for using 4ply, double knit or aran weight yarn.  If you have time I recommend looking at what other knitters have made on the project pages as there are some great colour combinations and pattern modifications.

There is a free double knit version of the pattern available too in newborn size, if you want to try before you buy, but I guarantee you’ll be hooked.

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I’ve used a lovely vintage green Sirdar Snuggly DK with multicoloured buttons from Rico this time but I’ve made several of them now and am happy to report Dina has too, she’s actually making a lovely candy pink one at the moment (we’re sharing the buttons, I used the boyish ones she’s using the girlie ones).  I’ll see if I can persuade her to let me post a photo or two here when she’s finished.

I’ve just sent all the yarn bomb goodies off so my next post will be a photo explosion of crochet creativity.

Happy Knitting!

I thought I’d published this ……

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More crochet I’m afraid, but I love how this has turned out so much I’m actually going to make at least one more for myself and another for a friend for Ch…. (nearly said it) ‘you know when’ .

I used Knitcol from Adriafil in one of the beautiful new colourways and I rather cheekily sat in on one of our workshops to learn how to make it but (I’m told), it’s a basic half granny shawl and there are several similar patterns available on Ravelry.  Of course you can always put your name down for one of the workshops here too.

Can you see me now, sitting, knitting on one of these lovely summer evenings with it wrapped around my shoulders sipping, rather elegantly I might add …… MY MUG OF BLACK TEA.

😉

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