Tag: lace

Oh Dear

LeftFootDaisy6 Comments

Oh dear indeed…….

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.

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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.

Also the Attic 24 inspired crochet flowers.

Catrina aka Purl Petal is to blame for the crochet squares.  If she hadn’t brought her beautiful blanket into the shop to show me, I wouldn’t have needed to start one.  Go and check it out  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/PurlPetal/granny-squares-crochet-blanket

 

10 in total

EXCEPT THERE’S NOT

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.

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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.

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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?)

More That’s New

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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)

Snuggly dk

 

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.

Snuggly 4ply

 

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.

Baby crofter

 

 

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 patterns
Baby Crofter designs now also showing the yarn being used for older children’s garments

 

snuggly patterns
Just a few of the new Sirdar Snuggly DK patterns

 

Crochet 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.

ewe
Just some of the designs

 

Happy Knitting!

Stylecraft Stars

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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.

Stars

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.

Stars patterns 2

 

Stars patterns 1

 

Stars patterns 3

 

Stars patterns 4

 

Happy Knitting!

 

 

 

 

Guess What? It’s Stash Dash Time

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stash dash pic

For those of you that have been before you’ll know what it’s all about, the rest of you would probably best to read this previous post here http://knitmidleton.com/2012/07/23/everybody-keeps-asking-me/

Basically, we cover up all the shelves and lay out as many tables as we can fit into the shop; on top of these we put all the yarn we’re discontinuing.  There could be whole ranges of yarn, shades of yarn and some you might not have seen before.  There will be odd balls, several balls and packs of balls, no matter what, all balls are €3 each.  (All sales are final, no returns)

There are things to consider: you have to book your slot if you’re coming in before 1pm.  You only have 20 minutes (you’re timed), you have to prepare, dig out the patterns, check your favourites on Ravelry, make sure you know how much double knit/aran/chunky you need.  There is nothing else available to purchase on the day and there isn’t usually the time to help you calculate yarn amounts, suitability, etc.  You get the most out of the day if you’ve already worked out what you’re looking for.

Have a look at the post linked above if you’re not sure and make sure you book your place for the morning if you want one, quickly before they all go.

This is what you should be expecting.

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Happy Knitting!

Delicious Yarn

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I dropped a little hint about this lovely yarn from Hedgehog Fibres in my last post.  Having unpacked it, lined it all on the table, looked at each individual hank and generally just fawned over it for some time, I feel I can now share.

Twist Sock is 100g hand dyed yarn. Beata the lady from Hedgehog Fibres describes it as a blend of 80% Blue Faced Leicester wool and 20% nylon. High twist will ensure durability and marvelous stitch definition. Soft, yet durable and machine washable. Best of both worlds!

With colours that shift beautifully from one to another. Randomly dyed to prevent striping or pooling, as much as possible, my yarns create variegated effect that looks good in plain stockinette or advanced stitch motifs.

No dye lots, dye is applied randomly, therefore no two hanks are the same.
Machine wash. 4ply. Approx. 365m/100g

What’s not to like love?  Not just for socks either, there’s sooo many lovely 4ply projects out there.

Now I guess you’re gonna want to see the colours?

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The photos really don’t do the colours justice, you’ll have to come and pay us a visit to see the deliciousness (can yarn really be this gorgeous?).

Happy Knitting!

 

 

 

 

December is Here – Lots to Tell

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2013-12-05 14.33.39Tis’ the season to be jolly …….

There’s no time to hang about so, rushing straight into what’s going on here for December.

There’s Harlequin, a new chunky yarn from Stylecraft, great for those quick knits, There’s some lovely pattern support for it including my favourite, this fab cape come poncho thingy.

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There were also 3 new shades to add to our range of Stylecraft’s Kwik Knit which seems to be really popular for cowls and scarves at the moment.

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There’s also another new scarf yarn from Tivoli.  Lace is €12.95 a hank and like most of the scarves it’s a one ball = 1 scarf knit.  It makes quite a full scarf and is selling like hot cakes.

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Lastly (for now anyway) our Special offer this month is on Sirdar Freya which some of you might recall I knitted the hat in last month.

dec pic

freya

There are 8 lovely shades and being a chunky it will knit up fast.  A little goes a long way, I made the hat with one ball.  There’s some lovely pattern support for it too including the accessories below.

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9884_col

I could be off to unpack some yummy hand dyed yarn now, more about that next time.

Happy Knitting!

Drool

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It’s no secret that I love Danish Designer Vibe Ulrik Sondergaard’s knitting designs.  I would go so far as to say that she’s in my top 10 of knitting designers. Elizabeth Zimmerman is without a doubt, number one – her Baby Surprise Jacket is iconic and worthy of the highest praise, and don’t get me started on the rest, there’s the Totem Jacket, the February Sweater……

Anyway, back to Vibe.  ‘Lullaby Knits’ is the latest book of designs to be released by Vibe, published by Collins & Brown. The book has the same vintage feel as Vibe’s previous book ‘Labour of Love’ that I cooed over for some time. This time, however, the designs are all for babies, with the largest size for 18 – 24 months.  The exception is a beautiful lace wrap for mum.

If I’ve counted correctly there are 22 patterns in the book: seven sweaters, six cardigans/jackets, three vests and six patterns that fall under the accessories heading.  It’s difficult to pick my preferred designs as all of the patterns are photographed beautifully, with the most gorgeous of little models dressed in the knitted items. However, if my arm were twisted I’d have to go with the following

The Stay on Ribbed Boots are so sweet. Sadly, the pattern is for one size only (0-3 months).

2013-11-08 10.23.58The Cable and Daisy Stitch Sweater is beautiful and very like my favourite pattern ‘Matilda’ from the previous book ‘Labour of Love’.

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The Garter Stitch Jacket is knitted in aran weight yarn, making it a super quick baby knit and one on my list to make in a hurry.

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I’m usually able to decide on an absolute favourite pattern with most of the knitting and crochet books I see, however, this time I’m torn between two. Both are jumpers, both are unisex, you decide.

This is the Small Cable Sweater

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Whilst this is the Little Tree Sweater

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I might have to find some time to knit both and see if one of the designs wins through.  The only trouble with that is that I no longer have little people small enough to wear the finished garment, so they’ll be ones for the Grandparent Box  (no pressure there!).

In the meantime back to the Christmas gift knitting I go.

Happy Knitting!

Stash Dash Time

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stash 13

For those of you that have been before you’ll know what it’s all about, the rest of you would probably best to read this previous post here http://knitmidleton.com/2012/07/23/everybody-keeps-asking-me/

 

Basically, we cover up all the shelves and lay out as many tables as we can fit into the shop; on top of these we put all the yarn we’re discontinuing.  There could be whole ranges of yarn, shades of yarn and some you might not have seen before.  There will be odd balls, several balls and packs of balls, no matter what, all balls are €3 each.

 

There are things to consider: you have to book your slot, you only have 20 minutes (you’re timed), you have to prepare, dig out the patterns, check your favourites on Ravelry, make sure you know how much double knit/aran/chunky you need.  Have a look at the post linked above if you’re not sure and make sure you book your place quickly before they all go.

 

This is what you should be expecting.

IMG00109-20120902-1703

Happy Knitting!

 

Look what My Children Bought Me

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It was my birthday last week and to be honest I don’t handle them particularly well.  I’m not really sure why, I’d just sooner do the whole present thing without the pressure????

My children were on time as far as ordering me a gift (a couple of days before the unmentionable event), however the said gift only arrived today.  For me this is better, it means I have something to look forward to although my husband believes this is unacceptable (?????).

023So today I happily ripped the packaging off my gift to discover a beautiful hank of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Ravelry Red and a beautiful book called Handmade in the UK with designs from Emily Wessel.

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Usually, I’m pretty up to date on newly published books but I had yet to see this one so it was a complete suprise.  There are 10 designs in the book all with an element of lace in the knitting and if I were to be completely honest I think I’d like to make all but one of them.

I thought you might like a little look at my favourites.

028
Rosewater

Rosewater is this beautiful little, double knit hat.  Made in the round, the pattern includes 5 sizes from baby to large adult.

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Windswept Adult
Windswept child
Windswept child

Windswept is a double knit, v neck jumper with a lace panel running down the centre.  Again the pattern includes an incredible range of sizes, this time from baby to 4XL (16 sizes).  I love the use of garter stitch to make the knit look contemporary.  It’s used on the deep cuffs, the bottom bands and runs up in between the middle of the lace panel and splits to form the neck shaping.

 

Estuary
Estuary

Estuary is a gently shaped 4ply shawl/scarf with 2 lace patterns and is very like something I’ve been designing recently.

Vivid
Vivid

The last pattern in the book is Vivid and there’s no denying it’s beauty.  The instructions include yarn amounts for 1 square knitted in either 4ply, dk or aran weight meaning you can use your favourite yarn.  All day I’ve been jumping from this to my final pattern and back.  Obviously, though I shall have to begin with Winding Way as I have the perfect yarn already, don’t I?

Winding Way
Winding Way

Happy knitting!

 

Squares Everywhere

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Our blanket collection for The House of Hope in Vanadzor, Armenia is well underway and there are squares everywhere.

I’ve got piles of them sorted by size, strips already sewn to be made up into blankets and several finished blankets complete with crochet border, a very basic crochet border believe me.

We’ve calculated it takes approximately 7.5 hours to sew the squares together, sew in all the ends and crochet the border.  So we’ve been trying to sew the squares up as they come in to try and keep on top of things.  A big thank you to those that have been sewing as well as knitting.

As you might expect, the squares initially came in, in various sizes and dare I say shapes.  Undeterred all squares are being used and as you can see the blankets are beautiful when sewn up.

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Please keep your squares coming in as we would love to be able to give as many residents as possible a blanket each.  It might be a little ambitious though as there will hopefully be 80 people, nothing like a challenge.

Happy Knitting!