Tag: midleton

They’re Off!

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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

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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?

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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!

More Has Arrived

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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

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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!

We’re Stash Dash Ready, Are You?

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Hubby and I went over to the shop today to get everything ready for the Stash Dash, 5 hours later and this is what the shop looked like.

As you can see from the pictures everything else is covered up except for all the lovely sale yarn.

I’ve tried to be brutal and clear out a good few ranges and shades, some of them have been my favourites and the temptation to hang on to yarns I love was quite strong, but we need to make room for all the lovely wool that’s started to come in.

As you might expect this is our post summer (as in sun for those of you that have forgotten what it looks like) Stash Dash, so there are quite a few summery yarns included however, there’s also chunky, aran and super chunky.  For those lace weight knitters amongst you there’s some of the finer stuff and lets not forget to mention the 4ply.

Be sure to come prepared, pull out your patterns and books, search Ravelry and make your lists.  Don’t forget we’re now counting down to the ‘C’ word so if you haven’t started gift knitting yet get planning now.  I’ve already pulled out a few balls myself today to make the teachers Christmas Decorations and I was also considering stripey, fuzzy legwarmers for all the little people I know, so I could be rifling through a bit more yet.

If you haven’t booked your slot. or you can’t commit to a set time you can always wander down.  We’ll be taking 1 walk in per 20 minute slot so you can take your chances, otherwise send us a text or email and we’ll squeeze you in somewhere.

If possible bring a shopping bag or 2 to squeeze your purchases in to and as before I’ll be shaking the Chernobyl Children’s Trust collection box at you all to try and raise a little extra for the charity.

Hope to see as many of you as possible on Tuesday.

Happy Knitting!

 

 

 

 

The Madness Caused a Malfunction – Sorry

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New Shop

As most of you probably know by now, we have moved premises.  As it wasn’t the first time I’ve done this you’d have thought I’d have known what the relocating would  consist of – yes and no is the easiest answer there.

In all honesty my previous moves have never included the sheer volume of yarn that we now stock and packs of yarn are quite big, especially when you have as much of it as we do.  Then there’s the little matter of dyelots and we won’t even mention split packs – nightmare!

Anyway, we’re in and we did open as planned on the 9th August, however to be frank the lights have been on but there’s no one at home.  I’ve been running on autopilot for the last fortnight and I only realised how bad it had got when I failed to notice something really important in a friends text message on Saturday evening.  Fortunately, I did spot it on Sunday when I re-read the text and rather red faced I explained my predicament and her being such a good friend was cool with it (phew).

So we’ll ease back into this gently, I have some great ideas to try and bring to the blog in the future including a run down on the latest magazines, a look at the books I love and possibly even the odd video, which will carry a warning ‘unmanicured hands’ my nails are far too small and grow upwards (I’m special I know).  In addition to that I still intend on trying to bring you some of my designs and keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in the shop and the greater woolly world.  I’d like to try and make this blog an interactive platform too, so if there’s anything knitted related you’d like included let me know and I’ll try my very best to accommodate you.

From the back corner

Looking through to the classroom

We’ve also decided to stock the odd bit of giftware and a few fat quarters, items that I hope will compliment the yarn goodies.  We intend to expand the haberdashery ranges too in the coming months and will be running a children’s knitting group and (hopefully a crochet group too.

Fat Quarters

We’ve already added to our giftware range since opening and have now taken delivery of some very unusual and pretty fairtrade gift items.  We’re aiming to ensure that most of the items we stock will be €15 or under with many under €5 so they can be picked up as and when you see them.

Hope to see you soon
.

Happy Knitting!

Look Out For The Sign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Help! Where Has My Creativity Gone?

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Where has it gone?

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you just have sooooooo much going on that you just can’t seem to find the time to be creative?

Yes, I have had an extremely busy week; first there was the two assignments that had to be in for Tuesday and two assessments that also took place on Tuesday. A friend was also in hospital so I went to see her – she’s out now thankfully.  Apparently it’s OK for a hospital to discharge you and send you home even when they have no idea what’s wrong with you?

Then of course there was the Stash Dash. It worked, I think. Yippee!  All the feedback we’ve had has been really positive and I think those that were a little unsure of what it was all about will be better prepared next time.  I intend on trying to do two Stash Dashes a year so they’ll usually  be a little more seasonal.  I had to try very hard not to add to my stash – I’m not sure I have anymore room – I don’t think the odd pack counts.  At least one pack of Twilley’s Spirit Chunky may have worked it’s way into my stash.  I don’t have to feel guilty though as my friend knits for me (as I can never seem to find the time) and the yarn is earmarked for this rather nice waistcoat/short sleeve cardi.

One for Jill to knit – hopefully.

I’d also become quite stressed over the robe I’d made for the Naming Day ceremony of one of my good friend’s baby.  I was pretty sure her and her hubby would like it but you never know.  I’d designed it before the baby was born and we were unsure what kind it was going to be.  Boy, girl, possibly martian (only because their massive geeks, pretty sure they also won’t have a problem with me saying so either).  I’d put off giving it to the proud parents as the truly beautiful Emily was a little dinky when she was born – 6lb 12oz – and the naming ceremony is happening a month earlier than I first thought.  They love it though, they really do, and I am over the moon that I got it right and that I could do this for them. It’s so great when a plan comes together (A-Team fans anyone, I mean the real one circa 1980s. Yes, I am actually that old).

A sneaky pic of part of the robe

The rest of my week has thus far been spent cleaning, tidying, washing, cooking (two hours today – madness) and generally being very non-creative.  I have managed to make a delightful little pair of preemie booties, but they’re so small I’m not sure they count.  I’ve also knitted the hat in the first picture, to add sizes to the hat design I’ve been using for the Chernobyl Collection.

It’s meant to fit an average woman’s head – proof if ever it was needed that I’m not your average woman!

€3 Stash Dash

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We’re having a clear out at the shop, a big one.

 

Image

€3 Sale Day Rules

  • The €3 sale day will take place on Wednesday 20th from 9am until 7pm
  • Due to the size of the shop, only a certain number of customers can shop at the same time, this also means ‘shopping time ‘ is limited to 15 minutes for everyone (no exceptions, sorry).
  • Time slots can be booked from today (Monday 4th June).  There is no charge for the event but we would love it if everyone could make a €1 donation in the collection box in the shop for The Chernobyl Children’s Trust.
  • Times will be issued on a first come first served basis, all customers will be given a ticket with their allotted time written on it. This is the only way we can ensure everyone who wants to avail of the day can.
  • We will have a limited number of times available for customers that turn up on the day. 
  • The only items available to purchase on the day will be the discounted yarn.  We will not be selling from our general stock.  This includes patterns, needles, notions, or collection of yarn that is on lay by, sadly we just won’t have the time to offer our usual service.
  • Come prepared – Have a rough idea what kind of yarn you’re after.   What weight, colour, fibre. Pull out your patterns and work out your amounts before that’s why we give you over a fortnight to plan.

        Remember you only have 15 minutes.

  • Every customer that purchases 11 balls or more will receive a raffle free raffle ticket.  If your ticket is one of the lucky ones you will receive a gift from us.  It could be a magazine, a pair of needles, a crochet hook, just a little extra to say thank you for your support.
  • All €3 sales are final; there can be no returns or exchanges.  As with all of our sale yarns, we do not offer a ‘lay by’ service, please ensure you buy enough yarn to complete your project.

 If the day is a success we plan to do 2 of these ‘blowout’ days a year.  Over the next couple of days I will begin to get together a list of some of the yarns that are going to be included in the sale, in the meantime get looking through your patterns and books.  Slots are available from this morning.

The girls at the knitting group last night suggested that I remind everyone that we do not have the facilities to take Laser/Credit Cards at the shop – sorry.

Knitting for Chernobyl Childrens Trust

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http://www.facebook.com/ChernobylChildrensTrust?ref=pb

One of the members of our knitting group (Mary) opens her house and more importantly her heart to children that come to stay for rest and recuperation from Chernobyl.  The children are brought over by the Chernobyl Children’s trust – check them out here http://www.facebook.com/ChernobylChildrensTrust?ref=pb
The organisation is an Irish charity run by volunteers to help children and families most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Their help takes many forms in addition to Bringing children over to stay with Irish families the charity also offer assistance on the ground in Belarus.  The charity are very hands on and help in so many ways including community support and developement, building rennovations, holiday camps for special kids, family support, home care for special needs kids and humanitarian support.
 
Their mission is to help build the futures of those affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in a principled effective and humanitarian way. They are committed to bringing trust, dignity and joy both to those we seek to help and to our volunteers and supporters.
 
We are committed to bringing trust, dignity and joy both to those we seek to help and to our volunteers and supporters. As an organization of volunteers, we can give maximum donor value by directing all funds to exactly where they are most needed.
Description

A non-denominational, non-political, humanitarian organisation, we work in partnership with community based Belarusian organisations to bring children to Ireland for recouperation holidays. We also operate essential programmes for the advocacy and support for disabilities, poverty and sickness, the promotion of health and community development for marginalised children and their families, throughout Belarus.

General information

Chernobyl Children’s Trust is an Irish registered charity set up and run by volunteers dedicated to helping children and families most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. All proceeds from our fundraising efforts go directly to helping the children of Belarus.