It’s come around rather quickly again this year, technically it’s actually a week but we’re celebrating on Saturday 21st. The Saturday knitting group is scheduled to take place on the 21st anyway, so it would be lovely to think the sun might be shining. Sunshine or not we can still knit can’t we?
As a little incentive to get a few more of you into the shop armed with your knitting and crochet we’ll have the market stall set outside as we did for Yarn Shop Day. For those of you that missed it before, there will be packs of yarn, books and maybe some other bits and bobs all at discounted prices.
Come and join us for a for a bit of open air knitting fun (fingers crossed anyway).
I thought I’d quickly share this knit with you before I wrap it and send it off to it’s new owner.
You might have seen the photo of the blanket I started for our friends new baby in my last post. The pattern is from James C. Brett, number 173 and uses their Flutterby yarn which looks really pretty but (confession time) I’m not so fond of knitting with.
I’ve used Hayfield Baby Chunky and the blanket which is pram size only used 2 x 100g balls. The garter stitch border adds definition and there are only 4 rows to the lace pattern which becomes very memorable after a few repeats. This really was a quick knit and I can see it being a pattern I’ll use again and again, great for last minute knitting.
The blanket dimensions are approximately 30″ x 20″
Best of all the colour (406) is almost identical to the rosy pink I used in the Gidday Baby Cardigan and the hat. Lets hope the baby’s parents aren’t allergic to pink.
One of our friends has recently had a little baby girl so my needles have been smoking a little with shades of pink and oatmeal.
True, I could have been sensible and just knitted up a few different garments in gender neutral shades and themes and been ahead of the game, but where’s the fun in that?
I’d spotted the Gidday baby cardigan by Tikkiknits on Ravelry a little while ago and have been looking for an excuse to knit it up. You might remember I popped the link up on the shops Facebook page? If you missed it you can find it here.
It’s a fantastic little double knit pattern and this free version has instructions for 2 sizes, newborn and 3 months. If you’d like to make larger sizes the full pattern contains 15 sizes from newborn to 12 years and costs $6AUD or a little over €4, which is a bit of a bargain. Find the full pattern here.
I love the way the yarn overs that make the increased stitches on the yoke add a little extra interest. You can always increase your stitches with a M1 if you’d prefer not to have the little lacy holes in your garment.
I’m rather pleased with the finished cardi, although when knitting it again I think I’ll knit an extra 2 rows of the garter stitch yoke in the main body colour in order to try and overcome the ‘jog’ that happens when knitting stripes.
Look closely and you can see the jog at the bottom of the stripes on the border.
The little wooden flower buttons add that little bit of extra charm, buttons are so important, at least that’s what I keep telling myself to explain away the tins of them I’ve amassed 😉
I used Sirdar Snuggly DK because I love the feel of the finished fabric, it’s machine washable and the range of colours is vast. The cardigan used a little over one ball of the oatmeal (344) and barely any of the rose pink (Lolly 420) so I thought I’d be proactive and try and use up a little more of the yarn rather than just pop it straight into my ever growing stash.
The pattern I used for the hat is from Stylecraft Yarns number 8794 , but I still have yarn left. Maybe some booties too?
Trouble is I’ve already started this for the baby (oops!)
You might have noticed I’ve gone a little crochet mad of late, I’m not even sure why to tell the truth. I am and always will be a knitter and it kind of feels like I’m having a bit of an affair really.
The crochet is quick, instant colour gratification and in my case, used mostly for items of frippery.
This scarf for Dina, my daughter (she shows up here quite regularly and is equally obsessed by woolly things – she’s been infected) came about when I was helping a customer to select colours for a crochet blanket project.
The aforementioned customer ended up choosing a more pastel combination I’d grouped together whilst I found myself fit to burst with the need to crochet these five up.
Casting the bookwork aside (any excuse) I set to work on a granny square, still not sure what it would end up being.
I made a couple more squares and it dawned on me that a summer scarf was the way to go.
First dilemma = How many squares?
It’s a summer scarf so it’s not really for warmth (hopefully). Originally I thought 15, but after trying it on several times I opted for 13. Each square is roughly 5″ x 5″ so the scarf is approximately 65″ long.
Using all these colours unfortunately equals a lot of ends to sew in and I even found myself taking it to bed on one occasion, refusing to go to sleep until they were all done.
Not too bad a job, even if I do say so myself.
Second dilemma = How to join the squares?
I could have sewn the squares together through the back loops only, mattress stitched them, over stitched them but instead I chose to crochet them together using double crochet.
This has created a beautiful ridge which defines each square and also ads a little weight to the front of the scarf. Hopefully it will also mean it sits the right way out when worn.
More ends to sew again, this time whilst waiting in the car for my youngest to come out after school. This time I refused to drive off until I’d finished. (my poor family)
I’m really happy with the finished scarf and it took very little yarn. Hopefully my beautiful daughter won’t mind me taking a pic or two of her wearing it for me to share here. In the meantime I’ve had to use a chair to drape it over.
So for those of you that missed it Saturday 3rd of May was Yarn Shop Day. It was great to see so many of you out to support us and good fun was had by all (I hope) despite the rain 😦
After all the fun and games I have some competition and raffle winners to announce.
The raffle winners are as follows –
Sock Yarn – Mary Healy
Scrumptious Lace Weight Yarn – Fiona Ryan
Snuggly Dk & Pattern – Deidre McArdle
Bambeanies by Woolly Wormhead – Edwina Cole
Erika Knight – Molly McSweeny
Lucy Neatby, The Brand New Knitter DVD – Sadie Foley
Knitpro Symphonie Interchangeable Starter Set – Susan Macfarlane
We also had a ‘Guess the Number of Buttons in the Jar’ for our younger visitors on the day. The winner receives a €5 gift voucher for Auntie Nellies Sweet Shop and a woolly goody bag donated by the good folks over at Stylecraft Yarns, for the knitter in their life.
Can you guess?????
252
None of the children guessed correctly, but the nearest was Jasmine Jennings with 258. Well done Jasmine the Auntie Nellies Gift Voucher is yours and I’m guessing your mum or your sister might like to receive the goody bag.
Last but not least.
There was the competition to find our fastest Knit Happens stocking knitter.
The stocking had to be knitted in two colours and this mind blowing time was achieved by Mary Murphy, who wins 4 balls of Sirdar Bonus Dk for her effort, which she whipped up with smoke rising from her needles in a little over 10 minutes..
The second fastest stocking knitter was Mary O’Donovan with a little over 12 minutes. Mary wins a ball of King Cole Splash for her speedy needles.
Those of you that didn’t make it won’t have had a chance to see our yarnbombed rocking chair, which definitely helped entice passers by in. We’ll be taking it with us, along with lots of our Knit happens stockings to the Midleton Mid May Festival on Sunday 18th at The Square (near The Granary). Why not come and see it and lend your support to this new festival
You can find out more about what’s happening over the weekend here
So Yarn Shop Day is very nearly upon us, 1 more sleep until the fun begins.
As promised here’s a little peek at some of the goodies on offer tomorrow on our market stall outside the shop.
They’ll be all of these books and more all down to €5 each with some going for as little as €3.
All of the packs of yarn on the stall will be €20 each, including the multi packs.
There will be other yarn in the special bins for €3 a ball and the day will be full of on the spot give-aways. Not to mention the raffle and the competition to find the fastest Knit Happens stocking knitter.
It seems like I’ve been trying to write this post for weeks now what with computer and internet problems *sigh*
Anyway….
Yarn shop day (taking place on Saturday May 3rd) is all about you showing your love for local yarn shops. It is also an important opportunity for bricks and mortar shops – such as ourselves – to remind our customers how valuable our personal experience and knowledge of all things wonderful and wooly really is.
Whilst the online yarn market is fantastic for those that cannot manage to get into a shop or can’t find something particular it is also unfortunately taking away from the tradition of local yarn shops. There is nothing better than going into your local yarn shop and having a good squidge and play with the wool, as well as getting hands on help and advice. Knitters and crocheters alike are an enthusiastic bunch and our shop has often played host to a number of excited discussions about new projects and ideas between strangers that have bonded over their love of the craft.
Yarn shops are fast becoming an endangered species and every week I will have someone come in and say how nice it is to have found a wool shop because they no longer have a local one. A visit to the yarn shop was something I looked forward to as a child and even now I still get excited when I go to a new place and discover they have a yarn shop to explore.
So in the spirit of all things woolly we are planning the following events, giveaways and special offers to celebrate Yarn Shop Day.
The first 15 customers to spend €25 or more receive a baby knits goody bag.
11am – There will be a demonstration on how to use the amazing Clover Pom-Pom Makers.
2-4pm – We are holding a competition to see who can knit a “Knit Happens” stocking the fastest.
There will be a woolly raffle with prizes including Knit Pro needles, Scrumptious Yarn and a variety of books. (Details of the raffle will be posted here and on Facebook in the coming days.)
A free Sparklemouse pattern will be sent to your via e-mail when you spend €5 or more.
Clearance packs of yarn and books will be available to buy throughout the day on our market stall outside at less than even Stash Dash Prices.
Throughout the week we will try (I stress the word try) to pop up photos of some of the items that will be putting on the market stall and using as raffle prizes.
Included with our regular delivery of books from The Book people this month was Knitting with Giant Needles by Hanna Charlotte Erhorn and published by Dorling Kindersley.
If I was to be completely honest, on first glance I wasn’t that impressed with the content of the book however, I decided to give it a proper chance. Armed with a cuppa I spent some time perusing the pages and have since revised my opinion.
Using big needles or crochet hooks isn’t everyone’s idea of fun. Big tools can be a little different to get use to holding and you will probably have to change your technique a little, but the speed with which you can finish a project is fantastic. I love the look of chunky stitches and the added interest they bring from the texture. Big knitting is a great way of incorporating knitting into your home with chunky cushions and throws, bathmats and even wall hangings.
Back to the book…..
As you might expect with a book from DK, everything is photographed beautifully and explained very clearly. There are a couple of pages at the front of the book discussing chunky needles and yarns and towards the back of the book there is a great techniques section covering basic knitting, sewing up and crochet.
In total there are 35 projects in the book, most of them would fall under the heading ‘accessories’ or ‘frippery’ , however most of them are cute and quirky and would make great gifts.
My only complaint is that there isn’t a pattern included for the beautiful, crochet hearts shown on page 9 of the book, but I’m sure Attic 24 has a version on her blog.
I’ve picked 5 of my favourites to show you
Soft Baskets
Draught Excluder
Bobble Hat
Zippy Purse
Cat House
This one to be fair is a little questionable
Cosy Footwarmer
Overall not a bad little book for The book People price of €8 and it would be a great book to give with a couple of balls of super chunky yarn and a set of big needles as a gift to a newbie knitting friend.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?)
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)
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.
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.
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 designs now also showing the yarn being used for older children’s garments
Just a few of the new Sirdar Snuggly DK 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.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 