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.
You’d think as I own my own yarn shop that the last thing I’d want to do on holiday is go to another wool shop wouldn’t you?
Of course not, rather disappointingly I only managed to visit 3, maybe 4 if you count the market stall too. If time had allowed there was at least 2 more I could have got to – next time I will.
Ramshambles
My first port of call was a lovely little shop called Ramshambles in York. Located at 46 Shambles, York, North Yorkshire, YO1 7LX. The shop reminds me of our old premises in Midleton with it’s ‘Old Curiosity’ windows, whose display of brightly coloured yarn enticed me in. Katey the owner is lovely and delighted to help, like our shop the place is packed to the ceiling with yarn, patterns, needles and notions. There were lots of lovely yarns from King Cole, Debbie Bliss, Noro and Highland Textiles. My naughty purchase was a hank of Ramshambles own hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester Sock Yarn in a riot of pink yummynous called Vaudeville.
There were other lovelies just calling to me from the shelves but I had to be strong and resist because as I’ve other new birthday yarn to use too and I have yet to master knitting in the bath or shower without getting your yarn wet.
The second shop I managed to call to was Babes in the Wool in Hull. They can be found at 113 Newland Avenue, Hull HU5 2ES and the owner (whose name I’ve forgotten, sorry) is lovely. The shop is nestled in a busy street and draws you in with it’s large window. There is a good stock of yarn including ranges from King Cole, Woolcraft, Katia and Debbie Bliss. I was rather smitten by the Blue Faced Leicester Aran from Debbie Bliss of which I purchased 3 balls (possibly with a future grandchild knit in mind).
My third shop was Knit & Stitch in Doncaster at 26 Market Place, Doncaster DN1 1NE.
I have to confess to having been here before and had to return because it’s just so lovely. This time the windows were happily full of huge balls of aran and garments in pretty colours.
The new purchase is the one on the right
I was on a mission though to purchase another ball of Jarol Pure British Wool Aran to go with one I’d bought on my previous visit. As I discovered a this pattern in The Knitter shortly after my last visit and think the yarn will be ideal for it. However, I’ve just realised I need another ball, usually a perfect excuse to return to the shop but it’s not exactly what you call local is it? I shall have to persuade my friend (real strong arm tactics needed, not) to pop in for me.
Whernside Cushion by Alice Underwood
My best friend recently moved back to Doncaster (hence my visit) and she was tempted by a lovely soft angora by Rowan and a 50/50 blend aran by Katia for her mum. The shop is jam packed with yarns from King Cole, Sirdar, Katia, Debbie Bliss and Noro. Again there was yarn calling me and if that wasn’t bad enough Knit & Stitch also sell patchwork fabric. Upstairs there’s the fabric come classroom with a whole wall full of edible ‘sew me’ cottons. Knit & Stitch have two other shops one in York and one in Maltby and I’d really recommend a visit if you’re ever near one of them.
Lastly, I managed a quick visit to the wool stall on Doncaster Market which sells James C. Brett yarns and lots of buttons. Some of which I purchased for my daughter Dina’s latest cardigan.
Based on the woolly joy I discovered on my trip I’d definitely say a trip to the area would be worth it if your ever there.
I have posts to write about holiday wool shopping and holiday knitting but I returned to work today to discover that one of my favourite yarns is being discontinued.
Rico Poem Aran
Poem Aran for those of you that need reminding is a beautiful, multi-coloured pure wool. Each luscious 50g contains 100 metres of pure yarn love. Most people tend to use it as a fantastic substitute for Noro Silk Garden or Kureyon and it is best used in plainer patterns that allow the beauty of the yarn to shine through.
Our shadow scarf hangs in the shop and is created using two different shades of the yarn. By working in 2 row stripes the variegation of the yarns make for an interesting colour pattern. This scarf takes 2 balls of each shade.
Poems aran also felts, this little handbag also took 4 balls to knit
If that wasn’t enough to tempt you, then maybe this will be.
As you might expect my life is being dominated by squares at the moment. In my naivety I thought this latest charity collection would be lovely and simple – really! What was I thinking?!
So there’s the making of the squares, that bit is simple. Except I’ve had to take an executive decision and forgo the making part to move onto the blanket stage. This involves the all important selecting of the squares and laying them out into a blanket. (this can take a while)
Then there’s the sewing:
Sew 4 squares together to make a strip
Sew 5 strips up to make a blanket
Sew all ends in
Crochet the border
Now to be fair to blankets look absolutely beautiful, particularly because they’re made up of multi-coloured squares that you probably wouldn’t put together if you had the choice. Mixing the colours and styles up really adds to the eclectic feel of the blankets and hones in on the popularity of ‘Shabby Chic’ at the moment. Truthfully, you could probably sell the blankets in a vintage store FOR A LOT OF MONEY with the current trend in all things handmade. Don’t worry I won’t.
I won’t…HONESTLY.
The good news is we have 40, yes 40 blankets in various states of completion, which is fantastic and has made all the work worthwhile. We still have approximately a week left to get as many squares in before we have to send of the blankets, so please keep at it.
In the meantime I’ve just discovered that I’m short of a square to complete the blanket I’ve been sewing up, so I’ve had to crochet a quick one.
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 (?????).
So 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.
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.
Rosewater
Rosewater is this beautiful little, double knit hat. Made in the round, the pattern includes 5 sizes from baby to large adult.
Windswept AdultWindswept 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 is a gently shaped 4ply shawl/scarf with 2 lace patterns and is very like something I’ve been designing recently.
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?
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.
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.
Blocking your knitwear can really enhance your work by bringing out details and shaping. It can also make your garment sit better when wearing. Sometimes after knitting and sewing up I can be quite desperate to wear my work but will always try to block regardless. Without exception all lace work should always be blocked to open up the stitches
Most of the time after sewing in my ends I will wash my finished garment. I tend to use Soak, a delicate washing liquid in which you quite literally ‘soak’ your clothes. A sink full of cool water only needs a teaspoon of the washing detergent and you leave your garment submerged (soaking) for about 15 minutes. You should always check whether or not your yarn is colourfast but in most cases I’d only be washing one garment at a time so it’s never really a problem. The great thing about this washing liquid is that there is no need to rinse (yes, I did say no need). If your using Woolite or something similar you will have to rinse your garment through at least three times to get rid of any detergent.
After soaking you should squeeze out any excess water remembering not to wring as you could stretch your hard work. You can always place your work between towels and use pressure to extract more water (stand on it). If I’m honest however, I tend to tie the garment tightly into a clean pillowcase and put it in my washing machine on the spin cycle. You can control the intensity of spin on my machine which helps.
Once spun I pin the garment out to size on my childrens play mat using rust proof pins. You can of course buy expensive blocking mats, they tend to be made of the same material as the mat I use but come complete with the measurements on them.
If you don’t have these mats you can use several old towels or maybe your ironing board for smaller projects. The mats are easy to locate, I have 2 packs one of which was bought in Tesco whilst the other was bought in Smyths Toy Shop.
Use the actual measurements if available on your pattern. My waistcoat is supposed to be blocked to 36″ around the chest, but after being washed the yarn has relaxed a little and it is coming up at 38″. I’m happy with the extra roominess but would always advise you knit, wash and dry your tension square to ensure you knit the correct size. Obviously, I didn’t do that here – oops!
I have used the pins to ensure my bands and collar lie properly (I hope so anyway) and have inserted extra pins under each bobble on the pockets to try and make them stand proud when dry.
You will tend to find drying your work can take some time. If at all possible try to leave it somewhere warm. If using towels underneath you might find you will have to change them to prevent them from becoming smelly and in turn making your garment a little musty.
This is the method I tend to use to block my work although there are other methods. If at all possible avoid using an iron to press your garments as this can make your stitches flatten or worse still if you’ve used acrylic, melt. The only time I would have used an iron is if my garment had been made in 100% cotton. Then I held the iron above the work and used the steam from it to help set the garment. If you’re in a rush you can pin the garment out first, spritz with water from a plant spray and leave to dry.
Please Note:- Be careful when blocking rib, I know one person who stretched her stitches so tightly that when dry the rib was completely flat. Remember you are trying to enhance your work.
If you haven’t tried it before why not block your next project to see the difference.
Some of you might be aware that this lovely little waistcoat (Buttonbox from knitty.com) has been my latest wip and I’m happy to report, it’s finally finished. As is usual for me, I really enjoyed knitting the actual garment but grew weary trying to get the pocket tops, button bands and collar done. In reality there really wasn’t much work in knitting any of it though, I’m just moaning.
The construction is 1 piece knitted from the from the bottom up, adding a little shaping at the waist and splitting when you reach the armholes to work on the back and fronts separately. The shoulders are joined together using a 3 needle cast off adding to the ‘clean lines’ of the garment.
The added texture of the bobbles on the pockets and at the top of the back of the vest add a little bit of extra detail, whilst the waist shaping ensures the garment accentuates in the right places and gives a little shape to the overall silhouette.
I used Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran yarn in Graphite and it took a little under 4 hanks to knit up the medium size.
It’s a great pattern, I’d have no problem recommending it and I might even knit again.
I’ve spent the last few days trying to gather up everything we’ve collected in for the The Kyl Assylum in Belarus. As you can imagine my office tends to resemble a very untidy wool shop at the best of times but there are times when the whole thing just gets out of hand. Lately the problem has worsened as the sample balls of wool fight with my stash, the paperwork and the ever increasing number of carrier bags containing donations. As if that wasn’t enough, my son shares the office so I can keep a watchful eye on his computer use and ‘spend some time’ with him whilst he battles aliens on his XBox 360.
It was lovely to go through everything again, some of the items are so beautiful. In total there were 30 Scarves and 24 hats to send to Kyl via the Bureen Chernobyl Project. In addition to the hats and scarves we also received a couple of boxes of toilitries to pass on and we had a good rummage and found a good few jumpers too.
Some of the donations that came in have been more suitable for children so I have separated these out and will be forwarding them on to The Children’s Chernobyl Trust for them to pass on to needy boys and girls. In addition to the 31 hats and 13 pairs of gloves we’ve had 13 baby and toddler cardigans donated too to pass on.
Thoroughly, embracing the tidying up bug I also managed to go through the XBox king’s old clothes and sorted out everything that he’s grown out of to send off with The Children’s Chernobyl Trust items.
Happily there’s now space to house all the knitted squares were hoping for.
I thought it was time to update you all on the progress of my ever increasing blanket which is now 54.5″/138cms. As you can probably imagine knitting the 2 rows per day is taking much longer now on account of the blankets size. To be on the safe side I need to make sure I have three quarters to an hour spare when I start to knit. Unfortunately, our weather is anything but May like which has inadvertently been a godsend as there is some warmth from the blanket.
Sitting under the weight of it whilst knitting in heat is not great.
I think I have a little over a months worth of knitting left before I’ll reach my target length of 6 foot.
In order for you to judge the length and to give you a bit of a giggle you can see me modelling the blanket so far. I’m 5ft3 on a good day.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 