Tag: quick knits

Have a Look at Wendy Duo

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duo ball Last week in my post about Hatti the new knitting concept from Peter Pan, I mentioned that Wendy had an adult version which I was knitting up. The Yarn is available in 5 shades each with a co-ordinating pompom and is made up of 78% Acrylic, 12% Mohair &10% Polyester. Each 100g ball has approximately 200m/218yds of lightweight yarn and costs €9.95

Duo palette

There’s a pattern for the hat and a matching scarf on the reverse of the ball band the hat is lovely and can be worn as a slouchy hat or more like a beanie with a fold over band.

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Having seen the scarf though I think it looked a bit mean, so I experimented a bit and decided a neck warmer made the best use of the yarn.

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If you’ve bought a ball of Duo and you fancy knitting up the neck warmer here’s the instructions.

Be sure to make your hat first as per the instructions on the ball band, you’ll find it much easier to use a different yarn to sew up the hat and the neck warmer.

With the remaining yarn and 7mm needles cast on 52 stitches loosely and knit in 2×2 rib (Knit 2, Purl 2) until your work measures approximately 20″/50cm.  Cast off stitches loosely and sew cast on edge to cast off edge using a different yarn.  Sew in ends.

I used 8mm needles to cast on and cast off as it’s important to keep your stitches nice and loose for seaming.

Happy Knitting!

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Peter Pan Hatti

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Peter Pan have embraced the idea of ‘quick knits’ with their latest woolly release Hatti.  (technically there is no wool, but you know what I mean)

Hatti is aimed at kids although the knitted hat fits me.  Each ball comes with a free knit and crochet pattern on the ball band and one ball makes one hat complete with colour coordinating pompom for the top!

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It’s made from 80% Acrylic / 20% Polyester and there’s aapproximately  95m / 104 yds in each 50g ball.  The knitted hat uses 5mm needles and I had it made within a couple of hours.  It’s a lovely simple pattern just 2×2 rib with no shaping.

Hatti is available in 4 shades and is €7.15 per ball.

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There’s another similar yarn and pompom knit called Duo which I’m knitting up at the moment.  I’ll post about it as soon as I’m done.

Happy Knitting!

Notes From Week Ending 25th January 2014

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Wow!  January will be over in a few days, how did that happen?  I need to catch up quickly, does anyone have a magic ‘get everything done’ potion I could buy?

Rushing quickly on.

There were several deliveries last week most of which was restock although there were a few new goodies.  Unfortunately, in my haste to unpack them I forgot to take photos of most of them although I did manage a quick snap of the new Candyfloss yarn from Robin.

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Sadly, there’s one shade missing, if memory serves me correctly it’s a bright pink mix.  Candyfloss is being sold as a super chunky with a recommended needle size of 10mm’s but it’s most definitely not.  You could probably use up to an 8mm for scarves and neck warmers but for garments and hats I’d treat it as a standard chunky yarn and use 6.5mm needles.   I hope to get a sample of the yarn knitted up for the shop so you can see what it’s like as there are no designs to go with the yarn.

The bright colours make it an obvious choice for children and it’s 100% acrylic so it’s easily washable.  The 200g ball has approximately 280 metres/306 yards and costs €6.95.

Included in this delivery there was also 4 shades of  the mohair yarn ‘Air’ from Wendy which is made up of 70% Kid Mohair, 30% Nylon  and knits to a tension of 18-24sts x 23-34 rows depending on your chosen pattern.  The 25g ball has approxamitley 200m in it and it’s €7.25 a ball.
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It would be an ideal yarn to use for my Easy Lace Scarf 

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I’ve already started to knit a little communion bolero sample for the shop, it only takes 2 balls so I am aiming to have it finished by the end of the week.

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One last thing before I go, with all of the controversy surrounding all things charity at the moment I thought I’d share the receipts and card we received for money collected from the bags of buttons on sale in the shop for St. Vincent de Paul.  As promised the full price of the sale goes to the charity.  (sorry for the bad photo)

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Happy Knitting!

 

 

Whilst You’re Waiting

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age action

As I mentioned in my previous post we’re in the process of getting our next charity campaign together but last Friday I received a letter from Age Action asking for our support for their St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock ‘Made With Love’ Campaign.  I was hoping some of you lovely people would take part in this campaign whilst your waiting on ours?

Age Action are encouraging knitting groups, shops and clubs from around the country to knit a shamrock which will then be sold in selected retail outlets in the run up to Monday 17th March.

They’ve set a target of 20,000 shamrocks which will be sold for €2 each.  I have written an email to Age Action to try and clarify how much of this €2 the charity will actually receive and I shall be sure to let you all know.

In the meantime the little shamrocks consist of three little hearts sewn together then you knit a little stem.

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For some reason the pattern available here doesn’t have the instructions for the I-cord stem at the moment but I imagine it will be fixed soon.

Completed Shamrocks should be posted to Age Action at 30/31 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2.  Alternatively, we’ll be collecting them in the shop to post off nearer the time.  At present there is no deadline mentioned on the literature from Age Action but I’ve asked in my email too.

I can’t imagine they’ll take that long to knit up and the amount of green yarn needed will be minimal and just 1 will make all the difference.

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Happy Knitting!

New Year – Time For Change?

LeftFootDaisy4 Comments

Two days in to 2014 already and my brain has been working overtime on things to do in the coming year.  I’m not a New Year Resolutions kinda girl, so whilst I’ve made a mental note to quit the indulgences of the past couple of weeks, get back on my anti-inflammation diet and try to do more exercise in the coming year I’m not going to be too upset if I fall off the wagon, so to speak.

There are however, things I am going to try to alter in the hope that some little changes will allow me a little more time to do some of the more important things like, dare I say it – Exercise more 😦

Top of my list is to get more organised, already I can hear my family groaning.  I do try really hard to set myself deadlines, but it’s sticking to them that’s the problem.  My head gets so full of ideas for the shop, designs, kids crafts, etc that I easily get distracted.  So I’m going to get better at writing things down, that way hopefully, I won’t be constantly running through my ‘list of possibilities’ in my head.

I’m also extending this writing it down thingy to my ongoing projects too, as I’ve been slack with posting them onto Ravelry and have wasted at least a couple of hours mentally running through what I made in 2013.

From what I can remember I made the following, but I know I’ve missed some things.

1 cardigan for me

1 jumper for Dina

2 waistcoats (1 for the shop, 1 for me)

2 pairs of socks and 2 single socks (need to make a 2nd lace one and I’m now half way through the other 2nd sock, see below)

12 hats

8 scarves/cowls

Moody Blanket (must do icord border)

Poncho

Wrap

3 – tea cosies

6 Crochet bunting triangles

5 knitted/crochet brooches

Christmas Angel

4 Baby Cardigans

sample squares for the shop

Blanket squares for charity

Innocent Smoothie hats

If I’m honest, it doesn’t seem like a lot of knitting, must try harder.  As a little extra note to self “should also knit from my stash a little more”.

Starting as I mean to go on here’s my last/first project of 2013/2014.  I’m just about to start the heel flap so it should be finished by the weekend.

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I’m also going to start another Il Grande Favorito with some beautiful Sirdar Connemara from my stash.

All sounds very good so far, but I have a small confession ……..

Whilst waiting for the photos for this post to upload I decided to clear up my email inbox a little and now I’ve become distracted by this lovely DIY Fair Isle Hat deigned by Meg Myers for Classic Elite Yarns.

Which yarn would work best now?

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Happy Knitting in 2014

xxx

It’s A Little Nippy – Last Minute Knit

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OK.  So we’ve all seen the ‘super quick knit’ patterns that seem like a good idea until you realise that they’re actually referring to those amongst us that can break all kinds of speed knitting records.

I’m a steady knitter, neither fast nor slow and if we’re being extremely honest, I’m prone to distraction.  However, this little neck warmer did actually take a little over an hour to knit up – PROMISE!

So what are you going to need?

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I’ve used 10mm needles and 2 balls of Rico Fashion Elegance in shade 3.  They’re 5ometres each so you need approx 100metres of super chunky yarn.

Cast on 20sts and knit every row in plain/garter stitch until work measures 56cms/22″.  Cast off loosely

2013-12-23 12.03.08I slipped the first stitch of every row to keep my edges tidier but it’s not necessary.

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Join by sewing your cast on and cast off edges together.

Ta ddah……..

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Of course now my neck’s warm but I can’t see a blooming thing.

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Much better.

I’m going to make a couple for my youngest to wear as he always forgets to put a scarf on and I’m sure my hubby whose a plumber and constantly working outside on dairy farm installations at the moment, might even fancy a couple.

In case your wondering it’s 20cm/8″ deep.

Happy Knitting!

 

 

 

Top Woolly Gifts This Year

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As there are only 3 more shopping days for your loved ones to get down to the shop, I thought I’d show you our most popular gift items this year.

In no particular order ……

All things Knitpro Symphonie

knitproThe new Knitpro Karbonz Sets have also been popular.

karbonz-spitzen-setThe extra special Knitpro Box of Joy

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Clover Pompom Maker are a great stocking Filler.

Clover-2-Pom-Pom-makersThe heart shaped ones are a little bit different too.

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The very gorgeous Hedgehog Fibres.

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Scarf Yarns

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Gift Vouchers

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Cushendale Boucle

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Let us interrogate you for a bit about the person, give us a budget and we’ll make up a kit.

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Happy Knitting!

The Knitting Group’s Christmas Outing

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Our Knitting Group Christmas Outing took place on Wednesday night.  The evening was spent indulging in a gorgeous 3 course meal at Rosies/The Pepperstack in Aghada.

The food was lovely, the portions were so big that I’m ashamed to admit I had to leave some.  Being a vegetarian I opted for the Tomato & Coconut soup, Thai Curry and Strawberry Pavlova – yummy!

However, that’s not what you want to hear about is it?

We exchanged our Secret Santa gifts which as always has to be a handmade Christmas Decoration.  You can see our attempts in the pics, the one I made was the Angel and Dina made the Russian Doll.

I’m thinking handmade Christmas Decorations are the way to go for the future, because by the time you get to my age you’re not really in need of anything (other than a Mark II Ford Escort).

Happy Knitting!

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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.

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

Happy Knitting!