Here’s a quick snap of the lovely new sock yarn that arrived in yesterday. It’s the Sweet & Spicy range from Opal and there are 8 gorgeous shades all 4ply of course so they can be used as a substitute yarn for other 4ply garments.
Tempted?
These are the adapted Alice Mitts I made yesterday to show the girls at the Children’s Knitting Group this morning as there are a few of them that have asked to make them next.
Happy Knitting!
I used the Colourbrushed Chunky from Tivoli, which is very reasonably priced (€3.95 for 100g), soft and comes in very child friendly colourways. Even better than that I probably have about half the ball left, so it’s 2 pairs for the price of one.
As you can see from the pictures the shop is now Stash Dash ready for Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th March. There is sooooo much lovely yarn included that I will have to try to control the urge to buy it all myself.
Of course if we’re going to be honest then I shall have to admit to having selected several balls (slight understatement possibly?) for some of the projects I’ve cued…….. Who could blame me?
Double knit
So will I give you an idea of what to expect when you come in for your 20 minutes?
Spring/Summer is supposed to be coming so it stands to reason that there will be chunky yarns, including –
Shades of Wendy Merino Chunky, Rico Galaxy, Bergere de France Duvetine, Twilley’s Purity & Sirdar Folksong to name but a few. We are also clearing Wendy Celtic Chunky & Wendy Norse.
In super chunky were clearing Sirdar Denim Ultra & Big Bamboo, shades of Sirdar Big Softie and there’s a few packs of Rico Super Chunky Tweed there too.
In aran weight there’s Wendy Traditional Aran, Rico Country Aran, shades of Sirdar Supersoft Aran and several lovely cottons from Araucania.
More dk
As you might expect there’s loads to tempt you in double knit yarns – shades of Sirdar Baby Crofter & Snuggly dk, we’re clearing King Cole Riot, Shades, Moods, Moods Duet, Baby Alpaca & Haze. Sorrento from Wendy is also included to clear as is Tiny Tots from Sirdar. There are also shades of Wendy Merino Dk, King Cole’s Splash, Rico’s Cotton dk and Sublime’s Egyptian Cotton.
4ply & scarf
In 4ply and lace there is Sirdar Countrystyle to clear and Rico’s Romance, there’s also sock yarn, shades of Comfort 4ply and loads of odd balls and hanks.
There’s also scarf yarns from Sirdar, Rico & Tivoli, shades of Reflection from Rico, Snowdrops from Sirdar and loads more yarn in lots of lovely colours, too many to mention.
I’m looking forward to having another look myself and hope everyone that’s coming finds something they like.
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.
Stash for the DashLaceweight, 4Ply & more DkSuper Chunky & Novelty
As most of you are already aware we are constantly encouraging everyone to knit or crochet for charity. At least once a week I hear the words ‘I use to knit all the time, but my kids/grandchildren won’t wear knitted jumpers anymore’. Hopefully, this is becoming less the case as all things woolly have become quite fashionable of late and some of the coolest people are donning Aran jumpers or oversize sloppy hats, and there’s no denying the current trend for super chunky cowls.
So knitting is the rage once again but if you remain unconvinced perhaps you could be persuaded to pick up the needles or your hook again and get to work on creating some much needed winter woolies for our current charity – The Kyl Assylum in Belarus. If you want to know more have a read through my previous post here http://knitmidleton.com/2012/11/15/our-latest-charity-collection-is/
The lovely scarf above is a beautiful 4ply, yes I did say 4ply, number knitted by Edwina.
Sinead’s Mum made these
This lovely trio of hats were knitted up by Sinead’s mum, they also dropped off a bar of soap to add to the toiletries collection to send out to Belarus too.
In addition to the knitted items, Mary also grabbed a bargain batch of gloves and hats to include and whilst some of them are for children they will still be passed on to needy smallies via the charity.
Teresa O’Flynn has sent in some more baby raglan jumpers and cardis.
Lastly there’s these lovely hats that a lady dropped in to us to forward on. Unfortunately, she didn’t leave her name so if anyone know who she is let me know and we can credit her beautiful work.
So if you’ve the time…….. all donations will be sent to worthy, reputable causes and will be very much appreciated by those in receipt of them.
Having managed to persuade my usual model to pose for a picture, you can no doubt see how she feels about it.
Mistake rib is a great stitch pattern to use for scarves/cowls as it gives you a double sided fabric rather than one with a definite front and back (like stocking stitch). The easiest way to remember the pattern is to cast on an odd number of stitches, in this instance I used 17. With an odd number of stitches every row of your scarf will be the same.
We managed to wrap the cowl around Dina 3 times, but the friend it was made for is very tall and tends to wear it wrapped round her neck twice. if you want to make it wider and a little shorter cast on 2 extra stitches (the pattern remains the same).
Cowl Dimensions
Length 180cm/70″
Width 23cm/9″
Materials
5 Balls Sirdar Big Bamboo
10mm Needles
Darning Needle
Abbreviations
k – knit
p – purl
st(s) – stitch(es)
Pattern
Using thumb method cast on 17 stitches.
Work every row as follows – knit 2 stitches, purl 2 stitches repeat these 4 stitches to last st, K1
Work until almost all of your yarn has gone ensuring you save enough to cast off loosely (approximately 3 times the width of your knitting).
Sew cast on edge to cast off edge in order to make a large ring and sew in ends.
Tip – When joining in a new ball of yarn try to do this somewhere along the row rather than at the beginning of a row as usual. This will help to keep the edges of the cowl tidy and means your ends can be better hidden.
Yes my crochet is basic, very basic actually. Still, that hasn’t deterred me from picking up the first edition of the new Simply Crochet Magazine to have a nosey at.
The first thing you’ll notice about the magazine is the paper. It’s not your usual glossy paper, nor is it the heavier, recycled kind of paper that you get in Mollie Makes. It has a vintage feel about it, with more of a matt look and it’s absolutely packed with editorials, information, yarn reviews and most importantly patterns.
There are 30 items to make including motifs, home furnishings, a baby girl’s cardigan, a woman’s cardigan and a beautiful blanket too.
This is a little snippet of the home furnishing patterns –
The instructions for this super chunky cowl are also included, it’s made in Rowan Big Wool but you could substitute any other super chunky yarn instead.
Some of my particular favourite patterns in the magazine are these little hearts. I can think of several friends that would adore a few of the little decorations dotted around their homes.
All of the patterns have a little pictorial information panel at the beginning indicating the stitches used in the project, the weight of yarn it’s made in and the size of hook required, which is extremely helpful when selecting what to crochet. As a ‘novice’ I can spot the projects I’m capable of straight away by which stitches are used. For example the Cosy Baby Blanket uses shell stitch, which I’m yet to learn.
The magazine will be published on a monthly basis around the 10th of each month and costs £4.99/€7ish, although there are the usual subscription offers enticing you with cheaper issue prices if you take out one. There is also a digital version of the magazine available too on Apple Newstand, it’s www.simplycrochetmag.com/digital and for Android/PC customers go to www.zinio.com
A 13 month digital subscription costs £44.99 about €57 which is quite a bit cheaper than if you bought 13 printed issues.
It’s difficult to tell if an experienced crocheter would enjoy the magazine as much as I have as the projects all seem to be aimed at people with beginner and intermediate levels of skill. I can guarantee you’ll enjoy the magazine if you like funky granny squares, quirky hearts and looking at what other people have created (Pinterest anyone?).
The Simply Crochet Magazine blog http://www.simplycrochetmag.co.uk/ complements the magazine beautifully, there are even links to the odd free patterns, plus readers news and competitions.
I hope future issues of the magazine are as interesting and appealing and that it continues to be chockablock with patterns of all kinds. If you’d like to have a little look at it, I shall have my copy at the shop for a while.
Before I start this post, I should warn you it’ll be quite lengthy, so I’ve decided to split it into three. The first two discuss the concept of the mood blanket and the third gives the pattern.
Some of you may have seen the link I posted on the shop’s Facebook page with regards to the ‘My year in temperature’ concept scarf by Kristen Cooper, but for those of you that haven’t, here’s the link.
Kristen’s idea is to select shades of yarn to represent the temperature that day. In her case she is using 15 shades with each one equating to a 5 degree jump in temperature. She then intends to work a row of her scarf a day with the colour that she has previously chosen for the temperature of that day. The end result will be a scarf that represents the year’s temperatures a stripe/day at a time.
OK, as ideas go it’s great and I love the concept, so why haven’t I reached for my ever bulging stash crates and needles and cast on?
Two reasons really:
The first, and most obvious to my fellow citizens of this very Emerald Isle, is the weather. To be honest the temperature, whilst prone to fluctuation, doesn’t have the obvious highs and lows of British Columbia in Canada, where Kristen is from, more’s the pity. Which led me to think about other things that happen on a daily basis that could be used to create the effect. The most obvious to me being our mood, which can be changeable from a day-to-day basis = Design Element Sorted, lovely.
The second reason is because it’s a scarf, not that I have anything against scarves. In fact I can usually be found wearing one in all but the very hottest of temperatures, which to be fair I don’t get to see much (second dig at the Irish weather, sorry). I suppose I’m not really that big into multi-coloured clothing and yes I do know I could keep the palette of colours very similar, but I still feel it’s not for me.
So after much pondering, well not really that much as I’ve always wanted to knit one, I decided a blanket would be a more my kind of thing. Having seen one years ago, worked in two strands of yarn with one always the same shade, I set to the planning.
I knew I wanted the blanket to be a big one; much more than a throw for the sofa. If I’m going to make one it’s got to be big enough to use as extra insulation on the bed in the winter months, so it’s going to take a lot of yarn. I also want it to be chunky and squishy, but the yarn, if it’s going to be held double, doesn’t need to be too thick. Aran weight should do.
The initial decision is always what yarn to use. It has to be gorgeous and not too expensive (yes I do have a wool shop, but you still have to pay for the stock you use, even if it is at cost+vat). Having moved away from the pure merino staring lovingly at me from the shop shelves, I was drawn to the Bonus Aran from Sirdar, particularly the lovely new shade of blue that I’ve been coveting since it came in.
Sirdar Bonus Aran in Royal
There is a good selection of shades available in the range, especially when combined with the Bonus Aran Tweed colours too. Yes, it’s not pure wool, or even 50%, in fact it’s only 20% wool with 80% acrylic. It is however, machine washable, which is definitely a bonus in a blanket, and it also comes in massive 400g balls each containing approximately 840 metres. I want my blanket to be utilitarian rather than something I’m petrified to throw over the bed and I’d rather the moths weren’t interested either.
OK, so which colour for which moods and how many moods do I really have?
The honest answer is not many. I’m lucky to be a glass is half full kind of person (sickening at times according to my husband) and truthfully very rarely have bad days. That’s not to say there haven’t been the odd truly horrific days in my life like we all sadly experience; fortunately though they’re very few and far between. So my base mood is for the most part OK: I then have good days and some that could be classed as really good.
That’s really it – three moods?
So……….. on Saturday I played with colour combinations. As the royal was the shade I was drawn to I experimented with it first. It’s too bright to use as my base shade (the constant one) but I figured that if I could find the correct combination to go with it the other two shades would be easier to work out.
Royal with 4 other shades
These look much better in the photo than they do in reality, the royal just wasn’t sitting with anything else properly. So back to the drawing board. Of the four samples, the one I liked the most was the one knitted with the cream tweed yarn – shade 929. Using this as my base shade I looked at the other options available to me in the range, focusing on the blues predominantly, as blue is my favourite colour
OK, so I know we’ve already been busy knitting and crocheting for this charity however, the charity is involved with so many different projects (all as needy as the rest), that I feel sure I’m not asking too much of you all again.
This time we’re hoping to help the 500 residents that live on 5 floors of the Kyl asylum. Many of the children that the charity work with in the orphanages out in Belarus end up going to Kyl asylum when they turn 18. Conditions are hard with the total allowance for clothes and shoes per patient being €3 annually. The Chernobyl Children’s trust have been working with another group The Bureen Chernobyl Project and have recently managed to collect in approximately 1000 pairs of secondhand shoes as the residents had been using cardboard on their feet whilst working out in the fields.
We’ve been asked for hats, scarves and mitts again and in addition maybe some socks and legwarmers, anything to help to try and keep out the cold.
Bureen Chernobyl Project
A lot of the links I put up for our previous collection will still be valid as are
http://knitmidleton.com/2012/06/01/knitting-for-chernobyl-childrens-trust/
Our collection will run until the end of March when the next containers will be traveling to the area, so you’ve plenty of time to get cracking. Items will be accepted in all colours of the rainbow, so break out the stash and use up your leftovers. The residents are both male and female and all are over 18 although they will be slight for their ages.
We’ve also been asked to collect any unwanted needles and wool in for the residents some of whom love knitting. If you can’t knit or crochet maybe you could be persuaded to drop off some personal hygiene products like soap, shampoo, etc. which we will also be collecting in (all new and unopened please, with as long a ‘use by’ date on)
A big thanks in advance for all of your help AGAIN.
It seems we’re getting orders in all the time at the moment and I’m struggling slightly to keep up. It’s like Christmas every day though opening sack after sack of gorgeous yarn and patterns.
One of the companies I’ve been looking at stocking for some time now is Bergere De France and this week I took delivery of our first order from them which included the lovely, squidgy yarn Duvetine. Duvetine is chunky yarn with a recommended tension of 12sts to 17 rows when knitted on 6.5mm needles.
Of the 8 shades available I ordered 6 with my particular favourite being the blue/turquoise.
I think I could possibly have fallen in love with the blue because I love this.
Duvetine Poncho
In addition to the Duvetine I also ordered a few individual packs of yarns to ‘try out’ before I decide whether to begin stocking them as with many European yarn companies Bergere De France’s yarns are not all standard, which means they will only really work with certain patterns. Talking of patterns I did get a little carried away with ordering patterns, books and magazines from Bergere – purely in the name of research. As many of you may have already seen on the Facebook page I indulged in a few knitting bags and notions purses. I also ordered some of their quirky little buttons but it would seem there’s been a little mix-up with those so they’ll be a little bit delayed.
In addition to the new bits from Bergere there have also been new goodies from Knitpro, Clover and Rico and if that wasn’t enough 19 shades of Cushendale Lace yarn arrived in too. The 1 ball 1 scarf yarn makes an ideal gift to give at Christmas and it’s homegrown too.
Cushendale Mohair
I’ve knitted a sample up in ‘Storm’ and it’s on display in the shop, I think the scarves/wrap would look great doubled up in 2 different shades, pop in and have a look if you have the time I guarantee you’ll love it too.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 