Tag: scarves

I’ve Been Unfaithful

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It’s true I’m afraid, I’ve been having an affair…

Tempestuous, tumultuous, impassioned and at the same time harmonious, equable and calm, all the things you want from a great romance.  Don’t be mistaken though, I shan’t be running away any time soon and shifting my allegiance, it’s just a 💕 dalliance💕  I’m sure

My husband?  No we’re fine, never better actually.

Thanks for asking.

So what am I referring to?

Why, knitting of course 😊

I’ve been neglecting it a little you see, becoming slightly enamoured with my sewing again, as myself and my sewing machine become reacquainted.

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I’d spotted this top/dress on Instagram from someone who was posting daily photos for #MadeinMay.  (The idea being that for every day of May, you’d try to wear something you’ve made yourself.)

So…. I went off in search of the pattern – as you do 😉

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The top is called the Wiksten Tank designed by Jenny Gordy and is available as a downloadable pdf via the Wiksten website here It costs $10 so it was a bit of a gamble, but as I had the material already, it wasn’t going to be too bad.  Mind you, I did use to make clothes for Dina and Durahn when they were smaller and I was forever ‘upcycling’ jumble sale and charity shop finds.  It wasn’t really upcycling, just what you do when your disposable income doesn’t stretch as far as you’d like it too, or your short with big boobs.

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The sewing machine and I aren’t firm friends yet, it wouldn’t behave as well as I would have liked, but I did manage to make my Wiksten Tank and I’m so very  ♥happy♥ with it, that I’ve already bought some material to make another one.  I’ve gone for somewhere between top and dress length, so I can wear it more like a tunic over a tee-shirt and jeans.  The fit is good and whilst I could tweak it with the odd dart here and there and maybe nip it in a bit under the arms, but why bother when it’s fully serviceable as it is 🙂

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In the meantime I guess I should get on with some of my many ongoing projects.

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Whilst unpacking all my project bags from my lager knitting bag, I discovered that I’ve left the crochet blanket I’ve been working on too,  at home in the living room.  I realised we have loads of duvets at home, but very few blankets.  Something I can at least, start to work on rectifying.  This is proving to be a little addictive though, my mantra has become ‘just one more round’, fine when it was smaller, but now i could loose an hour or so.

Whilst typing this post, it occurs to me that it presents an ideal opportunity to also tell you about Zebrino, the latest offering from Adriafil.

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Zebrino is a self patterning yarn with 125 metres/136.70 yards approximately  to each 50 gram ball.  It’s made from  a blend of 53% wool 47% acrylic and is a worsted/aran weight.

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For now I’ve only gone with 4 of the above shades just to see what the yarn is like.  The colours in stock are shades 61, 62, 64 and 67 and I’m itching to have a go at knitting with it, but as the pile of projects in the photo above shows, I should probably control the urge for a while longer.  I’m thinking a big, oversized jumper though and maybe a scarf or two as Christmas presents.

Happy Knitting!

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These Islands: Knits from Ireland, Scotland, and Britain Book Launch

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Book Launch (2)

It’s all been confirmed, we’ve sat down,  deliberated, cogitated and digested and I am now happily able to announce that the These Islands book launch will take place on Thursday 9th April from 7.30 to 9.30pm

These Islands includes eight never before published patterns for hats, a cowl, shawls, fingerless gloves, and boot cuffs using locally-processed wool made from the fleece of Irish, Scottish, or British sheep with names. The patterns are designed by Sara Breitenfeldt, Suzanne McEndoo, and Evin Bail O’Keeffe.

Suzanne currently lives in Edinburgh so won’t be able to make the launch however, both Evin and Sara will be available for book signing, laughter and fun.

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A Cork resident, Evin is the author of the 2014 Blog Awards Ireland award-winning craft blog EvinOK.com.  In addition to being a busy mum and her blog, Evin also managed to find the time to write and release her book Bake Knit Sew, which showcases a year of creativity in baking, knitting, and sewing. The book offers a complete year of projects! With over 50 full-color photographs shot on location here in scenic Cork.  To find out more about Bake Knit Sew or to order your copy head over to the Anchor & Bee website here.

smudgeMany of you will already have heard of Sara, now a Midleton resident too,  as is the creator and owner of the  hand dyed yarn company Smudge Yarns.   Sara’s beautiful yarns are available to purchase via her website or in a handful of shops around Ireland, including mine 🙂  There is also a Smudge Yarns Facebook Page here and a Ravelry Group too for you to join should you want to show you’re appreciation.

The gates open at 7.30pm for the book launch, with everything kicking off ♥ proper ♥ at 8pm.  This will be a ticketed event due to the size of the shop, so spaces are limited.  There will be refreshments, book signing and all ticket holders will be automatically entered into the craft hamper raffle (more details to follow later, watch this space).

Tickets are €5 each and can be purchased in the shop with me or via the Smudge Yarns website here 

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In addition to the book, Sara hopes to have some of her yummy yarn on sale to tempt you, she will also officially launch her Beaker Folk Shawl Knit A Long on the night.  Kits will be available to purchase at the launch and we hope to get as many of you casting on for the KAL as possible.

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As a special incentive to get involved, everyone who “Casts On” the project on Ravelry before midnight on Sunday 12th April will be entered in a draw for a special limited edition skein of yarn.

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The shawl can be knitted in one of two sizes,  either as a smaller shawlette, or as a larger wrap.  The photographs shown here have been taken from the book and have been knitted using Smudge Yarns Hand Dyed Lace Yarn and 5.5mm needles.  The featured colourway if you’re interested, is the beautiful denim hues of 💙 Beara 💙

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If you’d like to have a closer look at the Beaker Folk Shawl, we’ve a sample garment on display in the shop at the moment.

I’m really excited to be able to showcase this brilliant book and hope some of you will be able to join us on what promises to be a great, fibre related evening.

Happy Knitting!

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Stylecraft Yarns Winter Catch Up

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I’d started to write this post in mid December when I ordered the new shades in Stylecraft’s Swift Knit and Senses yarns.  Unfortunately, there were some issues with obtaining the digital images at the time and I’ve only just received them and I thought you might still like to have a quick look at them.

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There are 3 new shades in the Swift Knit and a few new patterns to tempt you too ♥

 

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Dina has already put in a request for the hat 😯

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In the Senses I chose two of the new shades for the shop to compliment the colours we already have.  Again there have been some lovely patterns released too.

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I wouldn’t mind at least one of the hats and the cowl/neck warmer myself if I could find the time to knit them.

Thinking about it the Swift and the Senses are two extremes when it comes to yarns.  The Swift is very much a super chunky yarn whilst the Senses has been designed to be used as a laceweight.  (I find it knits perfectly to a 4 ply too)

The Swift is €4.99 per 100g whilst the Senses is €4.20 per 50g.

Happy Knitting!

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And The Winner Is…..

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The run up to Christmas was a bit mental here (even more so than usual), but I was organised enough to ask Liz from the East Cork Rapid Response team to draw the winner of the Stocking of the Week.

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Excuse the terrible writing but Jackie Smyth is the winner 🙂

Yesterday Jackie popped into the shop to pick her prize of €100 worth of knitting goodies.

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Jackie picked a couple of projects to work up for herself in beautiful merino and tweed double knit and then lots of odd balls to knit hats and scarves to donate to The Chernobyl Children’s Trust 😀

Happy Knitting!

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The Madness Has Been & Gone

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By the madness I mean the build up to Christmas Day, which I convince myself every year that I’m not going to buy into, only to find on Christmas Day that I have 😞 Maybe though, that’s part of the fun?

Unlike previous years I really didn’t manage to get as many presents knitted or even generally handmade as I would have liked to.  The year seemed to rush by faster than a speeding car and before I realised it it was the end of November and I’d only knitted the one gift, a Hitchhiker for a friend of mine.  Of course I’d forgotten to take a proper picture of it before I’d mailed it, so this is one I’d posted on Instagram whilst I was knitting it.

hitchhikerI used a ball of Rico Poem Superba in green and a ball of King Cole Merino 4ply.  The Poems Superba is variegated, so the greens change as the scarf grows.  I found it a really lovely pattern to follow, with only 8 rows and by using 2 colours, the stripe effect meant I really didn’t have to concentrate on which of the rows I was on.  A lovely happy accident.

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Nearly everyone that would wear one received a knitted hat of some kind, mostly these ones though.  The pattern is very basic and I should be able to get it up on here over the next couple of days.

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Nostrils shouldn’t be that big should they? It’s obscene 😬

 

I liked them so much that I’ve even made one for me.

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Tate looks rather fetching in Leann’s one too, bless him.

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Some friends including my Secret Santa recipient received my crochet baubles, which I loved making once I’d figured out what to do.  I used several resources to help me, but the circles kept getting bigger because of the trebles.  After trying a few different things I decided double crochet was the way to go.  A couple of you have asked for a pattern already, but I’m not sure if I can write it up as a ‘proper’ crochet pattern, so it might end up being more of an instruction sheet?

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Last but not least was the jumper I’d been making for my hubby Con in secret.  Many of you will have seen me trying to get a few rows done in the shop; especially if you popped in the few days before Christmas when I was frantically trying to get the sleeves finished.  I’ll write up a separate post to tell you all about it and I might even be able to get a photo of the man himself wearing it 👨

Cobblestone

Since finishing the jumper I’ve cast on and started knitting Cobblestone by Jared Flood for Durahn my son.  I’ve also been sticking to my morning walk everyday, regardless of how cold it is and both Kye and myself have been going a bit photography mad with our phones.  This morning’s walk produced some beautiful snaps, all with no filter too 📷

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He pinched my hat.

 

 

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2 of my dogs trying to drink from one of the frozen troughs. The black one usually dunks her head in, but even she’s not daft enough to do it when it’s this cold, right?

 

 

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No wait…. She really is that daft.

 

I’ve also been watching far too many cheesy movies including the must see Guardians of the Galaxy which inspired me to make my own mix tape on Spotify.  If you fancy having a look at what tracks I’ve included my profile is lmillar72.  More mix tapes to come me thinks 🖭

Happy Knitting!

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World Wide Knit In Public Day

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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).

Happy Knitting!

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Granny Square Scarf For Dina

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

What do you think?

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Happy Knitting!

Crochet’s fine too though 😉

 

Granny Square Crochet

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I’m not the best at crochet, in fact I can’t actually hold my hook and tension my yarn correctly, instead I choose to knit my crochet.  This means I hold the hook and the yarn in my right hand and work as if I’m knitting with one pin.  It achieves pretty much the same results, although apparently a crochet professional can tell the difference?

Anyway, undeterred it is my goal in life to cover everything in glorious multicolour granny  crochet, trebles to the initiated.  This book was made for just that and much to my delight Granny Square Crochet by Catherine Hirst has come in with May’s samples from The Book People.  Even better their selling copies of it for just €8 at the moment.

Ok, so there is a ‘Useful Information’ chapter at the back of the book, full of stitches, abbreviations and pictures of how to hold your hook (gulp!).  Can you hear this section being closed as I go straight back to the pretty pictures?

35 projects are in this book, yes I did say 35 – lets look at some of my favourites.

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I love the Granny Round Cushion Cover to pieces and can see a beautiful round table cloth in the making.  Actually, more of a centrepiece thingy to be precise.

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What’s not to like about the Stripes lampshade Cover?  Great way to transform those cheapy lamps from Dunnes and Heatons and make them more personalised.  I’m sure I picked up a job lot in the Dunnes Sale for €2 each and they’d make a great gift for friends.

 

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I could definitely be persuaded to use a teapot more often if it looked as pretty as this, what about you?

 

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The Colourful Granny Stripes Scarf is beautiful and if you made it a little wider and slightly longer it would make a great summer evening shawl to wrap round your shoulders.  Or perhaps you have a friend in hospital that would love the cheery colours and welcome the extra warmth?

 

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The riot of colour in the Granny Square Cushion Cover is created using 7 complimentary colours and would be a great way of using up your ends although I”m duty bound to mention that knitting a few Knit Happens stockings is another great way too (cheeky!)

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Lastly and only because I want to leave a little mystery, look at these beautiful little shoes.  The Mini Granny Square Booties are so adorable I’d happily use them as a decoration in my house just so I could look at them.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m rather in love with this book – power project finishing here I come because it wouldn’t do to start yet another project would it…..?

Happy Crochet!

 

Yarn Shop Day – Saturday May 3rd

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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.

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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.

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Woolly Clearance

LeftFootDaisy4 Comments

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The time has come to accept that my addiction for all things woolly might be getting a little out of hand.  I know, I know, most of you had probably already spotted it some time ago now and for those of you that know me, you’ll know it’s not going to stop any time soon.

Facing the facts, I need to make space before I disappear into one of the stock rooms and never return -“suffocation from yarn, there are worse ways to go”.

After discussing it with friends, family and anyone who’ll listen, I’ve decided to give in and try an ecommerce site.  My lovely customers have been asking me to do this for years now and I’m concerned they’ll think it’s so much more than it is (apologies in advance).

It is a clearance shop, with clearance prices.  The yarn will only be sold in packs of 10 balls and you can buy as many packs as you want at the much reduced prices.

I intend to work my way steadily through the boxes of Stash Dash yarn one at a time and will therefore be popping up new products on a weekly basis (I’m aiming for Tuesdays).  The yarn will be from all the companies we stock and will include acrylics, wool, cotton, blends, etc, though once it’s gone it’s gone.

Postage here is still extremely expensive, with An Post the cheapest at this stage.

They’re prices are  – €6.50 for 500g/1kg or €7.50 for 1.5kg/2kg

You can of course purchase your packs of yarn on the website and collect them from the shop, but I’d ask you to contact me to ensure I have it waiting for you at the shop for collection.

We’ll see how it works, maybe it will go so smoothly that I can be persuaded to look at running with a proper online shop at some stage.

For now this is where you’ll find us Online Clearance Shop

Please be patient with us, hopefully there won’t be too many teething problems 🙂

Happy Knitting!