Knitting Noro Silk Garden - from Sock Yarn to Zig-Zag Scarf

Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn Scarf

I wrote about my  Noro sock yarn find in Kinsale in June here so I just wanted to share the finished product with you. I have been very busy and lots going on in my life over the past few months what with the wedding and emigration of our eldest son and his new wife and their two daughters to Spain, where I accompanied them for their first week in the new apartment.  I am back from Spain a week now and feel I'm ready to tackle the blogosphere - though not yet with a holiday post! That'll wait for a bit as I have already posted the photos and they are on my Facebook page.

Blocked Scarf

Before blocking

Meanwhile knitting has been my constant, an anchor in an otherwise turbulent time, and I love the way it helps me Keep Calm and Carry On like on those now fashionable posters. I also like the Father Ted version - Keep Calm and Drink Tea!

Hope you like the scarf - I had blocked it with pins at the side to give some feature peaks but they vanished soon after the scarf dried out, so now it's just wavy ends! I used the pattern from Ravelry for those of you interested, and it was a very simple Chevron design but very effective for showing off the beautiful Noro colours at their best. I like the lacy holes too, and the needles I used were 4mm. If you wanted a lacier scarf, bigger needles would have done the trick, but I felt the 4mm suited the double-knit (worsted in USA) weight just fine. I also used a provisional cast-on using a crocheted chain length and that meant both ends were matching - a  handy tip on the pattern. My first Provisional Cast-On and very simple to do, I'd do it again. Got the info on it from my Stitch'n'Bitch Superstar Knitting book but it's online too. 

Happy knitting and I'll be back soon with my current WIP when it's done -hopefully in the near future! 

Knitting Surprises - Yarn Bargains and Blog Prizes!

Thank You Kathy! 

Last week I got a delightful surprise - no, make that two delightful surprises - when I won a blog prize from Kathy B at IrishEyesKnitters Blog , and I found a great yarn bargain in Kinsale.

Firstly the yarn prize came as a complete surprise, as I hadn't expected to win the competition. All I did was post a comment linking to another blog on knitting that maybe needed more visitors and comments, so I trawled a bit and thought of Irish Knitting and Crochet which is a great resource of all the Irish crafty sites, although they don't update too often. Anyway KathyB informed me I'd won and asked for my address so she could forward my prize. So I sent it off and forgot about it till a box with an American postmark arrived during the week. I had to think what it might be and wondered then if it was my prize, which it was - all the way from Illinois! I had missed the blogpost that showed the prize, so it came as a real thrill to see all the lovely yarn! I got 2 x 50g skeins of Berocco Denim Silk, which I'd never heard of, and 3 x 50g balls of Tivoli Cotton and Linen slubby boucle yarn in a nice creamy colour.

My lovely prize from Illinois! 

The irony of the airmiles undergone by the Tivoli didn't escape me as it started life in Cork about 50 minutes drive away from Lismore! In fact my son and his family live in the suburb of Tivoli, near the original woollen mills. Sadly now most of the yarn is made in Turkey but still marketed out of Cork as one of the oldest most regarded Irish knitting brands. Thanks KathyB for making my week a  lot brighter - especially given the foul weather we're enduring in pursuit of our Irish Summer, which is making a mockery of us! I have yet to decide what to make with this fab prize but I'll let you know in good time! This yarn is now discontinued so I will make sure I use just enough!

Beautiful Silk/Wool blend Sock Yarn

The second surprise which actually preceded the yarn prize, was this find of a ball of 100g Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn Colour 301 in Vivi, a lovely crafty shop in Kinsale where I went last Saturday. I wandered around the pretty seaside town while hubby Jan attended a town councillor's national meeting in the Blue Haven Hotel, and as I'd never  been to Kinsale before I figured I'd make like a tourist and do all the touristy trail things. Like wander the narrow streets, visit the shops and go down the quayside to the plummy Kinsale Yacht Club and gawp at all the recession-busting yachts in the Marina, which were the ship equivalent of bumper-to-bumper (stern-to-stern?).

The Yarn shop in Kinsale

Kinsale Marina

A colourful Kinsale street

Along one narrow winding lane I saw this shop which was manna to any knitter, and I browsed covetously for a while, like I do in bookshops, not buying but loitering with guilty intent. I had taken my stash-busting pledge seriously, or maybe I thought I had; well I had told hubby not a drop ball of wool would enter the house till the stash was diminished to virtually nothing, but like any self-respecting knitaholic, I was only one  ball away from falling off that wagon, and the temptation of a lone ball of Noro was too much, and I caved in. The real lure was the price tag - a fiver, that's 5 Euro or about $6, or £4, anyway about a quarter of the normal price. Seems it was the last of the lot and the saleswoman didn't seem to make much of my enthusiastic reaction to my find, as she told me she wasn't a knitter herself.

I have spent the past week deliberating over what to make and while it's sock  yarn,  all 300m of it, I think it's far too pretty to hide in my boots, so I'm going to make a scarf/shawl in a chevron pattern that'll show up the stripes beautifully. I know it'll have a right and a wrong side but I don't think that'll matter as the reverse stocking stitch will be lovely with the lacy design. I have decided on a pattern I found in Pinterest, as it's simple and easy.

Source: ravelry.com via anemone on Pinterest

I think it's very delicate and hope it does the Noro yarn justice!  It's also on Ravelry as a free download.

Right now I don't have time to work with complex charts as I've a wedding in a week and a bit. Our eldest son Shayne and his fiancee Jany are tying the knot after 4 years together, and regular blog readers will know they have two beautiful daughters, Sofia and Livia. So I have a cake to bake and decorate, albeit simply, and a frock to find, again not getting too stressed about that, as I'm not going the whole mother of the groom thing with hats and shoes and bag matching a serious rigout. More like a summery frock and a shawl or bolero and I'll be grand. I got nice white sandals in New Look in Cork today so that's a start!



Enjoy the photos and be sure to visit Kathy's blog and all the blogs people in the competition recommended to her and thanks again for thinking up a lovely surprise to make my week!

My New Noro Scarf - a Colourful Labour of Love

Ta-dah  - finished!

This is the end result of the fabulous wool I got from Caroline (on Twitter @Scattyhats). I started this scarf a month or more ago after agonising (well, thinking for a bit) over what I'd make with the Knitmas present. I had never seen such fine yarn before, let alone work with it. It's like a 2-ply, with some knobbly slubby bits where the yarn changes texture. It's Noro Sekku, a mix of Silk, Cotton, Wool and Nylon. So I'm guessing it's pretty strong and it's very very long at 420 metres/459yards - which is why I got such a long scarf from a mere 50gm ball!

I was in This is Knit in Dublin a few weekends ago and I wrote about the visit here so you can see I got a lovely Noro Yarns book there - it's got a fantastic selection of patterns with the gorgeous colourways that Noro seem to specialise in. I really love them and I have no idea whether they'll look good pr gaudy but they are very aesthetically pleasing to look at!


The Pattern - Feather and Fan stitch

Ready for blocking

Stitch detail on scarf

I decided on a Feather and Fan stitch for the scarf as it has a built-in wave which goes brilliantly with the colourful striped pattern in the yarn.  I like the lacy look of it too. It was a project I picked up from time to time in between other small projects like phone covers and starting a new jumper. (or sweater is the word in some places.)

There are loads of free patterns on Ravelry for Feather and Fan scarves so you can just find one you like - remember the pattern is a multiple of 18 stitches so you can make it as wide or narrow as you like - and the edges are half a fan - so that's what I did - with a garter stitch border of 3 stitches on each row to minimise curling.

Feather and Fan Scarf.

• Cast on 60 stitches
• Garter stitch x 3 rows, then start pattern Row 1
• Row 1: K3 (K2 tog) x 3 times, [(YO, K1) x 6 times, (K2 tog) x 6 times] repeat from [ to ] as desired, K2 tog x 3 times,  K3.
• Row 2: K3, purl to last 3, K3.
• Row 3: Knit
• Row 4: As Row 2.
• Repeat these four rows until desired length. End scarf with 3 rows Garter Stitch, cast off.



Noro book and WIP scarf

• Block to define lace and shape.

Blocking
Right now the scarf is blocked and drying out - I did a wet blocking - something that's totally new to me as I had never blocked things before but as this was curling in at the edges I thought I'd better! I used a wet blocking method from my Knitting and Crochet Bible - with rust-proof stainless steel pins, pin the garment on a soft base (I used a doubled lengthways bathtowel) and shape as you want it finished. Then get a clean cloth and wring out in water, place over the garment and leave to dry naturally, can take a couple of days. When cover cloth is dry, remove, and leave garment to dry naturally. Then unpin and enjoy!

Drying on the spare room floor!

The Sekku Label.

I'll be back to post a pic of the finished scarf post-blocking. Hope you like the results thus far - and thanks to Caroline - who's recently given birth to twin girls and certainly has her hands full - Congratulations to her and thanks a million for introducing me to this wonderful new brand - and to Feather and Fan stitch as she made me the beautiful Knitmas Cowl with the Debbie Bliss Andes Alpaca and Silk blend yarn - heavenly. I'm really grateful to her, and wish her a wonderful life!

Dublin can be Heaven - Afternoon Delights around Powerscourt Town Centre

Lunch in The Pepper Pot - Warm Goat's Cheese Salad

Last Friday hubby Jan and me headed off to Dublin for my cousin's birthday party which I've blogged about here. As Jan had a business meeting in the Alliance Francaise for the afternoon I said just drop me off in shopping heaven, the Grafton Street/St. Stephen's Green Centre area. With no pressure to shop till I drop like I might  be in the run up to Christmas, for example, or be on the lookout for something special like an outfit befitting the mother of the groom (help! I dread having to face that at some stage before July!) I was in a mellow place and found an equally mellow place to match my mood. 

That happened to be the Powerscourt Town Centre, on Clarendon Street off Grafton Street. I dashed into Dunnes' Stores in the Stephen's Green Centre first, to see what I might need, and bought a nice ribbon yarn loose cardi, which I could upcycle if I hated. I then dropped into the Westbury Hotel to powder my nose and allow myself a twinge of nostalgia for my last visit, when Martin was still working there before he headed to Australia. Then I cut across the Westbury Mall and emerged at the Powerscourt Town Centre. It used to be the town house of one Richard Wingfield, the 3rd Viscount Powerscourt, and serendipitously there are Wingfields to this day at Salterbridge  House over the road from Lismore near Cappoquin. 

This is Knit - Dublin's coolest shop!

Sign of the times @ This is Knit

The best shop  in Powerscourt by my biased reckoning has to be This is Knit - a haven for knitaholics anonymous and otherwise. It's got amazing yarns and a selection of the best top quality silks and alpacas and cashmeres and merinos and it's just as addictive as any good bookshop. I just browed the shelves and felt the wonderful tactile yarns, and got a ball of DB Andes, which is so soft and sensuous. I couldn't resist a booklet of Noro patterns, which opened up a  whole new world of colourful yarns and patterns made with these beautiful Japanese yarns. I already love working the Sekku and seeing the lovely pattern emerge with the colours melding together. 

Lunch with a view in Powerscourt Town Centre

A late Book Token Christmas Pressie!

Noro and more Noro (Sekku Scarf WIP)

After I'd sated myself in the yarn shop, it was time to eat - and where better than on the balcony outside. There are a variety of cafes and I decided on The Pepper Pot - they had friendly staff and lovely food - I had a delicious warm goat's cheese salad with lovely brown bread, and a nice cuppa tea. I sat there tweeting and reading the Irish Times while soaking up the atmosphere and thinking what it must have been like back in the day of the big house when it was in use as the town house for the toffs from Wicklow. 

Improv Instruments - Upcycled Oilcans on Grafton St.

I should really get out  more if a Friday afternoon mooching around the shops in Dublin's Grafton Street can be so enjoyable - or else I'm just easily pleased with simple tastes! After lunch and a few photos of my table with a view I wandered off to look for Waterstone's in Dawson Street nearby. Grafton Street is Dublin's Ramblas - great buzz and full of buskers and human statues covered in toxic glittery body paint waiting for a few shekels to fall into their hats before stirring into motion. I love the fact that Captain America's is still the same as it was in my student days back in the '70s.

I took this pic of a busker playing a mean electric guitar made from a Castrol GTX Oilcan as it reminded me of the improv instruments beloved of the roadside sellers in Tanzania and our first watchman in Mishamo who played a  unistring guitar made from a margarine tin and a stick with a piece of wire stretched from one end to the other. I spent a few confused minutes looking for Waterstone's to be told they'd closed - and Hodges Figgis was the only bookshop on the street. Lucky for me they are honouring the Waterstone's book tokens, and I continued to feed my insatiable craft book habit with this lovely Weekend Knitting book. I still have enough credit to cut loose in Waterstone's in Cork one of these weekends. This is some of the pattern selection in the book. I can't wait to get going on some of them!

Stephen's Green Centre

By now I'd met up with Jan and Paul, their meeting in the Alliance over, and was given a conundrum - where in Dublin will you find monkeys playing billiards or snooker? I certainly didn't have a clue - and I'm going to leave you pondering that one for a while before revealing all! That's your Pub Quiz question for today - food for thought over the weekend.

Powerscourt Town House

This was beside the Pepper Pot - a tad OTT!