Knitmas time again - happy days for Twitter Knitters!

My Knitmas gifts!

Yes, it's Knitmas again and for those of you wondering if I've lost my festive seasonal marbles, rest assured, it's just that it's the time of the year for a dedicated group of Irish-based knitters to do an online Secret Santa via Twitter! It's my second year and it's been fun both times. Last week my "victim" Jenny (@jenbear) posted on her blog about the goodies I sent her; now I'm doing likewise with the lovely parcel I got on Friday from Isobel (@teaandcakes).

Driving to Dublin on Dec. 8th

I was thrilled with the lovely gifts I got last year from Caroline, (@scattyhats) who sent me a lovely alpaca silk cowl and two skeins of yarn, which gave me a lot of pleasure as I knitted a shawl and a scarf with those during the year. I drew Cathy (@cathyqtpi)This year I was paired with Jenny and as it's a three-way swop you don't get something back from the person you draw. Via the website Elfster I could post anonymous questions to Jenny to see what colours she liked and what her shoe size was! All a bit smoke and daggers, as Bertie "Malaprop" Ahern might say! But she had indicated on her wish list on Elfster that she'd love a pair of handknit socks - so that was a challenge I loved! I made her a nice pair of purple self-striping socks and even though she wasn't too keen on variegated yarns she was delighted with those. I made mitts to match, and a phone cosy as well as sending a few balls of nice yarn - some Cushendale bouclé and merino with a tea cosy pattern.

Lovely Lace Merino - perfect for a shawl.

So I was chuffed with the parcel on Friday which had this delightful pair of fingerless mitts in a terrific navy, cerise and teal intarsia design - a bit like stained glass - and some fab sock yarn, as well as a 1400m skein of lace merino in a gorgeous lavender colour! I can't even begin to think how I'm gonna wind it into a ball - I'm sure I need a ball wonder thingy but haven't investigated it yet, they always wind the skeins in This is Knit in Dublin which is the only shop where I've bought unwound wool! I wore the mitts going to Dublin yesterday for the Labour Women executive meeting and they are perfect driving gloves, keeping me cosy when it was 1°C outside and ice on the roads!

Isobel also sent me some funky stitch markers, beads and slices of cake (!) as well as a notebook and soap and some cookies and chocolate to keep me happy! Altogether a very thoughtful and generous pressie and I am always touched by the kindness of strangers who've become virtual friends via Twitter - there's a lot of good things about social media despite all the bad press it gets!
Enjoy the photos!

This is what I sent to Jenny!

Sock yarn - can't wait to get going!

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!

Knitting Nirvana - Crafty Books, Done Deals and WIPs

Modelling my frilly ChaChaCha scarf

I know, I know, I promised to  be a more consistent blogger in 2012 and I'm already falling by the wayside. I am writing this on Martin's lovely iMac with a big screen and a sleek brushed steel frame, with the iconic Apple and no big tower like in PC world! I'm sorta minding it for Martin but hopefully he'll not be able to fit it in his suitcase when he comes home for Shayne and Jany's summer wedding! Then I'll get to mind it for a bit longer, and will by then have figured out all that I've forgotten about Apple Macs and their quirkily intelligent Operating Systems. 

Already the keyboard is toast, as Martin spilt tea on the lovely slimline objet d'art before  heading to Australia, rendering 5, T, H and N useless and by extension the whole bloody keyboard - *ry worki*g wi**ou* **ose and you'll soo* fi*d out how much you use *hem! So I'm using a clunky old Dell Keyboard - functional but with no aesthetic properties whatsoever! At least the Apple Mouse is still working, except for the scrolldown button. Which I can live without.

This is a little post on recent knitting I  have done. I joined the Knitting Circle at Angela's Design Workshop last year and thoroughly enjoy it. It's on twice every Tuesday in Lismore, and I go to the evening session as being a wage slave prohibits my attendance at the morning session - that's peopled by a number of retired women including a few retired Public Health Nurses - knitting nurses being quite the thing. It certainly whiled away a few quiet nights for me on agency night duty back in the 70s and 80s - yes, even nurses had quiet nights in some of the smaller private hospitals.

Apple iMac - a thing of  beauty!

Rathcooney Mitts in cotton blend - now in Oz!

The knitting circle is a nice social outlet, people meet to chat, share patterns and ideas, and help each other out with tips on patterns and problems , and even do a bit of skill-sharing - some of us who can crochet gave a demo on making Granny Squares a few weeks back. We have tea and coffee, cakes and biscuits and a good laugh is guaranteed. There's something very cosy about a knitting circle, and it's a great leveller as everyone brings something new and we all gain from it, from absolute beginner to experienced returnee  - which I consider myself to be as I only came back to knitting about 3 years ago after a lifetime away from it - probably over 20 years. 

Book Token buys!

My Christmas Wish List this year was books - Knitting and Crochet books - and I had great fun self-selecting on Amazon. I got two wonderful books - Carol Feller's Contemporary Irish Knits and Stitch'n'Bitch Superstar Knitting. The boys and Anne (Shayne and Jany's Au Pair) gave me book tokens for Easons and Waterstones. I still have the Waterstones' one (no shop nearby) and two weeks back spent a blissful hour browsing the Craft Section in Eason's in Dungarvan - where they have thoughtfully positioned tub armchairs for enhanced browsing - and came away with two great books - The Knitting and Crochet Bible, and The Happy Hooker - Stitch'n'Bitch Crochet! 

Mitts I made to match my cowl Knitmas gift

Great series of books!

I've  been making lots of little things since Christmas - fingerless Rathcooney Mittens from Stolen Stitches Blogger Carol Feller's book being a firm favourite and I made a couple of pairs as presents for friends. I made a matching hat too, and a cowl in Feather and Fan stitch which was like the one I got from Caroline (@scattyhats on Twitter) in the Knitmas Secret Santa which I mentioned in a recent post. I sent some things off to Cathy (@cathyqtpi on Twitter) for her Knitmas gift.  

Rathcooney Mitts for a piano-player friend - Merino wool

Best Irish Knitting book of the year! 

iPhone Cover from Monika on Ravelry

I made some frilly scarves for friends and one or two  for myself - and I have been asked to make some for other people! I made some iPhone covers from Ravelry - which is a fabulous resource for anyone interested in knitting - and right now I am patiently working in painfully slow fine 2-ply Noro Sekku yarn (no 7) - a delicious blend of Cotton, Silk and Wool, which I also got from Caroline for Knitmas. I am doing a Feather and Fan lacy scarf which will take forever as I can't give too much time to it, what with work, baking and blogging amongst other things, and I have other knitting fish to fry as well.

Tivoli Twirl scarf made in car en route to Dublin, gift.

I'll link some of the books and show you some of the photos of the projects.  I hope you get inspiration from this post to try your  hand at knitting - and indeed crochet - and remember start small, you don't have to knit a jumper, something small or baby clothes will give you great satisfaction and you'll have something very special to share with the world - or at least your friends and family!

Modelling my Rathcooney Knits

Knitting and Related Craftiness - and an Intro to Knitmas

My Secret Santa gift for Knitmas!

I'm way late telling you about Knitmas as the name suggests it's a Christmas Knitting Project with the totally terrific premise of a selective Secret Santa/KristKindle for the Knitting Online Community! I came across it back in October or November, on Twitter or Facebook, not exactly sure now, but the next thing I knew I'd signed up to take part in an Irish exchange programme via Elfster - a new (to me) website facilitating exchanges and gift-giving and sharing. It took a bit of getting used to, as I have been frustrated by a dinosaur laptop that keeps crashing and needs constant frequent CPR (Computer Processor Resuscitation) - so I'd been using my phone to stay online and in touch with the wider world. It has its limitations though - screen size does matter and there are some tasks the mobile apps don't do like the full version, so I let things lie for a few weeks after I was told who my partner in Knitmas crime was - Cathy who tweets as @cathyqtpi - (confusing until you say it, geddit?)

The sincerest form of flattery - my cowl copy!

Anyway I had been assigned to another Knitmas member so I had no idea what approach to take, getting a mild panic attack over whether I'd end up getting fab stuff and not sending my beneficiary anything she'd like, and quickly getting over it when I realised we were able to grill our partners and be grilled in turn by ours on preferences, likes, fave colours and so on. So I ascertained from my inquisition that Cathy liked purple and ladybirds. Sorted. I promptly hit our local craft dealer - Angela at her eponymous Lismore Design Workshop where she has a marvellous treasure trove of everything knitty and crafty. She had lovely haberdashery and I got delightful ladybird buttons, and then she had a soft toy kit for - yes, you guessed it - a ladybird! On the purple front I had some frilly scarf yarn from Lidl last year called Sanibel which I hadn't a clue what to do with, until one night at our Knitting Circle at the self-same Design Workshop Angela was making this wonderful frilly scarf with Tivoli Whirl and had other brands of scarf yarn on sale which looked just like my Lidl shoelace yarn. Finally I knew what to do with it - and I made the most beautiful scarf which I earmarked for Knitmas. It is a quick and easy yarn to knit as you only cast on 8-10 stitches and the scarf can be done in a couple of hours. I have one myself too as I had enough yarn to make two. So I got some colourful wool for my Knitmas package - Ocean I think it was, a lovely wool blend - and finished off the package with a Hope Charity Chocolate bar and there might have been something else I can't recall. I was a few days late for the 1st Dec. deadline but was forgiven as I emailed to say I'd been late. I got such a buzz when Cathy posted her gifts on Twitter and shared them with the Knitmas community. I think she posted a photo on her Tweets.

Assorted iPhone covers  from Monika's pattern.

As for my pressies - I got a lovely packet from Caroline (@Scattyhats) who made me a beautiful Silk and Alpaca Cowl in Debbie Bliss Andes, done in a lovely Feather and Fan stitch. She also sent some lovely stitch markers, chocolate, teabags, and best of all - wool! Well to be more precise, a Noro very fine yarn, and Araucania from Chile 100% cotton 4-ply which might be perfect for cotton socks!  I have yet to wind the cotton skein as I don't  have a winder so am a bit nervous about getting caught up in knots but then my mother used to wind hanks of Aran wool back in the home-knitting days of the 60s and 70s and that was a lot of winding with no winders - back of a kitchen chair or else my aching arms were the best she could manage!

I copied the Andes Cowl in Cotton blend Nadine from Lidl in Teal and it is lovely - soft and smooth (60% Cotton). I made a lovely Dora the Explorer jumper for my granddaughter Sofia for Christmas and she looks sweet in it; it was also made in the Nadine teal. Ive also made some funky cable iPhone covers from Monika on Ravelry - she's made a PDF of her pattern.

So altogether I am enjoying the creativity of this crafty world and I will tell you about  my Christmas knitting books next post. I think you'll enjoy and head straight for Amazon!