The Knitting and Stitching Show Dublin - Craft Heaven for Knitters and Quilters

Mary & Me at the Big Knit Innocent Stand 

Back after a long hiatus for  no particular reason other than Bloggers' Block - I just couldn't seem to find time between life and work to do anything other than knit and read and think "I must write a blogpost soon"! Of course it just kept getting deferred and now I'm almost totally embarrassed that it's been two months without a post which is a first since I started blogging from the Déise in 2008. So I have to really make more effort - must try harder, in school reportese.

So I decided this post would be about a recent event - the Knitting and Stitching Show in the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) in Dublin last weekend. I won two tickets in an online competition on the Innocent Ireland Big Knit page which didn't even seem like a competition as all I had to do was post a comment who I'd bring to the Knitting and Stitching Show. I wrote that in a wishlist I'd bring my mother who taught me to knit, and Jany my D-i-L who I taught to crochet and who has been blitzing everything with her craft ever since, and as she's in Spain I would then love to  bring my Knitting Circle knitters. So I was delighted to get the email telling me I'd won - then I had a reason to go! The Knitting and Stitching Show (Facebook too) is a UK venture that puts on 3 shows every autumn - a London one in Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) in October, this one in Dublin in November, and the final one in Harrogate also in November. They bring over a lot of exhibitors from the UK but there is a huge Irish craft element to this show, which gives the best of both worlds.

Patchwork quilt on show

Zoe Williams Needle Felting - Saola and Rhino

I found out a bus was going from Tallow with their knitters, and Helen kindly let me join them. I brought a friend from work, another friend wasn't able to go as she had another gig on, and I was delighted that Mary could come at short notice. We joined the Tallow knitters early on Saturday morning for the bus, and there was a sharp frost which made everywhere very Christmassy for about an hour! The trip to Dublin took about 3 hours plus a half hours pitstop in the Midway in Portlaoise for tea and scones, and then we were brought to the door of the RDS.

It was a great day, and as Mary is interested in Patchwork Quilting and my interest is in knitting and crochet, we were well served. As well as drooling over the wonderful displays and exhibitions of various crafts and some graduate shows from the art and design colleges, we were able to indulge our wishlist fantasies and get some stuff we mightn't be able to find in our local yarn shops. The Limerick Prison Quilt project was very good, and we were amazed at the multimedia element of some of the work, like the felted cables from a GMIT student. I saw some new crafts I had never heard of like Luceting which seems a bit of a cross between Macrame and French Knitting! Also saw some marvellous silk felting by Limerick-based Kate Ramsey which was a new concept for me but looks amazing!

Limerick Prison Quilt Project

I was very restrained in that I only got one skein of yarn from Winnie's Wool Wagon shop - Drops Lace in Alpaca and Silk blend in Turqouise (6410 if you wanna see it on the website), over 800m. in 100g. which gives an idea of how fine it will knit up and make a fab shawl when I get round to a)winding it into a ball and b)finding a nice pattern and actually making it! I also got a fab circular needle for socks - a pair of 3mm KnitPro wooden needles and a separate 120cm cable! I'd been looking for a long cable to knit up twin socks (two at a time) and the 80mm 2.5mm cable needle I had was just a tad short, though manageable. Also the wooden needles are wonderfully smooth to knit fine yarn with and will do grand for socks and maybe shawls and also I can get interchangeable needles for the cable at any time.

NCAD 2nd Year textile structures

We visited the Innocent Smoothies stand and saw all the knitters busily knitting little hats for the Age Action Big Knit. We introduced ourselves as winners of tickets to the Show and they took our photos and gave us smoothies which was really nice of them, thanks a lot girls! We also introduced ourselves to Rosemary of The Constant Knitter, who's also a Deise girl, and who won an Irish Times Best Craft Shop in a reader-nominated competition recently. We'd had some Twitter talk lately and she'd said to drop by, so we did and took a pic.

With Rosemary The Constant Knitter

We had a cuppa and a sandwich and wandered around for the afternoon, enjoying the craic and meeting others from the group laden down with bags of wool - one intrepid knitter had brought an empty suitcase, redolent of the New York-bound Christmas shoppers from the Celtic Tiger days! We bumped into an old colleague from my Concern Tanzania days and her sister who's an avid knitter and we've linked up on Ravelry since, she's there as FinishMyRow, a familiar knitters' refrain.

We hit the road home at 5pm and stopped for food at the Midway where we had lovely Thai chicken curry, and snoozed in between showing off and admiring our purchases on the bus. Next year the Tuesday Knitters from Lismore Design Workshop will organise our own  bus and look forward to another good day out.

To conclude on the school theme - in the time-honoured words of the annual school essay - we arrived home tired but happy!

Scroll down to see a gallery of photos of the day.

Mary with crafty mags!

Mary gets some fat quarters (quilter's lingo)

some great Innocent Hats

more cute hats

My KnitPro cable sock needles

Matching hats - mine and the smoothie!

Amazing Knitted Village

Granny Square bag idea!

Kate Ramsey Fabulous Felt (Silk)

Schoolkids' quilt

Knitted Village

Knitting Stash Heaven! Bargains galore.

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! 

A Snug Solution - for a Sony e-Reader Cosy

The finished Sony cosy  

I just wanted to share this latest project with you - it's been gestating for the past two months as my friend and colleague asked me if I'd make her a cosy for her new e-reader - a Sony - when she saw my iPhone cosy. Of course I agreed, and it would be in the same hot pink - but the only caveat was that there wouldn't be any time pressure. Probably a mistake as I am the queen of procrastination and unless I have a deadline I'll put everything off till tomorrow...or next week, or month, or year.

In this case, my friend was on hols so I didn't get the dimensions of the e-reader till she returned. Then she sent me the model - Sony e-Reader PRS T-1. All Greek to me, but at least I could go on Amazon and get the dimensions - 11x17.3x0.9cm. (How precise is that - 0.9? Couldn't they just round it off at 1cm? I think it must be mind games like 99c sounding better value than 1 Euro - 1cm must be soooo much fatter than 0.9cm!)

On the job, halfway there.

So I needed negative ease in this cosy (Ahem, betcha didn't think I knew anything techie about knitting!) I've learnt so much from my knitting library and friends in the knitting circle. Negative ease for those of you wondering is making something with a bit of give in it when it's being worn. Like socks. You don't want them concertina'ed around your ankles (even if they are ankle socks) so they must be smaller than your leg to snugly embrace that ankle or calf. A phone cosy likewise, and an e-reader cosy. It must hug the object of its desire so it doesn't fall out when moved. So the item must be larger than the cosy, if only by a few millimetres. This worked out fine, as the width is just 11cm which allows ease in the 1.8cm for the sides. The length is slightly longer than the reader, again allowing for its thickness.

Blocking (too red!)

  Where you don't want negative ease is in a jumper (sweater to the American readership!) - unless you're willowy svelte and slim with no excess of flab or muffin-top spare tyre you want plenty of positive ease! I'm at the stage where I'll adjust my pattern shaping accordingly, like my last teal jumper where I modified the waistline shaping - in my case to not much shaping at all, as it was a short jumper. I've just started another lacy jumper which is quite longline and more tunic-like, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this will turn out.

A word about the cable pattern on the cosy. I loved it when I saw it on Ravelry, and as it was in Jolakey's projects as a Kindle Cosy. As it was a personal  pattern not in Ravelry or available for purchase, I decided to decode it - a first for me. It was a nice challenge and very satisfying when I eventually cracked it. It was  another challenge to write it down, and I'm still working on that. I left a note on the comments box about my using the cable for this project, so I hope she likes my interpretation of her design. The only glitch is that hot pink is well-nigh impossible to photograph properly with my fairly basic cameras (my Panasonic Lumix and my iPhone.)

The Cable Design, colour good match

How I made it:

1. I used Cotton yarn, DK/Sportsweight, and it took just over 25gm, which was pretty good going as the ball is 100gm. 
2. I cast on 52 stitches, and put 26 on each needle of the 3.5mm circular needle, using the Magic Loop method which meant no side seams. I use this method for everything possible now, like the sleeves of my last jumper, to socks, to the body of my current jumper. 
3. I used the 3-needle cast/bind-off for the end seam, worked on the inside, so it's very neat on the outside. That's another technique crossover from sock toes, which is very adaptable. 
4. The Cable was worked over 18 stitches in the middle of one of the 26 stitch groups - so K4, work cable panel over 18, K4 (total 26 stitches), K all 26 stitches on 2nd needle. 
5. As you're using Magic loop for stocking stitch, you knit each round, (excluding the cable panel of course!) and no purling. 

Cable design detail, one repeat. Colour a bit too lavender!

I'll try to do the written pattern instructions and/or a chart which would be a first for me as I am not really used to them; they seem to be a very American thing.

I do like the end result, after blocking and drying. Happy knitting!

New Knitting - My Teal Lace-Trim Jumper

My new cotton jumper

 This is a jumper I finished in time for the Immrama Launch in Lismore Castle so you've seen it being modelled if you read the blogpost on that event - and it's also on my Facebook profile pic, as it was taken by the pro photographer on the night and the quality is great. Better than my Panasonic Lumix point'n'shoot or my iPhone pix!

I thought to share this project with the various knitaholics among my blog readership, apologies to the rest of you who find knitting up there on a par with watching paint dry, but that's the joys of blogging - anything goes.

I got the pattern from the March 2012 edition of Let's Knit, a UK knitting mag, which was new to me, but has lovely patterns in it. I get a lot of American crochet and knitting mags, and find the crochet ones easier if they're American as I use the American stitches in crochet, which means the UK crochet mags wreck  my head. I have to do a translation of the pattern as I go along, and often mess up, and even though I am totally baffled  by pattern charts in crochet, which the Americans favour, I am getting used to reading knitting charts for lacy projects, as in the cast of this jumper.

Bathroom mirror modelling - to show neck detail!

It was designed by Anniken Allis (her Ravelry link) and it was a first for me, working from a lace chart. Also the shoulders were not cast off, just  left on a stitch holder and they involved the Wrap and Turn technique to slope them, and then they were joined by the 3-needle cast-off (bind-off for my American readers). This is a technique I was used to from my sock knitting, as I always use it for the toes, and my iPhone cosy too. It leaves a lovely neat finish, and I will use it ad infinitum!

Another first for me was knitting the three-quarter length sleeves in the round, which meant they were seamless. I was chuffed with that as it wasn't on the pattern, and I managed to incorporate the sleeve shaping with no problems. I also blocked the pieces, which was  a step I've never done before - all those knitting books are paying off - and it really gave it a neat finish.

Detail of neck back

My favourite part of the jumper was the lace detail, especially on the neck back. It is a little triangle, and it was easy enough to do once I could concentrate on the counting. The same trim was in the pattern for the sleeves, and I adapted the pattern to include the same trim on the front and back hem. I think that enhanced it and it turned out lovely. What do you think?

Note seamless sleeve: pre-blocking, a bit too blue.

Swanky launch at Lismore Castle - with hubby Jan

The yarn was adapted too - as long as it was cotton 4-ply (sportweight for American knitters) I was happy to go along with it. I had lovely teal cotton yarn from Lidl, called Lima - but I only had 250gm. That should have been enough, but that wasn't applicable to this yarn, and I ran out before the front was done! Disaster loomed as Lidl only bring out wool about twice a year and don't always run the same ranges from year to year, so I thought I'd  have to park the project. Then an angel of mercy appeared, in the person of Annie, one of the Tuesday Knitters at Angela's Design Workshop. She heard of my dilemma and offered me a pack of the same colour yarn she had bought last year! It was called Spring, and it was a 5-ply yarn with a slightly larger gauge, however, I decided to continue on the 3.5mm needles and it wasn't discernible. So unless you look with a gimlet eye for flaws, and spot a tiny discrepancy at the neck, it's totally fine by me.

Border detail - colour very hard to capture but this is it!

I wore the jumper for the launch of the Immrama Festival in Lismore Castle, and it got many compliments. The photos from the launch have been in the local papers so everyone can see my lovely jumper. I hope you like it too.

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