HandmAid Craft Day

Some lovely Dublin knitters have decided to host a craft day in aid of famine relief in the Horn of Africa. They've put tons of work into it so far. Check our their website here. The craft day will be on Saturday September 3rd, in the Damer Hall on St. Stephens Green, Dublin.

And... I'll be teaching a class! I still can't quite believe it to be honest. They asked, and I couldn't refuse for such a good cause.

I'll be teaching a class in the afternoon on card making. More specifically, how to make this card:






This is called a step card, and it's really easy to do, but looks very effective. I hope to make up a few more samples to give you an idea of how versatile it is.

So, please go and sign up for one of the classes. They're only €10 (which is nothing) and all funds are going to an extremely good cause.

Baby Crazy

As I'm sure you are all aware, it seems like everyone I know is pregnant at the moment. One little boy was born on August 2, and another baby is arriving any day now.

For the impending arrival, I knit up a few small items for a gift parcel and posted it off today. I wrapped it up in cute paper with baby feet on it, and some ribbon with teddies & hearts on it. Aww.



A breakdown of the contents:



You've seen the Star Booties and the Whooo Loves Ya Baby bib already, but here are the others.



First up is a bonnet that I've made before.
Pattern: Drops Bonnet in Alpaca in wavy pattern (Garnstudio come up with some doozies for their pattern names)
Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Alpaca, 1 skein in cream
Needles: 3mm

A lovely old fashioned baby bonnet that I think is super cute.

Next we have another pattern from Knit One Knit All:



Pattern: Surplice Baby Jacket (Ravlink) From Knit One Knit All by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: King Cole Bamboo Cotton
Needles: 4mm

I loved making this! Although I did make a huge boo-boo that required ripping back over half of the garment. That's what I get for not reading the whole pattern through before I start. (I know). Doesn't it look great? Adorable.

I hope the new Mammy likes them!

I've also been knitting up a storm on my Ethereal Top. I took it out of the bold corner and got back to it. I've finished the body, knit the square neck (which contains some really cool garter stitch mitred corners) and am on the first sleeve. I really hope to get it finished soon.

I also cast on for a new project. I was 13 years married last month, and apparently that anniversary is lace & lingerie. I do have the book Knitting Lingerie Style (Ravlink) but I figure it would be kinder to humanity if I knit some lace instead. :)
I was chatting on twitter about it, and myself and another Twitter Knitter have decided to do a KAL of sorts and make an Aeolian shawl. I'm using some really scrummy Hedgehog Fibres Silk Lace in the shade Magic Mushroom. Hope it doesn't make me go loopy!

Progress so far:



I'm about 2/3 of the way through the first set of charts, the Yucca chart. I'm making the largest size as I have 1000yds of this yarn. I discovered that the designer subsequently released an alternative edging for the shawl for cases where you might be running out of yarn, so I might end up using that one. We'll see how it goes.

Alice & I have been busy bunnies too. There has been lots of cardmaking going on! Here's a slideshow of them all so far. I hope it works.




Good knitting!

Easter Tidings

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the Easter Bunny paid you all a visit. I got a really lovely Easter present:



Easter Sheep! I think my sheep obsession might be going a bit far. But I didn't buy it, so I guess it doesn't count. Isn't it cute?

I have an FO to show you too:



Pattern: Nutkin Socks by Beth LaPensee
Yarn: Knits Picks Essential Tweed, 1.25 skeins
Needles: 2.5mm Knit Picks Harmony dpns

Sorry about the crappy picture. I really didn't enjoy this pattern. The socks are terribly twisted, the heels look *pants* and they don't fit me. I still can't believe they fit Alice, and her shoe size is 4 sizes smaller than me. Even though I made them the length to fit my foot. Never will I make these again. Plus I don't like the yarn at all. I think the multi coloured nubs are like clown vomit. Still, she likes them and I suppose it takes the pressure off me to make her another pair for a while.

With those out of the way, it's time for a new project! Remember we bought a piano recently? Well I was looking at the top of it and I reckon it'll rapidly become a dumping ground for crap. Not to mention glasses and cups if we ever have a party. So I decided it needs a runner to protect it.



Enter the book Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders and the Asphodel Lace Coasters and Centerpiece pattern. I'm going to make just the centerpiece, and I'm going to alter it and make it narrower and longer to go across the top of the piano. I have 2 skeins of the deliciousness that is Louet Gems Fingering Weight in Cream that I think will be perfect against the dark wood of the piano.
I'll give it a go anyway, and see how it turns out.

Alice & I were also busy making cards this week. Here are 3 Easter cards we made. We made some birthday and new baby cards too, but I couldn't find them to photo them, so these will have to do!



We also got busy in the garden. We planted pumpkins, sunflowers, courgettes (zucchini), broccoli, coriander, 4 types of chilli peppers and mesembryanthemums (at least I think that's how you spell it!). I really hope some of them grow. The weather really was amazing this week, I think it hit 22C some of the days. Mad for April!

One more week of holidays left. Joy!

Good knitting!

Busy Day (and more yarn)

Phew! Today was a busy day. Alice & I did loads!

First we went to the shopping centre where I tried to get new glasses, and failed miserably. Why are all glasses big thick frames nowadays? They make me look a right plonker. If anyone knows an optician in Dublin with a good selection, let me know!

We moved onwards to the bookstore where I got the new Simply Knitting magazine. I know, my third knitting magazine this week, but I am on holidays... I got Alice a card making magazine too.

Then we hit Penneys where I grabbed an absolutely gorgeous Owl umbrella that SheKnitUpThatBall found recently. I'm developing a bit of a thing for owls. The sheep won't be very pleased.

Then we went to the Bear Factory where Alice got a grooms outfit for her bears to match the bride outfit she has. I had made her a priests outfit before, so now she has the whole wedding ensemble! It's gas watching her marrying her bears, good job there's no bigamy laws for them!

We had a very naughty lunch in McDonalds (ssh), then I got coffee in Starbucks for home. A must have if there's to be a happy atmosphere. No coffee in morning = Godzilla Mammy.

After all that spending, you'd think I was done. Oh no. I decided that I needed to see some yarn so I headed to Springwools.



I will admit that I went primarily for this:



Lang Jawoll Magic sock yarn. Mmm. They have loads of lovely shades, but this one called to me, the fan of autumnal colours I am. It's lovely shades of brown to goldy-brown. Yum!

Things were going well. I had got what I wanted and was ready to go, but then I had another accident:



4 balls of King Cole Bamboo Cotton, 2 brown and 2 turquoise. In my defence, I have two babies coming up this year to knit for. I'm thinking stripy BSJ's. Also, we were talking on Twitter yesterday about cute colours for baby stuff that isn't traditional baby, and I remembered I love the colour combo of turquoise & brown. Gender neutral and flattering to almost everyone. I'm actually itching to cast on for one of these, it'd be a nice break from the Ethereal Top.

Alice found this, and I couldn't say no. She's such a huge Hello Kitty fan:



It's a kit to make a Hello Kitty hat. Aw. I'm such a sucker.

When we got home, after a quick cup of tea to refresh us, we got busy cardmaking. It's hubby & his sisters birthday next week. Being leap year babies (no, they're not twins, there's 8 years between them) they don't really have a birthday, but we use March 1. I got these kits in Michaels in Florida last year especially for them, as they both love to cook.

This one is for my sister-in-law:



And this one is for hubby:



Featuring his favourite kitchen appliance, his Kitchen Aid mixer. He's going to love it.
Alice is dead proud of them.

In Ethereal top news, I fixed the armholes! Yay me! I got enough done to try it on again, and it fits great now. Just another few inches of booring stocking stitch to go before I get to pick an empire waistline design. *sigh* No wonder I'm itching to cast on a BSJ.

In other non knitty news, tomorrow is voting day in our general election. I'm dreading thinking of who will be elected. If it's who the polls are saying, it's going to be really grim in work. Really grim. I'm very undecided, I don't think there's a clear alternative at all, but I do know one thing: I will be voting. It drives me mad when people don't exercise their vote, when so many people all over the world would die for the right to vote to select their government. At least that's one thing we can be thankful for here at the moment. So, USE YOUR VOTE!

Good knitting!