We’re in the final countdown to UK Knitcamp in Scotland next week and all the finishing touches are being added to the classes.  I wanted to go through material lists for the classes so that everyone would know what they will need.  Please leave a comment if you have any queries.

Tuesday (All Day)- Knitting From The Side

Materials:
7mm/US11 circular needles
7mm/US11 dpns
7mm crochet hook (this size is less critical so close to that size will also work)
Waste yarn
stitch markers

I have some Fyberspates Scrumptious chunky yarn for the class (very gererously donated by Jeni..THANKS!) which will have to be doubled to get gauge (11 sts/18 rows per 4″/10cm).  If you are a fast knitter you may wish to bring your own yarn to ensure you have enough for the full class.

Wednesday (Morning) – Slip Stitch Patterns

We will be working through a series of slip stitch pattern swatches so you will need

2 yarns (dk/aran recommended); suitable needle
size for yarn (straight or circular).

Thursday (All Day) – Shaping Up Traditional Knits

Materials:

Aran weight yarn, 100% wool recommended.
US #8/5mm circular needle, 32-inch/80cm (or longer) for
in the round or straight needles if worked flat.
US #7/4.5mm circular needle, 32-inch/80cm (or longer)
for in the round or straight needles if worked flat.
1 set US #7/4.5mm double pointed needles (dpns)
1 set US #8/5mm double pointed needles (dpns)
Markers (m); Stitch holders; Tapestry needle; Cable needle
Plus: calculator, graph paper, measuring tape.
It is also useful if you measure or bring a well fitting
sweater for yourself.

You may not need the dpns during the class but to finish your sweater they will be needed.

Friday (Morning) – Short Rows

Materials:

Yarn (dk-aran weight would be best); straight or circular
needles suitable for yarn, measuring tape, stitch markers;
safety pins.

Saturday (2 hours, morning) – Magic Loop

This class will work on a toddler sock pattern using DK weight yarn.

Materials:

1 set of 3.5mm circular needles 80-100cm long (Addi
Turbos or Knit Pro are recommended)

DK wool; Stitch marker; Darning needle; Scissors; Measuring Tape.

Last week I combined a family holiday with a trip to Donegal Yarns in Kilcarra.  We stayed way up on the mountain just past Glengesh Pass.

Traveling from Ardara up to this pass involved a series of almost vertical corkscrew turns that our car objected strongly to!  After driving for 7 hours (it’s a long trip from Cork) I was glad to see our cottage, even if it was rather a misty view.

I knew there were a lot of sheep in Donegal but the sheer volume was out of this world..slumped on the side of the road, in our garden, hanging off the side of cliffs and even a few right up to the sea edge.

We made a lovely trip to Donegal Yarns also (can’t give any details away now though!) and met up with Chris who gave us a full tour.  It is a very sizable operation and had me just drooling over some of the wonderful yarns and colors.  Although the factory isn’t always open to the general public in the village you will find Studio Donegal which stocks a full range of their yarns.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too wonderful for the trip but armed with some heavy duty raincoats in our holiday house we spent most of the week exploring the amazing beaches.  The beach is near Malin Beag and had 167 (I think?) steps going down to it.  Looking up at the amazing cliffs with sheep along the side is worth the walk down.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of it but the most amazing beach we visited was Maghera.  I have never been on a beach quite like it before.  You approach from a small country road and before you get there there is a HUGE waterfall.  We managed to get some amazing garment photos in front of this for the book.  When you reach the beach you pass through a path with sheep (of course) on either side and reach the sand dunes.  The are huge and the sand is pale, pale yellow which is very unusual for Irish beaches which tend to have darker sand.  Some of the sand slopes further along the beach (piled against cliffs) reached 30-40 feet high and the boys spent hours sliding/rolling/running down them.  For the icing on the cake there are a series of caves running down the beach, some of which were very sizable.

On evening walks along our mountain top roads we often felt as though we were walking on a film set..

I want to thank my son Damien for all of the photos, he had his camera with him and allowed me to use his photos.

My Little Precious

$4.50

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Description

Lightweight and slouchy, this hat is ideal to add a little warmth as well as lots of style for those in between seasons. A subtle wave lace pattern worked around the band creates visual interest and is fast to learn. The body of the hat is worked up from the headband and decorative raised ridges flow into the spiral crown decreases.

Sizes

Small (Medium, Large)

To fit actual head circumference: 20 (22, 24) in / 51 (56, 61) cm
Approx 2-3 inches of negative ease necessary.

Shown in size medium

Finished Measurments

Band circumference: 17.5 (19.25, 21) in / 44.5 (49, 53.5) cm

Materials

BabyLongLegs Semi-Precious (50% silk, 50% superwash merino; 437yd/400m per 100g skein); 1 skein

1 US 4/3.5mm circular needle, 24 inch length

1 set DPN US 4/3.5mm

Tapestry needle; stitch markers.

Gauge

26 sts/36 rows = 4 in/10 cm in stockinette stitch

Lace pattern repeat: 1.75 in/4.5 cm high by 2.25 in/5.5 cm wide at widest point.

A little while ago Sarah from Babylonglegs send me a skein of her new yarn semi-precious in color ‘Carrot Cake’ to try out.  I had one of those love a first sight moments with the yarn and wasn’t able to stop knitting with it!  I ended up designing a new hat ‘My Little Precious’ with the yarn.  I wanted to kept it  simple enough that it will show off the pretty yarn while still being interesting to knit. The pattern has been tech edited, the photos have been taken and within the next few days we should have a finished pattern ready to release.

This yarn is a fingering weight merino/silk blend which has a distinctive silk smell from it.  I really like that smell, it feels less processed somehow.  (However I am happy to stand corrected on this as I’m not sure why silk sometimes smells like that!).

In addition to my new hat pattern Sarah sent some yarn (Semi-Precious in petrolhead) to Sally to knit up a version of ‘Centrique‘.  She did a wonderful job with the knit, and there is such good yardage with this yarn it took less than 1 skein!).  Babylonglegs will be selling packs with the yarn and pattern on her website shortly (as soon as I get a Babylonglegs version of the pattern sent to her!).  I believe also that she is planning a KAL for this shawl also so watch out for details.

Speaking of KALs, come take a look at all the pretty Adrifts that are being finished!  There are some very fast (and talented) knitters out there.

I don’t know if you are reading this but, I wanted to say a really big thank you to Joe my husband for taking all my photographs.  He is such a talented photographer, he really makes the knits shine.

I’ve just published my first pair of socks on Ravelry – Casadh.

I have been playing with this stitch pattern for quite a while before I reached my final version.  The first time they were toe up socks in stripes for my 6 year old.  While they were cute the stripes didn’t really add to the design (and the combination of cables and a short row heel was tight to get on) I wanted to keep working on the the pattern.

I redesigned it to be cuff down and  knit a version for my husband.  Second time round I really like how they work.  The cabling is interesting enough to keep you alert but not too taxing!

The brown version was knit by my friend Sue for  her husband, I just love the color of the Krafty Koala yarn.

Casadh

€5.00

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Is there anyone out there going to the Ravelry UK day on the 6th of June?  I’ll be going over with Sue from Cork and we’ll be there from Friday until Sunday and would love to meet up with (you don’t have to be from Cork!).  I’m looking forward to having an indulgent, yarn filled weekend.

Jen from Fyberspates will be there with a stall.  I just love her yarn – in fact my next design to be published is made from her Chunky Squisy Red and plums.  I’ve talked about this yarn before and really loved working with it.

Here is a photo of the finished piece, it’s great for in between weather (which we get a lot of here). 

I must get some modelled photos this weekend and finish the pdf and I’ll be able to get it up for sale.

I’ve called it Raspberry Layers.  It somehow seems quite fitting to me, with all of the variations of pinks and purples in the colors.  It’s knit starting at the center of the back with a provisional cast on.  You work across the back (with short rows to create the bottom flare), cast on stitches for the front and finish with some tidy short row sleeve caps.  I’ve used an interesting variation on garter st for the edging and decorative rows that uses slipped stitches, almost as easy as garter st but adds a lot of color variations in a variegated yarn.

I’m very lucky to have such a sweet niece to knit for.  I knit this gilet for her at Christmas, and you have to agree that it looks pretty sweet on her!  I had a hank of Colinette Prism with a wonderful varigated colorway and I was trying to figure out how to knit it.  I loved the way it knitted up from the side and once you added in some short row shaping it was so fun!

The addition of the fuschia pink was a fortunate accident.  I was using the pink to hold some stitches and really liked to way the two colors looked together so I unravelled the start and gave myself matching pink sleeves and sides.  Now maybe you don’t like contrasting color – then just knit it all in a single yarn.  If you perfer solid color you should be able to get gauge easily knitting two strands of dk weight yarn together.

If you want to see some more details take a look at ravelry.  I hope to have this for sale around the same time as Laced Leaves at the start of May.

If you want to be emailed when the pattern is released just let me know.

I’ve recently been purchasing several skeins of single yarns.  Each yarn is more beautiful than the last.

I think that my favourite of the lot that has arrived is Fyberspates ‘Squishy’.

It is a perfect name for what is really and truly a ‘squishy’ yarn.  It is sitting on my desk for the last few days I think I have finally decided what I’ll do with it (it will however need several companions!)

Knitting and design work have been hectic over the last few weeks.  But of course they are all in secret so I can’t tell you about them yet.  It makes for very boring blog entries!

I hope I’m not the only knitter out there who gives knitted presents after Christmas!  I’m not usually this bad but when we were away for the holidays it meant that all gifts really had to be ready mid-December with the result that the time has a habit of sneaking up on you.  My other excuse was that I had ordered the perfect yarn that was delivered to my in-laws so I couldn’t knit it until after Christmas!

The yarn I ordered was Handpanted Yarn Colonia 140 in Mediterrane colour.  This has got such beautiful colours I think it was worth the wait!  I knitted it while I was sick so I wanted a fast simple pattern for the scarf and the drop stitch scarf pattern was just perfect.  It has the added advantage of looking like waves to match the colours!

I didn’t mean to become such a poor blogger over the holidays but the weeks just passed by without me noticing. We went to Florida for a few weeks to visit my husband’s family and the heat was lovely. What was less lovely was everyone getting sick. By now all six of us have been sick since a week before Christmas with everyone except one better by now. I hope you are all having a cold/flu free New Year.
On a positive note, I brought a bag of Debbie Bliss ‘Prima’ on holiday with me and I finished knitting a summer top. I love the way it turned out, I can’t share the photos with you yet as it will be published in a few months but hopefully you’ll like it too.
My ‘Pick ‘n Mix’ hat pattern that was almost finished before the holidays was put on hold with traveling and colds but I should have it up for sale tomorrow.