Wool Swap

Do you remember me telling you about our up and coming Wool Swap?  and how overly excited I was?

Have you been wondering where the post about it is?

Well, it's here!  :)

The reason I didn't post is was because it was a flop, a wash-out, a lead balloon.

Don't know why, every single person I spoke to about it seemed really interested, many many people said they would be attending, people were eyeing up the swaps before the event (which I had cunningly placed out on the shop floor to draw attention)  So many people said it was a fantastic idea.

So where were they?

It took me 4 hours to weigh and tag all the swap yarn ready. Not to mention the hours taken designing, printing and sticking up posters.  Many hours talking to people about it, explaining what it was all about, and an hour or so preparation on the day putting out cakes, biscuits, etc..

I even dragged the Hubster along to work (I wasn't actually on shift that day myself) to help out as I thought it would be madly busy.

Nothing.

Why?

Anyone know?  Would you have come if you had known?



Well, I did my swap, took in this.....

Got this....

Traded for this....

I'm happy  :)


And as the age old saying goes, 'If at once you don't succeed, try again', and THAT is exactly what I shall be doing  :)

But you know, if you see something that is offered somewhere and you are in two minds whether to go or not, then make the effort and go, because sometimes it is a case of "use it or loose it", there is only so many times you can try things before you just give up  :(

Wool Swap tomorrow.....

As part of the World Wide Knit In Public Day we are holding a WOOL SWAP at Carlisle Hobbycraft.

It is tomorrow (Saturday 15th June) and I have been busy preparing all the yarn to kick start proceedings.  I weighed over 120 lots...phew!

So what you do is bring in your yarn, we will weigh it and give you a little voucher with the weight written on it - like a cheque.

You then have a good old browse and feel of all the available yarn and once you have picked your lot, you bring it to us and 'pay' for it with your vouchers.

Sounds fun doesn't it?

Are you coming?  It is in Carlisle Hobbycraft, from 12 noon until 2.00pm  :)  See you there!

Cosy Knitted Cushion

The boss at work wanted a cushion knitted,  I can't remember the full description but it was something along the lines of "like a waffle"  :)

I got to work, using Bonus Chunky yarn in Sandstorm.

Would you like the pattern?  Here you go then.

What you need:

• 250g Chunky Yarn (137 meters per 100g)
• Size 6mm Knitting Needles
• Knitting Sewing Needle
• 3 large chunky buttons around 38mm in diameter
• 18" Cushion Pad

What you do:

• Cast on 65 stitches using the thumb method.
• 1st Row * K2, P2  rep from * to end K1
• 2nd Row *P1, K2 rep from * to end P2
• Repeat the last two rows another 5 times making a rib of 12 rows.

• ***13th row *K1, P4 rep from * to end
• 14th row *P1, K4 rep from * to end
• 15th-18th row - rep last two rows 2 more times
• 19th row - Knit
• 20th row - Purl ***
• From *** to *** is the pattern, repeat it until you have 28 pattern repeats in total,

Rib & Buttonholes
This is the buttonhole sizing for a 38mm button, but you can make the holes smaller by casting off less stitches, or larger by casting off more.

• Using the rib pattern, work 5 rows.
• Rib 12 stitches, cast of 5, Rib 13, cast of 5, Rib 13, cast of 5, Rib 12
• Rib 12, cast on 5, Rib 13, cast on 5, Rib 13, cast on 5, Rib 12
• Work 5 rows in rib.  Cast off.

Making Up

• Lay the piece flat on the floor and fold both ends in to make an envelope, the buttonhole rib should sit on top of the plain rib.
• Sew up the sides including the rib (sewing through the rib will be sewing through three layers of knitting, Pull it tight to look neat)
• Position the buttons to match the button holes and sew to the underneath rib.
• Stuff with a cushion pad and button up!   Ta dah.....

And here is the finished product on display in Carlisle Hobbycraft where you can buy all the products needed and grab a free pattern at the same time  :)

© Sue Simmons / SoozintheShed

2013 

World Wide Knit In Public Week

As part of the "World Wide Knit In Public Day" (KIP) Hobbycraft in Carlisle will be hosting TWO exciting events.

The first one is "Meet a fellow Knitter", this will be held on Tuesday 11th June 2013 from 2.00pm-4.00pm.

All you have to do is come along, with your knitting, sit and knit while meeting other local knitters - oh, and you can eat cake and drink tea too  :)  All FREE.

The second event is a "Wool Swap", this will be held on Saturday 15th June 2013 from 12 noon - 2.00pm.

There will be two categories in this swap, the first one will be budget yarn which will be swapped by weight.
Each ball (or part ball) will be weighed in and marked with the weight and you may swap it for another of the same weight.

The second category will be luxury yarn, this can be marked with a price of what the swapper thinks it is worth and swapped with another luxury yarn marked at the same amount.  What price you put on your yarn is up to you and exchanges will be between swappers so if there is nothing suitable, you don't need to proceed.

I will remind you nearer the time, but for now make sure you pop this into your diaries, and please do share this post with anyone you think might be interested.

I am off to sort out my yarn stash, looking forward to trading for something new  :)

Truly Twisted Yarns

I am flabbergasted.  I am a crafter and I thought I knew of all the craft places in Carlisle to visit, but obviously not!

A few days ago I joined Ravelry  (actually, thats a big fat fib, I joined last year, couldn't work out how to use it and never looked at it again ...... until now)

I had a mooch about on there and looked for groups in the Carlisle area, when one popped up called Truly Twisted Yarns.  Not only are they a group on Ravely, but also a shop, in real life, in Carlisle!!  Can you tell I was a little excited?

They are situated behind Linton Tweeds and The Bobbin café on Shaddongate, so, of course, a visit was necessary.

It was like walking into a woolly Aladdin's cave, a heaven full of fluffyness.

This is Sue, it's her palace and she is the most knowledgeable person I think I have ever spoken to about wool in my life!  More than happy to share information and show me how some of the tools work. 

I had a explanation about this loom...

And a little demo on this amazing fold away spinning wheel, I didn't even know fold-up spinning wheels existed   Do I need one?

I was allowed to fondle the wools and yarns..

And take a few photos :)

I NEED to make something with this, I have come home to find a suitable pattern to use then I shall go back and buy it all  :)

I have even booked myself onto a beginners weaving class on Saturday coming (20th April) to learn how to weave a scarf!  At such a fantastic price - £45 which includes a days tuition, materials and lunch -  I am already too excited for words.  You could email Sue on sue@trulytwistedyarns.co.uk if you fancy this class yourself, see if there are any places left.

I did manage to buy myself a single ball of wool, for a craft project....watch this space  ;)

Yarn eggs

On my Facebook feed I saw a photo that someone had 'liked' featuring yarn eggs - so I Googled it, as you do.

Must have a go at that, I thought to myself.

That afternoon, it was a Saturday, I spent 1 hour 55 minutes exactly (I know this as time was running out for the car park!)  searching for water balloons.

Being an adult (allegedly) I didn't realise that water balloons would be seasonal and hard to get hold of.

Hobbycraft didn't have any, the local News Agent didn't have any, neither did Hawkin's Bazaar or Poundland.  Wilkinsons was lacking in them too, as was The Works.  B&M Bargains had none and neither did WHSmiths.  The little newsagent in the market and the newstand in The Lanes, they didn't have any either.  My very last stop was to be Toymaster  - ta-dah!  They had them!!   Although they had just come into stock that morning.  (would you believe it - the very next day they came into Hobbycraft!!)

So, armed with a pack of water balloons I went home to start my craft session.

Now, have you ever tried to blow up a water balloon?   Well, let me tell you, they are the strongest balloon ever and my lungs didn't hold enough puff to even get the balloon stretched.  My cheeks ached for days after overstretching them. The balloons came with a little funnel to put water in, so I thought I would stretch them that way, then let them dry out and puff them up once stretched.  That didn't work, the water just fountained out of the funnel.

I set Shona and Marie a challenge - blow up these balloons.  But I also wanted two chocolate eggs popped in them at the same time.

In a whole evening they managed to blow up just 5 moderately usable balloons.  I say usable as some of them had little holes in and after all the huffing and puffing, and the tricky act of tying a knot in the top, the balloons shrunk slowly and hugged the choccy eggs.

Now really, you should be doing the wool wrapping as soon as the balloons were blown up, but as they took so long it was another 4 days before I could find some spare time to carry on.  This meant that the balloons were getting a little soft.

Still, not to worry.  I grabbed some wool....

and some PVA glue....

I hung up a 'drying line' between my kitchen cupboard doors...

and got messy with it....

When I say messy.... I mean MESSY !

There was glue everywhere, imagine trying to wrap sticky spaghetti around a balloon that it really doesn't want to stick to, imagine then thinking you have it sorted and noticing a huge gap, so you have to then fiddle with the sticky spaghetti to try and fill in the gaps.  Imagine having more glue on your fingers than a 6 year old would have.

I managed to do three.

That was enough!

They took a good 24 hours to dry, that was 24 hours of not being able to get into the cupboards to get out food ingredients. (lesson to be learnt there)

Once dry, the instructions I found was to carefully puncture the balloon, holding onto the knot so it didn't disappear inside the egg.  Well, I did this, but the balloon didn't go down, it just stayed stuck to the wool.  So I let go of the knot and eventually managed to poke and prise it away from the wool.

So there we go, some crappy yarn eggs.  Don't think I will be doing this again.

Have you made any?  Would love to see, feel free to post links if you have.

Ripple blanket update

Time to share my blanket update.

I have found myself with two on the go.  This is because I cannot be trusted to finish off one project before starting another.  Ho-hum.

So, let's start with Blanket No 1:

In shades of pinks and purples, this one is hopefully for throwing over the back of my sofas.  One of the sofas is in front of the window, the cats love to sit there - people watching and sunbathing (sometimes!)  Due to this it can be quite hairy and has faded considerable in the sun.  Problem is, I will have to make two of this one - one for each sofa.  I might change the design a little for the second though.

Blanket No2:  is for my daughter, Shona's, room.

Her big brother is moving out into his own pad and she is moving into his room.  Her girlfriend, Marie, is in the process of making her a HUGE canvas in her recognisable doodle art style so I thought I would do her a blanket to match.  It is quite vibrant and cheerful.

I am struggling with the colour arrangement on this one though..... should I have swapped the blues over perhaps?  Then swapped the purples, blending into the pinks..... Oh I dunno!

As each line takes 20 minutes to crochet and I would have to unpick 28 rows - that is 560 minutes, or 9.33 hours.  Hmmmmmm, think I might leave it be.

Uh Oh - I started another one...

I just cannot be trusted around wool, and yet where do they put me when in work?  Yep, in the wool section.

So, while I am popping new wool into their little gaps I find myself "Ooohhing and Aaahhing".  Sometimes it goes so far as to me lining balls up on the table to see how they might work together.

The last few shifts have had me arguing with myself whether to purchase the yarn to make a rainbow style ripple blanket.  Last night I failed in my attempts not to buy it - and bought it :)

I couldn't decide on a 7 colour rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) or the 6 colour gay pride rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet).

In the end I went for a 10 colour rainbow  :)  Just coz I can!

Made a start....

So, now I have two ripple blankets on the go - will do an update soon  :)

Crochet display - round up

As regular followers will know I have been working on various pieces for a display at Carlisle Hobbycraft.

Everything is all together now, and displayed.  I think it looks quite nice even if I do say so myself.

You may spot some previous blog posts lurking in that photo  :)  At the front is the Curly Wurly Scarf.

At the back there is the Granny Squares Cushion, nice and bright and colourful.

Then a little crochet mug-hug pattern.

And last, but not least, are the two tops - the summer vest and the frilly bolero.