Woollinn Stash

Where has the month gone?! I've been busy clearing more things for my move, completing my last hospital placement and getting back into exercise in this sunny weather. In amongst all this busy-ness, I realised I haven't shown you all my yarny purchases from Woollinn!

Just a note: all the yarn was photographed on an unexpectedly grey day, so apologies for slightly muted colours.

1. Bear in Sheep's Clothing 

This was actually my last purchase. I had put both these skeins back on the booth and walked away, smug in being so self controlled. And then returned twenty minutes later hoping they would still be there! Self-control.... Yeah.... I have never used mohair before and it is so soft and smooshy. This is Bear Luxury Halo, 72% mohair and 28% silk in the colourway Romance. The sock yarn is Bear Sturdy, 100% superwash Blue Faced Leicester in the same colourway. After watching a Grocery Girls episode before leaving for Dublin, I really wanted to try knitting one of Jodi's hat designs which uses doubled sock yarn held with mohair to make a really soft and warm hat. Her pattern is here. Bear in Sheep's online shop here.

2. The Fibre Co. from Emily Foulds

The photo above doesn't do justice to the vibrancy of these yarns. The left skein is a deep forest green, the right is a brighter... Hold on a second, I'll get another photo....

That's better! I think the yellow overwhelms the camera which in turn mutes the other two colours but this is a lot closer to the real skeins. These are Cumbria fingering from the Fibre Co. (from left to right) in dark green - Grizedale Forest, yellow - Buttermere and teal - Yew Tree. The colours are inspired by the lakes and valleys of Cumbria and the yarn feels soft but sturdy. I bought this yarn from the Emily Fould stall which is a yarn shop based in the north of England near Lancashire (Link here). With my purchase, I received a free pattern for the Fell Garth Tamdou shawl by Melanie Berg. There were two samples knit in very different colours which swayed me to buy the kit. The two women on the stall were very helpful and patient when I couldn't decide on three colours for the shawl. They took the time to suggest different pairings and despite having a busy stall, made no attempt to rush me. I truly appreciated that and would recommend stopping by their shop if you're ever in the area as I know you will get great customer service and also a friendly welcome.

This is the shawl pattern:

I'm looking forward to casting it on once I've reduced my WIP pile!

3. Dublin Dye

This is 4ply Swing Sock in the colourway Polar Express. Out of all my purchases, this is the only one I don't have a plan for. The colourway goes through a whole spectrum of blues and hints of purple. The subtlety of the different shades is lovely and I don't feel socks would do it justice. One to ponder on.... Link to Dublin Dye here.

4. Babbles Yarns

This yarn was a pleasure to buy for two different reasons. Firstly sock yarn with cotton is something I want to trial for hotter weather and secondly I got to meet Grace! Grace is the dyer and podcaster behind Babbles Yarns. She has a great podcast and is bubbly and full of energy. She is also so friendly and it was a pleasure to meet her in real life and not just through YouTube.

Fan pic! Can't wait for some neon yellow socks this summer. Grace's shop can be found here and her podcast here. I would definitely recommend giving it a listen.

5. Studio Donegal from This is Knit

This is Studio Donegal Darnie 4ply in the colourway 13023 or mustard as I've been calling it. This is a special purchase which you'll know if you read my original Woollinn post (here). My non-knitting Mum likes to use sample knits like a clothes shop and on this occasion, she fell in love with the sample cardigan at the This is Knit stall.

This is the Jaycee cardigan by Isabell Kraemer which can be found on Ravelry (here). This is the first project I will actually do a swatch for instead of winging it as it's for someone else and needs to match the original pattern sizes. The pattern involves a button band and a few other new to me techniques and I'm looking forward to the challenge.


Have a great week everyone x

Woollinn!

What a weekend! In case you missed my last post, I flew to Dublin this weekend to attend Woollinn. Woollinn is Dublin's first yarn festival run by the lovely ladies from This is Knit, a yarn shop in Dublin. The event took place just outside Dublin, right next to the airport in ALSAA, a sports complex. The marketplace was in the main hall with classes running in various other rooms including a squash court.

The entrance!

Preparing for Woollinn

I'm off to Woollinn tomorrow! Woollinn is a new yarn festival this year based in Dublin and is running between 25th to 27th May. I wasn't planning to go originally but after winning two tickets from the Yarn in the City Podcast that was all the encouragement I needed!

http://woollinn.com

Monday already?

Where did that weekend go? It felt like Friday afternoon only happened five minutes ago. But on the plus side it's been a great few days and I'm off to Woollinn this Friday and I can't wait!

So what have I been up to?

Friday

Local Yarn Shop Day

Did you make it to your local yarn shop on Saturday? I don't have one near me at the moment but there is a yarn shop local to my boyfriend in Portsmouth so I decided that it was going to be my local for the weekend! As I'm in Portsmouth a lot I think it may become a regular haunt especially after my experience on Saturday.

I'm not too familiar with most parts of Portsmouth so I Googled the shop and then got Will to drive there! He likes to get an insight into the knitting world occasionally and was descended on by the ladies knitting outside the shop for a chat. Perfect timing for me to look at yarn!

I don't know of any other yarn shops in Portsmouth other than Seeded. They run regular classes in the shop although I haven't had time to try one yet. I tried taking photos of the interior but it was so busy I couldn't get a clear shot. The plus side of this is that the shop was really busy! It's lovely to see similar people gathered for the same purpose. Alexis who owns the shop generously offered 20% off all yarns except Stylecraft for anyone who signed up for Local Yarn Shop Day at the shop. You can find her website for the shop here.

At the entrance cupcakes and a pile of yarn were sitting either side of the door, not that anyone needed any encouragement to go in. I even managed to capture a patient partner heading out of the shop or potentially a knitter?

Directly inside the shop was a heap of finished knitted items which had been submitted to the competition for the day. The rest of the shop was crammed with yarn in various shelves and nooks and crannies but in a way that you could see everything. There was also embroidery thread and ribbons and haberdashery items.

Alexis was very friendly and organised a raffle ticket for every £10 spent in the shop. I won a tote bag with the shop logo on it in gold. Who doesn't love a good raffle? The shop regulars were chatty and very keen for new local knitters. Within the first five minutes in the shop I was invited to the knit night and also any future dinners and drinks that they organize. This natural friendliness and reaching out to new people is one of my favourite parts of the knitting world. Long may it continue.

Aaaand there may have been a little bit of stash enhancement. Only three balls so fairly controlled and already allocated to projects. #winning!

First was a ball of sock yarn by Regia in dark blue with slim lines of orange. I'm hoping to make a pair of socks for Will for either his birthday in July or for Christmas. I've never knit socks for someone else and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Next was another ball of sock yarn but with a difference. This is Regia cotton in Tutti Frutti. Again something new to me which is knitting with cotton and also knitting cotton socks. I'm interested to see if cotton can be knitted like normal socks or if it requires a bit more elasticity in the cast on and more stitches. Perfect timing for the hot weather we're having here in the UK. I'm thinking two pairs of short socks would work really well.

Last was a 200g ball (cake?) of Stylecraft Batik Swirl. I was attracted to the colours but had no idea what to use it for. The colourway is poppy fields and when I saw the colour mix it really evoked an image of poppy fields in my head. In a complete coincidence, I borrowed Issue 131 of Let's Knit magazine from my local library and their one ball knit for the month is a shawl using batik swirl and pattern looks nice. Sorted.

Did you go to your local yarn shop on Saturday? Any purchases or new knitting friends?

Have a great week x

On the needles

Hello!

I hope your weekend has started off well, whether it's with a night out or a cosy evening in. This morning I am still in bed at 11 with a fresh cup of tea, some knitting and listening to one of my favourite podcasts by the Grocery Girls. Tracy and Jodi are so much fun and every episode feels like a chat with friends. If you haven't watched them before I would definitely try out one of their podcasts.

I'm working on two projects this weekend, firstly the Flax Light jumper by Tin Can Knits.

Woollinn Dublin

I have a small announcement: