Tea and Cakes

You know, I was going to come here to write all about the fantastic day I had on Saturday with Kneehigh and ChicwithStix, but I’ve been beaten to it: Read about the morning from ChicwithStix’s perspective.

I shall continue anyway. We headed off not so bright and early on Saturday to Ashford in Wicklow, to visit The Yarn Room. Oh My. Close your eyes for a second. Imagine your perfect local yarn store. Mine has a comfy sofa to knit on, big windows to let the light in, lots of lovely yarn in bright colours, friendly people dropping in, and a nice cup of tea.
The Yarn Room has all of this. (Unfortunately the 45 minute drive when there’s no traffic means it doesn’t really count as local).

While we were there we bumped into Nic, who was teaching a mother and son to knit down at the back of the shop, and met Pumpkinknits and Jenna from Ravelry.

I got to try out the Ashford Knitter’s Loom, which I want very much indeed, but can’t afford (yet!) and don’t really have the space for at the moment, even though it folds up and is very portable. I really had to drag myself away from this, I was having loads of fun weaving.

Then we sat and the lovely Stephanie made us tea and we ate the yummy cookies Kneehigh had made and we knit and chatted and could have spent all day there quite happily, but we had another appointment to make…
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Our second appointment was to pop in to visit The Constant Knitter. This is a new online shop in Dublin, and we went along for a little yarn preview. Rosemary stocks Garnstudio yarns, which are really good quality and excellent value – it’s great to have a supplier in Ireland. The Constant Knitter is the only place I’ve found that stocks pure linen yarn, very reasonably priced too, so I bought a ball to have a play with, along with a few other bits and pieces of course.

Rosemary made us tea and lovely cupcakes too, and again it was hard to drag ourselves away!
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After fueling up with some delicious lentil soup we popped into the lovely This is Knit, to pet their lovely yarns and so I could gt a new options cable.
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Phew! Three yarn shops in one day. All we could do at that point was head off to Kneehigh’s, drink tea, eat tasty snacks, and knit and spin the evening away. Super.

Last night This is Knit organised a yarn tasting evening in the city. Yarn tasting? Yes. Yarn tasting.

New seasons yarns and some old favourites wound into sample balls. €20 bought me 20 vouchers, which I then exchanged for 20 sample balls. ‘Shopping’ was so much fun!

I tried to pick up colours that I wouldn’t normally use, and I got to try out some yarns that I’ve been curious about but haven’t been able to justify buying.
Rowan Kid Classic for example. I’ve eyed it a lot, but now I have a tiny ball in a lovely forest green to try out and see how I like it knit up. Rowan Cocoon I stroke every time in the shop, and I have a voucher for This is Knit waiting to be spent on some to make an Owls Sweater. However, I’m only buying the yarn once I’m ready to cast on, so now I have some to try out first and pet at home. Mirasol Qina is a new bamboo/alpaca blend, which is beautiful and soft and just adorable, and now I’ve knit with it I’m totally in love.

I also picked up some Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon, which isn’t something I thought I’d ever pick up or buy, but last night was all about sampling new things, so I picked a bit up to try out. More on that in a while.

Here’s my haul:

As well as the yarn samples there were sample knits from new pattern books to try on. And I fell in love:

Imagine it without the cords and black t-shirt underneath, and perhaps with an inch or two more length in the waist…
It’s from the new Louisa Harding collection called Little Cake, and it’s knit in her new Thistle yarn, which memory tells me is a wool and alpaca blend, but I could be wrong about. It was certainly warm!
(Looking at the photo there the cable twists seem to be sitting nicely on my boobs. Would have to fix that.)

After the yarn tasting we retired to a hotel bar where I had a very fancy ginger tea:

This is where the sari ribbon comes in.
Two of our lovely hostesses were with us, and knit stripes of the sari ribbon into some swatches, and all of a sudden I can see how it could be used.

Here we see the sari ribbon sample relaxing in the company of a butterfly pin and some kid silk haze.

This was Kneehigh’s sample, and I love it, because it shows the different effects that could be had: my favourite is for the bottom stripe, which is just knit normally. In the middle the texture of the ribbon itself was used to knit through, and at the top a crochet stripe was added in. While I probably wouldn’t knit a whole garment out of it, I really like it for a bit of a shimmery accent.

This year we spent our summer holiday in the South of England, spending a couple of days driving down to where I grew up, and visiting lots of touristy things while we were there.

The Circle, Bath

Roman Baths, Bath

Stonehenge

The Long Man of Wilmington

HMS Victory

For some reason I managed not to take photos of a lot of what we did – we spent a day up in London at the V&A and just wandering around, but I didn’t take any photos, and a day in Brighton, a night in Swanage, and an afternoon in Arundel, all undocumented. However, all will be much repeated, I don’t get tired of any of them. If you visit Brighton do pop in to the Pavilion – despite living just down the road I’d never been inside before, and it’s really something to see.

One of the downsides of not blogging so much is that I’ve become a bit disconnected from friends and a bit more hermit like and anti-social. It’s a fault of mine, that I try to keep an eye on. I think I could be quite happy living in a cottage by a beach on an isolated island, even though I like having all the conveniences that come with city life.

This week I received a lovely surprise in the post. I came home one day to a missed delivery notice, and went to the post office to collect what I thought was my new copy of Vintage Baby Knits – in fact that arrived the next day, and is OMG full of the cutest baby patterns, and is just a beautiful book to own.

Anyway, instead the man in the post office handed me a big green padded envelope that arrived as a surprise package full of lovely things from Sweden – thanks to Catrin, a lovely internet knitting friend. A while ago Catrin had been looking for some Irish loose tea, and I’d sent some on, not expecting anything in return. It was a lovely surprise and really brightened my day.

Looky:

There’s some lovely tea, a recipe book that includes the recipe for the delicious cinnamon buns that we became a bit addicted to in Finland and Sweden when we were there, a book, sweets, and a beautiful skein of yarn, that I’d been admiring on Catrin’s blog when she got it, but I had no idea was intended for me. I’m hurrying to finish the socks I’m working on at the moment so I can start on another pair with this yarn. It’s really soft and I adore the colours.

Thank you Catrin!

So.

Hi there.

It’s, erm, been a while.

I’ve found that in the last few months I’ve been more of a consumer of the internet, and less of a participant. I think Twitter may have broken me, and any input requiring more than 140 characters is too much.

Sorry about that.

I’m working on it…

Right then. Where was I?
I’d got up at a stupid hour of the morning, flown over to England, dyed some yarn, bought some yarn, looked at some folorn looking alpacas (it was raining), and listened to a lovely talk by Meg Swansen.

I didn’t take any photos, but just before my afternoon workshop I enjoyed a particularly excellent piece of victoria sponge cake with a nice cup of tea. The super thing about the day was how friendly everyone was – it was like there was one big conversation going on – admiring purchases and works in progress with complete strangers over a cuppa made for a great atmosphere.

Anyway, on with the day.

I spent the afternoon in a “plan your own aran’ workshop with Jared Flood (and lots of other Irish knitters for company). We covered the maths of planning an aran, learned how to cable without a cable needle, and how to steek. (For non-knitters steeking is cutting your knitting, used to make cardigans out of projects knit in the round as a big tube for example).

I had no real interest in learning to cable without a cable needle, but Jared didn’t give us a choice, and I’m so pleased, because it’s so easy and so much quicker. This is especially useful as I’m up to the cabled bit on a cabled-yoke sweater I’m knitting myself.

We got to see Jared’s Aran Cardigan, and the original Cobblestone (named for the Dublin pub).

Anyway, the steeking. We knit a swatch to work on. First step was to put a marker thread through to highlight where to cut.

Now, because we spent lots of time in the workshop asking Jared questions we ran out of time to practice the steek ourselves. So, afterwards the Irish contingent met up and headed to the pub for a pint, some grub, and for me to finish my steek before I forgot what to do.

First, crochet chain either side of the steek to keep in in place. I needed help with my crochet, but managed ok (and have been pondering crochet since).

Next, remove the marker thread, and get ready to cut. I readied myself with about half a pint of ale.

Then, all there is to do is cut!

My heart was thumping, but I managed it, thanks to the support of my fellow knitters. Now I want to steek everything.

Sinead and I reluctantly headed off at about 8.30, and I fell in the door at home at 1am, where I slept soundly and dreamed of yarn. It was a super day.

Yesterday was World Wide Knit in Public Day, and I had a fabulous time knitting in the city with lots of friends. I managed not to take any photos of it all though so I have nothing interesting to blog.

Instead, let me tell you about last weekend, which I spent in Coventry with a whole load of knitters and lots of yarn. Super.

I left home at 4.30am, for the 6.30am flight to Birmingham. That’s very early and I’m not really a huge fan of mornings. I met up with Sinead on the flight. (Incidentally, Sinead took plenty of photos yesterday and at the UK Ravelry day, so go and read all about them both on her blog too). Coventry was only a 15 minute train ride away from Birmingham airport, and the event was only a short walk from the train station, and was very handily signposted for us.

I wasn’t planning on buying much, so had signed up for two workshops and a talk in an effort to keep me away from all the lovely stalls. It didn’t really work, but I was pretty good, and there was an awful lot of yummy yarn there. The vast majority of it was British yarn from small independent spinners/dyers – which is most definitely guilt free yarn to buy. And oh! The colours! So many lovely things.

I started out in a yarn dyeing workshop run by Jon from Easyknits. I’d bought some yarn from Jon at the iKnit day in London in September which was lovely to knit with, and Jon had been so friendly then that I figured his workshop would be lots of fun, and I couldn’t have been more right. I was a little bit worried that it would have been quite technical and there would have been lots to remember, but actually it was a lot more relaxed and hit and miss and creative and fun. I’d feel confident that I could come away and do some dyeing myself now, and after seeing everyone else’s finished yarns I’d have a better idea about colours. The workshop felt like a couple of hours playing about with colours and painting and making a big mess, and it was a lovely way to start the day. (It was also helped along by the delicious gingerbread men that Jon’s partner had baked for us. Mmmmmm.)

Anyway. The workshop.
First we painted the dye onto our yarns (lovely undyed Blue Faced Leicester).

Here’s mine. I went a bit pale:

Next we sprayed them with vinegar and wrapped them in cling film to make wool sausages:

Then Jon took them away and steamed them to set the dye while I went off to ogle Alpacas in the rain:

And listen to Meg Swansen talk about knitting, design, and Elizabeth Zimmerman:

Later I collected the yarn , and I brought it home and hung it up to dry:

And this morning I wound it up:

I’m calling it “Washed Out Wimbledon”, because it’s almost that time of year, it’s like the Wimbledon colours if they’d been left out in the rain, and I have lots of happy memories of washed out Wimbledons. It will be socks, but I’m not sure which pattern I’ll use yet.

…More in part 2…

A few months ago I started pilates classes. I’m not good at exercising, and signing up for a class means that I go regularly.

The Gurrier has nicknamed pilates German Torture Exercise and I have to say that’s a pretty good description. Sure, it looks like it won’t be that bad, just waving your legs in the air a bit, but it’s not. It’s hard. It involves crunches, and an exercise called ‘the 100′. 100! That’s a lot.

Now, if you go along with the multiple intelligences view of, well, intelligence, spatial-awareness and bodily-kinaesthetic would not be my strong points. Put more simply – I’m crap at gym. It takes me a few goes to ‘get’ a movement. I need it described, slowly, and I need to see it done at the same time, and then to practice it. Also, I still need to hold my hands out in front of me to work out my left and right, so it takes a few seconds longer for me to work out what everyone is doing. If you’re ever in a class with me, don’t look at me to see what you should be doing, because there’s a strong chance I’ll be doing it backwards. Or not at all.

All of this has made pilates a bit of a challenge, but it’s one that I’m enjoying immensely. OK, after a couple of classes it hurt to sneeze, but apparently there are fledgling muscles under my belly! I can’t see them yet, but I can feel them, so I know they’re there. I feel like I’m getting something out of the classes, and I can see signs of improvement, so it’s quite satisfying.

Then, about a month ago I started doing yoga classes too. They’re a couple of nights after pilates, which is great to work out the kinks and stretch me nicely. It’s a very gentle hatha yoga, with lots of guided relaxation thrown into the mix, and is a nice contrast to the pilates. Some of the movements are very similar, but instead of being told to clench my stomach and pelvic floor muscles, I’m told to relax. The two complement each other.

Naturally I have the exact same issues in yoga as I do in pilates, but I’m doing ok. Then last week something very exciting happened.

We learned the half shoulder stand (eventually we’ll be doing headstands, but this is the start).

I can do shoulder stands. It’s the one thing I was able to do as a kid in gym, and I really mean the one thing. Because I could do it I did it a lot. Mum’s a PE teacher, and my cousin used to be into gym (and is a PE teacher too now so probably still is), so when we’d be out in the garden in the summer my cousin would be doing handstands and handsprings and cartwheels all over the place, and I’d be doing my shoulder stand. It’s been a while, as it’s not something I’ve been called upon to do much in my adult life, but muscle memory turns out to be a wonderful thing, and I was able to execute a pretty good attempt at a full shoulder stand on my first try.

At the end of the class my teacher came up and praised me on it, and after the class The Gurrier was congratulating me quite effusively. I tried to explain that really it was no big deal, it’s something I used to do a lot, when I was interrupted: “But Is”, he said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen you try a new movement without falling over.”

I’m a sucker for swaps. I’m trying to wean myself off them, especially as I have way too much yarn, and I’m not good at giving it away. I have plans for it all. I’ll happily knit it and then give it away though. Go figure.

Anyway. Chicwithstix organised an Ireland only swap recently, that appealed to me. It was for a knit/crochet cotton wash/dishcloth, and fairtrade goodies.

I fail at secret swaps apparently, I didn’t realise it was supposed to remain secret once the packages were sent, I just thought it was secret until then. Ooops. Can’t be undone anyway.

I collected my wonderful package from the post office on Friday. The always-fabulous SheKnitUpThatBall spoiled me rotten.

Lookie:

Coffee, sugar, two bars of chocolate (it may look like one in the picture, but I assure you that’s just an optical illusion), lovely fairtrade recipies (with a coffee brownie one to match the ingredients and OMG does it sound tasty), scrummy soft cotton yarn, and six lovely mini washcloths spelling out my name! Lets look at those properly:

Aren’t they great? I love them. Perfect for my skincare routine.

Thank you so much guys, for organising and spoiling me :-)

This morning I went shopping.

Not for books, or yarn, or chocolate, or stationery, or the things I enjoy shopping for.

For clothes.

I don’t enjoy clothes shopping. As mentioned before, I’m most comfortable in jeans, a black t-shirt and runners. I don’t really like shopping for them, but I can deal with it.

Today I went shopping for other clothes. I think that was my first mistake. My second was to go out without a morning cup of tea.

Anyway. I was fairly successful. I managed to buy a new pair of jeans and some plain black trousers, and this made me cocky and over-confident. So, when I saw a little black top on sale for a fiver, that wouldn’t be something I’d usually wear, I figured it couldn’t hurt just to try it on. It was sort of corset-like – sleeveless, tight fitting and structured. Note the tight fitting bit. It unzipped most of the way down the side, and then slipped on over my head. It was ok. Not hideous. I considered buying it.

Then I tried to take it off.

I couldn’t.

I was stuck in it. Completely stuck. The top would not come off. I tried wedging my arms down into it and wriggling it up over my head. I tried turning it inside out and crossing over my arms over my head while reaching back down to pull it up. In a particularly delusional move I took off my shoes and trousers to try to wriggle it over my hips. I considered claiming to love the very much evening wear top so much that I wanted to wear it immediately, despite it being mid-morning. I almost considered shoplifting. I cursed the fact that I took up yoga two weeks ago rather than two years ago. I thought about tearing the top off (it was only €5), but couldn’t. (I then cursed coming out without my sewing kit).

Eventually and after much wriggling and clothes wrangling I managed to remove the top and put my own t-shirt back on. I’d pulled muscles in both my arms but I was free.

I didn’t buy the top.