Trickey Knitty

Here is my latest knitting project. Its a tank top for my son Daniel, we have a family first holy communion coming up on May 19th and I thought this would be nice on Dan the Man. Its a lovely Debbie Bliss pattern. The yarn however is a hayfield cotton Aran which I found in my mothers stash. I am hoping I will have enough to finish it. The pattern says it takes 150g and I think thats around how much I have.

I have had to adjust a bit because its a bit heavier than the suggested yarn, after three starts I think I have the number of stitches and needle size ok.......( if any one has any suggestions for patterns adjustments i.e yarn differences and needle size, all advice gladly received as I am really flying by the seat of my pants on this one).

I have been running around after Daniel for most of the day trying to measure the length of the back and position of armholes and he has not been impressed.

Jeez I hope I will have enough yarn to finish it or I will ahve to rip it back, wouldnt that just be the icing on the cake. anyway I will keep going and hope for the best.

Happy Birthday Hannah

This is just a quick little post to get the day started.Let me introduce you to my daughter Hannah. She is four years old today. We were lying in bed this morning, as she doesnt have Montessori on Wednesdays, I asked her if she felt any different now that she is four, she did a little stretch and replied 'Not really, but I may need to eat more food to feel different'. She has been a joy in our lives for the last four years. She was born on the Friday of the May bank holiday weekend at exactly 13.33pm in 2003. It rained softly for most of the morning, but sun started to stream through the windows just as she arrived. I remember that distinctly because I had identified the window as a possible escape route if the allready 20 hour labour was going to go on any longer, somehow I thought if i left the room, the pain would stop............and 14 months later I was back in that same home birthing suite of the maternity hospital in Limerick going through the same for Daniels arrival, he arrived at 13.35pm on a Wednesday!.Here is a photo of the birthday girl who will be getting lots of ice cream today. She keeps us on our toes as well as loving and laughing. Love you lots Hannah Banana

So far so good.....

Here is the progress I made with the quilt yesterday. I laid all the squares out on the bed and then, I gathered the squares for one row at a time, ran down stairs and sewed them together on the machine which is stationed in the kitchen at the moment. I dont have enough space in my house for a seperate work area, so I have to plan my sewing very carefully around my two kids and all of their accessories. While I was sewing yesterday, there was a Thomas the tank engine train set in the sitting room which I had to stop and repair every now and again, the washing machine needed feeding with the laundry and then had to be burped about 45 minutes later when its buzzer sounded, however I ploughed on . I am amazed at how focused I became on the squares and the need to sew them together in order to see what they look like when they are sewn together.

All thats left is to make my way to the patchwork shop in Limerick to get the batting and the boarder fabric, this is sooo exciting.

Crazy about Quilting

Who would have thought....I have started making my first quilt. I accompanied cathi to a quilting workshop in Killarney a couple of weeks ago. The workshop was being run by Pat Sloan, a celebrity quilter from the states who was with a fantastic group of women who were on a trip called Sew many places ( I will do this links for these soon, as they are well worth checking out).I am now really inspired and with Cathi's great teaching skills ( she doesnt give out to me when I go wrong) I am well on my way to completing my firsy quilt. I have some photos of the quilt so far and hopefully at a later stage I will be able to get some photos of the Killarney event.Even though I have been so inspired to do this quilt I would never have started it if Cathi hadnt sat me down at her work desk and put that rotary cutter into my hand.....so a hugh big thanks to Cathi....a great quilter and an even better friend........

Terrible Blogger

I know this is terrible, I didnt leave the planet or anything I have been here and I have been knitting. I managed to finish the Debbie Bliss sweater which I love, the merino wool is so soft. I finished it on time for our trip to Barcelona ,but we missed the flight, to cut a sad story short we ended up going to Cobh in County Cork for a few days which wasnt so bad after all. and the weather was so miserable I got to wear my sweater!!.

Vintage Stuff

Well, I think I have managed to shake this annoying cold I have had all week I rarely seem to be without a cold these days. Thankfully it didnt stop me from knitting though it did stop me blogging.

Anyway, I have nearly finished the Debbie Bliss sweater, luckily Cathi and I managed a couple of knitting afternoons during the week. My husband and I are heading off the Barcelona on Monday for five days and I really really want that pink sweater for the trip.

On a recent rumage in my parents loft I came across this set of folders , they appeared a little dated with soem very 80's knitting patternns , but there are soem really useful toy patterns , childrens patterns and a stitch library, they are great. My mother says she picked them up at a car boot sale years ago and they have been in the loft since, I also came across this Aran knitting book with some really cool hat and scarf patterns, as well as my sock knitting goals I would really like to do some Aran, but cant rally see myself in an Aran sweater, perhaps a scarf!!!!!!!

Its here...its here...its here....

Well, I havent been around for a while I have had a really bad headcold and because I have to have my tonsils taken out in the next number of weeks I seem to be getting everything that is going.

I didnt feel much like knitting or sewing over the last week, but then my Debbie Bliss wool arrived at Lenas and I tore myself from my sickbed and I have been knitting since.

I had ordered the new Debbie Bliss Rialto it is 100% merino wool and I have to say is just beautiful to work with, its so soft,, I allready have plans for another project in this wool its just so lovely.

My mother has also settled upon a pettern that she loves and is ordering the Rialto as well.

I am knitting this really simple stocking stitch V neck sweater with a hood, I tried this on the day that Cathi and I met Debbie Bliss in Limerick and I just fell in love with it. I have finished the back and have started on the front.Now that the mid term break is over for the kids i might get some knitting done in the afternoons................