Finished knit; new hat for me!

I decided to completely ignore the almost-completed baby knits in favour of knitting a hat for myself, as, up until about 3 days ago, the weather was still cold enough to warrant a hat. So a lovely skein of delicious Malabrigo Finito found it's way home with me to become my newest head-warmer.

Pattern; Slouched Tuva Hat my Turvid

Needles; 3 mm

modifications; I cast on extra stitches - total of 136 st to allow for the smaller tension & for my larger than average head. I used just over a skein of yarn & intend to use the remainder for mitts.

During recent walks on our local mountain trails I have found that my ears are painfully cold without a hat, but that my head is uncomfortably warm with a hat on. The relatively fine yarn & yarn-overs of the stitch pattern means this hat has just enough ventilation to maintain a comfortable temperature balance. 

Though even with comfortably warm ears I still didn't pay attention to some puddles on our trail & ended with mud-splattered boots & jeans. Time to re-think the hill-walking legwear perhaps.

In defence of Lyons..

In response to this here blog post, I feel the need to share the following;

A tea mug with an owl called Tom. From Lyons. I rest my case.

In case anyone is wondering, I prefer Lyons, with a minimal drop of milk, or sometimes even black. It must be a mug, because a wee cup is just too small. The tea bag must be removed before adding the milk (otherwise, I can tell from the taste). It tastes better if you call it tae (pronounced 'tay'), and often the tea is a bit too wet to have without a yummy digestive biscuit.

The future

Right now, I assume I'll spend at least some time unemployed in the not-too distant future. Before the most recent reorganisational announcements (alluded to in this post) I had been planning on taking a leave of absence for a month or so. 

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed of late, and that I needed time to catch up with being myself, before being able to settle in to work again. So I am looking forward to the prospect of spending a little time catching up on some languishing craft projects...

... getting through at least some of my neglected book collection...

.... and even pottering about the home doing 'housewifey' chores.

Still waiting for confirmation of facts & figures though.

Languishing

At the moment, my home is a bit of a disorganised mess, and I've recently been going on about my good intentions to tidy it & clear out unwanted & unnecessary stuff.
In the midst of all that mess, I've rediscovered a couple of knitting projects that are so very nearly finished.
Small knitted things, that just need a bit of sewing.
Things.... for babies.
As though I didn't knit enough baby things last year, in evidence here, here, here & here....
Yep. That's right. While I was busy making things for babies last year, other people were off making more babies. And in the last couple of weeks those babies have been arriving!  So I really should get out the needles & the buttons & finish these off..

 

However, I have been distracted by other knitting, lovely other knitting involving steeks *...

 ... and cables. 

*yes, that is a sample knit for Kate Davies' new Blaithin Junior pattern. (the sooner I figure out how to insert fadas on a Mac laptop the better). I thoroughly enjoyed knitting up the pattern. I really admire Kate's designs - the thought & inspiration behind them, and the fact that I learn new techniques while knitting them. Plus, they're pretty! Also, steeking = not that scarey anymore, and learning is fun!

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who supported my yarn sale fundraiser this past week. Thank you to everyone who shared & promoted a link to the sale, to everyone who purchased some yarn & 

to everyone donated extra funds. 

So far, the sale has raised a whopping e239 euro, with a couple of items still left to sell. 

I'm utterly delighted with the amount raised; some of you have new yarns, and some of my underappreciated handspun yarn is going to a new home to become new, exciting & unexpected finished objects. I look forward to seeing many project pages. 

Most of all, it's cheered me on greatly during a time of uncertainty in my workplace, 

& encouraged me to keep the training up after a couple of lazy weeks. It's given me a reason to be as happy as a puppy with a stick.

Yarn sale fundraiser!

cue drumroll....

The yarn sale is open!

I offer, for your perusal, several items of handspun & deepest stash yarn. All proceeds generated by this yarn sale will be donated to the Irish Cancer Society.

If you would like to purchase any of the yarn items listed please mail me at eimeareeATgmailDOTcom (replacing the AT & DOT as necessary), & with 'Yarn Sale' in the subject bar. Please include the requested yarn, your name & contact details in the body of the mail. Please also let me know if you are in the Dublin area.

I will reserve items on a first-come-first-served basis and contact you to make arrangements for payment & delivery. I will also hand deliver if anyone wishes to attend the Fibre Fun Friday meetings (next one due May 4th), or otherwise arrange to meet in person for anyone in the Dublin area.

As this is a fund raiser, I'm asking that any online payments can be made through my online charity page, as I would rather that every single penny go towards the fund raising effort. Of course, if anyone wishes to make an additional donation it would be much appreciated. 

I will arrange postage where requested & will ask for post & packaging costs (depending on the weight of parcel etc) via paypal. All items come from a smoke-free pet-free home.

Most importantly, if it's for charity, it doesn't count as stash...

Noro Sekku

Lace weight, 420 metres

requested price e8
**HELD**

Louisa Harding Kashmir Baby

3 balls - 2 pink, one white

Sport weight, 390 metres total

requested price e10

The Natural Dye Studio Angel

4 ply, 360 metres

requested price e12
** HELD**

Sublime Organic Merino Wool

4 balls, all blue

DK weight, 420 metres total

requested price e20
**HELD**

Adeles Mohair  Boucle

Novelty yarn, 104 metres

requested price e8

Hedgehog Fibres Merino Sock

4 ply, 320 metres

requested price e15
**HELD**

Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend

2 skeins

DK weight, 600 metres total

requested price e20
**HELD**

Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend

DK weight, 300 metres

requested price e10
**HELD**

Manos del Uruguay Lace

Lace weight, 438 yards

requested price e10
**HELD**

Posh Yarn Emily

4 ply sock, 280 yards

requested price e8
**HELD**

Louet Euroflax

2 skeins

Sport weight, 540 yards total

requested price e12
**HELD**

Malabrigo Sock yarn

Sock / 4ply, 440 yards

requested price e10
**HELD**

And here comes the handspun! (all yarn weights are approximate)

Handspun - Vivienne

pure wool

156 metres, light DK weight, single strand

requested price e12
**HELD**

Handspun - Bernice

Merino Soya Blend

149 metres, DK weight, chain-plied

requested price e12
**HELD**

Handspun - Ode

Corriedale wool

117 metres, sport weight, single strand

requested price e12
**HELD**

Handspun - Phoenix

Merino / silk blend 

244 metres, DK weight, single strand

requested price e15
**HELD**

Handspun - Gobo 

Pure wool

150 metres, DK - Aran weight, 2 ply

requested price e10
**HELD**

Handpun - Give my Love

Mixed Fibres

161 metres, chunky weight, 2 ply

requested price e15
**HELD**

Handspun - Sugar coated

Mixed Fibres

126 metres, chunky weight, 2 ply

requested price e10
**HELD**

Handspun - Come On, Spring

Merino Soya Blend

570 metres, sock-sport weight, 2 ply

requested price e25
**HELD**

Fund raising

As previously mentioned, I will be taking part in the Flora Women's Mini Marathon this year, to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society. I don't know a single person who hasn't been somehow affected by cancer & want to do something positive, instead of feeling so bloody helpless every time that particular c-word is mentioned.

As part of the fund raising effort, I have organised a bake sale in work. I have also started a fund raising page here and am requesting any loose change to fill up my begging bowl.
As part of the fund raising effort I will be announcing a yarn sale, to rehome some of my handspun yarn & some neglected gems from the stash.

(bet that got your attention?)

I'm both intimidated and excited by all of this as I've never done anything like this before. I'm also finding it difficult to concentrate on some real-life perspective, with all the nonsense that is currently going on in my workplace. I don't raise funds; I don't talk to people unless I have to; I don't do much for other people & most of all I don't exercise.

So here's to change. Changing my own attitude; changing my behaviour & collecting up your loose change. Hopefully changing myself will help make a difference to someone who really needs it.