World Wide Knit in Public Day 2008

This year, the World Wide Knit in Public Day is on the 14 of June.

In Dublin, the knitters have finally confirmed all the arrangement of the day. So if you are in knitter who happens to be in Dublin that day or you are a Dubliner who has always wanted to learn, please drop by and have a nice afternoon together.

For details, please click here, see you there!

Another knitter KIP!

Yesterday, we went down along the coast for a walk as it is our usual Sunday ritual and it turned out there was a Toy and Model Train exhibition in the Clontarf Castle Hotel! So there we went!

I personally am not a big fan of models or train, but guess what? I felt so comfortable to be there, among bunch of nerdy people who have their passion in something crafty. And yes, there was a knitter behind of the counter! It was officially my first time seeing another knitter KIP in public in Dublin, I was so excited that I asked about her project and I showed her my WIP sock. It is always so nice to meet another knitter!

By the way, Clontarf Castle Hotel is a lovely place. Supposedly it was owned by the Templar at some point. If you are interested to know more about the history, please click here.

Wild Fibers Magazine

I just discovered Wild Fibers Magazine recently.


Some background story, I have never been a big fan of all the high street fashion/beauty/women magazine. But from time to time, when I feel like buying a magazine for looking at the photos and stuff, I will buy one or two fashion/beauty/women magazine.

But last time, there was a sudden enlightening moment! I was looking through a Glamour or Cosmo or whatever. (I don't even remember, they are more or less the same, how on earth we can remember which is which anyway.) I suddenly realised there is actually NOTHING I am interested to read about from that thing! I won't buy those clothes coz they are not my style...next...sex section talking about hunting the right guy in a pub, doesn't concern me...next...being a sugar-baby...what the...?

So I decided not to buy these crap again! But what am I supposed to do if I want to read a magazine? It was before my knitting life reborn, so I didn't know what to do! But then again, since I felt bored at night being alone in Dublin at that time that I picked up knitting again! So afterall, maybe I should thank those magazines which pushed me back to do something more meaningful than reading '10 tricks to please your man' and stuff.

Now that I am knitting and obsessed with everything fiber, I have discovered the world of crafting magazine. Wild Fibers, of course, is one of them.

I have actually heard of this magazine for a while from the knitters, but thought it was basically for breeders who are interested to get trade information about breeding. Until I read a review somewhere saying that it is actually a national-geographic-of-fiber-magazine that I was attracted to look into it, so I decided to contact the magazine and order one issue to have a look. It turns out the review is totally true! There are beautiful photos, stories of fiber people from different countries and a few knitting patterns. It is a perfect choice for people who are interested in armchair travel and fiber arts.

First Customer!!

YOHO! We have the first customer on our Yarn Cat Online Store!!!

It is my dear friend Roy C who is a total sweetheart to have ordered an organic Yarn Cat tee!

He is also a total sweetheart to have sent us the photos of first moment upon arrival, let's take a look!


This one with Mr Stuffed Animal

And this one with a gun...


This one is a close-up on the Yarn Cat logo...

Ok, enough photos, let's listen to his preview on the first trial on the T-shirt...

' Hey

The texture is nice. I never feel that comfortable....

Cheers

Roy'

So if you like the logo, please click on the Yarn Cat Online Store; if you don't like the logo, please do leave a comment, we will be interested to know. We are working on adding on different Yarn Cat theme logo, e.g. Yarn Cat spinning, Yarn Cat running with Larmlarm the cat/king, Yarn Cat chased by Larmlarm the cat/king, etc...So please leave a comment.

By the way, if there is anyone of you interested in getting your own knitblog logo, please contact me, we will see if we will be able to help.

About my dear friend Roy, he is very interested in picking up knitting again as well! He has learnt knitting many years ago. Again, like most of the stories we heard around, since he is a boy so he didn't really knit anything because afraid of the teasing he would get from people around. But I have been encouraging him to pick up again and told him there are a lot of men around knitting nowadays. Hopefully he will join us soon and will have a knitblog that I can link to! Roy, thank you for your support to Yarn Cat and start knitting!!!

FO - Garden Socks + Mason Dixon Nightie

Last weekend, I have finally got myself together to finish two items!

Garden Socks: Yarn used - Lorna Lace Shepherd Sock, pattern from Cat Bordhi's Spiraling Master Coriolis

I have made a pair of basic socks to my man some months ago. This is my first sock projects that have patterns, it has been a good learning experience for me. The outcome is so beautiful that I would want to wear it as soon as possible. However, the second sock is a bit looser knitted than the first one, so I will probably re-do the cuff in the coming days. But I can confirm you yet again, handknitted socks are way better and way more comfortable than commercial socks in the market. I can understand why some knitters are totally addicted to make them. They are warm and nice and very portable to work on in public. Plus, one more cool thing is, you can count how many shocking faces you can encounter on the bus per day when you pull the sock out of your bag and start knitting it!

Mason Dixon Nightie: Yarn used - Jaeger Siena, pattern from Mason Dixon Knitting

I have started knitting the main pieces during my flight back to Paris last Christmas. The pattern is not as difficult as it looks like, it was my first lace project and I got to finish the first bottom lace pattern while just waiting for boarding in Dublin Airport. I finished the whole thing up pretty quickly EXCEPT the straps...

I have been dragging to do the straps for months! My first attempt was to find real bra straps as suggested in the book. Then I realise you might get a better chance to buy whatever antique underwear you like than looking for that. It looks like Trimmings and Haberdashery is again another dying business in the modern world.

I was not alone. By checking on Ravelry, there are other knitters who have decided to get a hold of the project by them hands and use substitutes. Then I tried to make I Cord. I got myself a French Knitting Nancy and started to make I Cord but the yarn just kept jumping out from the darn thing! (If there is anybody who can explain me why, please leave a comment! I need help on that for next time! Was it the yarn that is too slippery or I have done something wrong with the Nancy?)

Finally, I got inspiration from the book that I talked about earlier on '200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop, or Weave', so I decided to make braids. This book is amazing, there are so much information about different ways to make braids and there are 200 samples of end products as well! Total eye-opening experience. So here is the final product...(please clap your hands!)







I finally realise the power of form fitting! The whole nightie is sitting so close to my skin that it feels like a second skin. Believe you, it does make you sleep better! The piece is not yet blocked, since I was too excited to wear it. The stitches will probably look even better after blocking.

Funny photo of Yarn Cat!

I was taking a shower another day and when I came out, I saw Yarn Cat appeared in my bathroom!

I didn't do it! Guess who did it?

This weekend, I have got items done -- the Garden Sock (now I call it the Garden Sock because of the previous photo I took with the sock in the garden) and the Mason Dixon Nightie!

Yes, you heard it right, the Nightie is finally finished! I couldn't believe I have been putting it aside since Christmas! I have finally got around to it with the straps and done all the finishing last night! Will put all the photos here tomorrow.

Bull Island + Sock in Greystones

It was a long weekend in Ireland last weekend with the bank holiday Monday, plus, it was sunny! It is very rare here! So we decided to walk around a bit in Dublin area.

Bull Island is a 15 minutes walk place from our apartment. It is difficult for you to imagine, but with 15 minutes walk, you can't feel you are in Dublin anymore. This is one charm of Dublin -- nature is not very far from the city.

And then Monday, we have decided to continue to take advantage of the good weather to go to Greystones, a beach area south of Dublin, 45 minutes to one hour on Dart (regional railway).

Isn't it lovely? Though, if you pay attention to the photo, bad sign is coming. Fog started to pull in and the gray area on the top right corner of the photo is not a technical problem, it is because we are in Ireland!

Anyway, since we were there, we took advantage of it and found out a lovely lovely restaurant -- the Summerville.

They serve home country cooking which I love very much, very reasonable price and they have this nice back garden where you could eat with flowers and colourful tables.

With such a nice environment, I couldn't help myself to take a photo of my colourful sock with the colourful garden background!

The pattern of the sock is from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters Book One and I am using Lorna's Lace Shepherd Sock colour uptown girl. It is the first sock I knitted for myself. Hopefully it is going to work out alright. This book is really really a must have for all sock knitters, you have everything you need to know about sock knitting there, toe up, top down, different gauge, thin foot, fat foot, re-enforced heels, etc etc. This book is amazing. However, the most amazing thing is, there are supposed to be 3 books from this series. I asked HOW? There are already tons of information from Book One that most knitters have never thought of! HOW ON EARTH CAN THERE BE TWO MORE? Let's wait and see!

When we were all happy and well fed, then the weather turned bad --> typical Irish...

Though the weather turned a bit bad at the end and then there was an accident on the Dart that we had to take the bus and transfer to another bus to be able to get home. It was a lovely trip. I would definitely go there again!

My sister has her knitblog!

I can't believe it! My sister has started a knitblog!

See? Told you? It is like some kind of disease, knitting will lead you to knitblog, then lead you to take photos of your yarn, then lead you to spending hours on Ravelry, then lead you to spinning your own yarn, then lead you to take photos of your own yarn, etc etc etc...It definitely takes on its own life...

Here is her knitblog, it is in Chinese, so for the non Chinese speaking folks, you can still see the photos I guess. I mean, isn't knitting kinda an international language?