Wicklow Cloche

Here's another Wicklow Cloche. Modelled by someone especially sweet...

 ...and she's a goofball too.

Sneak Peek

As promised. A sneak peek at what's coming. 

But not everything. No siree.

See that cream coloured yarn in the corner? There's a sweet  surprise still to come.

Gulp!

Oh my goodness. 

I did it.

I took the plunge.

Finally.

My Ravelry Group has just started. 

C'mon in, everyone welcome!

Silly me never posted my tea cosy entry for the competition over at The Constant Knitter.

There was a great response to the competition and lots of money raised for the school that was to benefit. Here's hoping that they run the competition or similar again, it was a lot of fun to watch and participate in.

My favourite entries were the felted ones, altho' there were lovely cosies in knit and crochet. 

And also a fabulous one in an alternative fabric:


Winners are here.

Gallery is here.

Of course there is another competition popping up this time of year over here. The St Patrick's Day Competition is a lot of fun. Made even more so by the chat and camaradarie in the group.

My entry this year is waaay behind due to hectic work schedules, but hopefully I will post on time on March 17th. Thank goodness March 16th is a Saturday. 

Therein lies all my hope and expectation.

Anyone for a cuppa?

Recently I took part in a competition at The Constant Knitter to knit/felt/crochet/sew and otherwise magic-up tea cosies to raise funds for a school. 

Much to the organisers' delight there were more than 60 entries, raising money for a good cause and raising the levels of tea cosy amusement by many degrees in the process.

There were tea cosies that looked like hats, ones that looked like beasts of the air and of the field. 

Fabulous felted ones, complex crochet ones, amazing tea cosies of all kinds, even one made from a recycled leather bag. That'ud be some T-bag...ha ha ha...geddit!?

Mine probably looks kinda familiar in light of my last post.

Go take a look at the gallery of delights and see if you can find it. I'll be back soon to clue you in and announce the winner.

Well done everyone. A fun competition and a great result for the school.

Wicklow Cloche at last

Introducing the Wicklow Cloche, a stylish (you rock it your own way) cloche hat with a wide brim, and attached I-cord braid-and-bow option and fitted cabled detail that fits everyone and lo-and-behold suits everyone too. It's a miracle hat!

This design has been lurking for a couple of years, waiting for the perfect yarn, perfect hat outcome. After 30+ versions, it turns out that every yarn is perfect for this hat and every version suits someone, big or little.

I'm really happy to say that the pattern is now available as a kit in The Constant Knitter and will be in my Ravelry shop shortly. 

The pattern is being released for the wonderful Artesano Aran yarn (I'm a big fan of this yarn, see here) but it has been knit in many other yarns, e.g. Debbie Bliss Fez (sadly now discontinued), Rowan Lima and Artesano Alpaca DK (both thankfully still available and ohhhh sooo divine). Instructions are given in the pattern for all these variations.

So to the lovely Serena in The Yarn Room Ashford, Co Wicklow, who asked one day 'How many of these hats are you going to knit, Nic?' the answer is 'As many as it takes, hon. As many as it takes.'

    

Big Sister Bag

Published at last after some unforseen delays at the publishers. This is the project referred to on this post, almost exactly one year ago.

Everybody needs a big sister to help to carry their load. If you haven't got one of your own, then this might help.

Big Sister Bag from Tangled, designed, knit and felted by myself.

And many thanks to my very own big sister H for the inspiration!