Marian Pullover

I won the pattern for the Marian Pullover from the lovely Taiga Hilliard Designs and have finally cast on (oh so long after winning my prize).

The yarn used is Sirdar Click DK with Wool bought from the lovely Triona in the Singer Sewing Centre on Foxes Bow, Limerick city. I  bought an entire bag of it as it was on sale and I just had to give it a good home.

The yarn is very busy for this pattern and difficult to photograph. In real life, it looks so much better. The handle of the fabric is just lovely and I’m so looking forward to wearing the end result.

I really enjoy this patern and find it fairly compulsive knitting. Partly due to the ease of following Taiga’s good directions and partly due to the nature of the 4 four lace repeat. There’s just enough to keep me interested and still allow me to binge watch “Falling Skies” or have a conversation. Perfect.

Good things and happy times

Thing the first.

The documentary I was involved in producing, which was pitched by Martina O’Brien (former Wired 99.9FM Station Manager) and edited by Aidan Long (current Station Manager), won a CRAOL award 🙂

The documentary aired in 4 episodes and focused on the lives of LGBT people living in Limerick.

Each 30 minute show has its own theme.

The judge said it was an “outstanding programme. Excellent social awareness and analysis”.

Colour me delighted!

You can see a list of all the winners here.

So who are CRAOL?

In a nutshell (as per their website) –

Craol is the representative, co-ordinating, lobbying, training, and support group for the Irish Community Radio Movement.

The CRAOL achievement awards were started in 2007 as a way for its member community radio stations to showcase their work.

Moral of the story?

When you access third level education be sure to get involved with your student radio station (and any other club or society that you fancy). At the very least, you’ll learn some basic media skills, and you never know, you might even help your station to win an award. I didn’t study media and some of my best college times have revolved around Wired 99.9FM. Not going to college? Then get involved with your local community radio. It makes listening to commercial radio a more interesting experience when you have hands on “behind the scenes” experience.

Thing the second.

I’ve been accepted onto a course that I really want to do. It starts tomorrow at 9a.m. – which means that I really need to get this blog post wrapped up!

Thing the third.

I won an Instagram competition! 🙂

http://instagram.com/p/oo5pxZHKt-/

Thanks to Taiga Hilliard I got to choose a skein of her wonderful One of a Kind Knits (OOAKK) yarn and a pattern of my choice from her online store Cashmere Junkie.

I shall blog more on my prizes when I receive my lovely yarn in the post and can share photos with you.

I’m a very happy knitter. 😀

Right, I’ve got to stop typing and head off to get some sleep before my hectic week.

Happy crafting.

 

 

 

Giveaway results

Apologies that I’m a little late with this.

Nana duties trumped my blog.

Anyhow, I have had four lovely people comment on my In Celebration post and enter my first ever giveaway.

Thank you Molly, Paula, Purr and Lui. 🙂

Seeing as you all made the effort to comment I’ve decided that you shall all get something.

As Lui had a stated preference for the beanie only she shall get the beanie. Let me know where to post it Lui 🙂

As Molly, Paula and Purr all opted for babywear (or beanie), you shall each get an item of babywear.

There’s the verterbrae cardigan for Molly

There’s Soft and Sweet for Purr

And Mellow Yellow (Ducky optional) for Paula.

How about that? The giveaway where everyone wins 🙂

Can Molly, Paula, Purr and Lui please send me an email to loudcrafts AT gmail DOT com with details about where to send your goodies?

Thanks!

 

Blue Triangular Shawl: The Sequel

The tale of this shawl goes back to 2012!

You can go see for yourself here.

My lovely friend Sarah gifted me a ball of Creative Yarns (UK) Reflections Classic Collection – Shade 105 Dye Lot 39666.

I still remember how absolutely delighted I was to receive it as I had been eyeing up a similar colourway in a different yarn line at the time. It’s like she was reading my mind! 🙂 Awesome friends are awesome. Little did she know that her gift of yarn would keep me occupied in 2012 and in 2014.

My first play with this yarn was in following a pattern found in one of my many knitting magazines. In this case, an issue of Simply Knitting (pictured above).

I had so much fun seeing the colour graduations appear as I knit. Unusually for me, I followed the pattern as it was shown. However, this led me into difficulties as you can read here. There was an error in the pattern. The Making Spot (now sadly defunct) was able to help me out by providing me with an amended version of the pattern.

 

As you can see, following the pattern, amendments and all, left me with a rather petite shawlette. I was so delighted to be finished the project that I left it as was and decided that if I knit the shawl again that I would add in more repeats in order to make it bigger.

Time went on by, as it is wont to do, and I found that my lovely looking blue triangle wasn’t getting any wear. It just wasn’t long enough to be feasible for me to wear in the way that I generally use shawls. So, with exams looming I decided that it was the perfect time to undo the cast off, place the stitches back onto a circular and add those repeats in order to make it longer.

 

 

Adding those repeats made me feel a whole lot better about my abilities as I faced into my exams. There’s nothing like craftwork to remind a person that exams aren’t everything and that grades aren’t everything. I’m still a capable crafter (even if my mind doesn’t retain all the the information available to me in my notes about Transactional SQL).

 

It’s a grand size now and I got to wear it, feeling ridiculously warm, on my way to my 2nd last exam.

(Please ignore the state of the car. I try my best to do precisely that).

My exams are all done and dusted now and so is my Blue Triangular Shawl (for the second and final time).

Happy crafting from Squidge and me 🙂

Oh, by the way, I have another lovely friend (I’m lucky with my friends 🙂 ) called Hazel who will be on the Great Irish Bake Off tonight. You can see more here. I’m totally #teamhazel

 

A better view

As I couldn’t find the previous photos that I had taken of Wyatt in the cardigan I figured a photo shoot was in order.

It’s a jaunty little number for casually sitting on a canon

 

You can see from this picture that the extra length nicely protects the back from “catching a chill” as my grandmother would say.

It also means that the cardigan is less liable to bunching up under little arms (or maybe I’m just a klutz when it comes to picking up babies).

A view from the back

 

It’s perfect layer to have on while baby enjoys tummy time unhindered by buttons.

When I’ve brought Wyatt on walks in the carrier this has been a nice layer to keep his shoulders and back toasty.

He still sits facing me so his chest is always snug. He snuggles forward when he sleeps and that’s when this design comes in very handy for keeping his back warm.

 

In Celebration

….of the fact that this is my 200th blog post I am going to give away two of my knitted items.

First up – A Vertebrae Cardigan from a design by Kelly Brooker.

It’s made from Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle effect DK yarn and edged with a cotton yarn (the details of which elude me).

It’s been tried and tested by my favourite little knitwear model. It’s meant to fit a baby up to 10lbs. Wyatt’s bigger than that now but it still fits him. I think it’s a gender neutral colourway. My daugher disagrees. Oh well. We both agree that the colourway does nothing for his colouring though.

It’s a grand design for throwing on over a long sleeved vest or a babygro. There are no buttons to fiddle with. I made it long so it reaches down past the lower back to keep baby nice and snuggly.

I’m sure I have a better picture of him wearing it……somewhere.

 

The second item is a black beanie with a varigated band of colour.

It was made for the Teen but she hasn’t worn it since this photo was taken. According to my instragram account it was taken 55 weeks ago. She’s had over a year to wear it. I think it’s about time that it found a new home with someone else.

The black yarn is a mystery to me but it is lovely and squishy and I’m fairly sure that it’s a 100% acrylic. It’s knit in a 2×2 rib so it’s got a lot of give.

The varigated yarn band is Colinette Jitterbug and the colourway is Jewel 54. It’s a 100% merino.

If you would like to take part in my little giveaway here’s what you need to do:

1 – Leave a comment on this post with either “Vertebrae”,  “Beanie” or “Vertebrae and Beanie” to let me know what item(s) you’re entering for.

2 – One entry per person per item

3 – You have until Friday 23rd May to enter. I’ll pick two names out of the hat on Saturday morning and announce the winners on the blog.

4 – You can enter from anywhere in the world. The items are light so the postage is on me.

For those with animal dander allergies – Please note that while these items will be freshly laundered before being sent to the winners –  I live in a house with a cat and a dog who are both very generous with their fur.

This time last year…..

….is when my grandson started to become a twinkle in my daughters eye.

She’s just after stating that Riverfest just won’t be the same anymore.

That’s true.

It’s at this time of year that Wyatt was conceived and now it will be remembered as the time of year that his father passed away.

A teething 12 week old and a grieving young mother do not make for an easy combination.

Not to mention the fact that it’s a week before the start of my final year exams!

I usually go to Limerick Stitch’n’Bitch on a Sunday but have stayed home to help with Wyatt and to just “be there” and listen.

 

Feeling fairly helpless to make things better (it’s not a situation that I can control so I had to find something that I could positively control)  I set about tidying and doing laundry (when Wyatt wasn’t munching on my thumb).

While sorting through what could go in the next wash, I came across one of the two pairs of jeans that I’m comfortable wearing.

They’re so comfortable that I’ve worn them through.

While ripped jeans are all the rage, these rips are placed where I feel less than confident about flashing flesh.

(Let’s just ignore the fact that these are the very same ripped jeans that I wore to Steve’s memorial service. I felt less than comfy in the line we formed to light candles in his memory).

Anyhow.

 

Quite the sizeable rip, right?

There was a sizeable rip on the upper, inner thigh of both pants legs.

Faric scrap stash drawer. Yes, I have one of those now.

 

This may look like a stash of useless bits and pieces – but it’s totally not.

It’s a drawer of potential.

Cotton fabric left over from making the calico tote with the patchwork pocket

 

This leftover scrap of cotton fabric is the means by which my jeans were to become respectable attire once more.

 

Bondaweb

 

The white paper type article in the picture above isn’t just a sheet of waxy paper. It’s Bondaweb.

Bondaweb is a double-sided adhesive. It’s backed on one side with waxy paper.

The glue side (which is dry and unsticky to the touch) is ironed onto the fabric you want to apply something to.

In this case, my jeans. The something that I wanted to apply was the scrap of fabric.

Strips of Bondaweb laid around the rip

 

I cut strips of Bondaweb from the larger sheet and laid them around the rip in the jeans.

Glue side down and waxy paper side up.

A hot iron was used to activate the glue by pressing down on the paper.

It only takes a few seconds with a hot iron.

The Bondaweb strips after being ironed.

The next step is to peel the layer of paper away from the layer of now activated glue.

Can you see them? The faint lines of white around the rip.

Part of the glue has melted and been affixed to the jeans material. The part that was just under the paper has yet to be activated.

I placed the scrap of fabric onto the rip making sure that the Bondaweb strips were covered by the scrap fabric. The fabric was placed right side down against the wrong side of the jeans – this is so that when worn, the right side of the fabric will be visible through the rip.

I used the hot iron again to activate the upper layer of glue. The fabric was now fairly firmly attached to the inside of my jeans.

I think you can just about make out the fabric in the pictures below.

As I used three smaller pieces of fabric on one pants leg, I chose to stitch these pieces together so that they would be more secure and so that they would lie flat and not annoy me while I wore the jeans. There are a few stitches of green embroidery floss visible on one pants leg as a result.

No one will spot them though…….unless they’re staring at my inner thighs (which will warrant an explanation as to their intentions towards me).

Thank goodness for the ability to control small things and create positive outcomes.

My baby and her baby are curled up together sleeping on our battered but comfy couch. The very picture of love.

Wyatt now no longer has a father he can get to know as he grows older (and he isn’t acknowledged by his fathers immediate family) but he does have a mother (and a wealth of other people) who shower him with love and will continue to do so.

I’m very glad that my daughter has her son and that he has her.

Wyatt is the reason that she’s eating and the reason that she smiled through her tears today.

Sleep is a wonderful thing

Life is the ultimate rollercoaster.

Potential

One of the reasons that I (am obsessed with) like  crafting so much is that sticks, string and sundry other notions may be transformed into a myriad of items that may range from being useful, beautiful, kooky, comforting, thought provoking, soothing, community building or any mixture of those things.

There’s a world of potential in these pictures.

This bundles of fat quarter cotton fabric became an Easter bunny

These printed instructions combined with this fabric sissors helped to transform several sheets of felt into colourful flowers

These two balls of Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Fair Isle Effect DK yarn became a slouchy hat for a classmate of mine

These three yarns have been used to start (and restart) a crochet blanket. It’s a work awaiting progress

4mm tips for my beloved KnitPro circular needles were purchased from the lovely This Is Knit

These seemingly random pieces of knitting became a pair of bootees that warmed the feet of a little boy called Oscar.

Some of the items in the pictures have fulfilled their potential by becoming finished objects or have helped in the creation of items which have brought smiles and warmth into my live and into the days of other people.

The potential of positive outcomes.

That’s what I love about craft.

My heart and mind are awash with curiosity and creative notions when presented with yarns, needles, fabric, colours and the time to play with them.

I love potential.

Even when it’s unfulfilled. The only things required for almost everything to express its potential are time, ingenuity and the right circumstances.

I think it’s the same with people.

Given the time and right circumstances people are capable of amazing things.

Those things don’t have to be prize worthy to be amazing.

The ability to actively listen over a cup of tea is developed over time and its impact can be amazing –  lifesaving even.

So given the fact that I adore potential, in both things and people, it won’t come as a surprise to know that the loss of potential is what breaks my heart.

It broke my heart about Steven.

It’s what’s breaking my daughters heart now.

You see, she received some very upsetting news this afternoon.

We had just spent lovely time with our friend Hazel.

Hazel as we love seeing her, full of enthusiasm and chatter

My lovely belated birthday gift. All about yarn 🙂 Perfect

Hazel’s homemade bread and wonderful carrot cake cupcakes to sustain the hungry student

We were still in high spirits after our visit with Hazel when Megs was informed that the father of our lovely little Wyatt had passed away earlier this morning.

He was only 19.

Life is far too grown up and serious at the moment.

So much potential never to be fulfilled.

Our little boy has lost the potential dad that his father could have grown into and someday it’ll be down to Megs and myself to explain it all.

Sometimes life is just too sad.

Goodbyes

It feels like there have been a lot of goodbyes recently.

My last post focused on the most jarring goodbye.

A goodbye that shouldn’t have occurred for decades.

Some of us had the chance to gather with  Steven in mind again at a memorial service in the L.I.T. Student’s Union.

The sun shone again. I soaked it up afterwards with another friend of mine.

I’ve just realised that I entirely skipped over the memorial there.

The first section, the religious part, didn’t really mean much to me.

It was what it was. A tradition that offers comfort to some but I felt removed from it.

Removed from Steven. It wasn’t until the priest stopped talking and the people who had spent time in the Student’s Union, working and hanging out with Steven, started sharing poetry and singing that it felt like we were focused on the little goofball.

That’s when the tears started again. Feeling sad together followed by talking and soaking up the sun afterwards seems a bit surreal but it feels good to hang onto our happy times with the friends who are still around. Maybe that’s the best way to help make sure that they stay sticking around. Be sad. Share the sadness. Recognise that we’re not alone in it. Remember. Share the memories and make sure that our friend lives on in our thoughts and in our continued friendships. That he’s remembered in our continued happy times, because we did have happy times with him.

There come my tears again.

Oh, the plans that we discussed that have lost their momentum because he’s not around. They’ll get done in some shape or form but they won’t be what they could’ve been with his energy. One of those little plans was to arrange for Steven to meet Wyatt. I thought that there was all the time in the world to arrange that. Megs was going through some of the photos of Wyatt and saw that Steve had liked some of them. So bittersweet.

I want to hold my friends tight to me. Some of them I don’t get to see enough and I need to remedy that because there isn’t all the time in the world.

I also need to get back into my blogging. The surge in stats after my last post blew me away.

I found it difficult to come back to my little corner of the blogosphere and chatter on about crafty endeavours when my last post was about such a sad farewell. I’m told that what I wrote was touching and made people cry (but in a good way, if that’s understandable). Once I’ve got money for ink I’m going to print out a copy of the post along with some photos of Steve for his sister.

So now I’m reclaiming my craft blog as a craft blog and giving myself permission to revel in the craft that makes me so happy.

Life’s far too short not to secure our happy places for ourselves.

 

It was my birthday the day after Steve’s funeral. I’m midway through my 30’s. Yikes!

 

My first Grandma card

 

So this is a thing. Getting a card from my grandson before he can sit unaided. 🙂

I look suitably surprised, don’t I

It’s also a thing that my offspring is in a position to treat me to dinner on my birthday. She chose The Hampton’s Bar & Grill. Our waiter found out that it was my birthday as he was taking a family picture of myself, Megs and Wyatt. He arranged for a lit candle to be put on my dessert and for a half a dozen of his colleagues to join him in singing “Happy Birthday” to me. I was charmed (and rather red-faced).

These printed instructions combined with this fabric sissors helped to transform several sheets of felt into colourful flowers

I got to spend the morning of my birthday doing a craft demo in Hickey’s. Colourful felt flowers were the order of the day.

This bundles of fat quarter cotton fabric became an Easter bunny

I also got to make this colourful bunny. It turned out quite well for my first pattern based sewing project.

It got Wyatts cuddle of approval

 

A calico and fat quarter sewing machine cover

A calico tote bag with a patchwork pocket

I’ve done quite a bit of machine sewing over the last few months. I’ve had quite the steep learning curve while doing it.

I think I’m getting there though.

Anyhow, I’m glad I’ve gotten back to craft blogging.

Have a great Riverfest and Bank Holiday weekend.

Here’s a gratuitous smiling Wyatt photo just for good measure.

 

There were daffodils

Bright, sunny, yellow daffodils* strewn in two lines leading to the final resting place of a lovely young man.

Blue skies, a gentle breeze and warm sun jarred with the sadness of the day.

Words can’t do justice to how much of a void Steven has left behind him.

 

On the way to Belfast

The leader of our merry band

As you can see, he was ever so serious

Only 21 years old.

It’s unbelieveable that such a whirlwind of energy, always on the go – going to a meeting, in a meeting or just coming away from a meeting – isn’t going to be on the go anymore.

Meeting his family for the first time on the occassion of his funeral was…..just…..the wrong way to meet them.

There was no way to convery to them just how warm, vibrant, caring and passionate a person they had launched into the world.

It felt so inadequate to say “I’m sorry for your loss” and “He was such a great guy”.

Truth be told, he was such a whirl of proactive energy and touched so many people in his time that his impact would be months in the telling.

Words aren’t enough. So we cry and we hug each other in our sadness and hope that he knew just how well we thought of him.

We hope he felt a fraction of the care we felt for him.

He really was a great guy.

The priest, during the funeral service, said that being voted in as Students Union Vice President showed just how much respect LIT students had for Steven. That respect is earned.

Steven did earn our respect.  He gave u his time when he didn’t have any;  he spoke up and got passionate; he stayed calm and quiet while he listened; he was always on the move but would stop to have a chat; he was so serious but given the chance would photobomb any picture with the most ridiculous face.

He didn’t just have our respect though. He also had our liking. We liked Steve. He was one of the good ones.

He also earned our grief and has left so many people heartbroken.

It’s real and he’s gone and it sucks and blows so badly.

As so many of us stood in the small graveyard in Clonlara, the birds sang, the breeze was gentle and the sun warmed us.

It’s like he gifted us with a Spring day to help soften the blow.

One of my friends met the other for the first time today.

Steven is still bringing people together.

 

I’m so glad to be alive;  to enjoy lovely weather;  to potter into town;  be indecisive over books; to come home to my little family.

It’s my birthday tomorrow and growing older seems like such a fine and dandy thing to do

I only wish that Steven was growing older too.

 

Steven was passionate on the topic of Mental Health and suicide awareness. CSPP Limerick are a voluntary group he supported. I’m going to donate to them. If you’d like to do the same here’s a link to their page.

 

*An attendant at the funeral told a few of us that there were bunches of daffodils ready for Daffodil Day. He took some of them and lined them along the way to the grave. He went onto tell us that he had lost his young son a few years beforehand. It was a really lovely gesture and felt like the same type of thoughtful thing that Steven himself would do.