Tag: Northern Ireland

The Walled Garden Helen’s Bay

Kiri Cottage Walled Garden 2

Lovely morning spent with Lorraine Small at the Walled Garden in Helen’s Bay. We had a walk around the gardens, inspected the serious amount of building work that’s underway – with sustainability at its core.

Learn To Knit

Kiri Cottage Learn To Knit1

I am running a ‘Learn to Knit’ 6 week course as part of Ards & North Down Council’s Spring Arts and Crafts programme. First week was last night, and everyone learned to cast on, cast off and do knit stitch, and some got as far as purl and stocking stitch.

Especially well done to the two ladies who had never knitted before.

Knitting in Glastonbury

Kiri Cottage Knitting in Glastonbury 1

I was away for a few days visiting a good friend in Glastonbury and of course the knitting came too.

I had lots of remnants from previous projects and donations, so I knotted them all together, wound it up on a wool winder and am using it double to make a long gilet.

In the background you can see some sourdough dough that I had mixed with a good, well risen starter – it was ready to bake the next morning.

Mittens, Hats, Socks and Scarves

Kiri Cottage Mittens Hats Socks and Scarves 1

My current commission is to spin some dog hair and make mittens, hats, socks and scarves for the client’s young nieces.

The dog hair is quite short and will not spin at all well on its own, so I have blended it with some alpaca, spun it as a single, and plied with a fine, commercial acrylic yarn.

First two hats completed

Game of Wool 4

Kiri Cottage Game of Wool 4

This is the jumper I was asked to knit by a client, based on one that got shrunk in the wash.

I include it in a series of items I plan to knit, following what is knit/ crocheted in the Game of Wool program. I didn’t exactly follow the Game of Wool criteria in that I didn’t design it from scratch, however the client wanted a different yarn type, so I had to find appropriate yarn and work out needle size, tension etc before I could start.

This was based on the 80’s style mohair jersey made, I think, in episode 2.

Game of Wool 3

Kiri Cottage Game of Wool 3

And it’s finished. Ends sewn in and blocked.

I crocheted arm and neck bands as it looked neater than picking up stitches to knit them.

I chose waves and viking ships as the Vikings are historically linked with the Strangford area.

Next project will be the ’80s mohair jersey. Except I will be cheating a bit. I have been asked to knit an acrylic mohair style jersey from an old 1980s mohair pattern. Very little brushed acrylic out there in all of the colours that I need, and at the right weight of wool. So I have bought yarn in a different weight and will need to knit swatches to get correct needles and tension. So I have a bit of a challenge, but not the design work.

Game of Wool 2

Kiri Cottage Game of Wool 2

It’s not quite finished yet, another hour or so. So it will have taken between 10 and 11 hours to knit.

Will post again when finished

Game of Wool

Kiri Cottage Game of Wool 1

I have been watching Game of Wool – not out of any particular liking for this type of program, rather because knitting is one of my crafts and I wanted to know what people would be talking about.

I have no comments or observations about it, it is what it is. But it did inspire me and challenge me to see if I could do any of the projects, using the same criteria that contestants were given.

So I picked their first challenge – a fair isle style tank top, knit in bulky yarn on a circular needle. I took time to create a pattern, choose colours and get ready to knit. About 4 hours in, this is what I have knitted to so far. Can you tell what the motifs are?