The Best Postman In The World

Sometimes you can really relate to the saying: "it's the little things that count".

I walk or drive my children to school every morning of the week (depending on the weather, and sometimes the mood). The timing seems to coincide with the time the postman delivers my mail, which is OK for bills, but if I get a parcel that doesn't fit through the letterbox, I have to wait until 4.00pm before I can get my package from my local post office.

While this is not a huge inconvenience, you must be aware of how much knitters love their wool; I can't even start describing the trauma we go through when we have to part with our yarn (can you believe that some flights don't allow knitting needles or crochet hooks on planes? What's a knitter supposed to do when traveling, it's bad enough leaving lots of wool at home - On the other hand, think about what treasuries can be discovered in the yarn shops of faraway countries). But I am straying: let's go back to my postman:

I had been waiting for a yarn delivery and expected it to be delivered on Monday but I had to walk my children to school. I spotted the post van on my way home and when I got home I took off my shoes and jacket and I had just started doing my morning housework when I heard the doorbell: I was my postman who said he had turned around when he saw me walking towards home and guess what he had for me?

 6 balls of Wendy Serenity Super Chunky in Celery shade: of course there are only 5 on this photo as the last one has already been turned into this (you'll have to excuse the picture quality, as I haven't had a proper photo session since last weekend:

 I love my Postman!

Little Hats for Charity: The Big Knit 2013

Every year, Innocent Drinks has a fundraising event for Age Action, that they call The Big Knit.

This year I've decided to try and knit some mini hats and send them off: these will be put on Innocent Smoothie bottles and for every bottle with a hat, Innocent Drinks will give 30c to Age Action.

So far I've made 4 hats and my daughter made one (the yellow one, she also made my Pom pom, for some reason mine just keep falling apart):

It's been fun to make these, and also an opportunity to experiment with different hat shapes. I might get around to make another 2 or 3 before I send them off on Monday (the deadline is October 4th). I got the pattern for the bird on Deramore's website (they have really funky ones you can download for free here). Unfortunately my bird hat doesn't look as good as the one from the pattern; my excuse is that I didn't have the same size yarn in the right colours.

I hope I can make more next year, if only I thought of starting in early summer!

Yarn Bargain Alert: Aldi Special Buys on Sunday 29th September

For my fellow Irish knitters, Aldi Ireland has 4 types of yarn for sale this Sunday 29th September.

It's not going to be the luxurious Alpaca or Merino wool variety, nonetheless, in a time where most of us are strapped for cash and for people who are allergic to wool, Aldi yarn is not to be sniffed at.

Acrylic yarn (as I assume it will be) is also very useful for making accessories like toys, phone cases, bags and what not. Here are quick links if you want to check the offers:
 - Chunky knit yarn: 300g for €7.99
 - Gorgeous Baby yarn: 200g for €3.99
 - Luxury Scarf Yarn (Poodle or Spectra): 150g for €4.49
 - Rustic Aran yarn: 400g for €7.99

Now if I had bothered checking the Aldi app on my phone, I would have found out about these myself, thankfully I have great friends on Facebook and I want to thank Maire from the Nattering Knitters group for sharing the offer.

Now you know where I'll be on Sunday!

Glittery Fingerless Gloves For My Girls

I made these fingerless gloves using cheap acrylic and glittery yarn my daughters bought from Aldi or Lidl (not sure which one as it's been a few months). These mittens are quick enough to make (about 2 hours each for me but I am still trying to improve my knitting speed), and of course, made using a circular needle as I am not a fan of unnecessary sewing. I only had one hand model available for the pictures as my eldest daughter was gone to a friend's house yesterday, so you can see the red gloves being worn by a 9 year-old girl and as they are knitted, they are stretchy and can easily fit a child from 7 to 12 years old.

By the way, these pictures were taken using my new DIY Light Box, who knew it was so easy to take professional-looking photographs?

Etsy Shameless Self-Promotion: New Autumn - Winter Items in Store

It's starting to get cold around here so before going back to my needles, I want to let everybody know that I have at last added my first autumn and winter accessories in my Etsy shop.

There are 3 warm and cosy hats, 3 pairs of matching fingerless gloves and 3 matching headbands; here's a picture of one of each item and there is one of each color:

I have added an Etsy Shop page to this blog also so you can see what's in store so far in Sophie's Knit Stuff.

If you haven't already, don't forget to like Sophie's Knit Stuff on Facebook and share it with your friends for more knitting and shop news!

Knitwits is the New Yarn Shop in Galway: Christmas Came Early!

My closest yarn supply stores are in Galway, but unfortunately they love stocking mostly overpriced luxury yarns or cheaper yarns that remind me of the scratchy and brightly coloured jumpers my granny used to knit and that I only wore on the days I went to visit her.

 Luckily when I went to my local craft and chat group last Wednesday, someone mentioned Knitwits & Crafty Stitchers, a new yarn store in Galway, so I thought I'd pay a visit during the week.

When I saw the wool in there, I thought I was in heaven: beautiful colors and excellent quality yarns! Of course they have their share of luxury yarns (Bergere de France) and also the authentic Donegal Studio (not for me, as this kind of wool feels scratchy and I can nearly feel my childhood skin allergies coming back when I touch it), but I was pleased to see that that they stock a wide variety of premium quality and affordable King Cole yarn, which I had been buying online as I couldn't find it locally: I spotted my latest favourite King Cole Riot chunky at €5.20 for a 100g ball (I had previously bought it online for €5.69!).

 To add to this, the shop owner is a very nice lady who says in her website's blog that she set up her store after being made redundant so I want to support her business, and although I think I have enough yarn to last me until Christmas, I think I will return there soon.

While I was in the shop looking at all the lovey yarns, I decided it was time for me to start knitting Christmas items for my family members, so I got 2 balls of 400g of King Cole Aran Fashion for €13 each, one in brown and one in black: I am thinking hats, trying to create a pattern for a man cowl, and maybe also fingerless gloves for my Dad and my little brother (who's not so little!):

Preview of my New Knitted Winter Hats and Fingerless Gloves

I have been very busy lately, with my kids going back to school and the start of Etsy Ireland Mentor Month. So far this is going well as I am getting a lot of great advice, and by looking at my mentor's shop, it looks like she knows what she is talking about.

Since my last blog post I managed to knit a few items with the lovely King Cole Riot chunky yarn: 3 hats, 1 fingerless glove (I am finishing the second one this evening), and I am planning to use the leftover yarn for maybe another hat or each colour and some headbands.

I just love the feel and warmth of this yarn, pity I can't keep all of these for myself, hopefully they will find a good home!

Here is the picture I took this morning; I am waiting to have more finished before I can add them to my Etsy shop: