Dublin Knit Collective: Show 'n Tell

Whether you are a novice or an expert knitter…join the Dublin Knit Collective’s First Autumn Show n Tell, it is a spin-off of a knit-a-long...click here

a new kid on the blog...

The world of the knitting blogsphere is an infinite and vast place to explore...and make it so, a blog about knitting in Dublin…Dublin Knit Collective

something old is vintage

I love to collect things that have a significant meaning to me. My latest acquisition has an interesting Canadian/Royal connection...
This is my first vintage knitting pattern...
To commemorate Princess Elizabeth’s first official visit to Canada in 1951, the T. Eaton Co. Limited (one of Canada’s greatest retail and social institution) produced and promoted a special knitting pattern in honour of the Royal Visit.
Now there is an Irish connection…
Timothy Eaton who founded Eaton’s in 1869 was an Irish immigrant.

World Wide Knit in Public Day...Dublin

Yesterday, 09 June 2007 was World Wide Knit in Public Day...

Lien and Jackie did a fantastic job organizing Dublin’s first WWKiP Day.

Non-Knitter Friend from Canada and I made our way into Bray yesterday morning to meet up with Jackie (who I never met before) from Wicklow. Non-knitter Friend asked, "if you've never met Jackie before how will we recognize her?" I replied, "Just look for a female carrying a big enough bag that could carry knitting paraphernalia." That being said, Non-Knitter Friend excitedly spots a female walking along the platform, "Look over there, she's got a big bag!" Female with the big quilted bag sits next to us and I turn to her and say, "Hello, are you Jackie?" She looks at my felted knitting bag, she smiles and that instant recognition of fellow knitters happens...we reach over to shake hands, "I'm Diane, pleased to meet you..."

While on the DART, Jackie shows off her felted samples...

Marta, admiring the felted bowl...it only takes one skein of Rowan's Big Wool...

A great knitting day enjoyed by all....

a day to dye for...

The Eastern Group of the Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers held a Dying Day at Kathleen's lovely home in Co. Kildare. Holly demonstrated chemical dying techniques using and Kool Aid (scary thought... Kool Aid as a chemical dye???). In Kathleen showed us some natural dying techniques using bark and onion skins.

My enthusiasm of this new experience is chronicled in photos, as you can see from the length of this post. I was "little bit" snap happy with the camera...

Here Holly demonstrates dying some of her homespun using powered dyes:











Wow...

I assumed that mixing dyes was an exact science, however, Holly proved me wrong when she mixed in the left over dyes into the pot...



and cooked up a lovely hue of magenta...

I am amazed with what you can do with Kool Aid...

Holly started to using the grape flavoured Kool Aid to over dye some yarn...



however, the brown in the yarn over powered the purple of the Kool Aid, so she switched over to the lime...


then, into the microwave it goes...


and viola... no it is not a veggie...

Now for handpainted roving or fleece tops as it is called on this side of the pond...
Using, a medicine dropper Holly paints the dye onto the roving...watch how it absorbs the colours





wrap in "cling wrap" and steam...



hand painted roving....

Kathleen also showed us some natural dying tecniques using natural dyes...

Here Kathleen demonstrates dying with the bark of logwood







Moving on to veggie peelings...Kathleen boils up some onion skins, strains off the liquid to dye the yarn

30 minutes later...

I was overwelmed with the wealth of knowledge of Holly and Kathleen's dying experience, I begged Kate to take notes for me too...

While, the yarns were "cooking"...I took the oppportunity to take more photos...

as a certified "city slicker", I had no idea what this was....gigantic rabbit pellets, maybe???


no...peat...I'm used to going out to the local garden centre and picking up a bag of peat

willow "twigs"... just waiting to be weaved into a basket...

or


how about this awesome fence...

epicurious

epicure (noun): a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment, especially food and drink.

The Spouse and I have been on several lunch dates to experience the pleasures of food and drink. On one of our lunch dates, we went to Luigi Malones in Temple Bar. I have read reviews of this restaurant , some good and some bad...but in our experience each visit has been a pleasant one. The thin pizza crust was baked to perfection on my roasted vegetable pizza.

St. Paddy's Day 2007

Today marks my first St. Patrick's Day in the Emerald Isle. Lots of fun stuff on this Bank Holiday weekend ...it is a three day weekend for us folks here.

I am off to enjoy the Irish festivities this weekend. May the luck of the Irish be with me as I search for that pot o' gold (yarn???) at the end of the rainbow...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!