Knitting Ranger

As mentioned in my previous post, I was travelling a bit over the summer. Part I was about the metal pins. During the second half of my holidays I had started wearing the silver spiral needle on the black pullover that I described a few posts ago, just as decoration.

Here is a close-up of the needle. It is approx. 5cm (2") in diameter:



When I wear it on that specific pullover it looks like this:



Another journey brought me to Dublin. Unfortunately it was a business trip, so I had too little time to explore the town, but one afternoon I managed to have a look around. I had checked the Internet before and of course there are some wool shops around. As I knew that there are some famous cable patterns, I wanted to look for a book on those patterns. So I went to this shop:

http://www.theconstantknitter.ie

And I actually found what I was looking for: A book on Aran knitting.

http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Knitting-Dover-Crochet-Tatting/dp/048644807X/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1409939060&sr=8-10&keywords=aran+knitting

It does not only provide ready patterns on how to make a pullover, but covers the basics, such as what types are out there and how to arrange them. Exactly what I needed, as I do not look for yet another pattern for a pullover, but I like to design them myself. The book is from the 1980s, so it does not have flashy pictures, but that is not too important. Unfortunately, true to the tradition outside of Germany, there are just written instructions. So I guess, one of the next tasks will be to translate them to charted instructions, which I normally use.

I also started to chat a bit with the owner of the shop, asking about traditional Irish wool and she showed me some wool by Studio Donegal, which look and feel really nice.

And she in turn noticed the spiral on my pullover, asking me where I got it from. So I got the two ladies in touch with each other. Maybe these needles will be worn in Dublin in the future ;)

So in case you have a trip to Dublin or happen to be in Dublin take a bit of time to check out this shop and keep a bit of space in your luggage to bring back some nice wool - not only "Irish" wool, but also others -- or for a holiday knit while you are exploring the town and the country :) Greetings from Germany to Dublin and thank you Rosemary for your time

... Holiday time, which means a lot of time for knitting, for exploring and very little time for posting. I will update the new projects as soon as I have them all wrapped up. But a first glimpse on some accessoires I found during my holidays:



I met the lady who makes these a couple of years ago. But we went back to that place for this years holidays and I had a chance to catch up with her and see about the new things she has. The needles in bronze and silver can be used both as pins for the knitted jackets as well as for pinning up hair. I use them for both. Or just as decoration on plain pullovers. But more on that in the next post.....

Feel free to have a look at her wesite yourself:

http://www.ritaackermann.de/index.html

... the other day I discovered a new wool and I have to admit it was not love at first sight. But first the details: The wool is by ito (http://www.ito-yarn.com), it's pure silk, with approx. 400m/50g. But because it is silk, the thread is not completely even, which makes it slightly less straightforward to knit. But the result is amazing. The pictures show the top I made from this dark blue thread before it is finished. In the meantime I did finish it and also wore it and it is just gorgeous. I had to put it on my kitchen scale, because I could not believe how light it is. It just has 95g(!) and for the extremely warm summer days it is just perfect. One can wear it and in the evening just wash it quickly in the sink and it will be dry two hours later. I promised myself to get some more of this wool and make one or two tops more. It is definitely worth the money and the pain with the thin needles and the ages it takes to knit the thin thread.

As soon as I manage, I will also add a picture of the final piece. But for now half of it has to suffice. It has been knitted in parallel again - so both parts are exactly the same:



The pattern on the sleeve unfortunately is not very prominent when it is being worn. I am still thinking of adding something (i.e. a pearl) to it.