The Hat Lady Knits July 23, 2009

One of the blogs I follow is called SockLadySpins.  With my recent knitting I feel like The Hat Lady Knits.  I like hats.  I like knitting hats.  I took a few to my weekly market last Saturday.  Guess what – in mid-July no one is interested in woolly hats even though our “summer” temperatures have been quite low. 

  Yellow hat with multicolour band

 

  Mainly purples hat

 

  Hats in the garden

 

  Two more

 

My knitting has been a welcome break from packing, packing, packing.  Here’s a sample of progress to date.  And a sample of “still to do”.

 

   Progress

 

  Still to do

Tour de France Spins Along July 9, 2009

  This beautiful picture of the Tour de France cyclists appeared in the Irish Times this morning.  There is something hypnotic about watching the cyclists pedalling along.  Does the repetitive motion bear some similarity to knitting?  I feel the compulsion of that repetitive motion when I try to knit as fast as they are cycling.  I’m rooting for Nicholas Roche, nephew of Stephen Roche, the 1987 winner of the Tour de France.  Stephen used to live just around the corner from us here in Dundrum. 

All eyes, including ours, are on Lance Armstrong, now back on the Tour.

  This book of beautiful photographs tells the story of Lance Armstrong’s 2004 Tour

Knitting and Reading July 8, 2009

  I knit this hat, size 2.75mm bamboo needles, cast on 120 stitches, Regia sock yarn, and yarn from my stash – I’m not happy with the decreases at the crown – I decreased approx. every 10 stitches and worked down from that – I’ll try something else next time.  Any suggestions? 

While knitting the hat I read another very good book by Ivan Doig.  The Whistling Season.  It was about homesteading in Montana in the early 1900’s.

 

  The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

The Yarn Chase July 6, 2009

My Fourth of July celebration was a bit of a damp squib as far as going to a yarn shop was concerned (see previous post).  We didn’t find the shop despite carefully scrutinizing both sides of the main street in Ashford, County Wicklow, Ireland.  Somehow we missed it.  Never mind, we had a good look at all the changes at Mt. Usher Gardens.   We headed back to Dublin via Newtownmountkennedy and stopped for a tasty lunch at Fisher’s.  Remodeling had been done and the little cafe had a whole new look – and very nice it was too.

 

  Lunch in the corner at Fisher’s in Newtownmountkennedy

 

  Ian and the buddleia shrub in full bloom beyond the window of the restaurant

Missing the yarn shop we returned to the Dundrum Town Centre to see the Fourth of July celebrations – vintage cars, cheerleaders, the Stone Mountain Band, free hot dogs and hamburgers.

  Vintage Buick on display

 

  The Stone Mountain Band

 

The next day we went in search of the elusive yarn seller again.  Every Sunday in the  People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire there is a Farmer’s Market and this includes crafts and our yarn seller.  After a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant in the Dundrum Town Centre we headed for Dun Laoghaire.  As we approached our destination the streets seemed strangely deserted and there was evidence of very heavy rain earlier in the day.  Sure enough, there had been so much rain that many of the sellers in the Market had packed up and gone, including of course our yarn seller.  Well, we had a good time anyhow and I bought a head band from one of the few remaining stalls and Laurie (my niece) bought some wonderful oil cloth for her tables back in Maine.  This was at the new stall for Murphy and Sheedy which is a very old Dublin shop – it has been in operation for over 60 years.  Murphy and Sheedy has recently opened a branch in Dun Laoghaire and this stall was promoting the shop.  The girl in attendance was so enthusiastic and nice to talk to.  She had a fascinating crocheted hat which she had bought in County Donegal.  Our newfound friend kindly offered us shelter from the rain which had come on again so we had an extended chat. 

        Laurie buying oilcloth (Cath Kitson type design) from our friend with the designer hat complete with ear flaps and pompom. 

 

 

Success today when I went in to Dublin in pursuit of yarn and needles.  This is Knit saved the day.

  On the left, a lovely chocolate brown Manos del Uruguay Kettle Dyed yarn, and on the right 100 g, 425 m of Opal yarn, a German brand,  for pullovers and socks

p.s. I have subsequently found out that the new yarn shop in Ashford will have a sign up next week and should be easier to find.  It is called The Yarn Room.  I’ll try again.  I was sorry to miss the opening on the Fourth.  I had read about it on Crafty Wanda’s blog.

Fourth of July July 4, 2009

Happy Fourth of July!  Here’s a puzzle to celebrate the day.

http://www.jigzone.com/mpc/view.php?533I2OQ.04B

I am celebrating by going to the opening of a new yarn store at Mt. Usher Gardens in County Wicklow (Ireland).  I can hardly wait.

A Plethora of Socks July 3, 2009

 These socks plus the baby beanie are what I have been knitting lately.  I just love the Regia Kaffe Fassett colours sock yarn.

Now I want to write a few words about rhubarb – unrelated to socks as far as I know but I just feel like writing about it.  We have rhubarb growing in our garden.

  rather pathetic isn’t it but it’s early days yet for the 2nd crop.  Then Ian will make a delicious rhubarb and apple and raisin pie.  Meanwhile we’ll depend on store-bought rhubarb for those pies.

I subscribe to a service called Word a Day.  A few days ago rhubarb was the word for the day.  To quote from the site: 

“MEANING:

noun: A heated dispute; brawl.

ETYMOLOGY:

The origin of the plant name rhubarb is from Greek rha (perhaps from Rha, an ancient name of the river Volga on whose bank rhubarb was grown) + barbaros (foreign), but why the word developed this slang sense is unknown. We do know that this usage was popularized in baseball. The Oxford English Dictionary has the first citation from 1943:

“Mr ‘Red’ Barber,.. who has been announcing the games of the Brooklyn Dodgers, has used the term ‘rhubarb’ to describe an argument, or a mix-up, on the field of play.” (NY Herald Tribune)”

The name Red Barber caught my eye.  I remember him from the 1940’s when I was a keen fan of the Boston Red Sox.