The Knitting Squirrel is honoured to have been chosen by the Feedspot Panel as one of the top 20 Irish Knitting Blogs. It was so exciting when the email arrived during the week!
The eagle eyed among you will already have noticed the badge in the side bar on the blog.
Red Squirrel with peanut crumbs on his nose, Cairngorms, Scotland
So here at the Knitting Squirrel I’m celebrating being in the top 20 Irish Knitting Blogs and reaching the landmark of having 250 posts on the blog! 2 wonderful reasons for a give away and 2 winners will be chosen.
I have the gorgeous book ‘Knitting from the North’ by Hilary Grant in my own book collection. Hilary Grant is a knitting designer who is inspired by the beautiful scenery in Orkney where she lives. It is worthwhile owning this book for the beautiful photography alone! There are 30 contemporary Fair Isle and Scandinavian knitwear patterns for hats, gloves, scarves and jumpers. The landscape backdrops are stunning and have definitely put visiting Orkney firmly onto my wish list…
The Other prize is equally fun! The winner of this prize will be able to choose 100g of yarn from the Knitting Squirrel’s yarn shop. Whichever yarn you have been wanting to try knitting with, it could be anything a lovely skein of sock yarn or four 25g balls of J&S Shetland Heritage. What you will win is absolutely your own choice so long as it is in stock!
* Give Away *
To enter leave your thoughts about topics you’d like to see covered on the Knitting Squirrel, in the comments below, by midnight on 16th March 2018.
On the 17th March 2018, (St Patrick’s Day), I shall choose the 2 winners.
- One commenter chosen will win a copy of the beautiful book ‘Knitting from the North’ by Hilary Grant.
- The other commenter chosen will win your own choice of 100g of yarn from the Knitting Squirrel’s Yarn Shop (providing it is in stock).
This give away is open to everyone, anywhere!
I look forward to reading all your comments.
Good Luck 
I have just moment discovered “The Knitting Squirrel” and so happy that I did…I just love seeing anything Knitting related…Making myself a cuppa and then spending my afternoon reading your post and enjoying the eye candy..Please enter me in the drawing..thank you
Congratulations on your award and your beautiful blog!!
I love reading all your posts but particularly enjoy your techniques and tips posts. I’d be interested in a post on how you match yarn and patterns for your projects – my aunt gave me some of her stash and I struggle with deciding what to do with it!
All the best and thank you for the give away, especially for making it international! 🙂
I’m basically a brand-new knitter, who stumbled on your page looking to learn how to knit a mitered square blanket. (Yours is gorgeous, by the way.) I’m always looking for content for true beginners – I see so many patterns marked ‘easy’ on Ravelry that really aren’t, unless you’re experienced. I love eye candy, and I need projects that help me go from ‘I can make a garter stitch scarf’ to something that teaches me new skills while not being overwhelming. Eventually I aspire to work like in the book you’re giving away. 🙂
Congratulations on your award!
I think you do a good job of choosing topics already, but I’ve been particularly interested in your posts on knitting jumpers over the last year. I tend to stick to small projects so I stand a chance of finishing them, but advice on stepping up to something bigger would be useful.
Congratulations on your milestones! I would love to hear more about the color inspirations for your projects, and even how you decide what colors to carry in your shop. For awhile, I was blessed with 2 LYSs (sadly one recently closed shop) and each had a different color sense. I found it very interesting.
Congrats to you, I googled Kitchener stitch and found your blog, love your pictures, and stories, my daughter and I were in Edinburgh last summer, I wish I would’ve seen a yarn shop, thanks again for all the helpful hints and well written instructions. We also had one day in Dublin, love Ireland
Ohhhh! Congratulations, Nicolette! Truely well deserved.
Your posts on colour and how to use colours together have helped my friends and I many times. When I started to knit socks, yours was one of the main blogs I came to for inspiration.
Your future blog: Go with your inner self, that’s what makes something come to life, I’ve seen other bloggers go off the rails when they have tried to give readers what they want.
For me, the surprises, twists and turns of your online/offline journey, are what draws me back, again and again. Very best for your health and future 🙂
Hello from West Virginia, USA. It is cold here but no snow at the moment, but then March isn’t over yet. Congratulations on your award and glad to hear you are on the mend. I don’t remember just how I learned about your site but I’m so glad I did. Really enjoy reading your “newsletter” and seeing your new projects and also the ones that have been around for a little while. I love the mitred square blanket and my plan is to someday soon make something using that design. I Your squirrels are adorable, I have a hickory nut tree in my yard and the squirrels love them and I enjoy watching them.
Congratulations on a most well-deserved honor! I’d love to see more cute and fun projects like the Baa-ble hat 😀 And of course more gorgeous shawls! Thank you for all of the wonderful posts so far, and can’t wait for what’s to come.
Congratulations on your well-deserved award, and the milestone 250 blog posts! Having accomplished this While recovering from serious health issues is pretty amazing. What to post in the future…exactly what you are doing now. The combination of knitting techniques, pattern & wool suggestions, travelogue, beautiful photography is fabulous. The only “change” I would suggest is that you post more often! Thank-you for the opportunity to enter the draw!
Hi Nicolette,
Congratulations!
Always enjoy your blog, I look for it often to see if you have updated with new knitting posts.
I love your beautiful pictures, your well instructions and the projects you make. Just a treat to read!
Best wishes,
Willemijn
My first contact with you , was in the Sasha groups where you were offering beautiful Sasha knits and clothes. After Sasha was a long silence …and one day I found out about the knitting squirrel. Time after time , I enjoy all your wonderful knits again but for human. Until today your creations inspire me. I can’t see the day you will be back in the Sasha group. I miss you so much. I did like so much your little stories for the kids and the beautiful house your husband was building for your dolls. You can be anywhere but you are an artist in what so ever you are doing. I love also all your pictures and comments.
Hi and CONGRATULATIONS from northern Michigan (USA) . I stumbled across your website as I was searching for some easy fingerless mitts. I love your pictures and designs. Being a somewhat newby knitter, I am intrigued by all things knitting with natural fibers. Totally hooked!
Congratulations on your achievement, Nicolette! I first discovered your site and blog when I started (and subsequently became obsessed with!) sock knitting a couple of years ago. Although I’ve been mainly knitting socks for the past few years, I want to try new things this year so I would love more blog posts about knitting fairisle. Also, being from Northern Ireland myself I’m interested in any local recommendations or tips you may have (from what inspires you, to any indie dyers that you like using!) 🙂
What a mile stone to reach congratulations. Love hearing from you in Wintery Canada. I first found you when looking for inspiration about mired square blanket. I made a shawl and it turned out really well thanks to you. Ruth
Your gong is well deserved! Please keep up the good work.
I am a particular fan of fair isle knitting with its wonderful mix of complementary colours and diverse patterns, whether in a chunky jumper or a simple bobble hat.
And if the wool used is locally grown and/or from rare breed sheep, that would be even better!
Hello from Wisconsin, USA, where it also still Winter. We also like to watch and feed the squirrels. I enjoy your web site and the beautiful patterns you have. I love traditional knitting styles and patterns. I would enjoy that, but love all you do, and the pictures.
Congratulations. I have only recently subscribed to your blog. I look so forward to receiving it. I have learned so very much from you and I am sure I will continue to learn. I love hand knit socks, I guess you could say I am addicted and truly the knitting squirrel certainly feeds that addiction. Thank you again for all you do for us knitters. I am looking forward to getting myself some beautiful sock yarn.
Congratulations and greetings from down under (Australia). I have used your blog to make various projects, mittens and mitred square blanket, as I find your instructions clear and easy to follow (no mean task!)
I would love to see more features on local yarns and traditional Irish knitting, perhaps a feature every couple of months on local dyers, spinners etc. I would also love to see more photos of your surroundings. I know you take photos of your projects outside, and I always enjoy seeing those, but one can never have enough of photos of Ireland.
Many congratulations!!! I’d love to find out about indie dyers of Ireland that use natural dyes.
Hello from Canada! I love reading about knitting traditions and yarns from around the world! And I love the squirrel photos! 😉 My husbands ancestral background is Irish (last name is O’Neill) and our “someday” list includes a trip to Ireland.
Nicolette, congratulations on a well deserved reward. I enjoy your blog very much, from the shop aspect to all the travel pictures and tales around Ireland. I love learning about colour and how you put your colours together, and I’m quite fond of knitting socks and mittens. I would like to learn stranded knitting or fair isle, but really your blog has a lovely variety of topics. An inspiration for sure.
Cheers from Canada,
I came to your blog through your sock heels and toes comparisons, and have stayed with you since, plus a few skeins from your lovely shop have made it into stash.
I’d be interested in a return to the socks you made and how they have worn – both in terms of the yarn used, and if for example those with a Strong heel have worn well compared to flap and gussets
Have missed your more frequent postings over the last year or more but extremely glad you are on the road to mending — And Congratulations on receiving this honor.
I especially love your socks and can’t get enough of them. Living in Georgia (southern USA) I don’t need many sweaters. Even so, I thoroughly enjoy seeing what you knit and how you combine beautiful yarn providing me with ideas I then combine for my individual taste…………….. But I can not get enough of your socks (especially), scarves, shawlettes and shawls so give me MORE!
I have only just found you and have so enjoyed reading right through your archived posts and placed you on my blog reader. The topics I would find interesting would be different ways of knitting ie: Portuguese, combination, continental etc and also how different needle types help with knitting when something impairs you. I love your handdyes and would love to know more about different dye processes.
Nicolette, I am an absolute newbie to your site and enchanted by the colors. Please do share more about how you chose colors and what draws you to combine different ones. What inspires you to pick what you do when you knit or dye? In addition, The scenery for the photography seems so well chosen to highlight the colors. How do you decide where to take the photograph?
Congratulations on your award! Hip hip Hurrah!
Congratulations, Nicolette! You deserve this honour:)
I am always curious about your dyeing process, how do you decide the colours, and the names of the colours? You give the most romantic names to your yarns!
Congratulations Nicolette! I love those cheeky squirrels in your pictures. I would love to hear about your thought process in choosing yarns, weight, color and bringing all this together in a design and pattern. Some of the history and heritage, that go with the patterns and what is emerging out of Ireland that has morphed from old to new in the knitting world.
Good morning!
And Congratulations!!!
I know your life has been extra full this past year, so this news is such a happy boost of Joy for your shoppe and I’m sure, for your inspirations!
I sincerely love your knitting mystery NOVEL suggestions, as I usually go out and get the book, too.
My only suggestion is that you post your socks and sweaters and knitty creations around your town and historic buildings, walls, etc.
I live so far away but have Irish Roots, so the photos would add extra colour to my personal life. I guess you already do that, to some extent, so simply keeping knitting & sharing!
Here’s to a wonderful year in 2018.
100 stitches of Love,
Teri Byrne
Parkdale, Oregon USA
PS. BY THE WAY, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOUR SASHA COLLECTION!!
Santa delivered Sasha Dolls to my 2 girls back in 1986. Oh MY!!! I simply couldn’t believe your photos!! We have a Lot in common besides Knitting!
Now that I have two granddaughters, maybe I better look around for a couple more Sashas and knit up some sweaters— THANKS MY DEAR!!!
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-xOx
And of course – congratulations! I just realized I hadn’t actually put that in the comment. I have a tendency to think a whole lot in my head, then only type out the last thought, forgetting to put the first thoughts down – lol.
Congratulations Nicolette! It is a well-deserved reward! Your pictures and documentation of the places you visit around Ireland are wonderful! I would love to see more pictures and stories about your trips (which I hope includes Orkney!), and I would like to see more of your knitting. Thank you for the chance to enter your giveaway!
Hi all the way from NZ! Love your blog – of course.
I would be really interested if you did posts on traditional Irish cottage knitting, and Shetland lace shawls. Cheers.