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Nicolette's Notebook

Woollinn, Dublin’s Festival of Yarn 2018

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It was an early start on Friday 25th May as we set off to the first Woollinn, Dublin’s Festival of Yarn 2018. I had taken their advice on the website and paid for the Dublin Airport Red Car Park. I’d also bought our tickets, so we were all set.

We had an uneventful journey to ALSAA, situated beside Dublin Airport, and arrived just after 10am! Of course, we started with a coffee, then I took a first meander around the marketplace. I hadn’t booked into any of the workshops but I had very much hoped to go to the lecture Smartphone Photography for Yarn Lovers by Kate O’Sullivan of A Playful Day but unfortunately, I was too late to get the tickets for this.

So I had to content myself with the Marketplace… lol… [Read More]

Harry Potter’s Edinburgh

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This wonderful post was written by Neil last March when he was in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. I decided that I’d keep it to post now as EYF 2018 approaches. Wishing everyone who is lucky enough to be visiting Edinburgh and the Festival a magical time! Thank you Neil!

I couldn’t resist putting together this special Edinburgh blog post for you – especially if you are a fan of Harry Potter like Nicolette and I. A walk around Edinburgh imagining Harry Potter wandering through Diagon Alley or at least Edinburgh’s equivalent!

Edinburgh Castle

When Nicolette and I planned our visit to Edinburgh, I certainly hadn’t been thinking about the links the city has with Harry Potter.  I was concentrating on how to get to the Yarn Festival and what to see while I was there.

Nevertheless, the links to Harry Potter were just too considerable for me to ignore.[Read More]

A Celebratory Give Away

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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

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An Unexpected Sweater Journey

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What are my WIPs at the moment? Mainly sweaters. Which seems utterly extraordinary to me. I cannot really fathom it. I started 2017 with the aim of knitting one sweater this year. I haven’t knit a sweater for myself before although I have knit many Sasha doll sized sweaters. I’d never really been interested in knitting sweaters. They are a large project that take a lot of yarn and time to complete and not a project that I ever considered to be particularly portable. So I surprised myself when knitting a sweater became my New Year’s Resolution for 2017.

Joyride Jumper by Drops Design

Joyride Jumper by Drops Design

At the start of the year, in January, I was going through a pile of knitting magazines, tearing out any patterns that appealed to me when I came across the Joyride sweater designed by Drops Design. I ordered the Drops Karisma yarn online from Purple Sheep Yarns. And by the end of January I had almost finished the body. When it was set aside.[Read More]

Yarnfolk Festival of Wool Part 3

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The third part of our visit to Yarnfolk Festival of Wool in Whitehead. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

I was looking forward to visiting Lighthouse Yarns. I used to enjoy going to Lighthouse Yarns when it was in St Georges Market and had always intended visiting the new shop when it opened in Whitehead. It is a lovely cosy shop full of yarn, notions and gifts. I’m looking forward to a return visit when it isn’t quite so busy, which it was on festival day, with a busy workshop going on and full of festival visitors.

Yarnfolk Festival of Wool 2017[Read More]

Yarnfolk Festival of Wool Part 2

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This is the second part of our visit to the Yarnfolk Festival of Wool in Whitehead. Find part one which is all about the beautiful yarnbombing of Whitehead here.

One of the wonderful things about attending a yarn festival like Yarnfolk Festival of Wool is the opportunity to chat to people, both visitors and vendors. I enjoyed chatting to Kate of the Hawthorne Cottage Craft and meeting Bernie and Eric of Bear in Sheep’s Clothing (both of whom have podcasts that I listen to).  The Belfast SnB group had a relaxing seated area on the stage in St Patrick’s Parochial Hall and if I’d been coming to the yarn festival with other knitters or on my own, I’d probably have brought a sock wip and spent a while taking in the atmosphere, but I wasn’t and I wanted Neil and Maya to really enjoy the day too!

Yarnfolk Festival of Wool 2017

Of course, if you are going to attend a yarn festival, you usually want to be wearing one of your own knitting projects. This is my So Faded sweater which is the first jumper I have ever knit for myself. At Christmas, my New Year’s resolution was to knit a sweater for myself during 2017. This is mine! I used 6 colours of my own Knitting Squirrel hand dyed yarns and the project was a pleasure to knit. I saw a few other So Faded sweaters as I walked around the show.[Read More]

Yarnfolk Festival of Wool Part 1

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Whitehead is a seaside town that was a popular holiday destination in Victorian times. Although it isn’t very far from Belfast, I’m ashamed to say, I had never visited Whitehead before, which is odd because I do love a lighthouse!

The festival was spread over 4 venues: Whitehead Community Centre; Church of Ireland Parochial Hall; Methodist Church Hall; and, Lighthouse Yarns. This actually improved the day as it was lovely to walk around the centre of Whitehead and to wander between the venues.

Yarnfolk Festival of Wool 2017 [Read More]

World Wide Knit in Public Day, 2017

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I spent Saturday afternoon with the Belfast SnB group for the World Wide Knit in Public Day 2017. They’re a wonderfully welcoming group of ladies and so much fun to knit and chat with. This is a very talented group of crafters with knitting, crocheting, embroidery and spindle spinning all taking place.

The Dock WWKIP Day 2017

They were meeting up at the Dock Cafe near the Titanic Building in Belfast at mid-day. It’s a very exciting year for this fun loving group of friends as they’re celebrating 10 years together.[Read More]