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Nicolette's Notebook

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017 – Part 3

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After arriving at the festival bit late on the Friday (due partly to our plane from Belfast needing to be replaced due to “technical difficulties”) I decided to get there early on Saturday morning.

Outdoor Seating AreaOutdoor Seating Area

I had a lovely chat with a lady from Montreal as we waited for the doors to open at 10am. I told her my mission to buy a skein of Hedgehog Fibres yarn for, my wife, Nicolette and my concern to get the right colourway. She justifiably commented that I couldn’t go wrong with Hedgehog Fibres. But, she added, it had been so busy on Friday that some ranges were close to selling out by the end – I think Jamieson & Smith were one mentioned.[Read More]

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017 – Part 2

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One of my Scottish friends, on hearing that I was visiting a yarn fest in Edinburgh said “well I suppose they have festivals for all sorts these days.”

Well, yes they do. Especially Edinburgh, which seems to be a bit of a festival Mecca. But the Edinburgh Yarn Festival (EYF) is not just any old festival, as far as Nicolette and I are concerned.

Edinburgh Corn Exchange with queue

Although this is only the fourth EYF, it is already a huge event by most standards. There are about 100 contributors, with only the top talent given space for their displays. From Kate Davies, Brooklyn Tweed, Eden Cottage Yarns, John Arbon Textiles, The Threshing Barn, Ysolda – the list goes on. Not to mention Blacker Yarns, KnitBritish, Knitmastery and The Teapot Trust in the side rooms. Then there are the classes too…[Read More]

Time…

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Wolf-Refuge-6

So this is a slightly different post to my usual knitting posts as I don’t really go into my personal life very much on the Knitting Squirrel. I prefer to keep to knitting projects, yarn and a little bit of travel to interesting places.[Read More]

Box O Sox KAL 2016

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Box O Sox KAL 2016 – Early in 2016 I was watching one of my favourite podcasts, Voolenvine. Kristin of Voolenvine Yarns who does this fun podcast mentioned her new KAL.

BOX O SOX KAL 2016…

My ears pricked up. Literally.

I don’t often join KAL’s, well, this isn’t completely true, I join but other projects I’m working on for the Knitting Squirrel to show how beautiful the new yarns look when knitted up, normally take precedence, so I normally don’t finish the KAL in time.

Box O Sox KAL 2016

But, I mean, a box of a minimum of 12 pairs of socks by the 1st January 2017… This sounded like a huge amount of fun. You’ll all know if you visit the Knitting Squirrel regularly, I do love knitting socks. This gave me the perfect opportunity to start 2017 with 12 lovely new pairs of socks just for me… positively decadent! I finished with 14 pairs of socks.[Read More]

Summer 2016 in Belfast

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Today is the first day of Autumn, the Autumn Equinox. And suddenly, summer feels like it was a long time ago. We had a hectic, fun-filled summer in Belfast.

Summer in Belfast 2016

It wasn’t particularly warm; we had plenty of wet days, but on dry, sunny or merely drizzly days, we took the opportunity to go out and delight in some Summer fun. [Read More]

Sheep’s Head Peninsula Walk to Lighthouse

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We decided to drive around the Sheep’s Head Peninsula to enjoy a walk to the Lighthouse after we visited Sheep’s Head Yarns. We reached Kilcrohane about 30 minutes before they closed Sheep’s Head Yarns on the last day of the Sheep’s Head Yarn Festival.

Sheeps Head Peninsula

We’d missed the primary yarn market, but I bought two skeins of hand-dyed sock yarn by Strand Designs from the Sheep’s Head Shop. [Read More]

Sheep’s Head Peninsula Yarnbombing

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This is the first of my posts from our very recent holiday in Co Kerry and Co Galway. I’m not going to post what we did in chronological order. However, our first main outing was our trip to Sheep’s Head Yarns and Peninsula. I hope you will enjoy the posts, and we were fortunate with the weather. It was hot and sunny (for the west of Ireland, this is unusual) for our whole trip… which was amazing, but I hadn’t been expecting it to be this pretty warm and hadn’t packed for hot weather!

Sheep's Head Yarn Festival Kilcrohane

I’d heard about the Sheep’s Head Yarn Festival on Twitter and had noticed that the last day of the festival was the day after we arrived in Co Kerry, although the Yarn Festival was being held in Co Cork, a pretty long way from where we were staying.[Read More]

Summer Holiday Knitting – What to Knit?

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We are going on holiday this year to County Kerry and Connemara National Park in County Galway. So, of course, a multitude of ideas for summer holiday knitting projects are swirling through my mind.  What should I knit? Size of project? And the big question – how many projects?

Rainforest Socks 12

For me the ideal holiday project is easily picked up and put down – easily left in mid-round. Can be worked on while travelling in a car, sitting on a rock or stopping for lunch and doesn’t require me trying to hold a pattern down with nearby rocks to stop it blowing away in the wind.[Read More]