This, my friends, is the other thing I mentioned I got at the K&S show. Momentous, no?

It is a Brother 1034d overlocker and I hadn’t really intended on buying one at all. About a week before the show, I was pottering online and thought: if I were to buy an overlocker sometime, what’s a good one to get? Some basic information on the subject could not possibly go amiss. I spent quite a while reading, finding the customer reviews on Amazon (both .com and .co.uk) to be very informative. I explored many different brands and price ranges. I came to the conclusion that about €200 seemed to be a reasonable amount to pay for a reasonable model.

The Brother seemed to score well on a number of fronts: it uses 4 threads but can be used with 3 threads also for different features (like a rolled hem); it has a colour coded threading system which many customers have reported to be very straight-forward and easy to use; it has a good range of ability and is reported to handle both light and reasonably heavy materials well; it comes with extra feet; it costs £189 in the UK. When I went to see what shipping would be, I discovered that the company selling through Amazon don’t ship to Ireland (this was before the Parcel Motel revelation). Curiosity piqued, I googled for other alternatives to discover that there is a Brother dealership in Bray and that there were to be exhibiting at the show.

I investigated the machine fully at the show and was quoted a price of €230. Given that £190 works out to be almost €240, before any shipping, I figured it was probably the best I was going to get.

This is how the front looks when you go to thread it or dust it out. Each thread has a coloured tension knob which relates to the guide along the rest of the machine. Very, very straight forward. I did a lot of fiddling about with it when I got it first and read the manual thoroughly. The manual is extremely clear and helpful and any issues I’ve had so far have been entirely user-related. Here’s a seam I finished this morning. I’m working on a top from New Look 6806.

Obviously, it’s not the kind of finish you want for everything but when you just want to finish something quickly, like this top, it’s nice to have. Before I forget, the feet I got with it are a blind hem foot, which overlocks and does the hemming at the same time, a piping foot (ditto) and a gathering foot. I haven’t tried any of them out yet but greatly look forward to it. To overcome my aversion to sewing with knits, I cobbled together one of these the weekend before last. I didn’t do a muslin or anything so the neck is far, far too wide. If I had cut a smaller neck and a smaller size, it would have been fine. However, it was most satisfying to find that sewing with knits is just not a big deal and the overlocker gave a great finish.

Other sewing includes a plethora of handkerchiefs (handkerchieves?). Scrap fabric too beloved to do anything else with. The fabric on the top is leftovers from this top and on the bottom, a quarter metre I bought a year ago at the Dundrum Cath Kidston shop specifically for this purpose. I have found that my nose gets quite runny on the bike and paper tissues do not cut it whatsoever.

A circular shawl from Malabrigo sock given to me as a present at my hen party.

A brown jumper of endless stockinette for Alb. Exact same as the last one. I didn’t even swatch, which was very bold of me, but it seems to fit fine. The only thing is that he did like the contrast colour I got for the stripe, so I left it out. I think I may run out of yarn as a consequence. I have almost two full balls with still a sleeve and the collar to knit. I might make it! Must knit faster to find out.

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Hi there! I want to tell you all about a new service in Dublin called Parcel Motel. This isn’t a sponsored post or anything – I just used it and found it to be really good. Basically, it’s a delivery service run by NightLine couriers. They have automated delivery boxes located in 24-hour petrol station courts around the city. So if you want to order a parcel but know that you won’t be in when the post man comes, and you know that you can’t get to the An Post depot during working hours, this is a solution. At €3.50 per use, it works out better if your parcel has free delivery to begin with.

Which brings me to the next good thing about it: they have an address in Belfast that you can use to avail of free UK shipping. Your parcel is sent to the Belfast address and then delivered to your Motel box. Again, this costs €3.50 but is still better than paying the sometimes exorbitant delivery rate from UK to Ireland or not having a delivery option to Ireland at all.

I just used it to order some UK-delivery-only items for Alb’s Christmas present and found it really easy. I set up my account online. You can prepay credit into your account (they accept Paypal) or you can set it up to debit your card whenever there’s a transaction. I use the former. You’re automatically assigned an ID number that you use with your name when ordering. You choose what Motel you want your parcel delivered to. I ordered my items on Sunday, using my name, ID number and Belfast shipping address. The first item was dispatched on Monday and I received an email with a pin number on Tuesday night. I picked it up on Wednesday morning.

This is what my local Motel looks like (Bertha for scale). It’s in the carpark for my local petrol station.

On the touchscreen, you enter your phone number and then the pin number you were sent. One of the locker doors pops open automatically.

And that’s it. Check out the website for all the ins and outs and what-ifs.

As for Bertha, I thought this might be a good occasion to give you a brief update. Suffice to say, no news is good news! I ride five days a week to work now. My commutes range from 15 minutes, about 4km, to 40 minutes, about 7.5km. Three days I have driven because of rain and all I can say is: yuck! Driving does absolutely nothing for my well-being. When I cycle, I worry less, I have time to take in my surroundings and say hello to my neighbours, I am in good form, I sleep and eat well, I feel energetic and upbeat. I feel like I am part of my community. It is cheap, fast, easy. I can go at my own pace. Yesterday I felt quite tired and just pedalled along, arriving home a mere two minutes later than usual. I can park right by where I want to be.

Parked at the Botanic Gardens

Sure, bicycle lanes in the city are laughable – sometimes even downright dangerous. And yes, one is vulnerable. However I think the benefits outweigh the dangers. Given the level of pedestrian ignorance in the city, I think perhaps one is most vulnerable as a pedestrian (I don’t know at what point in their lives adults think that it is ok to step into the street without looking). Me, I like to take my time, signal clearly, obey the rules of the road, wear a helmet, reflective gear and lots of lights. I have had good experiences with signalling and merging with traffic when needing to overtake parked cars or buses, rather than trying to squeeze by.

You may notice in the above photo that 1. the Botanic Gardens have tons of bicycle parking. Why pay €3 for parking when you can park your bike for free? They have also planted lots of lavender around the bike parking so it smells divine. 2. I lock my helmet and reflective jacket to my bike. After a one year trial period, I am happy to continue doing so. I should point out that I also have a fixed rear lock. It locks the wheel to the frame of the bike so even though it’s not attached to something external (which is what my U lock is for), it’s handy not only as extra security but also when you want to stop for a quick errand. You can’t wheel the bike when it’s on and can only be opened by sawing through the loop that goes through the wheel (if you don’t have the key…). I bought mine in Belgium for €15 when we were there on holidays but you can get one here and have it retro-fitted through Bear Bicycles.

I have a ton of knitting and sewing to show. Photos at the weekend I hope!

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This weekend has had a little bit of everything. We’ve spent it in Galway. It was really good to get away for a few days. There has been some practice, some running, lots of tea-drinking, idle chat and a lot of snoozing. Yesterday I made the best of the good weather and had a browse around town.

I stopped by Pippa Blue to see their new space. They have moved across the road from their previous place on Middle Street into the Cathedral Building (directly opposite). They’re up on the first floor now but this has the massive benefit of greatly increased space and wonderful light throughout. Of course, I totally forgot to take any photos but take it from me, it’s lovely. They’re running all manner of classes and workshops now, as well as offering their studio space for hire, along with the use of a sewing machine and serger.

I picked up some Tanya Whelan cotton (the print) and some Klona cotton (the solid) for spring tops…

…and a fat quarter of Japanese Echino. The other stuff is two types of interfacing. I poured my zip-on-the-bias woes out to Eva, who proceeded to furnish me with two samples of their interfacing. One is a medium-weight sew-in interfacing, which I’ve never used before but should definitely do the trick, and the other is of the lighter iron-on sort. I can’t wait to try them out.

My mum has requested a pencil skirt for her birthday so I went to Hickey’s. It’s nearly as good as the one on Henry St but tends to have more things on sale. I dislike shopping in Hickey’s. It is the perfect example of how simply filling a shop full of yarns and materials does not make an inspiring environment. Anyway, after a long time digging around, I found some ivory ‘panama’ (polyester) that fit the specs. The lining is only acetate but the panama is quite light so it should be ok.

In the course of my digging, I found a few different knits. I bought the Renfrew Top back when it first came out because free international shipping was offered if you pre-ordered. It struck me as a most useful pattern, with different sleeve and neck-line options. It’s quite hard to find a decent knit and it’s not something Murphy Sheehy tends to stock a lot of. I stumbled upon this, a wool jersey.

At €15 a metre, I classed it as expensive but when I went to buy it, I found out that it had been marked down to €10. It’s not mega-stretchy so hopefully it will be nice to work with.

I wandered around the town and took a lot of photos (I have a photoblog here and also have been posting to Instagram under ‘knittingneels’ so follow me if you’d like to see more of my other photos).

The highlight of the weekend was definitely the gluten-free! cake brought to Sunday dinner by Alb‘s brother’s girlfriend.

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I just realised that I have once again forgotten to take photos of my knitting. I have a blue shawl that is nearly finished and is quite possibly my most gigantic one yet. It is colossal. I cannot wait to cast it off… mostly because I want the needles to get stuck into a Bedford sweater (can’t find a link to the actual pattern page but that’s what it looks like).

In the meantime, I have some slippers to show you.

It’s the Samantha slipper pattern from I Think Sew. It’s a downloadable PDF. What I really like about the pattern is that each pattern piece for each size is on its own page, so I only had to print out two pages. The instructions were extremely clear so overall, this was a simple and reasonably quick sew – about two hours.

I used some leftover cord from my Proper Attire Skirt and some leftover material from my sewing machine cover. I sewed a US size 5 which is about a UK 3.5-4.

They are super comfortable and even though they’re not the warmest, they are ideal as house shoes, guest slippers, a thoughtful present or as travel slippers that can be rolled up and tucked away in your handbag.

I was thinking of giving these to my organ teacher since she has the same shoe size as me (I borrowed her organ shoes once). All in all, this is a great pattern and I’m sure I’ll be making it again.

I put my polka dot blouse on hold momentarily because I thought I needed to get more buttons. But while I was tidying up, I came upon another packet of the same buttons in another size. It turns out that they’ll be fine for the cuffs, so I’m hoping to make a start on those buttonholes later.

Work has been extremely slow lately but I have put myself in for a number of projects (orchestral piano with wind band for an opera, a flute duo concert, rehearsal pianist with the same opera company as last summer) so I have a feeling that it won’t last. When I get down about not working so much, Alb always reminds me to enjoy my free time while I can…

I started a very simple t-shirt, the Scout Woven Tee. Also a downloadable PDF, it was quite the instant-gratification pattern. I got the material at Pippa Blue while I was in Galway at Christmas and I’m sorry to say that I got the last of it. I will talk more about the pattern when I finish it off but for now, I’ll leave you with a close up of the print. I think you’ll understand why I was drawn to it.

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This is one of the first Christmas presents I ever remember getting. I was maybe 5. It’s missing the peg for holding the spool, but otherwise still works perfectly.

It has a magic mechanism that forms the stitch without needing a bobbin. My mum cut out two pieces of mauve fabric, pinned them together, and told me to sew along where the pins were. It’s envelope shaped. There may have been a hem along the envelope flap. Mum sewed a buttonhole and helped me sew on a big button. Then, she cut up many, many strips of scrap fabric and put them into it. I spent the entirety of Christmas sewing all of these pieces together and keeping them in the bag. Simple, happy memories! I’m a bit sad that the mauve bag hasn’t been found but it’s nice to still have this wee memento.

I have been enjoying some monogamous knitting over the holidays – another 3/4 hap shawl out of the Plutolopi I got at the K&S show.

It’s hairy, it smells of sheep, it’s warm: I love it. I have one skein of each colour and there is loads in each – about 300m – so I might go for a more gigantic shawl than usual.

I hope you’re enjoying the week. I always find the time between Christmas and New Year’s very floaty indeed. Lots of knitting, sewing, ravelry and pinterest in one’s pyjamas (with or without chocolate/coffee/tea/mandarins). Let’s enjoy it while it lasts

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