This isn’t my first garter stitch heel. What I neglected to ever mention that time, however, was that I didn’t knit the second sock. I just wasn’t sold on the idea. Anyway, here I am, halfway to the knee and hoping that my leg increases will work out.

There was a lot of painting and recarpeting while I was away so we’re taking the opportunity to clean out and reorganise. Ikea was visited and flatpack was assembled. Laundry has been washed and dried, washed and dried. I expect to get most loose ends tied up today but really, all along, I’ve been thinking about this wrap (such a quick knit!), this cardigan (squishy garter stitch!) and wondering when the Second Fall issue of Knitty is going to come out.

Since getting home, I have been consumed by the desire to cast on everything I see. You see, I’ve been here many, many times and have already initiated what can only be classed as damage control:

The 16-Sixteen Cables hat in Rialto Aran.

I’d forgotten just how squidgy Rialto Aran is. I can’t wait to have this done. It is already getting into hat weather a little.

I picked this yarn up in Delft. It’s been a long time since I knit a pair of socks and I just fell in love with the colour. For no reason at all, I have decided to knit these toe-up (my first proper pair!) and if I can keep going, turn them into knee socks.

The ‘only’ other yarn I got on my travels is this beautiful New England Shetland from Harrisville Designs. It is slightly heathered and I think the colour will match a lot of my other clothes. Today I plan to swatch and cast on for Peasy (ravelry link)! I am extremely excited.

I didn’t know anything about Cologne before I went so it was interesting to visit! It’s in the far west of Germany and lies on the river Rhein. It was a really influential city back in the day due to trade coming and going through it. These days, however, it is a bit like any other big Germany city. It was bombed to bits during the war, which is a shame because the parts that survived are really well preserved. Unfortunately all other construction that happened since the war has not been in the same style and so the city does not have as much character as it could. All that considered, it does have this:

The Dom, or cathedral, was one of the only things to escape unscathed from the war. Apologies for the dullness of the photo; the weather was very dull when we were there. This is but one side of it. It is absolutely enormous. We spent three nights in Cologne and had seen pretty much everything worth seeing by that stage.

Bruges was completely different.

All I knew about Bruges was gleaned from the film In Bruges and even then, my memory was patchy. For a start, it is in the northern half of Belgium, which is dutch-speaking. I was very surprised because it is much more Dutch-looking than I expected, with tall narrow houses and many canals throughout the old part of the city. The old part is quite small and enclosed by canals but the city with its environs is large, with about 250,000 inhabitants. Add on top of this many, many tourists and you get a jammed-pack centre on Saturday. We escaped when we could!

We stayed in an amazing little hotel, Hotel Fevery, which saved my life with its hearty gluten-free breakfast and quiet-yet-central location. As we stayed four nights, the hotel made a big difference to our stay. We were lucky with the weather so last Sunday, we rented bikes and cycled the canal route to Damme. It was only about 5km away and proved to be a popular watering hole for cyclists en route elsewhere. We took a scenic route through the countryside further north and eventually looped back home.

Onwards to Delft then, which is in south Netherlands and is much smaller than Bruges. Although my photos of Bruges, Delft and Leiden do not differ much in terms of tall, narrow houses and many canals, Delft had its own feel. In this part of the Netherlands, Belgian beers have a strong influence and the eager tasting sessions continued! Delft is obviously famous for its delftware – the blue and white ceramics – and it was nice to see potters and ceramic artists still active within the field in the town. Its other claim to fame is that Vermeer lived and painted there his entire life. The Vermeer museum there unfortunately did not have any of his original paintings but gave a very interesting look at his life and small body of work.

We had a day and a half in Leiden before flying home but unfortunately the weather turned wet and windy. Despite that, we soldiered on and visited Rembrandt’s birthplace as well as one of the main museums, the Lakenhal. There was nothing to see there from Rembrandt himself as most of his paintings are in bigger museums, but it was extremely interesting. Back in the day, Leiden was the epicentre for cloth production, dying, grading as well as import and export and the Lakenhal was sort of the cloth customs house for all of this. The building has been excellently preserved and is full of art from local painters of the Golden Age, as well as more recent local painters.

Of course, wool was found and there was much sitting on the suitcase to get everything in. It was worth it, though, and I have lots more to show you now that I am home.

Next week, we’ll be in Finland (where Elina is from) for some concerts and then masterclasses at the Turku Festival. Founded in 1960, this is a renowned chamber music festival and I am very excited to be going. Also, it is not often you get to be shown around Finland by a Finn. You can expect to hear more about our adventures in the coming year! After a few months of playing together, it became very clear that this is a good partnership and, surprisingly, exactly what we both wanted. Most pianists and violinists are interested in just solo playing or, for the violinist anyway, orchestral playing. Most dip into chamber music now and then but rarely pursue it singularly – in Ireland, anyway. For us, we came to the conclusion that we are both good but far, far better together. Together, we will probably achieve much more than would be possible alone (and have a lot more fun doing it). So to Finland we go!

I have a lot of knitting to show you but I am going to try and spread it out because I don’t expect to have a lot of computer time for the rest of the month. Happy knitting, everyone! (Did you see the Autumn issue of Twist is out already? I love this time of year!)

The hap shawl continues to grow. Amazingly, I have used only half of my Malabrigo sock so I am thinking about adding a big squishy border at the appropriate time. I followed the instructions (mostly) but my increases have gone a little awry so this will probably end up being bigger than the pattern intended. I don’t really mind: our weather is really bizarre right now. It is very hot in the sun (this is where the hap can be used to lie out on) but then a hurricane of wind and rain can come out of nowhere (and this is where it can be used to cover head and upper-body whilst fleeing for cover). And all other times, it can be used to shield against Evil Air Conditioning.

In a few weeks, I’m going to travel to Finland with the violinist that I play with. She’s Finnish, you see, so she has arranged a concert in her home town as well as some masterclasses with her old teacher. (A masterclass is a public lesson with a teacher that you don’t normally study with. People can come in and listen to the lesson. It’s a good way to get to know a teacher that you might like to study with or, at the very least, get a another opinion on what you’re playing. I had a masterclass once about ten years ago with a very famous French teacher who despaired of my Beethoven playing. She completely destroyed my score with her small, charcoal pencil. There is something uniquely excruciating about an old French woman’s despair. All the same, everyone later agreed she was insane. My best masterclass was when the teacher pulled a chair right up beside at the keyboard and we worked through three Debussy pieces and I got to ask all the questions I wanted, and he completely ignored the audience. Which was awful if you paid in – but great for me.)

Errr, I digress. The bottom line about going away to Finland is that they actually have a season called summer there. Insensible though it may seem, I have cast on for a short sleeved cotton top.

The pattern is Arielle from Kim Hargreaves’ latest book, Misty. I’m knitting it in a white 100% cotton called Safran from Drops. It’s not a mercerised cotton so it’s quite nice in the hand to knit with. I picked white mostly because it will match lots of my clothes. I think the top is a style that I can wear with jeans or with a posh skirt for playing in. I tend to wear very light things to play in all year round because I get very, very hot when I play.

The pattern leaves a few things to be desired, unfortunately. The border is stupid. I don’t like using that word but here, I think I am right. It’s a border that you knit lengthwise and then pick up the stitches along the edge of the strip for the body. Getting that border to sit just right is a fine art. In my mind, it’s like the nightmare of buttonbands grown to take over a quarter of the garment. Add to this situation the Rowan requisite that everything is knit flat. Both of these things were quickly discarded and replaced with a simple baby cable rib knit in the round.

I went hunting for buttons today for my Audrey cardigan but alas, to no avail. I also have no pictures of my green alpaca cardigan even though I have been wearing it since yesterday. My resident photographer has been feeling a bit sleepy. Take my word, though, it is perfect for this gusty, changeable weather. I think I will knit another in charcoal for autumn.

I finished my Drops alpaca cardigan. This was my world cup knitting and, even though I thought it would be an unachievable goal, I completed it easily. Got the sleeves set in before half time and now all it needs is a good blocking.

I am still a bit mad about forgetting the buttonholes but the garment fits so nicely and the yarn was so lovely to work with that I can’t really stay mad at it for very long.

I finished up Audrey as well. I was sort of putting off finishing it because I was certain it was going to be too big and floppy. But when I got the button bands and neckband on, I realised that it fit really well.

All I need now are buttons. I am thinking about putting a hook and eye at the very top since I forgot to put in a buttonhole. I will post more detailed, modelled shots when these two are blocked and finished completely. I made a few mods in both which I’d like to document for others to use.

I have been trying to work my way through my backlog of almost-FOs. I did finish off the Minimalist cardigan but really, it’s been a disaster from start to finish. It is the most ill-fitting sweater I have made in a long time and even with my mods for the sleeves, they turned out enormous. But you can’t win ‘em all so I have put it away in the hopes that someone will appear on my horizon that I can give it to. In the meantime, I have dug out my only other languishing sweater – ole Henley Perfected.

All this needs is a sleeve and a half. It got put away because winter came in rather quickly last year and I wanted to move on to woollier things. The yarn is Calmer a stretchy cotton blend from Rowan. It’s usually quite expensive – about €8 a ball – but I picked up a bag of 10 for about €40 last summer in Galway. It’s a beautiful colour and is really lovely to work with.

But really, my tricot du jour has to be Veera’s new pattern, the 3/4 hap shawl. True, when I saw the pattern the weather had just broken and true, when I cast on, it was pouring rain outside. But now that I have started, wild angry crocheters couldn’t get me to put this down.

The green is Malabrigo Sock in Lettuce and I bought it originally to join in on the Annis knitalong at This is Knit. I kind of put off casting on because of the huge amount of stitches to start with and the rumours of nupps. In the meantime, this little gem appeared and I knew what I had to do.

The purple is Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering which has been patiently waiting in the wings. It’s a pretty stark contrast but really, purple and green belong together, don’t they?

On my last spinning kick, I managed to spin up what I thought was my entire fibre stash. When I returned from Italy and got stuck into spring cleaning (past tense? I sprung cleaned? let me know), I found a truly gigantic bag of undyed mystery fibre at the back of my wardrobe. It is 575g of dark cream deliciously soft roving with an average staple length of about two inches. I don’t know anything worth mentioning about sheep breeds so answers on a postcard, I guess!

I filled up a bobbin between last night and this morning. I suppose I might as well confess that I wasn’t watching the Tour but I don’t think it really affected my output. But who knows? The only way to find out is to do the same again today while watching. TG4 has untiring and often amusing coverage go h-iomlán BEO – those guys really know their stuff and use wonderful language like ‘rothar galánta’.

But I digress. My plan is to try and extract a 2-ply double knit weight, hopefully enough for a short cardigan. To aid in the eking-out process, I have this:

‘Marvellous’ doesn’t come close, people. It is May’s installment from Laura Hogan’s batt club (psst! she’s got a 15% discount sale on for the Tour!). There is about 100g altogether which, if spun similarly, should help me if I use it for a colourwork yoke. See? I have a plan.

I also have a plan B. Yeah, I haven’t been practising so much recently.

I have no idea what it is because I lost the label. I know it too came from Laura and that it contains soya and probably merino. I am also unsure how I can make it my plan B but I think I will figure that out if and when I need to.

Now, definitely time for a mug of tea. Thanks so much everyone for all your warm wishes and congratulations! It is turning out to be a lot more fun than we expected it to be

My knitting on our road trip was this alpaca cardigan from Drops. It’s a really straight forward knit – lots of mindless stockinette with a few bits of shaping thrown in to keep your attention. The only problem for me was that my mind was elsewhere most of the weekend and I totally forgot to work in the buttonholes. It was a bit of a slog until I divided for the armholes and then it really started motoring along. I got most of a sleeve worked up yesterday.

The instructions include a nice bell shaping for the cuffs. I like the shape but it’s not very practical for me. I end up dipping it in everything or it gets caught in every door handle I pass. So I skipped that bit and cast on the number of stitches it specifies directly after the shaping.

I have also been ploughing away at Audrey. I got both sleeves done and am on the button bands. It was pretty cumbersome to bring along with me in the car so I am only really getting back to it today.

I really love the texture of the ‘bib’. The yarn, Debbie Bliss’s Amalfi, helps that a lot too.

The only thing that concerns me is that it is working up to be a bit floppy. I suppose I expected that but perhaps I should have anticipated it better and knit a size smaller. I think I will try throwing it in the tumble dryer to tighten up the fabric when I’m finished.

I got a bit bored with knitting at the weekend so I started a project I’ve been meaning to get stuck into for a while – a linen hexagon bathmat. I found the pattern via Ravelry to Pierrot, a Japanese craft site. Here’s a direct link to the pdf. The written instructions are in Japanese but the diagrams are very clear.

The yarn is Lin from Drops, their 100% linen yarn. It is just like the other linen I used before. Maybe a bit shinier. I hope it fluffs up like the other stuff, too. That’s all my World Cup knitting for now. I hope to finish off both cardigans by the finals!

I haven’t even started on my Tour de Fleece spinning yet but I know Eimear and Laura have. I have a crazy idea but I don’t know if it will work. I am going to practice and see about it later. Will keep you posted.

Alb had Friday off so on Thursday, we took off for Cork. We found a cheap hotel on Lidl breaks. It’s been really fantastic – big, comfortable room; broad, varied breakfast and superb service (if you’re interested, it’s the Carrigaline Court Hotel. It’s not near anything but it’s only about a ten minute drive from the city if that’s where you want to go. It’s also beside the bus stop if you want to go that way, too). Anyway, Friday wasn’t so good weather-wise so I hit up the shops and while I was at it, picked up some 4-ply wool in a lovely blue-grey for an Austin hoodie. The afternoon brightened up considerably and we headed out for Kinsale. I’d been a few years ago with my mum and I’m happy to say that it exceeded my memories upon return.

Kinsale is a small, colourful, vibrant town with a busy harbour. We had a great time walking around in the sun and taking photos. It was a perfect day.

Today, we headed in the other direction to Youghal. Like Kinsale, it too has a busy harbour. However, the town is more spread out and is built into the steep moutain beside the sea. It is a very old town that built up in medieval times thanks to rich trade from the continent and much of the town still reflects its origin. This is the clock tower.

…and the lighthouse at the other end of the town.

We walked up to the old town walls and St. Coleman’s church. It was built in the 13th century and can boast its continuous use since. It was impressive but next to impossible to photograph, unfortunately.

An ice-cream in the sun and onwards then to Cobh, another harbour village. Cobh was the last port of call for the Titanic and is still a busy port for ferries to France and fishermen. It is unusual, though, for the truly gigantic cathedral looming down above the village. This is a tiny portion of it.

Like Youghal, much of the town is cut into the mountain with very steep streets. It is definitely worth the climb up to the cathedral for the wonderful views across the bay. The sun was strong today and the sky was quite grey and hazy so my photos aren’t very interesting-looking. I am sure Alb will come up with something a bit better soon enough!

Tomorrow we hope to strike out for St. Finbar’s hut before heading home. I have a few things lined up for the summer but mostly I plan to stay at home in my sweatpants and catch up with you guys. You know the Tour de Fleece (ravelry link) is starting soon? And I don’t know about you, but I am knitting away to the World Cup. Let’s catch up again soon!

I have a thing for cotton cardigans. I don’t own any, it just fits into some sort of Bridget-Bardot-post-war mental image I have of Summer on an island (which we are, even though it doesn’t feel like it most of the time). You know, warm enough for cotton but cool enough to need a cardigan. This is where Audrey in Unst comes in.

I just looked up what ‘unst’ means and it doesn’t mean anything because it’s a place – one of the islands in the Shetlands! That’s funny. Anyway, the yarn is a deliciously pale pink called Amalfi by Debbie Bliss. I got it from This is Knit. I needed to go down to a 3mm needle to get gauge so it’s fairly slow going but I’m cranking it out a little at a time.

During my spring clean, I happened upon my mountain of crochet blocks. I had maybe about thirty so at the weekend, I sat down and started joining them up. It took no length at all to get them all attached. I had about 10 large squares from 200 Crochet Blocks and a lot of smaller motifs from Beyond the Square. I crocheted the large motifs together for the centre and then used up all the smaller ones as a border. It is still not much bigger than a generous lap blanket so I have decided to work up about fifteen more large square, attach them, and then work the border in brown. I have seven after the weekend of absently working away and watching tv.

These guys are perfect for working up in warmer weather and it is very pleasant joining them all up with the blanket on your lap when it is cooler in the evening. More, please!