How to read a chart.

A chart may look like a difficult crossword puzzle, but its a very simple way of reading a fair isle or multi stitch pattern. Each square on the chart represents one stitch. Each horizontal row equals one row of knitting.
Always begin a pattern reading the chart from right to left, bottom to top.
So the right side of your knitting is row 1 of the chart and every following odd row 3, 5.7 etc.
The wrong side of your knitting is row 2 of the chart and every following even row 2, 4, 6 etc. and read left to right.

Purchasing yarn

Purchasing yarn
When purchasing yarn it is always best to buy all the yarn you will need to finish that particular garment and check that the dye lots are all the same. Dye lots change, and even though the dye number is the same the shade of the colour can vary hugely. This can show up badly on a completed garment. If you have to knit a sweater in different dye lots, a good way to avoid seeing the shade difference is to knit the back in one shade lot and the front and sleeves in the other.

Teddy Bear Accessory

The teddy bear aran sweater is an ideal gift for someone who likes to collect teddy bear accessories or a perfect gift for that special bear that needs a new sweater.These teddy bear sweaters are knitted to my own original traditional designs. At the moment I have three different patterns. If you find it hard to choose one just treat your teddy bear to all three! There are different colours to choose from and I will be introducing more. The teddy bear aran sweaters are knitted in Bunmahon,Co Waterford, Ireland, a small village overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The aran’s are knitted by local people in their own homes which supports a more ecologically sound way of life. So give your teddy bear a treat, a new aran sweater, he’s worth it !

Buy this pattern on www.thewoolshop.ie or buy the finished article on www.thewoolshop.ie

Handmade Tea Cosy

Buy a unique tea cosy from our range of Irish handmade crafts. This tea cosy pattern is an old pattern I found in my grandmothers knitting bag along with her rusting knitting needles and odd pieces of yarn. In her day new yarn or wool was costly and unaffordable so wool sweaters or jumpers were never discarded, no matter what the condition. Any knitted garments were undone, stitches ripped out and then re knitted. It was a tedious job and there was a certain amount of skill involved to insure that as much of the ripped yarn could be saved as possible. So I am following in her tradition for some of the way. The yarn used is new but none of my tea cosy’s are the same! This pattern dates back to the 1940,s or so. These tea cosy’s are very practical as they are made with yarn that has a wool content. This means they are washable, hardwearing and long lasting and most importantly they keep the tea in your tea pot hot! I have chosen demure colour contrasts and some mad ones. Hope you like our exclusive tea cosy range.

Heirloom Shawl

Check out my new Heirloom gift page on my Wool Shop. http://www.woolshop.ie/ I will choose the gifts for this page based on the statement below.

Welcome to our heirloom range of Hand Made items from Ireland. We expect to build a range of goods from different craft disciplines. All the pieces are made by hand in the homes of art and craft artisans around the county of Waterford on the south coast of Ireland.
The creation of each item imparts unique and individual qualities to that piece of handicraft. The person who creates your heirloom piece will have evolved their skill from family and community, where these skills are passed from generation to generation.
By buying an heirloom piece you are receiving a crafted piece of our community, which you can pass on to your family. You are also supporting a more ecologically sound way of life where people are working in their own homes and connecting with the world through the wonderful technology of the World Wide Web.

Tension Squares

If the tension square you knit is too small, use a bigger size needle. If the tension square you knit is too big, use a smalller size needle.

Knitting yarn information

Remember in most cases a ball band will give you all the information you need to knit your garment, from the yds/mts, to the needle sizes, to the tension. Read all ball bands carefully, they can save you a lot of work.