World Wide Knit in Public Day June 2017

Here we are at our 3rd WWKIP Day held once again in Yarns Coffee Halt at Theatre at The Mill, Mossley.  We held our WWKIP Day a week earlier than the official date because of holidays etc. among the group.  We had our WWKIP Day on Saturday 3rd June.

Our local Hookery Group were joined by some lovely ladies from
the Knitwits Group in Portstewart who went on to host their own WWKIP Day on Saturday 10th June on Portstewart Promenade. Thank you ladies for your support.   Maybe next year we'll travel
to the North Coast and join you for The WWKIP Day.

We also had some friends from Whitehead who joined us again this year. Thank you ladies. 

The staff at Yarns were very attentive as usual and thanks must go to the Duty Manager and to Heather in the coffee shop.  We had 36 folks who came along - women, men, adults and children, some who could knit and crochet and others who couldn't, some who were coming back for a second time and some who were new.

On the table in the photo above you can see some white pieces of work.  It was quite difficult to get a good picture of the white work.  One belongs to Catherine's great grandmother and was crocheted back in the late 1800s.  Catherine's grandmother worked in the local linen mills and she then attached the crocheted pieces to some linen.  The work is so detailed and one can't even begin to imagine the poor light that the ladies had to do the work and also the material is so white and clean.  Another couple of pieces belong to Helena's sister-in-law who crocheted collars and cuffs for Irish dancing tunics.  All of these pieces of work have Irish roses and shamrocks on them.

We decided on a floral theme this year and everyone pulled out all the stops to come up with unusual ideas for crocheted and knitted garments and other items on the theme of flowers.  The photos don't do justice to the work.

Ladder kindly loaned by Mags and the flowers and vines kindly donated by Judith, Niqi's mum.  Judith was tasked with crocheting 'just a few' while she was over on holidays a few weeks ago. 

  Doesn't Ermintrude look well?  This is one of the cows placed in public places around Northern Ireland.  This one is in The Civic Square at Mossley Mill.  Ermintrude's head was carefully measured to ensure a snug fit of her sun hat!

It was a warm day so Ermintrude didn't really need her blanket but there were a few very heavy showers of rain!

'THE Bernard' as it has become known was ceremoniously cast off on WWKLIP Day.  It had been cast on at last year's WWKIP Day.  

This is a very special little flower.  Maureen was teaching herself how to do this pattern when news came through about the Manchester Arena explosion.  After she had finished the flower Maureen decided to put a single pink button onto the flower to represent each of the 22 lives lost.  

 Some other flowers seen on the day.

On trend cacti ....  Have you noticed them everywhere in the shops, in flower shops, on clothes and in the home decor magazines?  Can you see the dinky red watering can tucked away in the background?  

Here's a cheeky little cacti man made by Chloe ....  And a bouquet of carnations made by me.

 The group are making a friendship blanket.  We have all made flowers according to a pattern from Crochet Now but have chosen our own two-tone colours.  Catherine has started joining them together and some of the rest of us will do some more of this.  It is our intention to raffle it off once completed.

 Meet the members of Hookery Group.  Elaine started to crochet in February and this is her first piece.  It's a labour-of-love blanket for her husband.  The Mayor came to pay us a visit too that day on one of his last official visits at the end of his term of office.

 Evelyn's smiley little happy flower, from an Attic24 pattern, resting against Niqi's Sunshine and Showers blanket.

Maureen's sunshine flower.

 We were lucky enough to have one of our Poppy Pieces on display for our WWKIP Day.  It generated lots of discussion from members of the public who were also using the coffee shop that day.

And so to rest ...

At a location near you?

Yarn-bomb surprise for one Hookit

Thank you ladies, it was much appreciated.

Watch this space...

We have a little surprise for you, Hookettes! One of you may be more surprised than the rest...

Busy, busy, busy ...

Tonight we had a very busy and full house (9 of us in total) and by far the biggest gathering since our party night in June.  We also had a busy, bustling conversation crossing back and forth across the coffee table covering weddings, cruises in The Med, our next party night, a creative spiritual day out to Corrymeela, book club, pot luck suppers, Victor Hugo's Les Mis, and village fairs.

Lots of busy crochet was going on as well:
Rosemary and Anne continue to churn out Innocent hats

Welcome back Karen, long time no see.  But Karen has been busy and has made this beautiful needle case in doubles

And is progressing into trebles for her next project ably guided by Guru Patricia who has been once again drawing her tried and tested pattern of 'woolly sheep'

Leigh assures us that this tangle will become a tea cosy by the end of the night

Ta dah!

Helena has been travelling far and wide in search of new wool and found this one in Dublin last weekend

Helena is also busy with two jumpers on needles, two throws at various stages of completion and a blanket for Hombolo - there's some more 'busy'

Cooking Catherine continues to kit her boys out in aran sweaters

 

Anne and Rosemary produced the ideal picture for Queen Niqi's next major project which will certainly keep her busy!  Apparently the pattern will be produced next week ....  Just in case you can't see it very well, it is a yarn-bombed train!

   

Apparently there has been some yarn-bombing of statues at the front of Belfast City Hall .....  And it wasn't us!

Eight excited ladies and eggs

Oh what a night!  That's almost the title of a song.  

Eight ladies got together tonight including Helena who came along for the first time.  Eggs, chicks, bunnies, food and glorious Easter colours - what more could one ask for?

Miniature chicks and mini eggs

Beautiful hyacinths and tulips

Our very own bunny girls?

Our bunny girls are reported to have gone out today in search of wool and returned with Easter decorations and the ears!  Not much wonder they had idle crochet hands tonight.  Unlike Niqi who has been crocheting at a fantastic rate since Friday and is half way through not only one but two of her own Nanny McPhee blankets.  Well done Niqi!  Niqi also brought enough yarn with her tonight to yarn bomb the whole of the church hall complex.

Fairytale blanket

Bunnies, chicks and Princess Slippers

To prove that we did have some crochet to show case here are Ann's Princess Slippers which match her fairytale blanket .

And Heather Boss's shawl (which does look a whole lot better when worn) with the Glen Gallery wooden buttons purchased at Christmas

There was lots of talk about wool suppliers, wool types and yarn comparisons.  We have discovered that some of the pound-type shops are starting to stock some very unusual wools ....

Another field trip was mooted.  Unfortunately we weren't able to come up with a suitable day over the holidays so later in the season is a more probable time for the diary.
 And a piece of good news - Sheila was crocheting a blue blanket for an expectant mum (see blog 28 Feb 2013) whose new baby boy was born this evening and has been called Robin.  Mum and baby doing well.

No Hookery for the next two weeks as next week will be Holy Week and the week after that is the Easter week itself and folks might be otherwise engaged.  See you all again on 10th April.

A cute and cuddly crocheted cow

Alas not much is happening on the crochet front at The Bookery over these first few weeks of term.  We have been busy with new students and staff shortages so the hooks and yarn have remained in our bags.  So, I thought I would tell you about a trip I had last week.

Yarn-bombing and cows have become very fashoinable and news-worthy items in Northern Ireland recently.  Yarn-bombing is a world-wide phenomenon and has even reached our sandy shores most notably in Newcastle and in Belfast.   The cows are part of Cow Parade which is an art project and has seen decorated cows appearing all over Northern Ireland in touristy areas, at local council offices and  commercial venues and in parks.  The statues are funny and definitely conversation-provoking. 

Last Saturday I took one of my frequent trips into town to visit St George's market and just look what I found - a yarn-bombed cow from the Cow Parade.  She was't there on my last visit but hopefully she'll be left alone to chew her cud and won't be sold at the market.  At least it is only a farmers', craft and collectibles market now so she should be safe.

Here's a better picture of 'Herself' showing the beautiful crochet work.

As you can see, I had a hot chocolate while I was there!  Javaman does really nice coffee and other hot drinks - very warming on a cold, frosty, autumnal Saturday morning, or any Saturday in fact!  Beautiful hand-crafted foods and other items and music while you shop.  What more could you ask for on a Saturday morning?

We promise to have some photos of our own work to show you next week ......

Challenging times .....

What about this olympic challenge? 

So many challenges at the minute - a challenging official textbook (beginners to advanced) from which members have created many fabulous pieces, St Mungo, yarn bombing and now an olympic challenge!  We are overworked and overawed in hookery by the sheer volume of current challenges! 

Lots going on ladies, and don't forget your holiday hookery snaps - big prizes on offer.