A Gem Of A Trip To The Emerald Isle

Janie's Friday Feature
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Welcome to this week's Friday Feature Newsletter - the Janie Crow equivalent of a Sunday supplement magazine....

Yesterday my parents celebrated their Wedding Anniversary - they have been married for 55 years, which means that it was their Emerald Anniversary, so it has been a real coincidence that I have spent this week in Ireland - the Emerald Isle - on a fabulous trip with a group of knitters. We have had a really great time away in the West of Ireland and you can read more about our trip lower down this email.

Thank you for all your feedback on last week's newsletter where I re-featured the piece entitled 'What's Milk Got to do with it?' After our blip with our full mail box the week before it was a relief to hear from so many of you and I promise I will be replying to your emails once I am back from Ireland next week.

I hope that you have all had a good week and that you are looking forward to another great weekend....
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'Love is an emerald,its brilliant light wards off
dragons on this treacherous path.'
- Rumi -

Knitting in the West of Ireland

One of the first Rowan garments I ever made was an intricately cabled tunic in cream hand knit cotton. I wore the sweater for years and still have it tucked away somewhere. I suppose I knitted it around twenty years ago and so trends have changed a lot over the years, with cable knitting coming in an out of fashion every now and again. The trend more recently seems to be for colour work and hand dyed, interesting yarns rather than intricate cable work, but there are a handful of designers still championing cable knitwear.
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I did not hesitate for a second to accept the offer of accompanying a group of knitters to Ireland when Arena Travel asked if I would tutor a workshop trip there. In the lead up to the trip, which left the UK last Sunday, I thoroughly enjoyed working on a cable knitted project for the group to make while we have been away. The resulting cabled cushion cover design is shown below.
 

The design uses Rowan Superwash Worsted yarn, which I think is the same yarn that Rowan are about to use in their new Knit Along project that has been designed by Martin Storey and which is bound to feature some cabling.

There have been 12 knitters on the trip with me, plus Teresa, our tour representative and over the course of the last 5 days we have visited some wonderful knitting orientated places and seen some amazing countryside and stunning views. The trip has included 2 full days of workshops where the group have worked on their projects and an amazing trip to the smallest of the Aran Islands where we did some knitting with local knitter Una, who also runs a lovely cafe.
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During our workshop Una showed us how to work a knitted cable design using 2 cable needles and then showed us a trick for cabling without a needle, which was a bit tricky, but fun to do! After the workshop we were taken on a wagon ride around the amazing island to see how islanders had cultivated the rocky landscape in order to survive there. The island was a real inspiration, especially the church yard where Celtic crosses such as the one below were in abundance.
 

On Wednesday we travelled to Galway where we went on a walking tour to learn the history of the city and then we went across country to Connemara to visit a sheep and wool centre where we were shown the traditional textile crafts of spinning, weaving and the cable knitting heritage.
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Yesterday was our final day workshop with many of the participants continuing to work on their Aran inspired projects, whilst also learning how to make neat button holes and sew up their knitting using mattress stitch.

The trip has been incredibly inspirational for me and I am now itching to get back to the studio and see what I can do with crochet in relation to cable designs. We visited some great places on last year's Arena trip around the coastline of Scotland too, which also got be thinking about cabled designs, so I am hopeful that it is now time for these ideas to make it onto my hook!

If you feel inspired to knit some cable designs then I recommend you take a look at the work of the following designers:

Alice Starmore

Debbie Bliss

Martin Storey
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Instagram of the Week

I have left the reference to Instagram in the title of this feature this week because if you follow the Instagram link it will lead you to the designs of Lucy Hague, who is an amazing knitted cable designer based in Edinburgh.
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It is clear from Lucy's feed that she does not update her Instagram account all that often, but I am sure you will agree that the images of her work that are on the feed are more than enough temptation to lead you to her incredible designs on her web site, such as the Durrow shawl, shown above, and the Malgven shawl shown below. You can find patterns on Lucy's site by following this link here.

Colour Palette of the Week

I have taken this week's palette from an image taken at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. We visited them on Sunday and were treated to glorious sunshine on our visit, but I am sure it could have been very different in the rain and wind!
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The cliffs are absolutely stunning, with lots of sea birds busy nesting on the cliff face and lots of lovely wild flowers growing precariously on the edges.
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Tip of the Week

This week's tip is for knitters and crocheters alike as it is in regards to hand care and posture.

It goes without saying that we all love our hobbies and that as knitters and/or crocheters, we will use much of our spare time working on our projects, however, it is possible, especially as we get older, to over do it and end up with sore hands, wrists, elbows and neck/shoulder joints.

Keeping our hands and fingers moving is really good for the joints, but it is really important that we do not over do things by spending too much time knitting and crocheting - however much we love it!
 

Crochet design is my job, so people are often surprised to hear that I actually only crochet for about 2 or 3 hours a day and some days not at all. In fact it may well be that as a designer I crochet less than those of you who are working through my patterns as a hobby. The reason I restrict myself is mostly due to the fact that I need to slot in time for pattern writing, checking and step by step photography, but it is also because I know that I will suffer with sore hands and a sore neck if I consistently do more than this a day.

When working through a design I often set myself a timer on my phone to remind me to move every half hour or so and I really do suggest that you get into a habit of doing a similar thing. A kitchen timer is perfect, or if you have a Fitbit, you can set this to remind you to move too. I also do some basic stretches and hand exercises such as those that you can find here.
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In the colder months I suffer with sore hands more and so have taken to wearing wrist warmers and have really noticed a difference in the severity of my joint pain as a result. Wrist warmers are really easy to make and are brilliant gifts, so it might be a great idea to start making some to match your outfits or to give as presents. You can find some free crochet patterns here.

Norwegian knitwear company Oleana do some really great ready made wristlet designs too. I bought a pair of these about 8 years ago when I first visited Norway - I mis-calculated the currency and so was really upset to find that I had spent what I thought was a fortune on a pair of tiny wrist warmers, but they have been worth every single krone!

Remember that knitting and crocheting should never hurt and wrist straps and hand supports may only mask a problem and make it worse in the long run. If you are experiencing some pain, be sure to take a break and if the pain doesn't subside, then go and see someone about it!
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It's nearly the weekend!

Hopefully by the time you are reading this newsletter my journey back from Ireland will be almost over and I will be close to home. I love travelling and feel so lucky to have been away with a fabulous group of knitters this week, but it is always good to come home - hug the kids, sleep in my own bed and make a good old cup of London splosh!

Once again I think home orientated things are on the cards for the next few days. The garden was really beginning to burst into life before I left home last weekend, so I am hoping that the weather will be good enough for me to spend time out there. Andy has started work on building a retaining wall for the front garden while I have been away - we have neglected the front of the house for a long time so it is in need of quite a lot of TLC, so I am guessing sand and cement will be on the cards!

Wherever you are and whatever you have planned I hope you have a great weekend too.
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