The Woolpack

February Woolpack cancelled

2012-01-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, The Guilty Lily is closed on tues 7th Feb for a refurbishment, so we'll have to postpone our get together in Feb. But hope to see lots of people on Tues 6th March to make up for it!

I did a wee stock take of my wool... yup. That's a whole lot of wool isn't it? So now i need to match up all the same yarns and make some bee-ootiful things for the Morningside Makers Market in April. Better get crocheting!

See you in March!

January meeting

2011-12-30T05:02:00.001-08:00

Just a reminder that the Woolpack meets on the *second* Tuesday of January rather than the first Tuesday. So we'll be getting together on the 10th January - all welcome!

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Just Knit!

2011-12-04T02:47:00.001-08:00

We were approached by the Bethany Trust - a local homeless charity- about their Just Knit campaign. They were looking for knitters to make mini christmas decorations so they can sell them for their charity. Danielle from the Bethany Trust came to see us to tell us a bit more about it.

There's an article in The Scotsman here - which also features woolpacker Lindsay's multicoloured mini stockings (middle finger on each of Danielle's hands in photo!).

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Charity Fair

2011-12-03T12:13:00.001-08:00

We Woolpackers did our first craft fair last weekend - and made £123 for charity! Well done knitters/crocheters!

Our next meet up is on Tuesday 6 December and, as always, all welcome! It was a mad rush to get stuff made for the craft fair - and now with only 3 weeks to Christmas I also have to whip up a few more crocheted presents! Better get off the Internet and dig my wool out! I'm making a few scarves and cowls for the rellies. Well, for any that didn't get one last year! Next year I'll have to come up with something less cliched!!

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New Venue!

2011-09-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

After realising that several regulars can't make it on Wednesdays in the winter months, I've spent the last few days trying to find a new venue for us, so that we can continue to meet on the first Tuesday of the month (The Dalriada is closed on Tuesdays in the winter months - they were going to stay open for us on Tuesday in October but aren't anymore, so I think this is the right decision).

Our new venue from October is the Guilty Lily, on the corner of Bonnington Road and Pilrig Street in Leith. While I appreciate this venue may be more convenient for some, and less for others, it was the best venue I could find that would tick all the boxes, so I hope lots of people will be able to make it!

it's open on Tuesdays (til 1am if you can knit for that long!)
it serves tea, coffee and herbal teas all evening (hurrah!)
it serves nice desserts if you're in the mood for knitting and pudding
we can have a whole room to ourselves
it has a mix of comfy leather sofas and tables/chairs, take your pick!
it's wheelchair accessible
dogs are allowed (can I put in a request for beautiful puppers Breck to make an appearance again please!)

So, I think this is going to work out nicely. The pub describes itself as "caught between the decadence of 1940’s burlesque and the comfort of your local watering hole, Guilty Lily welcomes you with subtle old fashioned class and seats you on some of the comfiest & squishiest sofas in Leith. Relaxed and pleasantly scruffy with an indulgent edge."

I really hope that lots of you can make it along in the coming months to try it out. If you've never been along before, please do join us! We're always delighted to welcome new faces, beginners or experts.

Read more about the Guilty Lily here. You can also see the location on a map here:

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A Flickr photo-mash-up

2011-08-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Join us in September

2011-08-16T13:39:00.001-07:00

We had a very enjoyable gathering at The Dalriada in August and l'm looking forward to returning in September. I am much more into my crochet what with this appalling weather - I have even whipped myself up a new woolly chunky hat ready for the proper cold weather (although dearly hope I won't need to wear it until t least October!).

We did a lot of talking about twitter, gardens and sculpture parks last time, so much so that I can't for the life of me recall what people were making. There may have been some jumpers and blankets! As always i forgot to take photos!

Talking of blankets, I've been making an exponential square but truth be told i'm not sure I can keep it up to double bed size! So I've decided to make another 3 squares the same size and join them up and edge them. Hooray, this means I get to essentially *start* a blanket another 3 times (I do love to start a new project so this is the ideal way of making a blanket that I'd otherwise tire of!)

In an ideal world i was thinking of making another identical blanket, and then 2 more that are the same as each other. But typically, I have no idea where the yarn is so it looks like there'll be 4 mismatched squares instead!

Hoping to see some new faces on Tues 6th September - do join us at 7:30pm.

New venue from August 2011

2011-07-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Wool Pack is changing venue from 2nd August 2011, and will be meeting at The Dalriada pub on Portobello Promenade. We'll be there at 7:30pm on 2nd August, 6th September and 4th October. Dates to be confirmed for November 2011 onwards - I'll update the website once I know.

The Dalriada is a light and spacious pub, with great views out over Portobello Beach and the Firth of Forth. The Manager has kindly given us a separate room to be creative in - the room just on the right as you go in to the building. I think it will be a great location and hope that all of the regular Wool Packers can still make it along. New people most welcome as always!

You can park easily on the side streets nearby, or get the frequent number 26 bus. Hope to see you then! If you've not been before, please do just turn up on the night, or drop me an email on woollysheep@gmail.com.

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June Woolpack

2011-05-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

Our next get-together is on Tuesday 7 June at 7:30pm. Feels much later in the month than it should be but I guess that's what happens when the 31st May falls on a Tuesday!

All welcome - knitters, crocheters, weavers, sewers...

Hope to see you there.

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Egging you on

2011-04-20T05:03:00.001-07:00

As Easter is almost upon us, I think this calls for some links to all things woolly and Easter-y! Just in case you're in need of some inspiration. I don't want to egg you on... or get you egg-cited in any way. (*groan*)

Crocheted eggs!
I know, what {would} you do with them? But don't they look pretty? I love the colourways here.

Egg cozies
Much more practical! These are beautiful.

And for the knitters: Bunnies!
Next Woolpack is Tuesday 3rd May - I still have more wool left from our kind donations, so will bring a box or two along. Hope to see you then!

April Woolpack

2011-04-01T04:42:00.000-07:00

The next Woolpack is on Tuesday 5 April at 7:30pm - it's not quite warm enough or light enough yet, but wouldn't it be great if we could venture out to the beer garden from some al fresco knitting soon! Fingers crossed for some lovely weather in the summer months.

March get-together

2011-02-22T13:40:00.001-08:00

A quick post to say that the next Woolpack is on on Tuesday 1st March at 7:30pm. Upstairs at The Sheep Heid Inn. All welcome - hope to see you there!

Meanwhile, I've posted some interesting knitting/crochet blogs to get your creative juices flowing!

Posie Gets Cosy: I love this blog on many levels, from her gorgeous doggy to the husband who knits and keeps his wool in a briefcase. Oh and she's really good at sewing and photography too!

Easy makes me happy: anyone who crochets a moustache-on-a-stick is worth a look!

Knithacker: you have to learn crochet just so you can make these fab picture frames (see photo above from her blog). I made a few as Christmas presents and they were so fun and easy.

Blanket unveiling

2011-01-19T14:12:00.001-08:00

While a blanket of snow has made itself at home in Edinburgh and the surrounding area over the past 2 months, Wool Packer Susy has been putting the finishing touches to her beautiful crocheted blanket.

It's been a long-term relationship this one... Started 3 years ago, although in Susy's defence she only crocheted in the winter!

Susy used Rowan's All Seasons Cotton in lavender and white. There are a whopping 144 squares in total (try not to think about how much money you spent Susy - it's worth every penny!) Each square measures 6" by 6". The lovely stripy border is 2 inches deep.

Well done Susy!

The next Wool Pack is on Tuesday 1st February at 7:30pm. Please do join us, or drop me an email if you want to ask any questions.

Wool Pack in Edinburgh Evening News

2010-12-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

Edinburgh's Evening News wrote a great story yesterday about the resurgence of crafts - aka the Kirstie Allsopp effect - and made mention of the work of our Wool Pack - check it out here. We'd love to see you on Tues 11 January at 7:30pm for our next woolly gathering. Beginners most welcome - as are anyone working in any way with wool - we're not just about knitting!

December Wool Pack cancelled

2010-12-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

Please note that the December Wool Pack is cancelled due to adverse wintry weather conditions, and that the next get together will take place on Tuesday 11 January (4 January is a public holiday so I think best to avoid that date).

From February 2011 onwards we're back to the first Tuesday of the month as usual. All welcome - if you're new, just turn up or drop me an email if you have any questions. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with some crocheted snowflakes!

Wool Pack Creations

2010-12-01T12:36:00.001-08:00

Enough photos of things I've made: here's a selection of delights made by members of The Wool Pack. This is just a selection of the many beautiful creations made by Wool Packers. I'm very excited each month to see what everyone has been up to! Next Wool Pack is Tues 7 Dec, weather permitting - I'll post here if we're staying home instead.

:: Ana's baby cardigan - so stylish ::

:: Tracey's iPod covers - snug as a bug ::

:: Tracey's cable cushions (she loves making cushions does Tracey) ::

:: Tracey's hotty water bottle cover ::

:: Norma's weather-appropriate Penguin! ::

Love cushion

2010-10-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

I've designed my first cushion pattern from scratch, inspired by a tweed-wool cushion I spotted in a country house magazine. The one in the magazine was just the flecks, without the heart. For mine, there's a heart on both sides, and the wool is Patons Wool Blend Aran - quite a hardy, waxy wool, so I think it'll last well. I have to say I'm rather pleased with it!

This has kept me occupied for the past couple of weeks, although really it crocheted up pretty fast using Granite Stitch. It's the first of the Christmas presents I'll be crocheting over the next couple of months. Still to follow are scarves, slippers and hats! I'd better get a wriggle-on, it's only 59 days away! Yikes! I'll be busy making more of the flower brooches for charity on Tuesday 2 November at The Wool Pack - hope you can join me and my fellow knitters and crocheters!

Crocheting for charity

2010-09-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

We were joined in September by Lyndsey from The Chesney Trust - a charity that is working to advance the education of girls in Northern Malawi. Lyndsey was keen for The Wool Pack to knit/crochet up some items for the charity's sale on 30 November - so we're going to be kept busy working on that. I got started already, deciding to make some flower brooches (pattern courtesy of Attic24). Four done, a few more to do yet!

Since the last Wool Pack, I've frogged the jumper I was working on (it was a really boring stitch and pattern, and I knew I couldn't sustain it! That and I didn't have enough yarn...) and have instead made a lovely beret which I LOVE (am wearing it right now... indoors, sitting on the sofa...). Mad? Yes. Happy? Definitely. It is just exactly the kind of hat I would buy, but so lovely to have made it myself instead! Plenty yarn left to make a matching scarf too.

Oh and seeing as Autumn is Officially Here and all, I had to make sure my all extremities were covered, so I've also made some cosy slipper-socks. Mmmm toasty toes!

It was great to see lots of new faces last month - hope you'll all come back again! And as always, newbies (including beginners in both crocheting and knitting) most most welcome.

Look forward to seeing you at the next Wool Pack on Tuesday 5 October at 7:30pm.

Festival Visitors

2010-08-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

A merry gang gathered for our August Wool Pack - many of the usual suspects plus we were delighted to welcome some Festival visitors, including Heather of Knitlace.com, who regularly seeks out knitting groups when away from home (even on her honeymoon!), and Jane's mum, who was making some rather splendid knitted slippers. Heather was heading to KnitCamp in Stirling- something I'd never heard of, but may have to put in my calendar for 2011! (although it seems a bit lacking on the crochet front, perhaps I need to start my own Crochet Camp!)

This month in pictures:

:: Lindsay's 'travel' blanket - made with wool bought around the world as she travelled ::

:: Karyn's stripes (frogged shortly after this photo was taken - she's redoing it but more neatly. Looked pretty good to me though!) ::

:: Some of the Wool Packers - looking a bit serious here... honestly, there's plenty of chatter, I've just caught everyone in a particularly focused moment! ::

Hope you can join us in September when we're being visited by someone from The Chesney Trust - they're looking for people to make things for them to sell in aid of the charity which is working to advance the education of girls in Malawi.

Experimenting with felting

2010-06-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

I've been making a peg bag from Freedom Spirit wool, which is well suited to felting as it's a bit fuzzy and at the same time a bit waxy. I had three colours of wool (one ball of each) and crocheted a rectangle in stripes.

My original plan was to make a rectangle, fold it over and sew it together, and put a coat hanger inside so that I could hang it on my washing line. However, I think I probably started off with too many stitches (and then kept going rather than undoing it!) and so my rectangle ended up too wide for a coat hanger, and too short when folded over. But having got this far, I ploughed on, hoping it would all come good in the wash, as they say! I folded the rectangle in half and sewed up two of the seams, leaving one end open and then popped it in the washing machine with a tennis ball to agitate the wool. The tennis ball took a wee detour via the dog; doesn't he look all innocent?

I opened the washing machine to find that the Gods of Washing Machine Felting had radically shrunk my peg bag to a wee tubby thing! You can see the end result below. Actually I quite like it's shape and I love the way the stripes have become less defined in the wash. It *nearly* holds all my pegs but if I'm truly honest it could do with being a tad bigger! But ultimately I'm happy with it!

Meanwhile, hope to see you on Tuesday 6 July for our next Wool Pack gathering. Peg Bag finished, I'm still working on my ripple blanket and have also got sidetracked making a draught excluder which is using up lots of odds and ends of wool - will bring it along on the 6th! It's an easy peasy project for anyone new to crochet.

2010-05-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Gosh, the month has flown past and I've not yet posted anything about the April gathering of The Wool Pack! Whoops! Here's some pix of the last get-together!

Meanwhile, I've been enjoying this blog: Posie Gets Cozy - she makes the cutest little crocheted dresses, like this one:

And the US yarn company Lion Brand Yarn sent me a pattern for a most adorable owl bib in their newsletter:

DO join us on Tues 4 May for some knitting/crochet and a good old chinwag. We'll have Tunnocks Tea Cakes... how can you resist?

Knitting makes life nicer... for me!

2010-03-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

It was my birthday this week; I didn't get the wooden crochet hooks I had dropped hints about (oh well, will need to buy them myself then!) but I did get this rather amusing coaster from my mother-in-law. Wonder if my son feels this way?!

We had a grand March gathering - still plenty of space for more people though, so bring your friends or come along if you've not yet been!

Jane showed us a lovely snood she'd knitted - for her greyhounds!! Complete with gap for lead to go through - photo below! (Just look at those eyes...!)

Jane is also a bit of a printmaker and sells her printed textiles on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/thedoghouse - I particularly love her "45mph couch potato" design.

Other works in progress at The Woolpack included some lovely shawls (sorry, I forgot my camera - again!), a 140-square bed blanket (60 squares to go...!), and a lovely hat made with that clever wool that knits up as fair isle pattern, even though you're just doing stocking stitch all the time (genius, I love easy things that look complicated).

Do join us on Tues 6 April for a knitty natter. x

Woolly weather

2010-02-26T05:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I suppose us knitters and crocheters are well-suited to this wild and ever-so-long winter we're having, what with wool being warm and cosy! I see it largely as an excuse to keep buying yarn and making things. (My excuse in the summer will be that some projects take a while and if I start now, it'll be ready for next winter...).

If you're in need of some inspiration, why not check out the following online woolly things that I've found lately:

Wind Chimes Crocheted Afghan (on Lion Brand Yarn website - you'll need to create a login, but worth it as there are lots of free patterns for both knitters and crocheters). Isn't it just lovely? I love the warmth of the colours and the way the stripes are connected with a zigzag.

And this super shawl (you have to pay 6 dollars for this pattern though). More details on "The Hook and I" blog.

For those new to knitting, how about this cowl to keep your neck warm:

Anyway, hope to see lots of you on Tuesday 2 March at our next Woolpack. Don't forget, all levels are welcome, even absolute beginners! We even have our own stash of wool and hooks/needles if you just want to come along and give it a go.

8 knitters and 3 hookers

2010-02-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

Our second gathering saw some familiar faces and some new ones too! Knitters are still outnumbering crocheters, but I am determined to convert a few more people to the hooky stuff in due course!

Rowena came along for the first time - she's an expert knitter who fancied trying a bit of crochet, so we had a good we teaching session and Rowena made a lovely granny square! I have to admit I was having quite a bit of hook-envy: Rowena was the proud owner of a lovely wooden crochet hook with decorative features! Rather like the ones on www.scottishfibres.co.uk:

Oh to own such a pretty hook! I only own bog-standard aluminium ones so I'll be putting in some wooden-hooky requests for my birthday I think!

Lucy finished her hat so had the pleasure of leaving The Woolpack wearing her very own masterpiece!

We ate Tunnocks teacakes and had a good old chinwag. We were talking a bit about Ravelry - a crochet and knit community online - if you've never visited before it's worth a look for free patterns and inspiration! Although beware, you may lose an entire evening on it in the blink of an eye!

The First Woolpack Gathering

2010-01-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

We had our first woolly gathering last night, and it was lovely that so many people came along! We were a mixed bag in terms of experience - I was trying a new ripple crochet pattern (although wasn't getting it quite right yet - more practice required!); Helen was making a teensy weensy iphone sock on 4 needles using stripy wool; Lucy was making a hat on mammoth 12mm needles and Susan was using lovely bamboo needles that someone bought her 4 years ago and she had never yet used.

Jane forgot her needles but was able to borrow needles and wool for the evening from The Woolpack Box of Woolly Things - she made a lovely beer-mat in red wool!

We had a great evening, eating teacakes and chatting and busying away on our own projects. Thanks to everyone who came along - you made it a really great night.

The next woolly get together will take place on Tuesday 2 February at 7:30pm - do join us!

Come and play hooky at The Sheep Heid Inn

2009-12-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

The Wool Pack is a free monthly social get-together at The Sheep Heid Inn, Edinburgh for all those who like creating things from wool. We share ideas, techniques, patterns and gossip - it’s a bit like a book group, except it’s all about the woolly stuff! All levels and all varieties of wool-crafting are most welcome.

The first get-together is on Tuesday 12 January 2010 at 7:30pm, and then we plan to meet monthly on the first Tuesday of each month thereafter.

Please do come along and bring your needles, hooks, wool and creative juices!

If you'd like to know a little bit more before you come along, please email Lauren on thewoollysheep@googlemail.com.

For The Sheep Heid location, click here. You can drive, or get Lothian Bus number 44 from the city centre and walk from Duddingston Crossroads (about 10 minutes walk). For further info on Lothian Buses click here.