Events

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Let’s play Tag!

July 16, 2012 in Events, TIK Knits by thisisknit | 2 comments

With just under two weeks to go before the start of the Ravellenic Games 2012, excitement is building and projects are being chosen. So we thought it would be a good idea to talk about how to tag your Games projects so that they get counted for the glory of the Team!

Each Games project that you participate with needs a Ravelry project page, and needs to be tagged in the way we’re about to explain. Tagging your projects is always an option on a project page, but it’s usually up to you whether to use it. For the Games, though, tagging is required if your project is to qualify.

As you set up a project page for your item, you’ll see a little icon just where the arrow is pointing in the image above. That’s the Ravellenics2012 tagging option, and you just click on it with your mouse.

When you’ve clicked on it, your screen will look like this (minus the arrows, of course!):

There’s a green “ravellenic2012″ button – clicking on that will add that tag to your project and mark it as a Games project. Next, you want to specify what event your project is entering.

The hypothetical project in these images is a colourwork cowl. That means it can take part in more than one event, because there’s a colourwork category (Colourwork Crosscountry) as well as a cowl event (Cowl Jump). The complete list of events is listed in the box under “event tags”, and each has a button. All you have to do to enter your project for an event is click on the appropriate buttons in the list.

Many projects are going to be eligible like this for more than one event. Above the list of events is a key for the event tags: if an event has a green tag button (like the Frogging Trampoline), then it’s the only event a project can be entered for. But if it has a red tag button (like the Cowl Jump), it can also be entered for as many blue tagged events as it fits in. So by choosing your projects carefully, you can get your work counted more than once for the team!

And to ensure that your project gets counted for Team This Is Knit, you need to type in the tag “teamtik2012″ into the tag box. If you’re participating for more than one team, then a given project can only be counted for one of them, so remember to enter the team name you want to count!

You can enter as many different projects as you have time and resources for, of course, but each one will need to have its own project page with its own set of tags. When you’ve clicked on an event tag button, the tag will show up in the box, and when you’re happy with it, you can just click on the “use these tags” button to save your choices. Your project is thereby entered in the Games!

When you return to your project page, you’ll find that your tags have appeared in the details.

One other thing about setting up your project page: since we can’t start our projects until the Mass Cast On the night the Games open, you can either leave the start date blank or put in July 27th 2012.

Which brings us to our final point: Team This Is Knit is having an Official Ravellenic Games Opening Ceremony on July 27th, from 6.00pm to 7.00pm. We’d love to see you all there, and it’s completely free! To keep the Health and Safety people happy, though, we need to know how many people are coming, so please book a place at this link.

So keep up the training, and if you have any questions about events or tags or anything at all about the Games, please ask us, either in the comments below or in the Team This Is Knit Ravellenics thread over on Ravelry!

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Training days

July 7, 2012 in Events by thisisknit | No comments

We’re in the midst of gearing up for the (renamed) Ravellenic Games here. After all, there’s only 21 days to go before the Mass Cast On!

Across the world, there’s a staggering 532 teams registered to take part. It’s still possible to join the Team This Is Knit high jinks, of course, so if you haven’t already done so, head over to our thread in the Ravellenics forum.

Choice of events will be both crucial and strategic. You’ll find a chart detailing what events your project can be entered for at this Ravelry link – it’s a good idea to check this out carefully, because some projects can be entered for more than one event. Of course, you can enter more than one event, with multiple projects, if you like!

What projects you choose is entirely up to you, of course, but the general idea is to embark on something which is a bit of a challenge. There are first Tunisian crochet shawls and first pieces of beaded lace in our team’s sights, as well as entire cardigans from start to finish and several languishing WIPs that will be proud FOs by the end of the Games.

If you have questions relating to events, then you may very well find the answers in the Events FAQ page. The official starting time is 9.00pm GMT on July 27th, so if you’re one of our overseas team members, you can synchronize with us with this time zone calculator.

And as with any endeavour of this sort, preparation is key, utterly key. Your own training regimen is entirely up to you, but these are some of the things that qualify:

  • choosing your event
  • choosing your pattern
  • doing any needful arithmetic
  • buying your yarn
  • buying your pattern
  • reading your pattern through to the end
  • marking your pattern for sizes
  • charting cables or lace
  • swatching

    • Some dedicated participants are even going so far as to cook and freeze meals in advance so as to minimize the amount of time they spend away from their projects.

    In other words, at Mass Cast On time, you can be wholly focussed on starting, secure in the knowledge that you could not be better prepared. And on having a ton of fun during the seventeen days of the Games, which is, after all, the entire point.

    Citius, Altius, Fortius!

    June 15, 2012 in Events, TIK News by thisisknit | 1 comment

    We’re delighted to announce that for the first time ever, This Is Knit will have a team in Ravelympics 2012!

    The Ravelympics is a two-week-and-a-bit-long event coinciding with the Olympics, and just like the athletic competitions, it provides a challenge and a stretch and lots of community spirit and a ton of gleeful fun, for Ravelry members all over the world.

    Here’s how it works: you join a team (or more than one!) and choose a yarny project or goal (or more than one!). We can’t start before the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Games, and the event officially ends with the Closing Ceremony. So that’s a start date of July 27th with a finish on August 12th. There’s lots more information on the Ravelympics FAQ thread at this link.

    We’ve got two excellent captains, Jacqui (Jacquithisisknit) and Nadia (bunnyt), who’ll keep us focussed and on track.

    To participate. you need to register with a team (ours is here). Then you decide what events you’re going to take part in – there’s something for everyone on the list, from the Frogging Trampoline (ripping out that thing from the back of the wardrobe that never fitted right) to the Hat Dash (a hat, start to finish), from WIP Wrestling (finish that long-neglected object) to the Sweater Triathlon (a jumper or cardigan, cast on to cast off). You decide what’s a challenge for you, and we’ll cheer you on. Throughout, there’ll be support and camaraderie and good crack, because we are Team This Is Knit.

    So no starting before the Opening Ceremony! But we can train. Training is choosing our projects, practising the intriguing cast on, swatching and so forth. And we want to hear about that too – over in the Team This Is Knit thread
    we’ll be cheering each other on long before the torch is lit.

    Over the next few weeks we’ll be blogging more about the Ravelympics and talking about how to tag your projects and how to report what you’re doing. For now, we’d like to invite you to take part, and to suggest that you might want to save the date and time of the Opening Ceremony for a rather special event at the shop….

    WWKiP update!

    June 14, 2012 in Events by thisisknit | No comments

    There’s been a slight change of location for Saturday’s Worldwide Knit in Public event in Stephen’s Green. Because June 16th is Bloomsday, there’s an afternoon of readings and songs from Ulysses from 3.00pm until 6.00pm at the bandstand.

    So the knitters will be a little distance away, at the children’s playground. We won’t be hard to spot, so do drop along!

    Summer’s here and the time is right…

    June 11, 2012 in Events by thisisknit | No comments

    …for knitting in public!

    It’s World Wide Knit in Public Day on Saturday next, June 16th, and once more we’re delighted to be part of the fun. Sunshine, yarn and prizes!

    There’s an official WWKiP event organised for St Stephen’s Green on Saturday afternoon – there’s details at this link. Before moving up to the Green, we’re kicking off the day on the balcony in the Powerscourt Centre at 11.00am (if the weather’s inclement, we can stay there too!).

    But the weather’s been good to us every year so far, so we’re more likely to spend the afternoon near the bandstand (these directions from last year will tell you how to get there). So bring a rug to sit on, slap on some sunscreen, grab some knitting or crochet or tatting or embroidery or whatever you love and join us! (There might even be baked goods….)

    To mark the occasion, we’ve got not one but two opportunities to win great prizes! First of all, since WWKiP Day has turned internationally into a WWKiP Week, all this week we’ve got a photo competition. Just send us in pictures of you knitting in public via either Facebook or Twitter and you could win a place on our Project Photography Workshop.

    For the second, we have two great prizes on offer – a Sweensie Box Bag and one of the brand new KnitPro Dreamz Interchangeable Sets (which will be available in early July). To be in with a chance to win simply spend €10 or more online or in store and your name will be entered into the prize draw. That’s a Sweensie Box Bag in the picture at the top of this post – they come in two sizes (that’s the smaller one), and they’re beautifully made out of happy fabric that just makes you smile. (There’s one with hedgehogs on. Really. Hedgehogs.) These bags are perfect for toting your latest WIP around, and they come with a handy strap so that you can carry on knitting in public, wherever you happen to be!

    WWKiP has become a tradition in these parts – join the fun if you can! We’d love to see you.

    Yarnography

    June 9, 2012 in Classes, Events by thisisknit | No comments

    If you’ve ever wondered why the pictures of your lovely finished objects come out too dark, too bright, or weirdly orange, then we can help! Julie and Siobhán, respectively elven and jewelandarlin on Ravelry, are giving a photography workshop on Saturday June 30th.

    We’ll start by looking at the “ingredients” that go to make up a successful photograph – lighting, background and composition, then how to use the right settings on your camera to get the best results. We’ll have a hands-on session to put it all into practice, then some questions and answers back in the classroom.

    You won’t need fancy equipment – a point-and-shoot camera and a yarny finished object is all that’s required. And you’ll find that what you learn makes all your photography better, not just your project pictures.

    Julie’s photoblog is at halfadreamaway.com and Siobhán’s is jewelandarlin.com.

    You can book a place for this workshop online at this link, or give us a call – your finished objects will thank you!

    What a day!

    May 22, 2012 in Classes, Events, Pattern Faves by thisisknit | 2 comments

    We’re happy to report that we had a terrific Sunday. Carol Feller was here to give a workshop called “Moving Beyond the Raglan”, revealing her techniques for working cunning shoulders and yokes in top-down jumpers and cardigans.

    The workshop was marvellously hands-on. There was careful measuring…

    …and then there was calculation…

    …and then it was time to cast on:

    And there was excellent knitting craic:

    We’re really hoping that the participants will share their finished projects with us in time, but until then, we’re fascinated by the garments that Carol brought along to show us. There was her Azami, from the Twist Collective:

    There was Knockmore, from Contemporary Irish Knits.

    And there was the wonderful cardigan pictured at the top of this post. It’s Ravi, Carol’s 100th pattern. In celebration, she’s releasing it in stages from the middle of June. It’s such a clever and elegant pattern – several of us are eyeing it avidly, and thinking about using Malabrigo Finito, or Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk or…oh, choices!

    On Saturday, AoibheNí gave a stunning Tunisian lace workshop which was an equally big success. We’re planning a special blog feature on her work, so make sure to check back for that.

    We’ve got all sorts of special workshops and events planned over the next few months, so keep an eye on our Classes and Events page for details. We’d love to see you.

    Just the ticket

    April 20, 2012 in Classes, Events by thisisknit | No comments

    We’ve talked a good bit in recent weeks about our new online shop and some of the spiffing things it can do. There’s another innovation we’ve been rather pleased with in recent months: our booking system for classes and events. We thought it might be useful to tell you how it works, so here’s a walkthrough.

    When you see something you’d like to attend, whether it’s one of our classes or a special event like the Yarn Tasting, you start the booking by clicking on the blue button (we’ve put an arrow pointing to it):

    This brings you to the booking form, where you enter your details, and where you can also add any useful information, like whether you need wheelchair access or what sort of project you need help with:

    When you’ve filled in your details and clicked on “Book Now”, you’ll be brought to a page telling you to check your email inbox – we’ll just have sent you an email with a link for confirming your booking:

    Beware! At this point your booking isn’t complete – you’ll need to open that email, which will look rather like this:

    Click on the link contained in that email, and you’ll be brought back to the final booking page. At this point, your booking has been made, and the only thing that remains is payment. You can use your PayPal account to make the payment or you can call us on (+353) (0)1-6709981 with your credit card details.

    That page also includes your booking reference number and information on our cancellation policy.

    If you’ve got any questions on the booking process, post in the Comments below to ask. One final word: we’re planning a number of exciting events in the coming months (shhhh!), so keep an eye here and on our Twitter feed for updates!

    Shawlettes on tour!

    March 15, 2012 in Events by thisisknit | 16 comments

    This is a rather special post, because This Is Knit has been asked to review Jean Moss’s new book, Sweet Shawlettes. We’ve been chosen by the Taunton Press to take part in a worldwide blog tour, and we’re delighted to participate.

    Jean Moss is a legend among knitters: she’s renowned as a designer and teacher, and she’s perhaps best known for her clever couture work. This book is unabashedly frivolous in the very best sense – there’s frothy lace and vibrant intarsia in here, cunning techniques and lovely embellishments.

    The patterns, of which there are twenty five in total, are divided into four sections: Country, Couture, Folk and Vintage, each reflecting the inspiration behind the designs. If you’re looking to learn new techniques, this collection would be a very good place to start: there’s a wealth of them, from intarsia to lace to entrelac, and most of the patterns require just a skein or two of yarn.

    Some of the patterns are truly spectacular, like the Ceilidh Shawlette, which combines snuggly softness with surprisingly simple colourwork.

    As you’d expect, the quality of the pattern information is high: clear instructions, including a guide to possibly less familiar techniques at the back of the book, good schematics and a very comprehensive index. Charts are given as well as written instructions in most cases where it would be useful.

    When asked to review the book, we decided that the best option was to knit up one of the patterns, and we weren’t disappointed. The Arabesque Scarf comes in two lengths, one 50″ around, the other 36″. We knitted the smaller, in Malabrigo Silky Merino (the colourway was Amoroso), which took less than one 137m skein.

    This is a Möbius scarf, with an intrinsic twist achieved by picking up stitches from the bottom of the cast on. This makes for long rounds, but this scarf was a fast knit, taking only a couple of evenings. The feather and fan pattern, worked over twelve stitches instead of the more familiar eighteen, is just interesting and just relaxing enough. At about 4″ wide, this small version would make a lovely splash of colour at your neck. The pattern’s easy to follow and the pictures are clear and helpful.

    In fact, one of the chief attractions of Sweet Shawlettes is the quality of Alexandra Grablewski’s photography. The pictures are beautifully shot and illustrate the patterns very well. It’s so useful to be able to see what your knitting’s supposed to look like by examining the pictures, and this is consistently the case here. You can see other images of all the designs at Jean’s own project gallery at this link, as well as over on Ravelry.

    But don’t take our word for it – the great thing about a blog tour is that you can easily find out what other knitting bloggers think! You’ll find the entire schedule at the link in the first paragraph above; yesterday’s review was by Amanda France over at Joli House, where you can read an interview with Jean Moss, and you’ll find tomorrow’s at The Knitting Institute.

    Finally, would you like to win a copy of Sweet Shawlettes? Just leave us a comment, telling us whether your own knitting is most Country, Couture, Folk or Vintage, and why you’re thus inspired. Since it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, you can take a bit of time to think – any time before 1.00am on Tuesday 20th March will do. We’re really intrigued to hear…!

    Let’s celebrate!

    November 11, 2011 in Events by thisisknit | 1 comment

    It’s just over a month since we moved to our new premises, so we think it’s time to celebrate!

    We’re having an Opening Party, and Louisa Harding is coming to perform the Ribbon Cutting! It’s going to happen on Thursday 24th November, at 6.00pm. It’s not formal and it’s not fussy, but if you’d like to come along and join us for a glass of wine and a bit of a frolic, it would be lovely to see you.

    The next day, Louisa’s giving a workshop on her Grace gift bag, concentrating particularly on her lovely signature embellishment techniques. This will again be quite a casual affair, as you can drop in for assistance any time from 12.00 noon to 3.00pm on Friday 25th November. This will be bookable from next Monday and the cost will be just the cost of the skein of Grace Hand-dyed needed for the bag. What a lovely opportunity to learn from a renowned designer, and what a lovely thing to make as a gift for the coming season (or just to keep gleefully for yourself!).

    The Knitting and Stitching Show opened this morning, and it’s lovely to meet so many of you in person. If you’re at the RDS this weekend, make sure to drop by and say hello!

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