A Bit Off Course But A Cause Well Worth Getting Behind!

Save Ryan and Ethan Appeal

“Ryan and Ethan Caulfield McCormack from Tramore, Co.Waterford, were recently diagnosed with Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). ALD, is a deadly genetic disease that affects 1 in 18 000 people. It most severely affects boys and men. This brain disorder destroys myelin, the protective sheath that surrounds the brain’s neurons — the nerve cells that allow us to think and to control our muscles. ALD causes relentless progressive deterioration to a vegetative state or death, usually within five years. It knows no racial, ethnic or geographic barriers.
Prognosis for patients with childhood cerebral X-ALD is generally poor due to progressive neurological deterioration unless bone marrow transplantation is performed early.There is presently no cure for ALD.
We are currently raising funds to cover the remaining costs of the transplants (1.5 million a head, some of which is being paid by medical insurance). We, as a community have vowed not to have either boy denied treatment due to lack of funds. Any donations, big or small are appreciated. Caroline, Jimmy and family would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support they have received since the boys’ diagnosis.” – from the Save Ryan and Ethan Appeal Facebook page 

Ok, now you know the cause, here’s how you can help these two wonderful boy. Propeller Palms  a local band have just released their new single “Sometimes” on iTunes in aid of this great appeal. 100% of proceeds from single sales will go towards the appeal. So not only do you get to help a great cause you get a great tune to listen to as well 🙂 To download the single all you need to go is go to the photo below which will bring you to iTunes where you can buy the single

For more information on the appeal check out the Facebook page at Save Ryan and Ethan Appeal or the website at www.saveryanandethan.com

To find out more about the band check out their Facebook page or their website at www.propellerpalms.com

Please help out this great cause, it’s only 99c and it will really help give these two boys a fighting chance.

Thank you!

A

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Knitting in the Sun!

Finally! Some real Spring weather. Time to bring the needles outside 🙂

Liebster Award

So after a second nomination for this elusive award I decided to find out what it’s really about. It’s basically an “award” given to new bloggers by new bloggers and it’s a great way of highlighting blogs with under 200 followers and spreading the news of your wonderful blog! There is no physical award as such, but there is the nice fuzzy feeling of knowing someone is really enjoying reading your ramblings and would like to share your readings with other people!

So thank you neotricwool and Jenna Makes Things for the nominations!

So the rules are:

1. Post eleven facts about myself

2. Answer the questions given to me by the person who nominated me

3. Invent eleven questions to ask people whom I wish to nominate for the award

4. Choose eleven people (with fewer than 200 followers) to give this award to and link to them in my post.

5. Go to their blog and tell them.

11 Facts About Me!

1. I’m from and live in Waterford in the “sunny” south-east of Ireland
2. I have a beautiful daughter named Saoirse who’ll be 5 this June. (I’m sure I’ll have her modelling some things for the shop soon!)
3. I returned to college in September 2012 to finish out my Bachelor of Arts in Music.
4. As well as knitting and crocheting I play the clarinet and piano (hence the music degree!)
5. I have a little cat named Lola, although she’s called Little Cat more than she’s called Lola as she does many big cat things despite only being an ickle cat. ( You can see her sneaking her way into some of my blog posts)
6. It’s my birthday Saturday week! Whoo hoo to getting older! But I will be playing a concert that night so the celebrations of surviving another year will be kept to the minimum
7. Springtime is probably my favourite time of year (when we actually get spring like weather here that is, we’re lacking in it at the moment!) I love seeing all the new growth and the little baby lambs who’ll be turned into jumpers bouncing around the place and colours starting to pop up here and there.
8. I love tea..A lot..You can’t beat a good cupa tae
9. I do not like housework. I like a tidy house but not the process of attaining one.
10. I took up knitting when my daughter was born in 2008 and a couple of years later I tried my hand at crochet. I’m very much a knitter who does a bit of crochet rather than being equally adept in both! But I do enjoy both.
11. I also love my bed and am not a big fan of getting out of it on cold wet mornings. Luckily this morning was not one of those mornings!

Question Time For Me!

1. What is your typical Wednesday night like? Wednesday’s for me are long long days. After college I have orchestra rehearsal which finishes at 7. Then I’m home, get my daughter to bed, that’s all done and dusted by 8. Then I throw something quick together to eat and have a well deserved cup of tea. Then I finally get to sit down and unwind for a bit with a bit of knitting before collapsing into bed!

2. Where would you like to travel to? This is a very long list! Even just the list of places in Ireland that I’d like to visit is long enough. So for now let’s just say everywhere. 🙂

3. What is smell that reminds you of your childhood? What snack do most often reach for? That’s a tricky one. Might have to come back to you on that! Is chocolate considered a snack?

5. What is your favourite store? Deramores. Online Yarn Store. Enough said 🙂

6. If you could have any occupation besides the one you have now, what would it be? I don’t really have an occupation. Is “a student who moonlights as a knitter” considered an occupation?

7. What is your favourite book? Very very tricky one. I’ve a lot of favourite books. I guess “Lord of the Rings”.I also love stitch pattern dictionaries being the yarn nerd that I am 🙂

8. Cats or dogs? Both but I have a cat 🙂

9. What action or moment in your life are you most proud of? My daughter. 🙂 Not an action or a moment but an amalgamation of many moments and action that I’m very proud of. If I say so myself, I’m not doing a bad job at raising her 🙂

10. Who is the main person you lean on in life? My lovely boyfriend 🙂

11. What is your favourite article of clothing? I don’t have one favourite, I’ve a number of casual dresses that I love equally.

Question Time For You!

1. Tea or Coffee?
2. What do you do to unwind every evening?
3. Do you have any pets?
4. Why did you start your blog?
5. What’s your favourite type of music?
6. Do you have any favourite colour combinations?
7. In a nutshell, what is your blog about?
8. Are you in school? College? Working? Where do you work or what are you studying?
9. Any favourite foods?
10. What’s your favourite time of year?
11. What makes your blog different?

Nominations! ( In no particular order)

1. YuLian Knits
2. Holly Chase Designs
3. Whipped-Stitch Witchery
4. Stitch and Purl
5. The Secret Life of Yarn
6. Handmade Homeschool
7. Pinsandneedlesdotbiz
8. Knit me This
9. Chronicles of a Fiber Engineer
10. loops70
11. bmore crafty

 

Eating my words…

I’ve finally had to put down the needles and get my real designers cap on and resort to graphing. Turns out not everything can be worked out on the needles!

The world’s best yarn storage idea

I absolutely love this! There will definitely be one of these on my wall! I’m currently putting some order to my stash, I’ve ordered a ball winder and am sourcing a peg board 🙂

Let’s Start From the Very Beginning…

Swatches all knitted, stitches counted and measurements calculated. Now it’s time to cast-on and combine everything in the photo to create a lovely hand-knitted hat and scarf set!

Time for a change!

So after a few unsavoury comments about hair infestations being made to me about “Aimee’s Knits” I spend a sleepless night trying to think of a new name. I like the idea of using actual stitch names but unfortunately, there’s not many knit stitches that are very catchy so I ran a couple of ideas past my ever so lovely and amazing boyfriend. One of the ideas was “Knitwise” and he asked me what that meant so I explained how slipping a stitch knitwise twists a stitch and just like that, without losing a wink of sleep, he came up with “Twisted Stitches” So I’ll be leaving all branding to him from now on and I’ll juts stick to what I do best, knitting 🙂

The facebook name has been changed as well so if you’re looking for me on it just type in “Twisted Stitches” instead of “Aimee’s Knits” and I’ve set up a new e-mail at twistedstitches13@gmail.com and the new Etsy shop is http://www.etsy.com/shop/TwistedStitchesEire

 

A

And so it begins…

dun dun DUN!!! Ok, it’s not ominous at all but it is very exciting stuff altogether. Today my Etsy shop opened, my Facebook page was set up and now here’s my first blog post! I even made my first sale today so not a bad way to start off on my venture at all!

I’m a complete newbie to all the above so please be patient with me as I track my journey here. As well as being a knitter I’m a mammy and a full time student so if any venting goes on here, I apologise in advance, I’ll do it in as humorous a way as possible while updating you all on what’s on the needles at the moment as well as what new ideas are working through my cluttered little head and new arrivals in the shop.

I’m always open to suggestions on designs and on selling and everything really so please comment on the posts, would be great to hear your ideas!

There’s also a chance of some free patterns making their way in here as well new tips and tricks that I pick up along the way. It’s one of the things about knitting and working with yarn that I love the most, no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn and there’s nothing better than getting to share that with like-minded people.

So there it is, my first blog post. Enjoy!

A

PS. On the note of getting some ideas from all you lovely people, here is my kitten Lola pondering whether or not the thumb of these convertible mitts should have a fingerless thumb or a full one? What do you think?

Lola poses a question…