December meeting

Our meeting this month was informal, tea, coffee and mince pies. Members brought their contributions to the charity table, which goes to the Friends of the Royal Marsden hospital. They then sell items to raise money for patient amenities. We also had a substantial amount of cash to send, raised from sales of donated yarn and equipment. Above are some pictures of items donated. Liz made some "emergency" bags containing a flannel, toothbrush, toothpaste etc, which are very popular items. Other items included child and adult jumpers, baby clothes and sewn items. We would like to thank all members for their support of this charity.

We wish all members and visitors to this blog a Happy Christmas and New Year.

One last piece of news for this year, our Liz is going to be a Grandma in February! Want to see lots of knitted baby clothes!

Tables loaded with goodies for the Marsden hospital!

This doll's set was knitted with love by Sheila!

This is Chris's beautiful hand knitted lace shawl.

Examples of Chris's hand knitted scarves and her felted knitted bag which has been embellished with needle felting.

Visitor!

Look who came to visit us at our meeting this week!
Well, the float was just going by outside, but we all rushed to see Santa!

December meeting

December is our Charity Evening, when we bring something along that we have made, that we would like to donate to our chosen Charity. Once again we are supporting the Friends of the Royal Marsden Hospital, at Sutton in Surrey. They raise a lot of money each year which is spent on the little extras that help make a stay there a little more comfortable and on things to make life a little easier for those that work and stay there. The Friends are also pleased to accept other items that have not been made by us, that we have acquired but don't wish to keep. They should be in new and unused condition.

We will also have some hand and machine knitting yarn, books and magazines for sale. There will also be a few machine knitting accessories as well. These have been donated for sale to raise funds for charity, so the money raised will be going to the Friends of the Royal Marsden, along with your other donations.

Don't forget you can bring along other things that you have been making for presents for Christmas, or just because you can, to show. We do like to see what everyone has been up to.

As well as all the above, we will make time for a cup of tea or coffee and a seasonal mince pie. So please do come and join us. 8pm as usual on Tuesday 4th December.

November meeting

Tonight our speaker was Fiona Morris, a very talented hand and machine knitter. She talked to us about felting and needle felting. We were shown lots of samples of wool and wool combination yarns both before and after felting, and also some with texture and fairisle patterns. Fiona wasn't afraid to show us samples which hadn't quite worked out as expected, but did explain that felting could be a bit of an unknown outcome! Sometimes good, sometimes not so good, and sometimes a pleasant surprise!

Fiona also showed us how to needle felt, and the equipment which is available to do it. She gave lots of tips, and showed samples, then several people had a go!

Fiona also brought her patterns with her, for hand and machine knitting, plenty of luscious yarns, needles, kits and finished garments. We were all very impressed, and had an enjoyable evening.

November show and tell

Sandra hand knitted this baby jacket.











Sandra machine knitted this childs jumper and added a bought applique motif.

November show and tell

Chris made this cushion and throw blanket from left over yarns. They are hand knitted.



















This beautiful lace shawl was also hand knitted by Chris. It is shaped centre back to make it hang nicely and not fall off the shoulders.

The November meeting

Fiona Morris is coming to see us on November 6th. She will be talking about felting knitting and needle felting. One of our club members brought along a bag she had made at a workshop with Fiona, you can see the picture of it under the October Show and Tell.

Fiona is a very talented lady, she teaches both hand and machine knitting and writes for the only machine knitting magazine published in the UK, namely Machine Knitting Monthly. She has a website (www.distanceknitting.com). Do take a look, she has a diary there that shows other places she will be visiting, so if you can't get to our club you might be able to see her elsewhere.

We really must remember to take photo's during the talk, so that we can post them here. One speaker we had was so inspiring and interesting we completely forgot!

I'm sure Fiona will have lots to talk about, so it will be a prompt 8 pm start. Visitors will be very welcome and I look forward to seeing everyone on November 6th.

October Meeting

Tonight we had a visit from Frances Perkins, and a rare treat, a machine set up with a ribber.

Frances demonstrated drive and release lace. Release lace is the most fun as you are deliberately dropping stitches to make the pattern. This will work as long as your hem has been sealed with one row of knitting!











These are samples knitted on the night.

Left top is the sample of release stitch, using the racking handle to create the pattern. Left bottom was using a tuck stitch pattern which gives a nice pattern.

Right is drive lace knitted using a punchcard for the patterning.

At the top of the right hand sample is a row of cabled long stitches, and effective detail to put above a hemline.







We all had an enjoyable evening and learnt a lot.

Show and Tell

Sue went on the Metropolitan Dream week and produced these two items.



A wire necklace from Erica Thompson's pattern.














A felted machine knitted bag, pattern, Fiona Morris.



















Sylvia knitted this versatile waistcoat.

















This is Nina's wedding outfit top and jacket. There was also a matching skirt.

October Meeting

The October meeting is coming up next week (Tuesday 2nd October). Frances Perkins is coming again to show us some things using our machines and ribbers. I'm hoping for some inspiration as I'm in desperate need of some new jumpers now that the cooler weather has arrived. Then all I'll need is a bit of time to do some knitting.

I think I've recovered from the 3 days at Sandown, and now I'm starting to plan for the 4 days of the exhibition at Alexandra Palace (October 11th - 14th). I'm really looking forward to that as there is always plenty to see, especially the work of the students and designers. Don't forget to come and see us on the Guild of Machine Knitters stand if you visit the exhibition. I'll try to remember the camera so I can take some photo's.

But first things first, club meeting on Tuesday! Hope to see you there.

Setting up the Guild Stand at Esher

Just a few pics to show the girls setting up the Guild stand for the show at Esher last weekend!
We had a huge stand this time, so plenty of space to show off all the creations.











Our aim was to show that you can knit far more than 4 ply acrylic jumpers on a knitting machine!













Everyone who came to the stand was very impressed. The tea pots were a favourite.

Programme for 2007/2008

4th September - AGM and knitted flowers.
2nd October - Frances Perkins, Ribber work
6th November - Fiona Morris, felted knitting and needle felting.
4th December - Charity evening

2008

1st January - No meeting
5th February - Ann Brown, demo and talk on using luxury hand knitting yarns on the machine.
4th March - Iris Bishop, her latest work
1st April - 30th Birthday celebration.
6th May - Glynne Jones, lace and weaving.
3rd June - Liz/Nina - to be decided
1st July - Challenge meeting
5th August - no meeting.

2nd September - Annual General Meeting

September Meeting and AGM

We held our AGM last night. Thanks to Fiona for balancing the books, and everyone else who helps to make the club the success it is. We discussed the year ahead, the speakers we have booked to visit, our 30th anniversary party for next year. It was decided to hold our subscription price as we are managing well.
Liz gave us our challenge for the year, items to be ready for next July, so plenty of time to get your thinking caps on. We are going from one end of the body to the other and have to make an item to be worn on the head. So much scope here, not just for bobble hats, unless they are really spectacular! Hats,
ear muffs,headbands,crowns, tiaras, earrings,

Let your imagination run wild and see what you come up with!

We also had fun knitting some flowers, may be useful for the challenge! Sorry, no photos of these!










The photos this month are of items on loan for the exhibition at Esher later this month. The knitted fabric bowls were done by our own Liz using an embroidery machine to put them together.

September is fast approaching

Where has the summer gone? Did I miss it?

We've had a committee meeting and I've sorted out the programme for the next year. I hope you'll all approve. I will be snail-mailing it to you in the very near future, together with the summer reminder letter that we send to all club members every August to remind you that the new year is about to start, so watch for the postman. Once the members have all had their copy of the programme, I'll post it here on the blog-spot as well.

Our next meeting on 4th September is of course the Annual General Meeting, but those of you have attended before will know it's not a major part of the meeting. In fact if I can it will last about 10 minutes - just long enough to make sure you're all happy with the way the Club is being run and approve last years accounts. Fiona has once again come up trumps and balanced the books and prepared a budget so that I know how much I can spend this year.

So what else have I got planned for our September meeting? Well, we will be having a demonstration of how to knit flowers. So many of you asked how I had made the ones on the shoes I did for the club challenge that I thought you might like to have a go. (There is a picture of the shoes somewhere here on the blog.) There will be other flowers to knit as well, not just that one type, some hand knitted, some machine knitted. I will also be bring along with me some rather unusual items knitted by the Sherborne Knitting Club. They are with me on loan so that they can be displayed at the Stitch and Creative Craft Show at the Sandown Park Exhibition Centre, Esher, from 21st to 23rd September, but I did ask if I could show you as well.

So I'd better get on and prepare the letters to send to the Club members. I hope to see you all on 4th September, 8pm as usual and visitors will be welcome.

July Meeting

Oh dear, somehow this photo got lost, so here is Sheila's surprise cardigan! Look carefully at the fronts and you will see the holding position, leaves a nice pattern. If done in variegated yarn this would give a striped effect.

Also a timely reminder that we don't have a meeting in August, so see you all in September for the AGM.

July Meeting

This evening we all had to produce our items for the Challenge, something to wear on your feet, and what a lot we had. We weren't restricted to machine knitting so creativity flowed. Please look at the pictures below to see all the items, some machine knitted, some hand knitted and some crocheted, but all very commendable. No doubt some of these will find their way as donations to the Marsden for sale.

After admiring all these items, Liz talked a bit about knitting using holding position, a very useful technique for shaping knitting and very easy once you grasp the principle. Can also be used to make braid like edgings and ruffles.

We also admired two knitted items, a beautiful cabled jumper knitted on the chunky machine by Sue, and a surprise cardigan knitted by Sheila H. The last being very appropriate as it is made using holding position, looks

nothing like a cardigan when being knitted, but once finished and sewn together - voila - a cardigan.

July Challenge

Sheila S made these socks using Denys Brunton Magicolour.











Kathy handknitted these booties from a vintage pattern. They come above the knees and are shaped by short rowing.

July Challenge

Sheila H machine knitted adult and child size slippers, then stuck non slip shelf lining on the soles for safety.



























Sheila also knitted these SWAN socks using self patterning yarn.

July Challenge

Fairisle machine knitted mocassins by Miriam.












Machine knitted socks by Phyllis.