Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A bit about Fleet

In case some of you who view this blogspot are not locals the link here should go through to a site that is all about the area we live in. We get a mention on the site as well.

This is the first time I've tried to do the link, so I hope it works!

Our June meeting

How quickly this last month has gone by! We've had a lot of rain so I hope you've been indoors knitting, instead of outside in the garden as is often the case at this time of year.
Following on from last months visit by Anne Lavene I have been looking at holding position, or partial knitting and seeing what can be achieved using this simple technique. At our next meeting on Tuesday 5th June I will be bringing some things along to show you and talking about how we can also achieve some simple and effective accessories and garments using partial knitting. I'll bring along a knitting machine and demonstrate some of the ideas as well.
I started looking at hold position as a way of patterning on our machines when we couldn't use the punchcard or electronic patterns. I must have known that one day I wouldn't be able to use the patterning on my machine - I was knitting away last Sunday when all of a sudden things started to go wrong. The timing belt on my Brother 965 had broken. So until I can a replacement it will be manual patterning only on that machine.
As a reminder to those club members who can't make the meeting, our July meeting is the time to bring along the items you've made for the challenge - something to wear on your feet. I hope you haven't forgotten. I'm looking forward to some unusual ideas, think outside the box as they say.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday June 5th. 8pm as usual. Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Anne's creations





Lots of detail here.



















A dress and coat.



















Some of Anne's Creations


Back of coat.

May Meeting


Our speaker tonight was Anne Lavene, a knitwear designer extrodinaire! This was certainly thinking outside the box! After a brief bit of her history, Anne then went on to show us some of her work and we were certainly impressed. She works on the principle of easy to knit and easy to fit, but all her samples had some unusual touches. All were knitted on just a single bed Silver Reed standard gauge machine. A lot of her business is selling one off designs for special occassions, but she also hires outfits. It would seem her designs are very popular in Scandinavian countries and are displayed in art galleries.
Ann demonstrated some of her techniques and answered many questions during the evening. I think we all went home inspired!