June Meeting

Another month has rushed by and it's almost June. Our meeting will be next Tuesday (2nd June) at the usual time of 8 pm. What a difference it makes being about to get there and back in day light.

No speaker this month as I know some of you will be on holiday. Instead, those of us that are there will be learning a bit about crochet and how to use it in conjunction with our knitting. We will be showing you how to do crab stitch which is a great edging to use when putting a zip into our knitwear. Of course it also has other uses as well.

So whether you have never mastered crochet, can do a little bit or are an expert at crochet, do come and join us. If you are an expert, you can pass some of your skills on, or if you haven't every mastered crochet you may have by the end of the evening.

Bring a crochet hook, a tension swatch and a little yarn can. Don't worry if you can't, there will be some there for you.

Visitors welcome.

Bill was quite happy to model his creations!
















Weaving, using wool and cutting the floats.













Bill demonstrating at his machine, so quick using his thumb to push needles in and out of hold!















Another beautiful garment!

A beautiful sample combining texture and lace.











Now this is colourful!











Holding position used to make chevrons.










More patterns made using holding position.













And again, more intricate this time!

Cleverly shaped garment using holding position and ribbing.


















An attractive pattern using a tuck and rib stitch.
















More tuck and ribbing.

















This pattern is reminiscent of a spiders web, all done using holding position to achieve the shape.

May Meeting

Tonight we had a very special, and interesting guest speaker, Bill King, who is a knitwear fabric designer. Bill doesn't design the garments, just the fabric and patterns which will be used in production. His samples are taken to the fashion houses and shows and hopefully bought and eventually end up as garments in our shops! He explained that to show these fabrics at their best he has to knit his samples as mini garments, consisting of the front and maybe one sleeve, with relevant edges and trims. He does not work from charts or patterns, just straight from ideas in his head! On average Bill will produce at least two samples a day.

We all found Bill to be an entertaining speaker, full of ideas which he was willing to share, and he was more than willing to sit at his machine and show us some of the techniques he uses! It was a bit like a magic show to watch as the intricate patterns appeared, sometimes using the most simple of techniques! We do not realise what wonders our little machines are capable of producing. If only we had the time to sit and play and explore all the possibilities, but for now I for one, am quite happy to admire Bill's creations!

This was one evening to remember, and if anyone has the chance to see Bill in action, it is well worth it!

May meeting with Bill King

OK this post is very late, my excuse is I've been away for a few days and didn't have time to do it before I went.

However I do hope you find this in time to come to our meeting tonight. Bill King is coming to speak to us, all the way from Derbyshire. You may have heard of him. He has been writing recently for Machine Knitting Monthly.

I've also spoken to some members of the Guild of Machine Knitters that have attended one of his workshops. They have all thoroughly enjoyed the day, learnt lots and come away with heads full of different things to do on their machines.

I am really looking forward to hearing Bill speak. Visitors are welcome. We will be starting at 8 pm as usual.