December 2014 meeting

Our last meeting of 2014 and a late reminder that it is Fleet Knitting Club tomorrow evening (Tuesday 2^nd December).  Please come and join us for mince pies and tea or coffee.  No wine as most of us will be driving!

We will be collecting items for the Friends of the Royal Marsden, Sutton Branch, for their sales table.  Last year (2013) their sales tables raised over £14,000 from the sales of donated goods so I know they appreciate everything we send them.  If you would like to see what they do with the money raised please take a look at http://www.friendsoftheroyalmarsdensurrey.org.uk/index.html .  I will be delivering the handmade and new/unwanted items that you donate to the hospital as soon as possible so that they have them in time for sale before Christmas.

Of course there will also be a knitting machine at the meeting so that if there are any queries we can try and sort them out.  Plus if you have any hand knitting problems, bring them along and we will all put our heads together to see if we can solve them.

Don’t forget to bring your recently completed knitting to show.

We won’t be meeting in January, so I will take this opportunity to say Happy Christmas and Best wishes for 2015. 

Hope to see lots of you at the meeting.

Fun with Finger Knitting

Lots of creativity happened during the last meeting. We cut up T shirts and other fabrics into strips and knitted up with needles, crochet hooks and fingers. Finger knitting with yarn was also tried. Here are a few pictures.

Cutting into strips

We also had show and tell items.

Nina machine knitted and decorated a short sleeved top with ribbon in diamonds design and drop beads hanging from the bows 

This is a machine knitted slip textured pattern knitted sideways

Sandra made this seamless baby jacket, using holding position, on the knitting machine

Sandra machine knitted this baby outfit

Close up of Liz's hand knitted shawl, showing beaded drop edge decoration

The whole hand knitted silk multi coloured shawl

Cast off edging giving a droplet effect

Close up of knitted in beads on this hand knitted shawl

Beautiful cashmere hand knitted shawl by Liz

We also had 3 busy sales tables.

November meeting

Only a few days to go now till the November meeting.  Tuesday November 4th is the date and the time is 8pm as usual.

So what will we be doing?  It's a hands-on evening; going back to basics and reminding ourselves how to finger knit and maybe arm knit as well.  You don't need to have needles to knit!  This is a great activity to do with the younger members of your family and can be a way to get them started on a hobby for life.

And we will be making our own yarn as well - by recycling old t-shirts! 

It would be helpful if you could bring a t-shirt to cut up and a pair of sharp scissors but if you don't have one then don't worry; we will have some available!  And if you aren't quite into this sort of recycling then bring some chunky yarn; the thicker the better.

There will also be balled and coned yarn and knitting patterns on sale with the money raised going to the Friends of the Royal Marsden, Sutton Branch.

As a reminder - we will be collecting new items next month for the Friends of the Royal Marsden.  They will be taken to the hospital a few days after the meeting and sold in aid of their funds.  The items can be things you've made as well as things you've been given and can't use.  Doesn't have to be knitted, just new and unused.

Hope to see you on Tuesday.

Producing Texture

Susan Holton is a contemporary knitwear designer www.susanholtonknitwear.com who joined us as this month's speaker and shared her passion for producing textures and colour in her pieces. 

Some of Susan's pieces have been created by combinations of two different fibres in one garment, that have different absorbtion rates for taking on dye, and created a two tone effect. Most of the textures and dye effects she has found quite by accident from experimenting to see what happens. Sometimes it has been a pleasant surprise and quite unexpected. The fibres she has tried for example are silk with viscose and Susan usually dyes her pieces after making and not the fibre independently before knitting, which is quite unusual for most domestic knitters.

Another one of her trade marks is use of the 7 prong tool to create smooth lines around neck, arm and shoulder shaping. A lot of her clothes also have short row shaping and this has also produced beautiful flowing garments that flatter and fit most shapes and sizes and also added texture.

A selection of Susan Holton garments

The above are all close ups of a few of Susan's garment textures

A few members brought in some show and tell.

My very first knitted item ever!

 

A shawl by Carol

A colourful throw

October meeting and a speaker visiting

Hi everyone

Just a quick note to remind you that it is Fleet Knitting Club on Tuesday (7^th October) 8 pm.  We have a speaker booked.  Knitwear designer-maker Susan Holton is coming to talk to us.  You can find her website here: www.susanholtonknitwear.com. Her work looks really interesting – beautiful and contemporary.  We’ve been trying to get her to come and talk to us for ages and at last we have been successful so I do hope you will be able to make it.

Unfortunately I won’t be there as I’ll be up in London, setting up for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace which opens on Wednesday and goes on till Sunday – just my luck!  Here's the website for the show, just in case you can pay a visit.  Always worthwhile as you'll come back full of ideas and probably things to do as well! www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/london/

I've got someone else lined up to take photos and write about it here so I won't miss out totally but I am a little disappointed I can't be there.

Beads and More

The meeting started with the AGM and after reviewing and agreeing agenda items we looked forward to the next years meetings schedule and events.


Certificates were handed out for those that entered the challenge competition, held last meeting.  The 2015 Challenge was announced.  This time you are challenged to knit or crochet something using or incorporating ribbon or ladder type yarn.  As an example Liz brought along a shawl  to show.  Here's a close up of the type of yarn.  If members haven't already got some of this yarn in their stash, we have plenty available to give them some.

Rosie (from Moon Beads) our speaker for the evening gave an interesting talk about using beads in various knitting projects and showed a lot of samples. It was particularly interesting because Rosie provided a number of explanations for techniques used with machine knitting and others that were used in hand knitted and crocheted projects.

Show and tell produced a good selection of items made during the summer break.

Knitted in wire.

This bag has been knitted out of plastic tape that is non-biodegradable.  The wording round the middle is "Makers Faire" as this is what it was made for.

Isn't he cute!

A little girl will look lovely in this

A lovely blanket for a lucky baby

Slipper socks knitted with the yarn remaining after a pair of socks had been completed.

A pretty little dress and cardigan (below) for a pretty little girl.

 

Wire and bead bracelet

September and the start of a new year for us

We don't meet in August as that's when a lot of us are on holiday so no report on a meeting this month.

Our year runs from September so it's time once again for our AGM - Tuesday 2nd September at 8 pm. It is the ideal opportunity to give us your ideas and thoughts about the club and what you aim to knit during the next year. You can of course e-mail us direct with ideas for club meetings so that we can try and include them in the programme during the coming year.

Along with the AGM (which as you know doesn’t take us very long!) we have invited Rosie from Moon Beads to come along and talk to us about knitting with beads.  I am sure she will have some of her gorgeous beads with her as well of other items of interest to you, so bring your purse!

Hardly a day goes by without someone, somewhere in the world looking at this blog spot of ours.  We are keeping a paper version as a form of diary to show those members that don't have an internet connection.

Once again it has been difficult to find speakers and as yet some dates haven’t been filled.  We are aiming to do that as soon as we can.  We will also be asking members to volunteer to show techniques and stitches to fill the programme. Programme updates will be posted here on the Blogspot as soon as a date is filled.

With your agreement, we will continue to support the Friends of the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton Branch with donations of knitted and other new, but unwanted, items. We will collect them together at our December meeting, and they will be taken to the hospital a few days later. The Friends of the Royal Marsden will also be the recipient of the money raised at our club meetings through the sale of donated yarn and other items of knitting paraphernalia, plus donations from other sources.  The “pot” currently has over £188 for them. The total amount sent to them over the years stands at over £2,200 and the amount raised through the sale of goods we’ve sent must double, maybe treble, that.

Having looked at the amount in our treasurers account, the subs will remain £15.00 for the next year so please help us by having your cheque ready (made payable to “Fleet Machine Knitting Club”) or the correct money to hand and maybe in an envelope with your name on it. As an alternative, if you don’t expect to be able to make some of the meetings you can opt to pay £3 per night that you attend. We may need to levy an additional variable amount towards any evening when we have a speaker; depending on how much they charge and the distance they travel.

Looking forward to another successful year of knitting.

July 2014 - We challenged You!

This year we challenged you to knit something incorporating buttons, beads or sequins and you did not disappoint.  Fourteen of us brought along something we had knitted and they were displayed so that we could choose our favourite.  Here are a few pictures of them all laid out on the tables.

We also had some yarn for sale and as usual some of us couldn't resist a bargain!

During the evening Christine finished the main parts of the jumper she was knitting.  It just needs the neckbands added now.  Grace modelled it for her.

And a few things were brought along for show and tell.