April 2016 - Fiona Morris discusses eco and new fibre yarns

The evening started with an animated discussion about the venue, followed by a review of the up-coming shows and events.

The club is planning another Saturday knit-in during the summer. There was a sign-up sheet on the front desk. If you are interested, please email one of the committee members with your Saturday availability over the summer.

Craft4Crafters has taken over the Shepton Mallett show at the Bath and West Showground, which takes place on the 21st-23rd April, 2016.

Show and Tell

Vee had hand-knit a beautiful green cardigan from a Sirdar pattern, using  multiple threads of machine knitting yarn. The pattern makes interesting use of shaping and texture.

Sandra has hand-knit several white baby blankets and cardigans for the neonatal unit at the local Hospital. Christine has also knit some yellow baby blankets, cardigans, bootees, gloves and a hat.

Jane was working on a pair of pink hand-knit socks, and brought along a pair of size 13 socks for her son, made from a multi-colour Sparkle Ducks yarn.

Janet had hand-knit a pair of puppy baby bootees, and a pair of strawberry baby bootees.

Challenges reminder

Reminder that the deadline for submissions for the annual Guild of Machine Knitters challenge is the 5th May, 2016. Also a reminder about the club challenge, which is to knit a pattern using your own choice of yarn/pattern/finishing. Liz will email a reminder copy of the pattern.

Eco and new fibre yarns talk by Fiona Morris

Fiona gave a fascinating talk about the range and variety of eco-friendly and alternative fibre yarns that yarn manufacturers have tried over the years. Some of them have been around much longer that you might think, and some didn't last very long at all.

For each yarn type Fiona described, she provided a pile of knitted samples and garments that were handed around the room, so we each got to feel what each fibre felt like, and we were able to compare the weights, feel, and characteristics.

The fibres included bamboo, soy-bean, corn fibre, milk-fibre, cotton and kapok, sea sell (sea weed), organic cotton, hemp, linen, ramie (chinese nettle), banana fibre, sugar cane, and even kevlar!