The club received a lovely thank-you letter from the Royal Marsden for our charity donation in December.
If you are of the sewing persuasion, and looking for a charity to be involved in, then a member brought along information about the Wrap Pyjama Fairies charity, who are looking for fabric, and people who can sew, to make up their designs for children in hospitals. Full details available on the Wrap Pyjama Fairies website.
Unfortunately, there is the sad news to share that Phyllis, the club's last original founding member, passed away last month. Phyllis was an active member of the club for over 40 years, and an enthusiastic machine knitter. If you search through this blog you will find examples of some of the wonderful knits that Phyllis has made over the years, including
In lieu of flowers, the club will be making a donation to the British Heart Foundation in Phyllis' name.
Local events
The Farnborough Craft Guild will be having a craft show in Farnborough on the 24th February. See the Farnborough Craft Guild website for details.
Aldi has yarn in their Special Buys aisle at the moment.
Slightly further afield, the Bournemouth Machine Knitting Show is on Saturday 3rd March this year. More details on the Machine Knitting Monthly website.
Show and Tell
Nina machine knit a light blue jumper from an angora/acrylic mix, with a dark blue pattern using ribbon yarn.
Carol had been busy knitting a glittery (lurex) yellow child's jacket, and a blue hooded cable cardigan.
Liz was working on a one-row pattern repeat scarf, and shared a useful tip to include tassels whilst also ensuring the whole ball of yarn is used up. When getting close to the end of the last ball of yarn, pull the other end of the yarn from the centre of the ball, and make the tassels. Then, continue to knit to the end of the ball. The tassels can then be attached last.
Gaynor made a twiddle-muff that included a pocket for tissues, and a photo frame that is attached by a ribbon.
Sock heels
After a short interval for refreshments, there was a lively discussion about different preferences for sock heels, as well as cast-on/off methods for socks, and different preferences for cuff height, shape and tightness.
Liz brought along a collection a sock knitting books. The most interesting book formats was from the series of 'Socks a la carte' books by Jonelle Raffino. If you use the 'look inside' feature on Amazon, you can see that the book is spiral-bound, and the centre section is made of 3 horizontal sections, so the reader can select different cuff, heel and foot designs.
