This is Fiona, very important member of the club, she controls the finances!

Show and Tell

Another beautiful shawl, hand knitted by Chris.














This shows the size and how lacy the shawl is!











A lovely hand knitted baby jacket from Marcia.

Time for our February Meeting

Ann Brown of Posh Frocks (http://www.poshfrocks.com/index.html ) is coming to talk to us this month. She will be showing us what she has been working on recently and demonstrating how she uses the luxury hand knitting yarns on her knitting machine.

Ann's talks are always very intersting and inspiring so I hope we remember to take some photographs. It won't be the first time we get so interested in what our speaker is saying that we forget.

As usual the meeting will start at 8pm and visitors are welcome. If you missed hearing Ann, or haven't seen her for a while do come and join us.

This is a picture of 30 hats completely knitted and finished at the exhibition, there are another 14 awaiting completion and they will be donated to the Sailor's Association.

Esher show January 2008

Once again members of Fleet club and the Middlesex club helped to set up and man the Guild stand at the Esher show. We were given a very large stand but had no difficulty filling the space with competition winning garments and other knitted items. We also had 3 machines set up and spent any spare time knitting hats for the Sailor's Society, these were simple stocking stitch hats which were doubled over and had a roll brim. We did have a lot of people coming to talk to us, some already knitters and some thinking of becoming knitters. We hope we have recruited a few new faces! We also managed to help a few people with their problems!
Such a shame there was so little at the show for machine knitters but all the extras were there!

Esher show January 2008

Views of the Guild stand which members of the club helped set up and man.

Esher show January 2008

Another award winning jacket!

















Display shelves with various items including Sheila's beautiful doll's clothes!

Esher show January 2008

We were knitting hats on the machines for the Sailors Society. Simple double thickness stocking stitch with roll back brim and either pompom or i cord on top.














Beautiful ribbed jacket, pattern was in the Guild magazine.



















Liz's throw cape, beautifully warm!



















Elaine Cater's winning socks.


















Janice's award winning top!

December meeting

Our meeting this month was informal, tea, coffee and mince pies. Members brought their contributions to the charity table, which goes to the Friends of the Royal Marsden hospital. They then sell items to raise money for patient amenities. We also had a substantial amount of cash to send, raised from sales of donated yarn and equipment. Above are some pictures of items donated. Liz made some "emergency" bags containing a flannel, toothbrush, toothpaste etc, which are very popular items. Other items included child and adult jumpers, baby clothes and sewn items. We would like to thank all members for their support of this charity.

We wish all members and visitors to this blog a Happy Christmas and New Year.

One last piece of news for this year, our Liz is going to be a Grandma in February! Want to see lots of knitted baby clothes!

Tables loaded with goodies for the Marsden hospital!

This doll's set was knitted with love by Sheila!

This is Chris's beautiful hand knitted lace shawl.

Examples of Chris's hand knitted scarves and her felted knitted bag which has been embellished with needle felting.

Visitor!

Look who came to visit us at our meeting this week!
Well, the float was just going by outside, but we all rushed to see Santa!

December meeting

December is our Charity Evening, when we bring something along that we have made, that we would like to donate to our chosen Charity. Once again we are supporting the Friends of the Royal Marsden Hospital, at Sutton in Surrey. They raise a lot of money each year which is spent on the little extras that help make a stay there a little more comfortable and on things to make life a little easier for those that work and stay there. The Friends are also pleased to accept other items that have not been made by us, that we have acquired but don't wish to keep. They should be in new and unused condition.

We will also have some hand and machine knitting yarn, books and magazines for sale. There will also be a few machine knitting accessories as well. These have been donated for sale to raise funds for charity, so the money raised will be going to the Friends of the Royal Marsden, along with your other donations.

Don't forget you can bring along other things that you have been making for presents for Christmas, or just because you can, to show. We do like to see what everyone has been up to.

As well as all the above, we will make time for a cup of tea or coffee and a seasonal mince pie. So please do come and join us. 8pm as usual on Tuesday 4th December.

November meeting

Tonight our speaker was Fiona Morris, a very talented hand and machine knitter. She talked to us about felting and needle felting. We were shown lots of samples of wool and wool combination yarns both before and after felting, and also some with texture and fairisle patterns. Fiona wasn't afraid to show us samples which hadn't quite worked out as expected, but did explain that felting could be a bit of an unknown outcome! Sometimes good, sometimes not so good, and sometimes a pleasant surprise!

Fiona also showed us how to needle felt, and the equipment which is available to do it. She gave lots of tips, and showed samples, then several people had a go!

Fiona also brought her patterns with her, for hand and machine knitting, plenty of luscious yarns, needles, kits and finished garments. We were all very impressed, and had an enjoyable evening.

November show and tell

Sandra hand knitted this baby jacket.











Sandra machine knitted this childs jumper and added a bought applique motif.

November show and tell

Chris made this cushion and throw blanket from left over yarns. They are hand knitted.



















This beautiful lace shawl was also hand knitted by Chris. It is shaped centre back to make it hang nicely and not fall off the shoulders.

The November meeting

Fiona Morris is coming to see us on November 6th. She will be talking about felting knitting and needle felting. One of our club members brought along a bag she had made at a workshop with Fiona, you can see the picture of it under the October Show and Tell.

Fiona is a very talented lady, she teaches both hand and machine knitting and writes for the only machine knitting magazine published in the UK, namely Machine Knitting Monthly. She has a website (www.distanceknitting.com). Do take a look, she has a diary there that shows other places she will be visiting, so if you can't get to our club you might be able to see her elsewhere.

We really must remember to take photo's during the talk, so that we can post them here. One speaker we had was so inspiring and interesting we completely forgot!

I'm sure Fiona will have lots to talk about, so it will be a prompt 8 pm start. Visitors will be very welcome and I look forward to seeing everyone on November 6th.

October Meeting

Tonight we had a visit from Frances Perkins, and a rare treat, a machine set up with a ribber.

Frances demonstrated drive and release lace. Release lace is the most fun as you are deliberately dropping stitches to make the pattern. This will work as long as your hem has been sealed with one row of knitting!











These are samples knitted on the night.

Left top is the sample of release stitch, using the racking handle to create the pattern. Left bottom was using a tuck stitch pattern which gives a nice pattern.

Right is drive lace knitted using a punchcard for the patterning.

At the top of the right hand sample is a row of cabled long stitches, and effective detail to put above a hemline.







We all had an enjoyable evening and learnt a lot.