The 2011 Challenge

Back in September 2010 at our AGM I told members about the challenge for the year. This time I had chosen custion covers. Usual rules applied i.e. that you could not buy anything for it, everything used had to come from your stash or be given to you by someone else from their stash.


The cushion with leaves has been knitted by Sylvia. on her knitting machine, including all the leaves.


Chris knitted this blue and white cushion. Handknitted of course, knitted from the centre out. The button in the middle is a great idea. Chris hadn't had time to finish the back, so this piece is pinned to a cushion pad. I bet she finishes it soon.







Liz knitted this cushion and entered it into the Guild of Machine Knitters competition this year. It wasn't a winner, but we all thought it looked really good. She knitted it on one ofher chunky machines.


Shirley knitted this aran style cushion cover. It is another one that is a front only, but hopefully a back will get knitted as it looks really good, and would complement any decor.

This cushion has been knitted by Marcia using very very large needles and a number of strands of yarn. It is quite hard to knit like this so you can only do a few rows at a time. But it gives a lovely effect. By using larger still needles and more yarn you can even knit your own floor covering.

This round cushion is good too. It's all garter stitch and is great fun.

An unexpected treat!

The day before our July meeting I received a phone call from a lady (whose name I didn't get, so apologies to her) asking if she could bring some yarn and magazines to the club as she wanted to get rid of them. She was giving it all away, not trying to sell it. As we were having a sales table at the July meeting I agreed that she would bring it all along to the club meeting and we would find a good home for it. Silly me didn't ask how much yarn or how many magazines!

Well, she came along to the meeting, with her husband to help unload her car (a large 4x4 SUV type), and proceeded to give us numerous black bags full of yarn for hand and machine knitting and a few magazines. There was so much yarn that it would never have fitted into my estate car which is not small. We didn't have time to sort what was there as she arrived at the same time as the members and she didn't stop for the meeting.

So we opened the bags and left them on the floor for people to rummage. Now remember that we had also had someone bring yarn along the month before so I wasn't expecting much yarn to go home with others, rather than me. Experience tells me that if I gave the yarn away not much would go as people are too polite to take much, so I told everyone that a full cone of yarn, or enough handknitting yarn to knit a garment was £1, and if it was a part cone or similar of the hand knitting yarn then it was less. The money collected would go to our charity of the year, the Friends of the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton Branch.

And this is what we looked like as we rummaged in those bags! These photos were taken after the first inspection and the frenzy had died down. I almost forgot to take the photos.

By the end of the evening the bags of yarn fitted into the back of my car, with seats still up. And I had £85 in my pocket to pass on to the charity. So thank you to everyone who took some home with them. I shall be interested to see what you all knit with it.

There is still some yarn left which will eventually get used. The easy to knit 4 ply yarn will probably come with me to exhibitions and be knitted into scarves, hats etc for the homeless. The machine washable yarns may well get used for pet blankets for the animal rescue charities and anything left will be used as appropriate. None of it will go to waste.

I hope that the lady who donated the yarn will check with the blogspot to see what happened on the evening she gave us the yarn. A big, big thank you to her. None of the yarn will be wasted.

It's our July meeting next week

So it's the end of the annual challenge this month. I hope you've all made your cushion covers. If you haven't well come along anyway and see what everyone else had made.

To round off our club year, we will be having a knitting related sales table. If you have something you don't use and don't want any more, bring it along and see if someone else would like to buy it. If you don't want to sell it, but give it away, consider asking for a donation for charity instead. Please mark your items with your name and how much you want for them. You might also be able to pick up a bargain or two.

I hope to see you all as this is the last meeting before our summer break.

Do we need more yarn?

Of course we don't! But when the prices are so reasonable who can resist.

At our June meeting Diane brought along just some of the yarn that she was selling as part of an estate sale. Lovely yarn and very good prices. We couldn't resist. Diane went home with less than half the yarn she brought with her and we went home with rather more yarn than we probably should have. Will we ever knit it all?

!

Di and Chris kept knitting so they had an excuse to buy yet more yarn! It's surprising how much you can get done when you are listening and talking.

Diane had brought with her some pictures of her alpacas that she keeps. She also told us a bit about them and we were able to ask her questions as well. Just a few pounds of fibre comes off each animal, but what does come off is beautiful fibre and very light. Alpacas were originally bred for the fibre and that continues still today.

June 2011 show and tell

These scarves and summer tops have all been knitted by Liz. The tops were all worked using the Garter Carriage, so whilst waiting for that to knit a few rows, she was also knitting scarves on her chunky machine. Liz says they were knitted in an attempt to de-stash, but you'd not notice the difference.

Carole knitted this beautiful shawl for her daughter to wear at her wedding. And Diane knitted and felted this bag from a Toft Aplaca kit.

Chris knitted this beautiful doily. She said it is knitted in cotton and looked awful when she first completed it. As soon as she started steaming it, the true beauty showed.

Chris also knitted this lovely shrug. It is knitted in an alpaca yarn.

Sandra knitted this little jumper for her new grandchild. She said the baby has to grow a bit first!

June 2011 meeting

This month Diane is coming along with rather a lot of cones of yarn. She is selling it at very reasonable prices on behalf of the family of someone who has died. Yarn of all types including natural fibres such as alpaca will be on sale. So now is the time to pick up a bargain.

I'm sure there will be plenty of chatting going on as well. And don't forget to bring along your latest creations. We do like to see what you have been knitting.

See you on Tuesday, 7th June, 8 pm is the start time.

Don't Bin it, Fix it!

Don't bin it - Fix it! That was the advice given to us by Fiona Morris at our May meeting. She had brought along a number of garments that she had "altered" rather than put in the bin.

Fiona found that this jumper was a bit too slim fitting so she knitted two panels and inserted them in the side seams. She tapered the top of the panel and took that into the top of the sleeve so that she did not need to completely reknit the sleeve.

Fiona freely offered advice and suggestions when we asked questions.

The intended recipient of this dress lost weight and asked for it to be altered. The scissors came out, the dress was cut and then re-assembled. An overlocker secured the stitches. And you now have a classic "little black dress". Very stylish.

This green summer top was knitted for a trip abroad, but back in the UK Fiona felt very exposed, so she knitted sleeves to go into it. It looked great when she had finished her alterations.

Fiona had brought along a lot of her garments and patterns. Here she is discussing techniques with club members.

It was a good evening and we learnt lots of tips so that we can "rescue" out knitting with confidence.

May Meeting Show and Tell

This is a close-up of the fancy rib edging on the bottom of the pink cardigan that is in the pile of 3 below. All knitted by Sandra for her grandchildren.

This white scarf has been knitted in pom-pom yarn. Looks lovely and just the think for a cold winters day.


Anne knitted the short sleeve cardy below. Just what we need on a cool summer evening.

Another beautiful shawl. From Jean this time.


Phyllis knitted this baby sleeping bag. Lovely for the new arrival

May Meeting - a visit from Fiona Morris

Another month has past and everything is growing well in the garden! I have still found time to do a little knitting and lots of talking about it.

There will be even more talking about knitting on Tuesday evening (3rd May) as it is our club meeting. Fiona Morris is coming to speak to us. She has called the title of her talk "Fix it, Don't Bin It!" I know a lot of us have just thrown things in the corner and eventually into the bin when it hasn't gone right, so I'm looking forward to hearing of things we can do to save our knitting when something goes wrong.

As usual visitors are welcome. 8pm is the start time.

At our April meeting

Ann Brown of Posh Frocks came along and talked to us about garments knitted from a different angle. By that we mean, not knitted from welt to neckline. Ann had brought along a selection of garments that were designed and knitted using holding position for shaping and to give fullness where required. I was so absorbed with her talk that I forgot to take pictures. I did remember at the end when she was talking to some of the members, so those pictures are below.

All in all it was an excellent evening - thanks Ann.

This beautiful shawl has been handknitted by Carol. Another fantastic effort. Knitting shawls has become really popular.

Carol has also knitted this beautiful round shawl and Ann has knitted the one that she is modelling.

This baby blanket/shawl has been hand knitted by Sylvia. Another excellent job.

Sandra hand knitted this lovely cardigan for an new arrival expected in the next few weeks.

Marcia liked the mobius scarf that Chris showed us last month. She found the pattern for this one on the internet.

Shame the weather has turned warmer so it looks like this won't be worn for a few months.

Well done everyone - another great effort. Maybe next month we will have some machine knitted items.

Spring is here! and so is our April meeting

Yes, spring is here; the daffodils are in full bloom and it is time again for our April meeting. We have a speaker this month. I'm sure her name will be familiar to most machine knitters, but hand knitters may not have heard of her. Her name is Ann Brown. You can find out more about her on her website www.poshfrocks.com . Ann is going to be talking about asymetric garments and how they can be knitted so the subject is suitable for hand and machine knitters. Ann designs garments and accessories and some of her patterns are suitable for hand knitters as well as machine knitters. Visitors are always welcome at our meetings. The April meeting is on Tuesday 5th and it will start at 8 pm as usual.

late entries

Oops I've been very bad. I haven't posted anything for a long time now. My excuse is that I haven't been well and that I've been busy doing things for the Guild of Machine Knitters. It's exhibition season for me and I should have been at something like 6 exhibitions since mid January. I made 5 of them which wasn't bad.

We've had a couple of meetings since I last posted. So here is a brief update on January and February and a longer update on March.

January - No meeting as it's so close to Christmas and the New Year.

February - I forgot the camera! Jenny Barker came and talked to us about decorating your knitwear in ways to make it personal and interesting. It was a really good evening and I am sure we all came away with ideas.

March - We entertained ourselves again. I brought along a couple of unusual machines. One was a Knitmaster MK-70 which when packed away looks as if it could be a sewing machine. It all folds up. It operates pretty much like any other machine, but the tensioning system on the yarn mast is different and there are a few other quirky differences.

Some of the club members had fun trying to thread up the MK-70. It is a punchcard machine with an 18 stitch repeat, so getting extra cards isn't easy. The machine has a complete set of tools and the instruction book and I won't be using it that often, but it is a talking point.

They also had a go on a shortened machine. A Knitmaster Zippy 90 recently came into my possession and I had heard about how you could shorten or lengthen it to suit. I thought it might be a good machine to take to exhibitions, especially if it is shortened. It would be ideal to knit scarves using some of the lovely handknitting yarns that you can buy now. So the Zippy 90 is now a Zippy 54 as the number refers to the number of needles in the bed. I'm now looking out for another Zippy 90 to put the spare section in. It will mean that I can knit wider fabrics with

the extra needles making it ideal for knitting blankets.

Chris also ran through some handknitting things as well and showed us how to cast on a mobius scarf. That had everyone fascinated and intrigued and I think a few people will be having a go. Here's the finished one that she brought along to show us. You can see how it is twisted. That happens automatically and the outer edges are cast off edges.

Naturally there was a bit of show and tell. Nina knitted this lovely blue jumper using her garter

carriage and Sandra knitted this pink jumper for herself. It has some lovely raglan detail.

Sandra knitted the scarf above in pom-pom yarn and Chris has knitted another of her beautiful shawls (photo above right).

This is Jeans first go at lace knitting for many years. It's worked from the instructions that Chris gave us before Christmas. She's hooked now.

Liz has been knitting scarves. The cream and the blue ones were knitted at Unravel on the Zippy 90 (shortened version of course!) and the aqua green one was knitted at the Creative Stitches show at Brighton. The are beads on the tassles, but these had to be hand-sewn on after as they were too small to knit in. The scarves will now be displayed at various shows around the country. Members of the public were able to knit a few rows of these scarves as they tried a knitting machine.