May meeting tomorrow

It's almost caught me unawares - time has flown by and our meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday 7th May). 

We will be welcoming Joyce Meader who last visited us in October 2016.  Joyce will be bringing more items from her collection of vintage garments and patterns.  We're hoping she will also bring some of the knitted items she has made for a film that's being made on Salisbury Plain.  You can find out more about Joyce on her website   http://historicknit.co.uk/

If you've completed any knitted or crochet items recently please do bring them along for show and tell.  We all like to see what you've been making as it can give us all a bit of inspiration.

All welcome.  We'd love to have more hand and machine knitters and crocheters join us.  In fact, however you use yarn you're welcome to join us.

So Tuesday 7th May, 8pm at Courtmoor School.  Full address is here on the page somewhere!

April 2019 - Spinning

Slightly fewer numbers than usual, as some are away on holidays, and it was a cold and wet evening. The guest speaker for the evening was Valerie Thorne from the West Surrey Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers.

News and events

For those who are a member of the Guild of Machine Knitting, please check your email as the voting details have been sent out. Please vote.

The exhibition "Soft engineering - Textiles taking shape" is currently on at the Whitchurch silk mill (between Andover and Basingstoke) until the 23rd June. In addition there are also talks and events on the 27th and 28th April.

Show and tell

Nina had machine-knit a white cardigan on a mid-gauge machine.

Spinning wool

Our guest speaker for the evening was the highly-skilled spinner Valerie Thorne from the West Surrey Guild of Spinners, weavers and dyers. Val brought along a spinning wheel, several drop-spindles, and a selection of hand-dyed yarns.

There was a wide selection of drop-spindles to look at including this beautiful hand-crafted wooden drop-spindle made by Ian Tait (prices from £30).

Using the traditional facilities at Butser Ancient Farm, Val had produced a whole blanket made from yarn spun using a drop-spindle and dyed with natural dyes.

Here are some of the varieties of wool dye colours from some natural and less natural sources.

The spinning wheel is an Ashford upright spinning wheel that is a compact design in the Shetland style for smaller houses. The Ashford Handicrafts website lists a whole range of spinning wheels and accessories. Few people still produce hand-made spinning wheels. The spinning wheel produces a soft thrumming noise, unlike the noisy kersh-kersh of a knitting machine. In this photo Val is wearing a Japanese-style cardigan that she hand-knit from her own spun yarn.

The Blue-faced Leicester and the Merino yarns stood out as the softest. There was a useful tip shared that the best stain remover is white vinegar if you accidentally spill your tea or coffee on your knitting. There were some gorgeous shawls of many colours produced using tops from John Arbon Textiles. There were also some unusual fibres including this mobius scarf made from Qiviut with camel and silk from Vancouver island.

Forget-me-knot the jingling lamb (Heidi bears pattern)

Here is my first piece of yarn produced from spinning using a drop-spindle.

April meeting

Another month has rushed by and it's time for our April meeting.

Val is coming to give us a demonstration of spinning.  Almost all of the yarns we use have been spun so it's almost "back to basics".  Val will be bringing her spinning wheel and also some drop spindles so some of us will be able to have a go.

There will be time for show and tell too.  We all like to see what others have made as it inspires us and gives us ideas for things we'd like to knit.

The start time is 8 pm.  We'll be finished by 10 pm.  If you don't know where we meet then look at the top of this blog to find the address.

March 2019 - Colours

Updates

The weather was pretty miserable and the rain was very noisy on the skylight. There was a good turn-out including two new hand-knitters. Regarding the committee, Christine and Carol have kindly volunteered to share the post of treasurer.

'Knit in Public' day this year is on Saturday 8th June 2019, see the website https://www.wwkipday.com/ for general details. We're thinking of meeting up in a public area in Fleet. Suggestions gratefully received. We discussed cafes, the shopping centre, the park and the library.

The 'Machine Knitting Monthly' show at Bournemouth will be on Saturday 5th October 2019. The club is considering hosting a stand last year. Tickets can be purchased from https://machineknittingmonthly.net/shop/exhibition-tickets/bournemouth-2018-tickets/ and are currently £5 each.

We've heard that the Guild of Machine Knitters newsletter is running late, but had arrived by the time I wrote this post.

The Royal Marsden has confirmed that the sales table will be moving to Sutton. As this is going to be more difficult to get to, we're still considering local charities.

One suggestion is the Mission to Seafarers who have a freepost adddress for knitted hats. Liz made 21 hats to post to them. Here are some photos of a few of them:

The club received a question by email about flat shelf storage for 'spare' knitting machines, which  sparked an animated discussion on the different storage systems people use, and what constitutes a  'spare' knitting machine.

Events

Sewing for pleasure is at Birmingham on the 14-16 March. Check the parking cost if you are intending to go. On the day parking will be £16. £12 if purchase before.

Craft4crafters is at the Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, on Thursday 11th - Saturday 13th April 2019.

Nottingham Machine Knitting show is on Sunday 14th April.

Show and Tell

Carol hand-knit a child's cricket jumper.

 Nina machine knit a raglan jumper using a marl 100% acrylic yarn.

 Sandra hand-knit a cardigan in James Brett's chunky marbled yarn.

 Sandra hand-knit baby cardigans for Frimley Park Hospital.

 Carol crocheted a huge and beautiful blanket.

Andre hand-knits Aran jumpers and hats using his own patterns. Andre's top tips for handling the washing phase is to wash flat in the base of the shower, using bare feet to massage the yarn and gently push out the water. Then towel-squeeze dry and allow to naturally dry flat. 

This jumper is particularly special as it was designed and knit by Andre for him to wear at his wedding. See the close-up image of the bobble-stitch detailing. 

 Sylvia knit a variegated striped cardigan in stocking stitch on a mid-gauge machine, and completed the ribbing by hand. The yarn is Hayfields bonus DK.

 Marianne started the evening with a WIP scarf, which was finished before the end of the evening. Lofty yarn containing red and black threads.

Colours

Basics of colour - colour wheel

Bright Side's The Ultimate Color Combinations Cheat Sheet

Here is an example of a colour wheel:

With multi-colour yarn or working a pattern with multiple colour threads, sometimes colour pooling occurs. Here are some examples of when colours pool, and not pooling:

Liz made lots of samples showing different colour combinations and patterns, so show the different effects of combining a multi-colour yarn with a single colour yarn, or choosing which colour is the background and which is the foreground.

Our March meeting

At our March meeting we will be discussing colour and texture.  It's amazing how a colour can change when mixed with another and how pattern can disappear too.  We'll have a few samples to pass round but if you have some examples of things that have worked (and not worked) feel free to bring them along.

The March meeting takes place on Tuesday 5th March.  8pm as usual.  It's also pancake day, but unfortunately we have no facilities to serve any so we'll all have to be good or eat them before we come!

Bring along your recently completed projects for "show and tell", and if you feel like doing a bit of knitting whilst your there please bring that too.

Hope to see you there.  Visitors are welcome.

February 2019 - Making progress

As is usual for the first meeting post-Christmas, the turn-out was slightly lower than average, but thankfully the snow had disappeared so no emergency cancellation was required. The evening was for making progress on those part-done or stuck projects. Everyone has a project that they were working on, so there was the gentle click-click of needles throughout the evening whilst we caught up and discussed techniques.

The club received a thank you letter from the Friends of The Royal Marsden for the hand-made gifts and donations for their sales table. They noted that "these items are always very popular and raise much needed funds for the Hospital." The Friends of The Royal Marsden is to merge with the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity this year. Therefore, if we continue to support the hospital it will be through the sales table of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity in Sutton. Alternatively, members are welcome to suggest alternative local charities to support.

Exhibitions

Upcoming exhibitions include:

Make it & Knit-it, Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre, is on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd February.

Unravel, Farnham Maltings is on Friday 22nd through to Sunday 24 February.

The Knitting & Stitching Show is on at Olympia in London from Thursday 28th February through to Sunday 3rd March.

Show and tell

February Meeting

Our next meeting is on Tuesday, 5th February. 8pm at Court Moor School, Fleet. (Full address at the top of the page!)

At this meeting we will be "making progress", so come along with your knitting and do just that.  We've all been busy for the last couple of months, and some of us put projects to one side whilst Christmas presents were knitted. Some of us put projects aside because something went wrong.  It's time they came out again and bringing them along to a meeting is discussing what's not right, receiving encouragement and help can kick-start a piece of work.

We're looking forward to seeing you and having a good natter whilst we knit.  New Members and visitors always welcome.

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In view of the current weather, I'll remind you about our meeting cancellation procedure.  As soon as the decision is taken to cancel a meeting at short notice we will post a message here to say so. The decision may have been made by the school to close but even if the school is open we could still cancel the meeting if we consider it inadvisable to travel.  As conditions may deteriorate rapidly, this might only be an hour or so before the meeting starts so please check before you leave home if in any doubt.  We cannot call you individually to let you know - sorry.

December 2018 - Christmas party and the mystery knitting toy pieces game

As this is the last meeting before Christmas, there was the usual charity donations table collecting items to go to the sale table at the Royal Marsden.

There was also the opportunity for a few seasonal nibbles and drinks.

Given the time of year, there was little in the way of updates on shows or events as things tend to quieten down around Christmas. Fuelled by minced pies, there was a lively discussion on linkers, both the round kind (ie. Hague) and the straight kind (ie. Blinky). This took a seasonal twist when it was suggested that one way to leave a Hague linker out at this time of year would be to attach a sink plunger to the front, wrap it in tinsel, and declare it a Christmas Dalek! 

For those who know little of machine knitting, the KnitBritish podcast recently did an episode on "demystifying" machine knitting. It's over an hour long, and is a relaxing slow-paced listen, so easy background listening to a hand knitting or crocheting project.
http://www.knitbritish.net/ep-111/

Reminder that there's no club meeting in January. The next meeting is Tuesday 5th February. If there is snow and it's too inclement to safely access the venue, then an update will be posted here, and emailed to members.

Show and tell

Sally made a machine knit scarf and a hand knit hat for the donations table.

Rene has been working with fairisle test pieces on a Brother 800 using 12 stitch repeats and producing some interesting textured results.

Nina finished a cowl neck jumper that was started at the Ann Brown machine knitting weekend. A mix of yarns was used, The neckline uses half fishermans rib to give the desired drape.

Carol hand knit 3 hats for the donations table.

Liz is stash-busting part-balls of sock yarn, and knitting a scarf. The pattern is textured and intentionally variegated which helps when using up a mix of variegated yarns.

Guess the toy puzzle

Liz had been approached by a local gentleman who had a bag of unfinished knitted toys that his wife had made before she sadly passed away. All the component parts for each toy had been carefully put together in bags, but there wasn't any instructions. We each took a lucky-dip in the bag of bags and it turned into a fun game to guess what the toy was supposed to be. We each took home a bag to finish making up the toys, which can either be given to a local charity shop in time for Christmas, or brought along to club next year and included in a club charity donation.

Hand exercises for knitters

Knitting or crocheting for long periods of time can be common in the run up to Christmas and the desire to finish off presents or charity projects in time. It's important to not over-do things, to take regular breaks, and remember to stretch. There are plenty of instructions now available on the internet of helpful stretching exercises for hands, arms, shoulders and necks. We had a relaxing 10 minutes working through a sheet of exercises, though it was also a little giggly as the lack of pictures left us rather bamboozled of how exactly the 'alligator' should be done!

Here are a couple of instructions that include images and videos:

https://www.laughinghens.com/blog/hand-stretches-for-knitters-and-crocheters

https://knitfreedom.com/top-5-stretches-for-knitting-pain-relief/

https://blog.weareknitters.com/knitters-life/hand-exercises-for-knitters/

Lion Brand yarn video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOpDVR4UGTs