May 2012 meeting

The 1st of May will be the date of the next meeting. Frances Perkins is coming to talk to us again.  Her subject this time will be stripes.  Now I bet this puts a whole new perspective on the humble stripe.  The talk will be suitable for machine and hand knitters, and I am sure Frances will have her knitting machine with her.

As a reminder to members of the club, the 2012 Challenge will be finishing in June this year, rather than July as we have arranged a speaker for that meeting.  The subject of the Challenge this time is to "knit a bag".  And the rules? You can only use yarns and trimmings from your stash, or that you have begged from others.  No money must exchange hands and you can't send someone shopping for you.

Visitors are always welcome at our meeting, so even if you are only in the area for a short while, come along and bring your knitting.  The meetings start at 8 pm.

A fun April Meeting

Well judging by the smiling faces and busy hands we had a good meeting in April.  We were brushing up our sock knitting again as some people hadn't been able to get to the previous meeting and we hadn't managed to show all the techniques (and some of us had forgotten bits!).

There were some items brought in for the show and tell, but I didn't get to take photographs of them so apologies to those that took the trouble to bring them.

Our April 2012 meeting is tomorrow

I am reminded that it is our April meeting tomorrow night (Tuesday 3rd April). It’s the turn of the hand knitters to have a go this month. I know some of you are still having problems getting
started on 4 needles and joining up your work when using a circular needle and also that some of you would like to see the magic loop again. Shirley will also be demonstrating how to do an invisible cast on for 1x1 rib which several of you have shown interest in.

I will also have a machine with me so if the machine knitters amongst you have any queries we can try and sort them as well.

If you would like help with any other aspect of hand or machine knitting, please bring the relevant pattern etc with you and between us we can hope to get it sorted.

Please also bring 4 needles and/or a circular needle and some yarn as well.

Don’t forget to bring anything you’ve knitted to show and perhaps your work in progress as well.

See you tomorrow; 8pm as usual. Visitors are most welcome.

Linkers

We looked at linkers this month. Some people had never seen the Hague linker or the cast off linker that goes on the knitting machines.

Hand knitters were very impressed with both. Nina was stitching together a blanket that folds into a cushion when not in use. It was a pattern in one of the Guild of Machine Knitters Newsletters a couple of years ago. We didn't quite get it finished during the evening, but the long seams are done which is a great start.

Liz showed how to use the Brother cast off linker. Some others had a try, not all successfully, but with a bit of practice they will succeed.

Of course there was also time for a cup of tea and a chat and 17 of us either renewed our subscriptions to the Guild of Machine Knitters or joined. Their quarterly Newsletter is a good read and has lots of useful information in it. If you want to find out more about the Guild visit www.guild-mach-knit.org.uk. We are very pleased that some of the members of the club who came along as hand knitters are now converts to machine knitting.

March 2012 Show and Tell

These two groups of teddies and the hats have been knitted for the children in Africa and other counties who haven't got anything. Knitted and given with love.

Stelphanie and Carole have both been busy. Stephanie knitted the neck warmer and fingerless gloves for her friend and also had a go at felting. She handknitted the bag and then felted it. What a surprise when it came out of the washing machine this size.

Carole has also been hand lace knitting this lovely scarf and also a little sleeveless cardigan on the machie ready the summer.

Phyllis is expecting the weather to stay cool for a bit longer. She knitted this lovely sweater using her garter carriage.

Inspiration for us all to get our needles out, be it 2 or 200!

March Meeting

Our March meeting is on Tuesday, 6th March. We thought long and hard about what would interesting everyone and then it came to us. The Hague linker and the cast off linkers for the knitting machines. It's been a long while since they saw the light at club.

We knitted 3 panels of a blanket when we were at Unravel last weekend so we can sew them together on Tuesday evening. We can also do a few fancy bits on it to show you what else can be achieved. And we know that some of you have cast off linkers tucked away and don't know how to use them. So come and take a look.

Both linkers will fascinate the non-machine knitter and the Hague is suitable for those of you that handknit but hate making up.

See you on Tuesday. 8pm is the start time and visitors are welcome.

Guest Speaker for February 2012

Kim Witcher came to speak to us this month. She describes herself as a Knitwear Designer but she is more than that. She creates amazing garments from unusual yarns for the stage, film and television. Did you realise that what appears to be chain mail is often knitted cord with some fabric paint on it? Neither did I still I saw it close to. It has the look of chain mail, and the flexibility necessary to move on on stage etc.

We were all fascinated. We were quiet, listening to her every word and when she had finished her talk we continued to ask her questions.

Thanks Kim for an interesting and enjoyable evening.

February 2012 show and tell

Lots of lovely things have been knitted since we last met, however most of them have been given away for Christmas, There are a few still left, or that have been completed (or almost completed) since then so here are the pictures.

No names to indicate who knitted what as I forgot to write it down. Sorry everyone. Will you fire me and find someone else to do this job?

February - our first meeting of 2012

The next meeting is on Tuesday 7th February. We have a guest speaker and I am sure
everyone will find her of interest. Her name is Kim and she designs and knits costumes for stage and film at TV. Some of you may even have seen the shows that she knits for; Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Shrek and many others.

I am looking forward to hearing all about her knitting which is both by hand and machine.

Don’t be late, 8 pm is the time we will be starting. You won’t want to miss this one!

Visitors are welcome.

Well Done everyone and thanks as well

Just one photograph this time of the array of items brought in to give to the Friends of the Royal Marsden Hospital. We had to put an extra table out to fit everything on!

We took the things up to the hospital a few days after the meeting and within a short while a lovely letter of thanks arrived. All these items and more will be sold on their popular sales tables which raise valuable funds to support the good work carried out at the hospital.

Other knitted items were brought in for the show and tell part of the evening, but unfortunately the photos were not good. I'm still practicing with the new camera, but it may not be a new camera that is needed; it might be a new camera person/operator!

Apologies for being so late posting about a meeting in December. Lots of things got in the way and it is almost time for the next meeting. But more of that in a day or so.

December 2011 Charity Evening

Our December meeting takes place on Tuesday 6th December. 8pm as usual. As it is the December meeting there will be mince pies with our coffee and tea - home made of course.

Our charity of the year is again the Friends of the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton and I will be visiting there on Saturday. I do hope you can bring along to the meeting on Tuesday either something you have made or a new item (an unwanted gift perhaps) that you haven't been able to use that the Friends can sell to patients, staff and visitors. The sales tables at the Hospital are very popular and raise a lot of money every year.

At our meeting on Tuesday there will also be an opportunity to buy yarn and magazines and possibly other knitting related items - yes someone is destashing again. So don't forget to bring your purse.

I look forward to seeing you all for our festive meeting.

November 2011 sock knitting

Oops I forgot the camera again. These pictures were taken on my mobile phone. I did try taking pictures of the show and tell items, but there were rather poor, so I'm no going to put them up. Items shown included a number of things to be given to the charity that visited last month and well as a shawl, a jumper and a cardigan/jacket plus hats and scarves. We should all be nice and warm this winter.

This month we were talking about socks and the various methods of knitting them. After showing the various pairs that had already been produced, so that others had could see how various yarns looked and felt it was down to business. Two or three of us showed how to join and get started when using three or four needles and Ann showed a group of interested knitters how to work the magic loop method of knitting socks.

Nina also showed one method of knitting socks on the knitting machine, but I didn't get chance to get a photo of that.

Don't we all look hard at work!

Since the meeting I have been to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate. Whilst I was there I got some more sock yarn, so will report back to the club members in due course and when get the socks finished I will try and post a picture.

November 2011 meeting coming up

How quickly time is going when you have fun. And I am sure you are all busy knitting and crocheting as usual. It's been another busy month for me, with days away at an exhibition, a new beginners course starting and a couple of talks thrown in for good measure. Still I have managed to complete some knitted projects.

Our November meeting is going to be devoted to socks. With winter coming on now, we will need something to keep our feet warm, and knitted socks can be just the thing. There are some lovely sock yarns around now, and prices are coming down so they no longer need to be considered a luxury. We will be trying our hand at knitting on 4 needles, learning how to join the cast on so that we can knit in the round, turning a heel and kitchener stitch for the toe. We will also have a go at the "magic loop" so that those who prefer to use circular needles can also knit socks. Machine knitters aren't going to be left out, as Nina will be showing how to knit socks on the machine.

There will be time for show and tell and some chatting as well so bring along the things you've been working on.

Visitors are welcome. Our meeting starts at 8 pm.

October 2011 meeting

Show and tell first this time. I didn't take pictures of everything, so apologies if you lovely items aren't included. The waistcoat has been crocheted by Gladys. It is an ideal way of adding a bit of extra warmth for the chilly days that are approaching and looks lovely took. Janet has made a lovely handknitted lacy cardy, again ideal to slip on when it is a bit chilly, but not cold enough for a woolley.

Phyllis knitted this blue shrug on her knitting machine. Easy to knit, it is just one long strip, joined to make it into the garment you see.

We had visitors this month - Sharon and Viv from The Grassroots Trust. They told us about all the fantastic work they are doing to help young people in developing countries. We knitters can help by making garments and soft toys for them to take when they visit the various countries. We like this idea as we all have yarn at home that we don't know what to knit it up to. And it is a good way of trying out a different technique or two. So we will be getting our needles out and hopefully coming up with something to pass on to them.

To see more about The Grassroots Trust go to their website: http://grassroots.org.uk/home/

The October Meeting

Our October meeting is on Tuesday 4th October. We have invited Fleet Grass Roots to come along and tell us a bit about what they do. They have told me that amongst other things they support Third World Countries, supplying them with knitted items. Now I think we may be able to help them as we all have plenty of yarn and this is a good cause.

Please do come along and hear what they have to say. I think they are also bring a little video presentation as well.

Don't forget to bring your completed projects along to show us, and also any knitting problems you might have. I'll try to remember the camera as well. I hope also to be able to update you about the programme for the rest of the year.

Those of you that didn't come last month, please remember to pay your annual subs when you come. Many thanks.

September and our AGM

September sees another year come round and time again for our AGM. The business as usual took very little time and then it was on to more interesting things. First there was a show and tell. It seems that quite a bit of the summer knitting had already been passed on to its recipient bu there was still a few bits left.

This scarf had been worked on my Mandy, her grandmother, her mother and her daughter - 4 generations. It's finished now, and her daughter loves it.

Carole has done all the work on this shawl herself. Here's just a close-up of it. Carole did think there was a mistake or two in it, but we couldn't spot them.

Jean finished her cushion that was for the challenge which finished in July, so she brought it along to show us. She has also been doing some crochet. A game of noughts and crosses and a little toy.

Liz had a go and knitting with wire and made this beaded bracelet from a kit she had purchased at an exhibition.

Nina had been busy. She had made a cardigan and a shrug for herself. The shrug is knitted in 2 x 2 rib and uses holding position for shaping.

Sylvia knitted the baby clothes and a shawl. The shawl was knitted on her knitting machine, and the baby clothes by hand.

Once the show and tell was over we had a very welcome cup of tea or coffee and then it was time to learn a few new tricks. Some had asked to see again the cast on that Chris had showed us for the mobious scarf. Liz had brought a circular needle and some yarn with her, so we were able to see that again.

Liz also had brought along a knitting machine as one member was having trouble knitting lace on her knitting machine and also understanding the lace punchcards. The machine was quickly set up and it all made sense once it was explained properly. Let's hope we can all remember how to do these things when we get home!

We seemed to pack a lot into the meeting.

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!