There were several high quality entries in each category of the three categories:
A child’s hat
Fruit and Veg,
Hearts (this was in honour of Valentine’s day).
Thanks you to all members who took part.
After the usual notices, we had a lovely cheese and wine social evening allowing everyone a chance to look at the competition pieces and vote for their favourites.
Buffet Table
The winners were Anu for the colourful and fun child’s hat and Kathy and Margaret tied for the Fruit and veg, Margaret won the Cream Hearts scarf. All the entries were of a high standard.
Child’s Hat Entries
Fruit and Veg entries
Hearts Cream Scarf – Category Winner
Hearts Cushion in Grey and Red
Hearts in Pink and White
Hearts in Pink and Blue
Finally, we had a raffle with some very nice prizes
This was the first meeting in the Old Barn Hall in Bookham. Chairman Kathy gave out some notices then we settled down to listen to Margaret’s talk and demonstration.
Title: Seamless Machine Knitting
With a few digressions and many mistakes
The first digression was a child’s jacket made using a nearly seamless construction, called the “Surprise Jacket”, it was adapted for machine knitting from an original pattern my the late Elizabeth Zimmerman. Many versions of this jacket exist – just Google “Surprise Jacket” to see both hand and machine knitted
Surprise jacket
versions and patterns. It demonstrated how a garment can be constructed with fewer seams than usual, the idea has also been the subject of several articles by Bill King in Machine Knitting Monthly.
In a second digression, Margaret showed us that when gathering stitches having taken them off onto waste yarn and started to rehang them, the order in which you picked up three stitches to hang onto a single needle could be varied giving different gathered looks. For example, instead of just picking up stitches 1,2 then 3 if the order was 1,3,2 or 3,1,2 say, it created subtly different effects.
Gathering two sections using different needle arrangements
The rest of the talk was inspired by a workshop run by Amy Twigger Holroydwhich inspired Margaret to develop her own take on both seamless garments and surface decoration (added on the machine rather than by sewing decorations on an item after it had been knitted).
Firstly, a construction method was discussed where the creation of a very flat seam was done by picking up on every other row the lump or “knop” that is created on the edge of a piece when the yarn goes from one row to the next. A chunky machine was used to demonstrate this to the group so it was easier to see the work in progress.
Flat seam 1
Margaret passed around several samples that used this method. It can be used for picking up and matching rows or picking up stitches. One example she showed us was of a raglan sleeve on a child’s jumper.
Various members tried out this technique.
The second part of the talk was on surface decoration. A technique to add narrow strips of stocking stitch to a plain piece of knitting was demonstrated, the strip had a ladder on the centre needle so that it could be picked up easily. Each strip was picked up so that the right side which had the usual stocking stitch curls on the edges was applied every few rows, 6-8 rows of
3 pieces joined on machine with flat seam technique
the strip was picked up every 2 or more rows giving the ruched effect shown in the photos. Various variations on this theme were shown and several members tried out this technique.
Finally Margaret showed us some lovely items she had been making using there techniques.
Some serious news was the first order of business, our venue was going to be unavailable for the next two months at least and we have no reassurance that we can use it again after that. The club committee has managed to secure an alternative for the next two months and then we will seeking a permanent new home if that is required. See the front page side panel for details of the venue for January and February
After this bombshell, the party started and a jolly good time was had by all. There was lots of delicious food, party games and enough time to have a chat and a laugh.
See you all in the New Year at the Old Barn Hall in Bookham (in the Harrison room at the back).
This month was a club evening and we had a lace evening along with our charity table – lots of lovely offerings, children’s wear, knitted toys and much much more – see photos.
Notices: There are three events at the start of next year that are in the South East of England,
Sandown Park (Esher, Surrey) at the racecourse 17-th – 19th January view website http://www.stitchandcreativecrafts.co.uk/exhibit_stitch.asp
Unravel (Farnham, Surrey) Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th February 2013 at the Maltings View website
Brighton (East Sussex) Creative Stitches show at the Brighton Centre, 2-3 Feb 2013 view website
Also Morley College has a craft day on Sunday 2nd December, see side panel.
Lynn discussed the programme for 2013/14 asking for ideas and suggestions as many of the stalwart speakers no longer wished to travel long distances or come along during the evening. Also many of the alternatives who were approached were much too expensive for our budget.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to get speakers.
Brenda and Margaret demonstrated lace techniques to the group.
Brenda, who uses a Knitmaster machine showed us the combined lace carrioage for that machine, sho had a gorgeous shawl she had made for her new grandchild. Also a pretty light weight stole in blue yarn.
The knitmaster lace carriage both transfers and knits so you can create a lace garment much more quickly. Also a single row of stocking stitch is possible between row.
Margaret demonstrated the Brother lace carriage which can create more elaborate patterns but is more time consuming to use as the lace carriage on this machine only transfers the stitches and the knit carriage is required to complete each operation. On the Brother, the knit carraiage needs to make two passes between rows. Margaret also brough along a range of samples she had made, these included some fine lace (only an option on the Brother), a lace motif and several very elaborate fashion lace patterns where the stitches were moved in a fully fashioned manner over several row giving a very pleasing effect.
After coffee we had some more demonstrations and a chance to try some of the techniques. Of particular interest was a method of joining knitted panels on the machine but creating a row of holes on one side of a panel every 4 rows then picking up the edge stitches through these holes on the next panel to be knitted. It made for an interesting twisted effect at the seam.
For the Charity Stall at the Marsden Hospital
This is just a few of the huge number of items that members donated. Thank you to everyone who gave so generously.
This month we were delighted to have Ann Brown to talk about pattern calculations.
Ann started with looking at the tension square and how various different fibres can be distorted by stretching and ironing or steaming. Whereas wool does not stretch very much, however, once pressed it cannot be unravelled and re-knitted as the fibre has changed permanently. Acrylic stretches a great deal but can be restored by pressing. She demonstrated these properties using her steamer – which was recommended over a standard steam iron as it produces so much more steam.Ann Brown’s talk
Ann then moved on to show and discuss a range of garments and patterns in different fabrics and patterns. There was further discussion on measuring the swatch and using the green ruler, then moved on again to…
The chairman gave out some notices – reminding us about the Sandown show and the upcoming workshop on the 6th October. We are also short of ideas for speakers for the 2013-14 season so any suggestions are welcome.
This month was a crochet workshop led by Judy and Yvonne, they brought yarn and hooks for anyone who did not bring their own and lots of sample – granny squares, garments and curly scarves.
Crochet Workshop
We all had a lovely time learning to crochet a curly scarf, quite an easy pattern just a few chain (10-20 stitches) and a foundation row in double crochet, followed in each subsequent row of either double or trebles two into each stitch in the preceding row. Until you get arm ache as the number of stitches doubles for each row! Most people managed around 4 or 5 rows in the time then the usual coffee and delicious cake was served followed by a raffle.
Crochet WorkshopCrochet workshop
After coffee we continued with the crochet and chatter.
Granny Square detail of Blanket
Gillian brought some knitted novelty items she had finished: three owls in a basket and a hedgehog.
I have it down as 6th October, 9:30 – 5.
Bring your own machine, yarns etc ready for a full day of knitting. Don’t forget your packed lunch, tea and coffee are provided
This month we had a presentation about the knitting archives and collections at Winchester School of Art which is part of Southampton University. The speaker, Linda Newington, is the librarian who has charge of the various collections and an extensive knitting patterns collection.
She told us about the collections of designers Jane Waller, Richard Rutt and Montse Stanley which contain both artifacts collected by them as well as printed material and photographs. Linda showed us slides of various artefacts from the collection and explained the items and how the collections were acquired. She also showed images of the work of current and past students at the Art School who had specialised in knitted textiles and how they used the archives as a resource.
Selection of items from the collections at Winchester School of Art
The library puts on a conference called In the Loop which in 2012 will be in Winchester:
IN THE LOOP 3 – THE VOICES OF KNITTING
5-7 September 2012 at the Winchester Discovery Centre
There was much interest in the collections and there was an extended and wide=ranging discussion after the coffee break, then we thanked Linda for her most interesting presentation. A visit to see the collection was arranged for next year.
At the end of the meeting there was a show and tell session with some lovely items displayed by members:
Pink jumper with details on neckline and welts This was machine knitted by Barbara
Neck details of pink jumper
Lilac Babies Jacket – lacey pattern
Lilac babies jacket in shell pattern These two pretty jackets were handmade by Barbara.
Gillian’s striped waistcoat
A smashing waistcoat knitted by Gillian in acrylic black mohair using various oddments for the stripes.
Barbara’s hand knitted Pram Blanket
This beautiful hand knitted pram blanket is from a handwritten pattern that Barbara was given by a lady who knitted it from memory – she then wrote this down when Barbara asked her if she had a pattern.
