We were pleased to welcome Fiona Morris back again. She is well known and respected in both a machine and hand knitting circles, a fuller biography is on http://www.distanceknitting.com/about-fiona/
She entertained us with a talk entitled Don’t Throw It, Fix It. Fiona showed us a range of garments she had made which needed resizing or changing in other ways to meet the current needs of the owner. This gave us the confidence to take in seams and add darts or tucks to change the shape of jumpers and cardigans.
One item had an additional insert in the side seam to give extra width and she showed us how she had added a small triangular piece in the sleeve seam to make it all neatly fit the new enlarged armhole again.
This was a hugely enjoyable talk and after coffee Fiona updated us on a range of newer, mainly hand knitting yarns, that were currently available in fibres such as viscose made from bamboo, flax, hemp, silk, cotton and linen mixes. There are some British single breed speciality wools which have particular properties depending on the qualities of the fleece. There was also discussion about where these were spun – mainly China, and the British companies starting up again having outsourced this in the past.
Everyone learnt something new from this – such as the fact that yarns made from different wood pulp have trade names we recognise – Tencel(c) for instance.
