Daytime City Knitty: Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum

Our plan to enjoy being outside before the winter sets in was blessed with glorious sunshine making our decision to visit Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum a wise one indeed. The little visitor centre and cafe had plenty of room for knitters and their family young and old. Even though some areas had been fenced off for safety, there was still plenty of big, old, machinery to look at and climb on. Ripe blackberries grew among disused train tracks and old wagons. It was great to rediscover the simple pleasures of wandering along train tracks balancing on the rails and following wooded trails. For more information on Prestongrange see their website: http://www.prestongrange.org/

So what were we all knitting this weekend? There were blue socks knit on double pointed needles and a blue, lace knitted cardigan. A cute, fuzzy, multicoloured baby blanket was being crocheted and a big grey, lopi jumper started on Monday was already nearly complete. An attempt to learn continental-style knitting yielded a simple piece of stockinette and an injured knitter returned to knit with a soft, yellow yarn. There were knitting magazines (Knit Simple and Knitting) and favourite books (The Knitters Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann and Knitting Revolution: Colour by Sally Melville).

Photos to follow!


Clare

Very late post!

I have meant to do this for weeks and haven't had the time. Here are some pictures from the citty knitty day time visit to
Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum on Saturday 23rd September!


Here are a few of us sitting in the cafe knitting or crocheting.






Prestongrange is a brilliant place to visit for both old and young. The staff are very helpful and friendly. (However I might be a tad biased as my hubby works there, but not on the weekends!)The museum is open from April till October and there is plenty to see, lots of old industrial machinery,(some fenced off due to Health and Safety), woodland walks, wide open space and a Cornish Beam Engine. The cafe has plenty of room to sit with a large window which allows plenty of natural light, just great for knitting!!! There is also a small museum of exhibits from the site in the in the cafe area.



The Cornish Beam Engine and winding gear from the pit head.


Some of the tea pots made at the Prestongrange pottery and miners lamps, just some of the exhibits in the museum.












ETA: Originally posted 2.12.06, post redated.

Autumn breezes

Well, weren't we treated to a fine display of what the weather can be capable of! The temperature remained pleasant while the wind blustered and buffeted playfully about; if somewhat roughly on occasion. However, it was a good wind that brought many knitters to our table.

The changing seasons inspired one knitter to turn to Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters' Almanac and get started on the Wishbone Sweater in a good, chunky, grey wool. Nearby, an inviting cardigan knit with Guernsey wool from the Shetlands was underway complete with the recipients initials in a band of detail. Another gift taking shape was the second of a pair of red socks and a swatch of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino in 1x1 rib. A long, blue, unusual rib pattern cardigan was well on the way to realising a design from the finnish company Novita. Finally, another first sock was being knit, this time with Regia self-patterning yarn.

The season for warm knitting is upon us!


Clare

The clarion call for sock knitters

It was a surprisingly warm evening as the first of the sock warriors assembled to prepare for their upcoming campaign. "Sock warriors? " I may hear you ask. Indeed. Sock Wars is the challenge set for all those sock knitters among you. The premise is quite simple: interested knitters register to participate, they are given details of a yarn and desired gauge, on a set date they will receive a sock pattern and the name and required size of a fellow participant. The challenge is to knit a pair of socks for that person as quick as possible and send it to them, once they receive your socks they are knocked out of the competition and must send you their uncompleted socks and target name for you to complete and similarly remove from the competition. However, while you're doing this, there is also another knitter out there with your name and a pair of socks in progress. Everyone ends up with a pair of socks knitted by someone else and the overall winner receives knitting-related prizes. There are several participants from Edinburgh this year and they've formed Team City Knitty to cheer each other on and share progress. So we'll be reporting on the Team City Knitty news in this blog. Good luck to all of them! For more info, see the Sock Wars website:
http://yarn-monkey.blogspot.com/

Socks featured prominently this week as a long grey ribbed pair for a husband. a sock swatch for the Sock Wars challenge and a first ever pair of knitted socks reached the heel flap. There was plenty more to appreciate though: a red and black striped jumper with a different stitch pattern on each side to give the wearer a choice, a lovely light slivery-grey bolero jacket for a baby, a black shawl with a simply lacey pattern and a new knitter practising her first stitches on yarn found at a local charity shop.

Here's to bringing the excitement to knitting!


Clare

Small, but wonderful...

There were lots of little objects being knit tonight, although being small definitely didn't rule out being complex in some cases. There was a sock in self-patterning yarn with brown, white and dark blue, little garter stitch squares for a baby blanket, a crocheted hat in a chunky grey-creamy-reddish kind of yarn and a nice neat row of double chain crochet stitches made for the first time. There were also some little creatures taking shape on the needles; the Knitted Torus project continues with the beginnings of a badger, and also in its infant stages was a knitted mouse - a Sirdar pattern that may actually be the sweetest knitting pattern in existence ever. The whole table was reduced to high-pitched "Aw" noises when confronted with the cover picture depicting a scene filled with knitted mice in varied and multi-colour attire. It was simply adorable.

May the only mice in your home be knitted!

Clare