Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine's Knitting

Hi, people!

This week saw new appearances by several old favourite projects, including medieval hose, a moss stitch baby blanket, a super-foldable shopping bag, a grey jumper with nifty pink highlights, and a scarf with funky diagonal stripes.

We had a selection of adventurous new knitters too, with first attempts at scarves and socks, and an exciting collection of projects entering second iterations, including scarves with a variety of stitch patterns and sparkly yarns, an extremely cute stuffed cat(soon to be joined by more cat-friends), and an ever-expanding empire of chunky variegated scarves.

Keeping alive the spirit of experimentation, we saw experiments in basketweave stitch and a hat being knit from first principles, without any pattern at all.

We also got to play with some shadow knitting, which seems like a great way to spread subliminal knitting propoganda.

Happy Valentines day to everyone, and see you all soon :o)
Man-with-pointy-sticks Hugh.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Sunny Saturday Knitting

Well, that was nice. We met at Double Dutch, coffee, tea, and the sweetest hot chocolate on the planet was drunk. And some very nice looking food and cakes were seen at the table too.

Projects were pretty varied -

One knitter brought her loopa, so we were able to see it in action - instant gratification was the verdict,

Val was knitting a soon to be finished (provided it stays short) fluffy purple scarf,

Sally was working on her first adult sized sock, and popped out to get the guardian so we could see the Craft supplement in it today,

Sid was making a stripey hottie cover, and had brough along a copy of take back the knit she picked up in HK handknit. pretty interesting articles including one on vegan knitting and the patterns included socks for flip flops.

Jenny was working the ribbing on a hat - and the yarn was pretty amazing, blue grey fluffy stuff with splashes of silver all over. not a silver thread, but literally splashes of silver from what I could see

I was working on the 4th sleeve of the epic pullover - nearly there, just 20 rows to go! and I'd brought along a few copies of Slipknot (no don't google for it) the quarterly journal of the Knitting and Crochet Guild. Some of the pictures in it were edifying, to say the least. if even one city knitty member joins the guild, our meetups can be listed in their journal and webiste. i might just be that member.

Suzie joined us to watch and chat, and we managed to leaflet one of the employees.

We talked about stuff to do at the museum on the 18th - we think that the plastic bag knitting is going to be popular, and it looks like we'll have to draw lots to see who gets to be madame dafarge... the guillotine is going to be popular, who wants to make up the rota?

There was talk of doing the same again next saturday - 2pm, but check the yahoo group, any discussion will be taking place there.

Cheers... Alison



Thursday, February 01, 2007

These woollen ideas

Hidely-ho, knitterinos!

Another exciting evening of knitting this week, with lots of newcomers and lots of exciting new projects including a variety of scarves, from a nice mottled garter stitch to big and chunky with detours through funky diagonal ribs, and the beginnings of a black hat and a cool purse with an intricate textured pattern.

We also got to see a lovely fluffy baby jacket and a pair of stripy orange socks nearing completion.

Some old favourites made a return too, including a wavy shawl, a jumper knit on a circular needle, and a pair of medieval hose. More unconventional projects included continuing experiments with knitting ties, the beginnings of a glove puppet, a 'Pirate Queen' bag and a pair of socks for cosplay purposes.

We also learnt how to cast on Mobius scarves(special thanks to Jan for repeating the bits I missed!), and got to see the (pretty amazing) completed version of the stranded jumper from last week.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did :o)

Man-with-pointy-sticks Hugh.