The Bath Crafting Cranny

FibreFest2007!

This looks fabulous: sorry for the short notice! I'd love to go...but am doing the devoted sister thing and going to a Regiment thingymebob with my bro. I am promised lots of hat-spotting and sparkling wine...

Scottish yarns and other tales (and a needle of a sort)

Hello all, just back from the Edinburgh Festival and the highland wildness (where we saw The Needle on the East coast of Skye (left); other photos of Skye are here) - hopefully the hiking and fresh air of the latter counter-balanced the 5am pub closures and the deep-fried pizza of the former...

I've not been to the Festival since I was an undergraduate there six years ago - preferring to visit when it's a little less crazy - but was so glad to be there this year, for a friend's wedding and a good ole chin-wag...

Edinburgh's wool shops are surprisingly far and few between - but there's an excellent, good-value one near Haymarket station (Drummond Wools) so I often pop to that one. John Lewis and the lovely Jenners are in the centre but, whilst both have a good range, are often over-priced and pretty standard fare. There's a lovely one in the trendy Bruntsfield that has some interesting yarns: but, be warned, they're so expensive that I looked at the price list and woke up to some smelling-salts. Most other related shops sell wool-products to tourists rather than yarns for the knitter.

BUT - I did go to a great comedy gig called 'Girl & Dean'  - who knitted all their own props and were sponsored by the Laughing Hens! Fabulous! Quite hard to figure out how they knitted a lot of them though - it's hard to count rows and stitches when you're chuckling..!

Skye has a couple of wool shops. There is supposed to be a lovely one in the north of the island: but, sadly I couldn't visit as there's no public transport and it would have required a 16-mile trek in the rain (...and don't suppose it's that good!!).

But, I did find Carol's Wool in the Portree Gathering Hall. Most of her stock is synthetic fibres though - which I don't like so much - BUT she did have some lovely locally-sourced, -dyed and -spun yarn by a lady who...lives on a boat (see the blurry pics)! How I would love to have seen how she works! What a task - conducting it from a floating home! And, at only £2.70/50g, I was delighted!

Carol told me that most other yarns on the island aren't locally sourced and are only dyed on the island or are local and are dyed off-shore. (If that is the case, I'm glad I didn't make that 16-mile trek!) Interestingly, she explained why she stocks mainly synthetics: most islanders want these yarns to work with as they can just be bunged in the washing-machine. As I gently hand-wash my silk-yarn scarf, this certainly highlights the different roles knitting plays...sometimes it's easy to forget that many people knit to clothe themselves rather than just for fun...a humbling lesson indeed.

Sockophobia (exacerbated by turningheelsophobia)

Socks are scary. Something to do with the 5 needles (doesn't it look like a Chinese martial-art weapon?) and the whole heel business. Eeek.

But Helen's lovely, lovely socks have inspired me to give them a go (so if I get hooked, she will be held responsible!).

I found my first sock project from a wonderful book (the rather web-elusive 'Knitting Step-by-Step' by Quantum Books). I found it in Bath's fab Good Buy Books for a piddly £3 (AND I also got Mary Webb's 'Knitting Stitches' (right) here for a few pennies - beautiful stitches for many hours of happy playing!).

'Knitting Step-by-Step' has got a Know-How section with a section on turning a heel (on lined paper so you can scribble in any of your own notes - genius idea!): it's a pattern for simple Dutch heel (a square sort of heel) and so I proudly completed my first sock! Hurray!

I'm tackling Yarn Forward's Lace socks now (just can't stay away from lace!) to practice more complicated heels...fingers crossed. I've started it as a dummy sock in horrid 100% acrylic yarn to get the pattern right before moving to prettier yarn - but I'm not convinced this is the best tactic anymore...it's not hugely inspiring...perhaps I'll take Fiona's advice and just take the plunge with my new lovely sock yarn (left) from Laura Bobbins! I've got StitchLinks free sock tutorial on my lap if I get stuck too...toes crossed I'll have a pair of socks done by the next meeting..!

Yarn forward

The new wool tent at the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival was (wo)manned by a lovely girl called Laura Bobbins (how great if this is her real name!). She's based in Portsmouth I think. She gave me the Yarn Forward magazine with my woolley purchases...and I love it!
It's edited and published by Kerrie Allman: who also also owns MagKnits (an online free knitting magazine), HipKnits (a hand-dyed yarn company) and SewHip (a funky fabric store and free magazine).

There's lots of nice, simple and well-illustrated patterns and ideas in there. It's still somewhat in its infancy (their first issue was only published last Autumn), so it's nice to be able to support them with a subscription (and at £18 for 4 issues/yr it's a good price too!).

Knittitastic

What a happy Sunday afternoon! (Except that I'm still battling with my smoke-ring scarf...I think I might have had one glass of wine too many on Tuesday's meeting: I've got myself into a right knittiknot. Sigh.)

Fiona came to today's meeting: she's just moved to the Bath area and is knitting this wonderful Kauni cardigan (see photo): in the round with a checked garter stitch edging and a steek. You can follow her progress and see her other lovely knits here.

I'm keen to try a garment in the round - think I'm a happier in-the-round knitter on the whole and I love the idea of no seams and sewing-up... I've still got the glorious Debbie Bliss wool coaxing me to try a colourful autumnal cardi once I've got this pesky smoke-ring scarf done... (can you tell the sparkle's gone from this scarf project now? hehe..)

Griffin-tastic

When Mari dropped stitches, I lost count of what pattern repeat I was doing for the gazillionth time and Helen got more and more bored of her second sock...there were some green eyes as Elizabeth sat merrily stitching away at this!

It might seem more carefree, cheery work than knitting - but you should have seen the crazy, psychedelic chart that went with it. Eye-bleedingly complicated...and the work can take years to complete... (perhaps I'll stick with knitting for now..!)

The Knitting & Stitching Show

I'm going to the 'Knitting and Stitching Show' on the 15th September in Birmingham with Mariana! Can't wait!

I'm looking forward to seeing Hélène Soubeyran's exhibition: she says she uses 'biological, geological, pedological inspiration' for her work! Science and wool amalgamations - my favourite!

Hmm, there's an idea? I wonder if I could try and knit my doctoral supervisor a trilobite? It might be possible if it's a nice, smooth one and not like the one on the left! Any ideas?

Black Swan Arts

Sue's uncovered these workshops at the Black Swan Arts in Frome: don't they look fab!!  

I've already been lured in by the ‘Knitting Workshop’ (Saturday 13 October) and ‘Extreme Knitting with Rachel John’ (Saturday 10 November; 10am – 4pm) but the editor in me is desperate to try the ‘Bookbinding with John Jameson’ (Saturday 20 October; 10am – 4pm).

That's got to bring some mid-week cheer!

Knitty chuckle

My colleague saw this in a book review and thought we'd like it!

'Tall story

No only did postmen use stilts as a speedy way to get around; so too did shepherds. “The shepherds of the Landes spent whole days on stilts,” says Robb, “using a stick to form a tripod when they wanted to rest. Perched 10ft in the air, they knitted woollen garments and scanned the horizon for stray sheep. People who saw them in the distance compared them to tiny steeples and giant spiders. They could cover up to 75 miles a day at 8mph. When Napoleon’s empress Marie-Louise travelled through the Landes . . . her carriage was escorted for several miles by shepherds on stilts who could easily have overtaken the horses.”

THE DISCOVERY OF FRANCE by Graham Robb'.

I'm struggling to knit in itself, and there they were: staggering 10ft in the air, tending a load of baffled sheep and knitting up Fair Isle jumpers on the side. A-hem, ever so slightly humbling. You can read the full article here.)

Bath Stitch'n'Bitch Big Day Out!

 The knitting group and shop 'I Knit London' (IKL) is hosting the UK's first official Stitch 'n' Bitch Day! Hurray! It's on Saturday 10th November at the Royal National Hotel in London. Read more here! (their website will be regularly updated as things progress!)

The main reason for the event is to host the launch of the next book in the Stitch 'n Bitch series. Debbie Stoller will be making her first UK appearance to meet and greet SnB groups and sign copies of the new book, Son of Stitch 'n Bitch. She will also talk about the SnB phenomenon, host a Stitch-Doctor workshop and a fashion-show based on designs from the book.

There will be talks and workshops from other designers (including Betsan Corkhill of Stitchlinks in Bath), entertainment from DJs and Amy Lamé's Pom-Pom International, art and charity knitting projects, plus vendors selling their wares - yarns, needles, books and accessories from across the UK and further afield all under one roof! There will be a photo shoot; the largest SnB group ever assembled!

As this is first and foremost a celebration of Debbie Stoller and the SnB movement, every SnB group in the UK is offered a group discount on tickets. A minimum of 10 and maximum of 20 tickets have been allocated for every group at the discount rate of £5 per ticket (£7 standard, £9 on the day).

Payment must be made for all tickets in one transaction - IKL can't add any extra tickets to the group allocation once numbers have been confirmed: please let me know if you wish to come and I'll place the group ticket order..!

IKL would like to include some kind of display featuring work from all the SnB groups in the UK so we can supply any photos of our group or articles from any of Debbie's books that we have knitted...anyone willing to display photos of their Debbie-pattern knits?

Knit a Natty for a great cause

Wendy and Victoria Else in Matlock, Derbyshire, have organized a great campaign: 'The Knit a Natty Key Ring'. The idea is for people to make miniature knitted items to be put on key-rings and sold in order to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. All you need to know is here: Download KnitaNattyKeyRingCampaignInvitation.pdf.

I've asked if she could send us 20 or so split-rings - which would mean one evening's work for 20 of us! I'll be making some: the cause is a closely-supported charity by me (only THREE weeks to go). Please contact me if you'd also be willing to make something and I'll can give you the key-ring bits'n'bobs! Their deadline for knitted key-rings is 1st of November.

The other way you can support this cause is to purchase some completed key-rings - I can put in a order on behalf of the whole group so, again, please drop me a line if you wish to buy some!

At last...an end to hours in the changing-room is in sight...

I have been moaning on for years about being one size in one shop and a quite different one in another. Online shopping causes head-scratching as I struggle to remember which size I take in what shop. My partner can't ever buy me anything on a whim (nice excuse!) and I have to take a gazillion number of the same item into the changing-room in the hope that one of them fits... bleugh. 

This must happen to people all over the globe, men and women (although one suspects, as women generally buy more clothes, this situation is more annoying to women than men?).

More irritatingly (to weeds like me), it seems that sizes are generally getting larger: it's pretty lucky I like GapKids! And it's also lucky that my employer is relaxed about casual wear - trying to find a formal suit if you're a little person seems to be getting increasingly harder...

Worse, many shops are now stopping the production of their smaller sizes so, unless you've changed in line with the average trend, you're out of clothes!! Monsoon has now officially stopped making their hard-to-find Size 6, which was handy for those, like me, who have noodle arms.

So - it seems that now there may be a Europe-wide standardized system! Hurray! Exact hip, waist and bust measurements would be printed on labels - leading to a more exact science for well-fitting clothes. Read more about it here. Fingers, and coat-hangers, crossed.

Creative Stitches

The International Craft and Hobby Fair season begins! Looks great - I'm going to the Creative Stitches and Hobbycrafts show in Cardiff (2-4th Nov.) if anyone wants to come along too..!