The Bath Crafting Cranny

YARN SHOP A-COMING!!

Almost feverish with anticipation...

Wool: Bath's Premier Wool emporium...a shop that is long overdue!

[POSTSCRIPT: opens start of October!]

knitted food

Knitted food has always struck me as on oddity - but sometimes it is made with such care and beauty that it almost has me wanting to knit a cauliflower or something...

Two of the best I've seen are here and here.

New BBC Show looking for Knitting Clubs

Details below! :-D

Contributor information form is here: Download Contributor Information Form

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Objective TV are producing a new BBC entertainment show fronted by award winning comedian John Bishop called “John Bishop’s Britain”.

The show will be based around John Bishop’s stand up comedy, but will also feature vox pops and mini interviews with members of the public. These will be shot in a very stylised way and will relate directly to each person’s profession or interest. Each show is based on a different aspect of British life, such as love and marriage, work, sport, growing up etc and we are looking for outgoing people to give their views, opinions and funny stories on these topics. Anyone looking to be involved does not have to be an expert – it’s more important for us to hear what a variety of real people have to say about Britain.

One type of person we are particularly keen to hear from members of a Knitting Club who might have funny stories, opinions, or views. Essentially this is a fun, comical show about Britain and we are looking for interesting characters who have something to say.

I have attached our advert for the show if you know of anyone that may be interested please feel free to forward on my details or if you have a database of knitting enthusiasts that you could send it out to that would be perfect. I have also attached our application form for anyone that you know directly that may like to be involved.

We are looking for a mix of people from all over Britain and are happy to travel to the most suitable person anywhere in Britain.

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks,

Laura

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Laura Clark - Associate Producer 

John Bishop's Britain

Objective Productions

Research student questions

Graphic design student from Bath Spa Uni with some questions. If you have the time to answer them please email them to me and I'll pass them on!

Thanks,

Jess

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I'm a Graphic Design student from Bathspa University and I am hoping if you could help me with a few questions about 'Stitch n Bitch' and making issues for a project that I am doing?
 
Firstly I'll quickly explain the project: I am looking at how to persuade makers, (groups such as yourself) to make their own clothes to keep warm.
I am interested in knitting because i have noticed a growing number of people have taken up the craft and was wondering if these makers make functional clothes for themselves to keep warm.  
 
 
- Do you make your own clothes for yourself or other people?
 
- If so why? are there more reasons behind making than just the enjoyment side for example environmental reasons, energy prices? if so please explain?
 
- When making clothes do you think about how warm and functional they will be or do you tend to focus on the fashion or both?
 
- Do you make more clothes in the winter to keep warm?
 
- Do you recycle your materials that you use? 
 
- Do you find it easy to recycle or make new clothes out of old clothes, if so do you do this?
 
- Do you encourage makers to make their own clothes?
 
 
I would also be interested on your views about knit wear and the quality of clothes in general that are in the shops:
 
 
- Do you think that knit wear in shops are thick enough to keep you warm? or do you feel that they are made thin to encourage people to buy more clothes?
 
- Do you think that the quality of hand made clothes are better than bought clothes?
 
- Do you think that by making your own clothes you would buy less clothes?
 
 
 
Thank you and it would be great if you and perhaps other members of the 'Stitch n Bitch' group could help me out, any other views or making issues would be great to hear!

Knit-a-square charity

A plea from a blog reader!

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I am currently knitting 8" squares to send to South Africa, where they are sewn into blankets for AIDS orphans. If anyone in your group is interested, here is the link to the wonderfully, informative website, created by the McDonald Family:http://www.knit-a-square.com/index.html

 

Angelbear: providing sick children with teddy bears

A request for hand-knitted bears from Melanie below - 160 bears were posted to hospitals on Monday...but plenty more are needed..!

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I recently established a not-for-profit organisation called Angelbear which is dedicated to providing sick or disadvantaged children in UK hospitals with a hand-knitted teddy bear.

Would your group consider knitting some bears for us at any time in the future at all? Although we have only been online for two months, we have already had a fantastic response and are hoping to be in a position to send the first batch of bears at the end of February. We also have knitters in the USA knitting bears currently and are achieving a minimum of five-thousand hits on the site every month thus far.
I designed the bear myself and have endeavoured to make it simple so that knitters at all stages are able to follow the pattern easily. The pattern can be downloaded for free at angelbear.org.uk or printed directly from your web browser.
I hope you will find the time to consider helping our cause and maybe sending us a few bears. Please visit the website for full details about Angelbear and our aims. I will be happy to promote your group on our site and would love some photos of any knitters who become involved in the project to add to the page also.
Thank you very much for your time,
Kind regards
Mrs Melanie A Smith

In The Loop: Knitting Now

Details of the In The Loop: Knitting Now are below: and an offer for Bath S'n'B members from the publisher...

You might have seen the photos in yesterday's Guardian. Press release is here: Download InTheLoop.

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Black Dog Publishing is proud to present its latest book release; In The Loop: Knitting Now.

To coincide with your knitting group, I would be delighted to offer you and your members a 40% discount on all orders for this title and I do hope this sounds of interest to you.

In the Loop explores the progression of knitting, a craft which has come a long way from its fuzzy image of thick socks and embarrassing motifs on Christmas jumpers. Now there are knitting groups that meet in quirky venues throughout the country, as well as hundreds of clubs and contemporary artists intent on reclaiming the craft. In the Loop maps knitting’s journey from solitary hobby for old maids to mainstream, contemporary trend.

In the Loop features essays and images that show the progression of knitting and discusses the topics of knitting in art, international knitting traditions, knitting as social activism, the oral history of knitting, and knitting technology. The book include case studies on knitting clubs, artists using knitting in their work and provides an attractive and informative review of the subject. An essential book for anyone with an interest in contemporary crafts.

Woolly Thinking Ltd

A new wool shop in the SW - hurrah! Just had an email from Nicola Woodhall (below) - details of her shop are: Woolly Thinking Ltd, 6 Clifton Arcade, Boyces Avenue, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4AA (tel: 0117 973 4444).

10% discount for meeting-attending Bath S'n'B members - see me for a voucher! :-)

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I am a small, newish wool shop in Bristol. I know I'm not too local to you but thought I'd let you know of my special offer just in case any of you come to Bristol occassionally.

I am currently giving out vouchers to people who buy something, offering 10% off your next purchase (available on yarns, wools, books and patterns).

If you haven't heard of me or don't know where to find me I am in Clifton Arcade next to Primrose Cafe on Boyces Avenue. My shop is called Woolly Thinking and I specialise in sustainable and ethical yarns.

Bath in Fashion

It's Bath in Fashion week!

I'm going to the 'Ten 1960s Fashion Designers' talk tomorrow - will report back! :-)

Shorpy

I've been reading the Shorpy blog for a while and the pics are absolutely amazing! Thought I'd share some of the crafting pics:

August 17, 1937. Joseph's coat of many colors had nothing on this unique quilt which is now being completed by Mrs. Ethel Sampson of Evanston, Ill., after six years of collecting. Parts of wearing apparel from President Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt, members of the Cabinet, diplomats and notables from all over. From Hollywood, Bing Crosby sent a tie while Mae West and Shirley Temple contributed parts of dresses. Former Emperor Haile Selassie's neckties and a linen of Windsor are also included on the quilt. Diapers from the Dionne Quintuplets are also prominently displayed.

Washington, D.C., circa 1918. Soldiers at Walter Reed,displaying their handiwork.

And, although nothing to do with crafting:

February 13, 1922. Washington, D.C. Unidentified woman, demonstrating an ingenious Prohibition-era fashion accessory, the cane-flask ;-)

 

Knit EXPO 2010 interview

Happy Easter! :0)

If anyone's planning on going to KNIT expo 2010 on the 17th April, there's a interview with Belinda Harris-Reid and Zion Lights here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0072g7g

(The knitting bit starts about 90mins in...) 

The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton

I recently watched a great BBC costume drama recently about Mrs Beeton - well worth catching (available until 22/03/10)...Anna Madeley gives a wonderful performance: looking forward to the forthcoming film about Anne Lister with her in it...

The maid knitted anxiously whilst waiting for the doctor to give the thumbs-up for Mrs B's latest baby...

I'm lucky enough to own a 1923 reprint of her 1861 Household Management and a 1986 reprint of her 1870 posthumously-published Book of Needlework: both found in a tiny, magical second-hand bookshop in Glentress. Both are beautiful reads...and the knitting patterns are hysterical! :-)

BBC Mastercrafts series

 The BBC is coming up trumps at the moment...the lastest favourites in our household are Inside John Lewis, A Band for Britain (with the WONDERFUL Sue Perkins), Eddie Izzard's jaw-dropping Marathon Man and Mastercrafts.

I've talked a little about greenwood here before, as I'm a big advocate of Tim Gatfield's Cherry Wood Project.

The other topics covered in the series: thatching; blacksmithing; stained glass; weaving and stonemasonry. A nice broad range to please lots of us. (I thought the thatching one was excellent - was gutted that the fab Kate Edwards didn't win. I hope her plans to build a thatched roof on the cob house that she building come to fruition...)

The Weaving one features Margo Selby (some of her textiles are available in Gallery Nine in Bath). There are currently fewer than 200 weavers making a living from hand-weaving in the UK...and, by the standard of the three taking part in the Mastercrafts, hopefully three more soon!

All three were astonishingly skillful (esp. when you think that all these ends (pic on left) - all 1000 of them - have to be pulled through the loom during set-up before they can even start the weaving!).

But Tref Davies was outstanding in his creativity. All the best to you for the future, Tref.

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And Leo Hickman makes me smile yet again...worth a read...

Knittery get well wishes

Kate, the blogger that cheers my day up most, is poorly - please send her your 'get well soon' wishes with me...I do miss her blog posts: a rare and heady mix of Scotland, yarn, ale and fashion (all my most favourite things) but I'm sure she'll be blogging again shortly, she sounds like the steely sort!

In the meantime, I am frogging some inherited yarn and getting it ready so that I can cast on the much-awaited knit on my list: Kate's Owl jumper pattern (pic from Ravelry on the left).

Ravelry links to Bath knitters

When I started this website up back some three years ago (wow, time flies!) the idea was to document what the Bath SnB members were knitting. This has become increasingly obsolete as Ravelry allowed us all to see for ourselves. And, so, in order to embrace the Ravelry spirit (and mostly as I either keep forgetting my camera to the meetings or getting shy and not taking any of the knits) I've included the Ravelry links of Bath knitters on the left-hand side. (Feel free to send me the link to your page if you'd like to be included!)

Happy browsing! :0)

AMERICAN BEAUTY: Art & Craft in 19th Century America

The lovely Eirlys took me to a Jazz event at the American Museum in Britain a little while back and we popped into the American Beauty exhibition...

It was wonderful stuff - and we drooled over this quilt for ages. Laura Beresford, the curator, joined us - she told us that each picture was drawn by a school child and then (an adult presumably) stitched over it. I don't think we know the precise year of its creation - but the civil war themes of some of the pictures (heartbreakingly) date it around then.

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Look out for the Museum's upcoming quilt exhibition 'Classic American Quilts' coming in March 2010!

knitting aeroplane, anyone?

Lovely stuff!

Green sheep!

Pass the antacids!

Tweed all about it! (geddit?)

This BBC series on Tweed looks fascinating...and is watchable/downloadable til the 29th...

For those of you not based in the UK, I'll write a wee bit up about it here...watch this space!

Baacode :-)

A friend told me about the Icebreaker baacode in her top....possibly the most inspired idea I've heard of all year (bar this one: stick with it, it's worth it).

You can use the code 213C3F390 to demo it and see the actual sheep ranch where the wool came from, how the fabric is made, and a video with the farmers detailing their lives and history. Fascinating stuff.

Alpaca

My, oh my. Think of this next time you squeeze a ball of alpaca yarn...it may be the softest of yarns, but, blimey, these guys are fierce...

Hope the farmer is okay....

Knit a poem!

Knit a poem? Why not.

Little bo peep

Married in one of your own fleeces?! Brilliant!

Woollen coffins!

I saw these the other day - not the cheeriest topic, I know, but I think it's really important to give it it's due consideration. John has instructions to pop me into one of these when my time comes. Below is their press release...

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WAY TO GO!  WOOL COFFINS LAUNCHED

Two British companies have got together to launch an innovative new product – woollen coffins.  The UK's leading coffin manufacturer, JC Atkinson and Son, has joined forces with Hainsworth, a Yorkshire-based speciality textile firm, to produce the new range.  The coffins will be manufactured by Hainsworth at their Leeds mill and distributed throughout the UK by JC Atkinson. (JC Atkinson and Son is committed to sound environmental approaches to all aspects of production, and were awarded the Sunday Times Best Green Company 2008 and the North East Business Award for Corporate Social Responsibility 2008.)

These beautifully crafted coffins are made from pure new wool and are supported on a strong, recycled cardboard frame.  All the materials used are biodegradable and suitable for cremation and all types of burial.  To complement the coffins a range of shrouds, accessories and matching ash caskets are available.  Both the coffin and the casket have personalised embroidered woollen name plates. 

The partnership between the two companies was formed when Hainsworth, a Royal Warrant Holder, which manufactures textiles for a diverse range of uses from pool and snooker cloth to the Queen’s Guards Scarlet, had the idea to make a coffin.  They approached JC Atkinson who as one of the leading independent coffin distributors has provided them with a ready-made route to the funeral director market.

Julian Atkinson, Managing Director of JC Atkinson said: ““This is an exciting new concept and one that brings something completely new to the coffin market. For our company, as winner of the Sunday Times Green Company Award, one of the most important things is the environmental credentials of the materials. The wool has a truly green lineage being British, natural, sustainable and biodegradable. The coffins will carry the British Wool Mark and use 100% British wool.  Recycled cardboard is used and all the materials, including the packaging are biodegradable. As the coffins are manufactured in Yorkshire, the distribution costs are minimal and there is the added benefit of boosting a local economy in a traditional manufacturing sector.

The Hainsworth Coffins range ticks all our boxes as well as allowing us to bring something new and innovative to the market. Our customers will know that, however unusual the product, it is backed by our expertise and commitment to both service and delivery.”

Rachel Hainsworth, Sales Director of Hainsworth commented: “Hainsworth has 225 years of expertise in textiles and it was a natural choice for us to partner JC Atkinson on this exciting new venture. With Julian’s respected reputation and industry knowledge, and Hainsworth’s textile innovation and manufacturing expertise we have an exciting new product with a well respected and established sales and distribution network.

This is an innovative coffin and something completely new for the alternative coffin market, but the use of wool in burials is nothing new. The Burial in Wool Act of 1667 made it a legal requirement for the dead to be buried in woollen shrouds in an attempt to boost the struggling woollen industry of the time. With the current social eco agenda, rising concerns on the environmental impact of burials and this innovative product, the industry has come full circle.”

For more information visit www.naturallegacy.co.uk

Men and their pants...

All you ever wanted to know re: men's pants...and more.

Art and crafts in Bath! :-)

Such is my discombobulation at the moment....just found this post that I had written back in May...sorry!

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There's been so much going on in Bath recently: the International MusicFest 2009; Bear Flat Artists' Open studios; Widcombe Studios open day; and the Widcombe Art Trail (and here).

I've been enjoying all of these. Wandering around this beautiful city; stopping in pubs/cafes between venues; learning about all the different media that people are working with; getting glimpses inside stunning houses; and discovering places I didn't know existed even though I walk past them regularly...

Highlights for me from Bear Flat Artists' Open Day include:

• Kate Marshall: some wonderful pottery, using the ancient firing method including fire and water (Raku);
• Esther Norman: look at those wonderful sheep!! The white wool has a sparkly undertone - I love it!; and
• Richard Lawrence: I've mentioned his work before - but you can see more of his work here...

The Widcombe Studios open day was great - wonderful to see the spaces where all the work and creativity combine...

The Widcombe Art Trail was great; highlights include:

• Timothy Richards' architectural sculptures were astonishing. I'm saving up for some of his bookends - they'd make a wonderful gift for anyone with a favourite building!;
• Antonella Scarpa-Isles and Madeleine Town had some great work displayed...but, sadly, they haven't got much internet presence... (I'm surprised at how many artists don't have a presence online <sob>...It makes it so hard if you forget to pick up their card or scribble their name on the back of a beer mat... If any artists are reading this - please get yourself a sparkly website to display your fares, even just for us to drool over...! I'd very much recommend you drop Andy Macaulay-Brook an email);
• Robert Strickland: wonderful sculptures in an equally wonderful setting. You can stay with him there as it's a B&B too I see! (Although I could have sworn I saw the house for sale recently?); and
• Suzy-Jane Tanner and the lovely Sandra exhibited their creations at Suzy's amazing house... (Sandra has been busy making the cutest dolls!)

Style on Trial

Yay, we’re in for a treat! The BBC first ran this wonderful and peculiar series at the start of the year…

Style on Trial is a curious blend of Stuart Maconie and Lauren Laverne and guests like Immodesty Blaize and Zandra Rhodes.

Things were completely bonkers for me when this was first aired and I didn’t get the chance to watch the last couple in the series, which I was really disappointed about. I am delighted that the BBC have started re-running programmes that are worthy of a second airing (like this) and not just re-runs of Only Fools and Horses…

If you didn’t get a chance to watch them the first time around then I highly recommend you find some free time from somewhere, sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy the series too. I’ll be blogging about them as soon as I finish off the posts (which have been sitting in my drafts box since February…)

…I do promise to be a better blogger from henceforth! Things have been difficult in my world for the last 18mths following the serious illness of a parent and the death of a close friend and, although neither story is mine to tell, it has been a period of incredible strain and overwhelming sorrow.

I’m identifying strongly with Fiona’s recent post about knitting when anxious…

But I am rekindling my mojo so watch this space!

Handmade09

Coming our way: I can't wait!

IKnitLinks at The Bear pub, Bath

Betsan from Stitchlinks tells me that: 'Stitchlinks and IKnit London have got together to form a Community Interest Company called IKnitLinks – the official launch will happen at the IKnit weekend. The aim of IKnitLinks is to knit together communities through knitting groups and we will be supporting groups in hospitals, GP surgeries, pubs, bars, cafes etc. The intention is to provide training and a resource for group leaders as well as communication network.

We have couple of groups up and running in the health service and the Bear Pub on the Bear Flat has agreed to reserve their sofa area for a knitting group every Wednesday night at 7pm.'

I'll be popping up next Weds - see you there...

uh-ohhhhh!

....low-maintenance sheep which do not need to have their fleeces shorn?!

World Wide Knit in Public Day

It's that time of year again! World Wide Knit in Public day encourages what it says! I'm not a public knitting wallflower, with a pair of socks on the needles permanently in my handbag for bus journeys - but this is an excuse for a group-knit.
I've got loads on at the moment so Helen and Janine are running the event: Saturday 13th June from 2-5pm. Here's their news:

'Ideally we would like to link to reuse, recycle, buy local ethic.  With this in mind, if one of you is happy to knit a project out of reclaimed material of any type for the afternoon, that would be very excellent. 

We are also planning to have a brag washing line, so if you are happy to have a knitting project featured it would be great if you bought it along.

I myself will be bringing my spinning wheel plus a selection of unspun/spun fibres so people can see natural fibres before, during and after processing.  I am also planning to bring some skeins of indie dyers such as laughing yaffle, NDS, Fybrespates to tempt people.

Janine and I shall be working on publicity but if you have a blog, facebook page, or twitter could you please push it.

If you have any questions etc in the meantime, please contact me.

Thanks and have fun

Helen'

Contact Helen here or visit her blog...

Larkhall festival 1-4th May

The Larkhall festival is almost upon us! :0)

You can get the programme here.

I'm supposed to be helping JohnBoy paint the bathroom this weekend (grooooooan) but with any luck we'll be able to sneak across to Larkhall between paint coats! On my list of Things I'd Like To See are: the Printmakers' Studio and Vicky Sanders' woodturning.

Caroline Harris tells me that she's doing a couple of workshops at the New Oriel Hall on Saturday 2nd May, which sounds great: 'Making, Doing and Mending' at 11.30-12.30 and 'Greener Spring Cleaning' at 15.30-16.30.

Also, Sue Bradley is running some knitting workshops! 'Tactile Textiles' (Saturday, 11-17.30) and 'Subversive Knitting' (Sat, concurrently at 14.00-16.00).

I'm not sure I'd be allowed to get away from the painting long enough for a workshop - but, please, if you go: take photos and write a wee summary of the workshops that can be put up here!

The Museum of Unnatural History

Etsy boom!

This brought some cheer to the reading of the news...

...and, on the theme of budgeting, here's some sage advice on being creative on a shoestring...

Singer madness!

I've seen houses for sale cheaper than some of these sewing-machines are going for!

:-S

Goodness gracious me! (via http://www.boingboing.net/)

One expensive stitch!!

ImaigImagine being paid £14 for every stitch! Golly!

Coat for a boat!

Tyneside knitters have a big job on their hands: want to help?

Sushi sock rolls!

Browsing, as I often do, Jon from EasyKnit's website, I spotted these sushi sock rolls...

How cool are these? Knitted wool that you knit into something else?!
Never again will all my needles get tangled in my yarn in my handbag; will my yarn wrap itself so tightly around my housekeys that I am rendered homeless for hours; will I curse loudly in public as my yarn ball (a) rolls in a puddle (outside wound ball) or (b) gets knotted into a never-to-be-resolved knot (centre-pull ball).

Oh, and he also now sells beeeeeeeeeautiful BFL fibre: which is going to prove VERY exciting for me...but more of that soon! ;0)

Tablecloth sans table

I think this is just perfect! But would my kittens get their paws trapped through the holes?? (Although that would swiftly teach them not to play on tabletops!!)

O-W-L-S!

Whoop, whoop! The Owls pattern is up as a PDF...thank you, Needled!! :0)
Cannot WAIT to cast this beauty on!

RRRs

I've been thinking a lot about the RRR (reduce, reuse, recycle) policy lately...it's been in the news so much lately that it's hard to avoid, really. (Although some sections of the media are, infuriatingly, choosing to resist the bleedin obvious.)

Most of it makes such perfect sense, that you may find that you can live your life adhering to the RRR suggestions without really trying...

As a nation we are lucky that most of us have the luxury of choosing whether we adhere though: aspects of the RRR lifestyle are not always cheaper...buying yarn is an expensive business! :0(

And, it has be noted that RRR and other environmental concerns are often so-called 'luxuries': if you were really poor you might not be able to 'indulge' in living your life around green issues...(even though you may have much more reason to be campaigning).

But, needlesstosay, we may notice an increase in RRR living with the current Credit Crisis (TM): sales in second-hand books are noticing a promising rise!! :0)

Needled has a great post about her year of not buying clothes. It's wonderful writing, as always. And I, for one, will be podcasting Needled's recommended BBC series: Dirty Business.

And, in this RRR vein, there is a great event in Bath tonight with Christine Bone, who has pledged to buy nothing in 2009 except food, toiletries and medicines.

{Sadly, I can't make it tonight: an extracurricular knit-group is organized at a knitter's place who is currently house-bound...but if anyone goes, please consider writing something about it here!)

Some winter cheer

Fellow knitter/publisher, Sara, forwarded this comical article to me.

A spoof...but may contain some truth! :0)

Bath knitting fame!

Blog reader Mary drew my attention to Simply Knitting Bath folk on TV today (Working Lunch on BBC2 at 12.30). If you missed it, you can view it here until 12/01/08.

Anyone who wants to skip the boring Credit Crunch blah at the beginning (I should take heed, I know, I know: but it's Monday and it's my first day back at work - so I can't face it): skip to 22 mins 55 seconds in and watch the knitting cheer with a smile from there :0)

They are chatting from Edna's yarn shop, one of the few in the Bath area (4 Brookside House, High Street, Weston BA1 4BY. Tel: (01225) 423058).

Update on the Bath knitters...

I'm making a pre-New Year's resolution - to remember to take my camera to all Stitch'n'Bitch meetings and to take notes on what people are actually working on...and then to post it all immediately...

Apologies for the rather erratic postings and content this year - it's been one of those years!

Anyway, the dust in Jess-World seems to have settled somewhat and I'm back on the ball...(well, as much as I'll ever be...)

So here's some updates! Elizabeth S has started furiously cross-stitching her Christmas cards (top left); and Betsan is making some mini stockings (right).

Celia is making some freeform ear muffs (left); and Elle is knitting a shawl (right).

I've been bitten by the Floret socks (Bronwyn Lowenthal; Let's Knit! magazine, 9, August 2008)... I've not executed intarsia before and, needlesstosay, socks may not be the simplest thing to practise this stitch on - but, hey!, why make life easy for yourself??

Helen, the two Elizabeths and I skipped over to Get Knitted on Saturday morning for a splurge and a Chrismassy knit - lots of fun to be had! I dented my finances with some Rowan Kid Classic yarn (in Smudge, mmm!) for the Bed Jacket by Jennie Atkinson (from Beads, Buttons and Lace) and some Lorna's Lace shepherd sock yarn in Flamingo. It's stunningly Pink (with a capital P), which pleased me greatly, but the best bit is that 20% of all sales of this colourway goes to breast cancer charities. I don't know of a better way to poke this disease in the eyes with pointy sticks than this.

Yarn Christmas wreaths

Ahhh, this is lovely! I've already found myself a berry one for our front-door - but...next year...

Kaffe's talk at Toppings on 13/11/08: Eirlys Penn

This year saw the curtain come down on my third decade and what a better way to celebrate than to go for G&Ts, then a talk by Kaffe Fassett in Topping & Co. (with knitty friends and wine) and then to the Raven for some ales with more friends. Oh, and have a cake made for me too!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. In honesty, I love colour, I love pattern, I LOVE polkas - but there was something about Kaffe's work that didn't sit that easily with me and I struggled to put a finger on why. And now I realise: I was looking at the work of his that I like the least. Having seen more of his work - I am smitten. Next year is officially The Year of Craft in my house and I'm already drooling over The Gift (left) and the Knot Garden Quilt.

Eirlys had cunningly remembered a trusty notepad and, as all the birthday alcohol had meddled with my memory, she has very kindly offered to write up the evening (see below)...thank you, Eirlys!

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I've had a secret hankering to be a small, servile cog in the legendary Kaffe Fassett creative needlework machine since he brought out his first inspirational book, Kaffe Fassett's Glorious Knitting (1985).

He took a fusty tradition by the scruff of the neck and shook it until its teeth rattled, making knitting seem suddenly so...well...dazzlingly exciting! Many a happy lunch-hour I spent trotting to and from a Central
London wool shop to choose one immaculate skein of tweedy Rowan yarn after another, happily dreaming my woolly daydreams before resuming the so-called glamorous day job in the publicity department of a Covent Garden publishing house. But, alas, all that I managed to create from my fabulous materials was disappointing fumblings of dubious tension and unsympathetic tone and colour: abject failures which never even made it off the needles.

Fast forward twenty years. Almost every seat in the very long, thin, endlessly shelf-lined Topping Books is taken by the time the Bath Crafting Cranny Posse (aka Geology Jess and her 30th birthday entourage) seat themselves at the back. We are some distance from the microphoned hotseat. Kaffe is on tour promoting his latest exquisite book, Country Garden Quilts: Twenty Designs from Rowan for Patchwork and Quilting and we are here to be edified.

Candace Bahouth, a friend of Kaffe's and a fellow artist, is kind enough to kick off the evening. She is renowned, amongst other things, for her extraordinarily opulent mosaic shoes (not of a wearable type, alas, otherwise) and was Kaffe's co-exhibitor at the deeply soothing Blue & White Exhibition (Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, Spring 2008). Summing up her and Kaffe's approach, Candace says: "In art we thrive rather than survive." She advises her wannabe artistic audience to simply: "Start! Start making! And stick with it! Find a space for imagination to flow." She and Kaffe both believe in not thinking too much about it, in just doing. Don't get stalled by Anglo-Saxon over-cogitation. Just start the process, she urges.

She describes the order in which to work with four memorable C-words:

Collect
Compose
Create
Celebrate

I silently regret that I've never got much beyond the "Collect" stage (I still own a lot of that wool, plus a fair amount of fabric besides), and have been cogitating way too much, for sure. Then, suddenly, it's Kaffe's turn. He is much taller than anticipated and an astonishing seventy years old now. But he still crackles with vitality, his blue eyes twinkling with incipient mischief: no wonder we all want to touch the hem of his techni-coloured robe, hoping that just a little of the magic may rub off.

He begins by saying that he's a very instinctive artist and hates being asked why he's done something in a particular way. A Channel Four producer (who made a programme to coincide with the book 'Glorious Colour') treated him as a painter, which he found very gratifying as it was exactly how he wanted to be treated, he says. He goes on to describe how he grew up in a redneck part of California which was nevertheless full of natural beauty, and lots of artists were drawn to the area; as a youngster, Kaffe identified with them. When he came to Britain in the 1960s, it was the British sense of the ridiculous that he particularly liked; by contrast, Americans can be very earnest. However, he brought with him an American sense of can-do and no-limits, and when Brits said to him: "You can't do that!" it ironically spurred him on. He'd simply go for it.

Kaffe then talks us through a selection of slides (here's some Take Home messages from them):

• Kaffe was a painter first, then took to knitting and needlepoint. When he started on quilts, he says, he was clearly not going to produce anything dull. They were going to have to be party frocks!

• Pattern is very important to him.

• His first still life was in neutrals.

• Here's a mosaic he created for his parents' restaurant in California: neutral stones, graded in size.

• He's fascinated by neutral palettes, for example the work of the Australian aborigines.

• Dots. He LOVES dots! Collected lots of dotty fabrics.

• Don't put colour against white walls: pale grey or biscuit are good backgrounds. Use a grey or camel-coloured flannel screen to build a quilt (pin it up to arrange/rearrange into pleasing pattern).

• For the colour-unsure knitter, use Kaffe's Colourscape yarn: put it on a dark background to form a vibrant pattern.

• Stripes: Brandon Mably (Kaffe's studio manager) has been knitting a lot with stripes and has his own knitting book out now. Kaffe mentioned being obsessed with the stripes on the bottom of Chinese robes: "Does anyone know what I'm talking about?" he asks. Someone in the audience does, which Kaffe says is unusual: the majority of audiences look at him blankly when he brings it up.

• He loves yellow: in Chinese opera, everyone wears yellow.

• He recommends flowers: there are so many ways to approach them.

• Byzantine crosses.

• Peruvian Connection produces good hand-knits to Kaffe's designs, with plenty of colours

• Socks: he designs wool for instant patterns (made by Regia)
  

• Cycle of Stars - title of quilt using diamonds [which Jess particularly liked].

• Kaffe's dining room has pattern everywhere. One guest asked him: "WHERE do you go when you have a HEADACHE!"

• Loves seeing where people go with his ideas; he's not possessive of them.

• Confidence is an elusive thing: was probably more confident as a young man than he is now. Feels he is frequently stumbling about in the dark.

Helen asks how he balances the constraints of the commercial world with his artistic inclinations. He thinks that's a great question and answers that when he first started out designing for knitwear he would put 200 colours in a single coat; this had to be adjusted downwards drastically for commercial purposes. He knows how to push, though, to get a result nearer to his liking; sometimes a producer will ask him to use four colours, say, and he'll counter with "How about twenty?".
But limitations can also be useful and can even stimulate some of the best designs.

Where does he begin with designing? asks someone else. He's shameless about raping the past. He was inspired by Liberty designer, Susan Collier, who was working with some old Bulgarian designs. She admitted to him that, Yes, she was copying them. But she was also reviving them, bringing them back for a new audience who would otherwise not see them. That's what Kaffe does, he says: he takes something old and makes it available. He goes for stuff that's, in his words: "fabulous, juicy and full of pizzazz". [Link to a bit of Collier Liberty 1970s nostalgia here and here.

Neil asked about Kaffe's failures and how he deals with them and Kaffe says that he's very lenient with himself. He may make a rat's nest, but at least it's a colourful one! And you too must find your creative voice. Wing out. Take chances. Stumble on some good ideas. And he also says that "that horrible thing" that you make while on direction to somewhere else shouldn't be thrown away. Someone will eventually walk into your studio, love it, and pay you a lot of money for it.

When asked what else he'd still like to do, he answers: "Scale!" He'd love to cover an entire building with mosaic, for example. And he is just about to head off to Holland to be involved in a four-storey-high quilt project.

As the talk winds up, books are purchased and many of the crafting posse hang around to get them signed and to chat briefly with Kaffe and Brandon at the far end of the shop. Brandon genially informs me that the homeknit tank-top I'm wearing (bought for a fiver a decade before in a West London charity shop, long after I'd given up hope of ever making my own) is actually a high-quality Kaffe worth up to £150. I am gob-smacked and totally delighted, but feel slightly guilty (afterall, I seem to have leapfrogged the first three stages of the creative process straight to "Celebrate"). Irrepressible Kaffe, though, is off in pursuit of his next idea. He's drawing Brandon's attention to the compelling striped patterns made by the wooden bookshelves, receding down the shop into the distance.

You can find out more about Kaffe Fassett at http://www.kaffefassett.com/

[Eirlys adds that, failed knitter though she is, she is fairly competent with fabric, needle and thread and has started a group on Facebook called the International Sewing Conspiracy, to which anyone (fabulously creative or otherwise!) is warmly invited to join. She also tweets about thrifty crafts etc on Twitter under the name of Scrapiana. Anyone wishing to contact her about a writing project (of any scale) can locate her at the office here.]

Make & Do Christmas!

This is exciting! :0)  

News of what the Bath knitters are working on will be posted shortly (in the customary code, of course, so that any passing recipients can't tell what they might be getting!)

Erica Knight in Bath

More Topping & Co. wonderfulness:

Erika Knight
Tuesday 18th November

Much respected knitwear and crochet designer and sought-after fashion consultant, Erica Knight has worked for Nicole Farhi, Whistles, Edina Ronay and Gap as well as running her own company producing designer knitwear. Erika will talk about her new book, Men's Knits - 20 handsome hand-knitted projects for men of all ages, shapes and sizes. Come along with your ideas and knitting projects.
The Bookshop, 7.15 for 7.30pm. Tickets £5 with £5 off the book. Reception.

I'm going, certainly. But in the meantime - I am all excited about Kaffe on the 13th...

A knitting challenge awaits....

...help contribute to the World's Longest Scarf...this should help the winter pass quickly!