KCG Convention

People are going to get the impression that I spend all my time on crochet retreats, which alas is not the case! Anyway, it was the turn of the annual KCG AGM and convention. This time it was in a hotel in Eastwood, which is in Nottinghamshire. It was a rather slow drive up the M1 - I think I'd missed any signs of an actual accident, but the traffic was still bunching up. I was absolutely shattered and it was hard work concentrating - so much so, that I checked in and attempted an hour's nap before the welcome talk. The dinner buffet was rather nice, as it was served in the room we had to ourselves. After dinner, I decided to skip the show and tell (which is always really good) and go straight to bed, even though I had finally added a button to the crochet jacket I'd intended to show off. My room was a good ten minute trek away - very handy for the carpark and lovely and quiet. I slept for 10 hours, so I guess I needed it!

After breakfast, we had a talk about the healing power of knitting (and crochet) by two psychologists, which was very interesting - a pity the AV decided not to play along for the first twenty minutes! After a quick coffee break, the AGM part went quickly, and after lunch I headed upstairs for my first workshop, which was crocheted cables. As always, it's very hard to pick a workshop - I would probably have been happy in any of them! More IT issues, as Lindy's live camera decided it only wanted to do stills. Eventually, a reboot sorted it out. We had a go at 1x1, 2x2 and 3x3 cables; the latter involves some poking about in holes but looks really good when finished. She also gave us a scarf pattern, something I may aspire to in the future. 

After trekking back to my room, I was a bit too late for the second talk of the day, so decided to try out the pool and sauna areas, which were pleasantly quiet - just a few other "naughty knitters" in there! After another trek back (to dry my hair) it was time for dinner. Again, most of us went to bed after that, it being 9pm. I didn't sleep quite so well, getting too hot in the night, and had a weird dream about discovering a frog and then a weird high-speed slug in my mother's bedroom. Why can I never have nice dreams any more?! Pah...

I had taken a shawl project (glimmer shawl) that I started in 2015 to work on. I'm currently adding a knitted sawtooth edging. Alas, it took 3 attempts to get the first row right, and then everything went wrong on the 2nd row. Thank goodness for lifelines - now I remember why it's been on pause for so long, it's not TV knitting, it's "sit in a quiet room with no interruptions" knitting. So the two rows got frogged, and I got precisely nowhere with it. Oh well - I knew it was a stretch!

On Sunday, the hotel had been somewhat taken over by young footballers, so there was a bit of a queue for breakfast. My second workshop was a two-colour crochet technique which I'd not come across before. One always starts from the right hand end, always works on the right side, and works dcs into the back loop only of stitches one wants to "hide", and works trs into the front loop of the row below for colours one wants to see at the back - you alternate between the two colours in use. Although I missed the 2nd row, I managed to do one row of crosses. You do ordinary dcs and a chain space at either end, which gives you something to chain into later and add a border to. I really liked this as a technique, and the tutor had brought an amazing colourful blanket to show off the technique. Not sure what I'll do with this sample, as currently it looks like a bookmark for a giant. 

After a short break, we had a talk by Ailsa Stephens, one of the "Game of Wool" finalists. She was lovely, and it sounds as if the show could have been cut rather better than it was. Then lunch, closing remarks and a raffle - I deliberately failed to buy a ticket because I'm trying not to gain more items, though the Kendal Mint Cake did look nice! We headed home directly after the raffle, and made great time. I was back at home by 5pm, and Greg had done two coats of paint on the bedroom ceiling, and two on the walls, and had planned a BBQ (men and fire again?!). Just a few minor bits to touch up this week and we can start glossing. 

A really lovely weekend, an excellent venue, and it's inspired me to get another project or two on the go. Apparently the optimum number is 10?!

Current mood: inspired

Crochet retreat: the photos

Windspinner and an early stage of some projects

Cat keyring and paperweight

Coaster - a bit buckled!

The mini bag a bit further along

This strip was made in the round, I steeked it and applied the turquoise

Finished crochet jacket, not a great picture!

Labyrinth at dawn

There are more small items in various unfinished states, but these are what I managed to photograph this morning.

Crochet retreat in London

So if it wasn't already obvious from the dearth of posts here, I've been in a bit of a mental funk craft-wise this year. It's not that I've gone OFF crafts, but that I can't seem to stick on something I want to work through to completion. This has been compounded by the fact we've had rolling heatwaves since July - in fact, yesterday broke all records for the hottest UK day ever. Working on a large pile of something yarny in one's lap, or doing a major upper body workout on a knitting machine in an overheated room, just isn't attractive when the temperatures are hovering around the high twenties. 

Anyway, I've been part of the Knitting and Crochet Guild for some time, and rejoined after a brief absence when the Guild of Machine Knitters folded and combined with them, so I sometimes get emails regarding interesting events. There's a very active club (East London Crochet Group) who often share amazing things in the quarterly guild newsletter, and they happened to have a few spare places on their annual retreat. I think they meet over Zoom now, but have been running for many years and used to meet in person. They also do a certificate in double filet which looks very hard - you make two colour squares with various designs, which can be reversible. I'm not great at fine details, so maybe that's not for me. After some prevarication - full time working comes with limited time off - I decided to take the plunge and book it. I am so glad I did! I'm also glad I took the afternoon off to get down there in the car. Leaving at 4pm would have been pushing it for time, especially as the last bit was 20mph and seemed to take forever.

The venue was a religious retreat near Richmond park, and all meals were included. Alas, no air-con in my simple room, but I was lucky enough to have a room that was in full shade all day, which helped (and there were fans available). The venue had lovely grounds to walk around in, complete with labyrinth and summer house. No TV or bar either, but I always overpack with pastimes because of my intermittent insomnia. It turns out I'm a terrible packer - I took lots of clothing suitable for ordinary UK weather but ended up mostly living in the one dress I'd taken. Also two pairs of woolly socks, but not the shoes they would go with! 

We started the first evening with a show and tell  - for which I did finally finish a crochet jacket, way too hot to wear though! One attendee brought a beautiful beaded shawl, and another a gorgeous blanket crocheted out of 4ply squares. 

The week (actually 2 full days, and two half days) is usually based around a theme, and various attendees  prepare a workshop loosely based on that theme, with a handout, for a small project or technique. We all had a large table each in the main hall, where we could spread out. The event was well organised by Nic and Rose, and I'm glad that Nic said not to try and finish everything, because that definitely would NOT be possible, even for the fastest crocheter. They also very kindly shared folders of previous years handouts, which were fascinating. I wish I'd had time to do more than browse through them. 

The workshops included making a wind spinner, starting the base of a tightly-crocheted Mexican-style rucksack, making a mini shawl in an interlocking technique, having a go at circular tunisian six-sided star which I could NOT get started correctly, and ended up making a cute cat keyring. Mine has a bit of a squint and needs the keychain adding, but is otherwise finished. There was also a bit of braid making (like inkle weaving, but thinner and we tied ourselves to things for tension). Tricia kindly did us a trunk show of some guild items of unknown provenance. Everyone was very friendly, the location had lovely grounds to walk around in, and we had the added bonus of a partial eclipse on Wednesday night. One attendee's partner brought over a home-made pinhole camera, and a lemon squeezer, and another attendee had brought eclipse viewing glasses, so we had an enjoyable time viewing the eclipse, as we had an almost completely cloudless sky, whilst finishing off crochet projects on the patio. 

The food was good and the staff were very friendly. I really didn't want to leave, not least because the car said it was 33 degrees and its air con really wasn't designed for heatwaves. But mostly because it was a lot of fun, even though it bent my brain a few times trying to count things. There will be photos, but right now it's all heaped in a bag as I was too shattered to do much when I got home last night. Thanks to all for making it such a welcoming retreat, and I might even risk public transport next year if the country isn't baking alive!

Current mood: enthralled

Some FOs and pictures from my travels

Cute crochet cactus, a birthday gift.

Single sock knitted flat, striped with two ends of sock yarn. A test knit for possible fair isle socks in the future. Yes, Second Sock Syndrome in action, it has no mate!

Belated picture - crochet and knitted hearts for Coventry hospital's palliative care unit

CSM socks made at the MKC retreat day and grafted the following weekend.

Proof that it's working, a repeating bird pattern centred on a "sleeve" sample - I'm instructing someone how to use her Passap E6000 with DesignAKnit at the weekend, and had to figure out how to use the integrated, interactive knitting feature with the Passap. Long story short, I'd downloaded a pattern to that machine with the old W10 laptop, but hadn't got it working with W11 (but it's been working with the Brother and Silver machines). It turns out that (a) my curly cord needs repairing AGAIN (repeated error 200) and (b) the Passap only wishes to communicate with the right hand USB port and not the left one. Nope, I've no idea why either! Ignore the wonky edges, I was being lazy and not fully fashioning them as I usually would. 

It appears that you first have to apply the pattern, position it, and "integrate" it into the garment piece. Then you download the stitch pattern using "integrated download" not "download" - somehow I missed that the first time. Then when you start knitting the piece, select "integrated" not "shape only". It makes perfect sense now, but my poor old brain was struggling with it last weekend. At some point in this process, the Passap will tell you if it's not happy with the design - for example, you've used a two colour double-bed technique, but selected a 3 colour single-bed technique. I've never had issues before BUT so far I've only knitted straight pieces where the pattern alignment wasn't a concern. So it was a nice learning experience for me, and as part of that I discovered there are tutorial videos on the Softbyte website that I'll be working through. 

I won't bore you with too many holiday snaps - in April, we had a short break in Hathersage, famously the last resting place of Little John (of Robin Hood's merry men), and diverted to Chesterfield on the way home. In May we did a week in Venlo, Cologne and a night in Amsterdam. As you can see, it's been a dull, damp, chilly spring! 

View from Stanage Edge. The five mile hike from Hathersage was hard work!

None of my workmates believe me when I tell them this place exists in the Peak district.

Famous twisted spire at Chesterfield, the photo doesn't do it justice. Apparently it's the weight of lead applied to a medieval wooden spire (but there are lots of legends involving the Devil as to why it's like this). 

Cologne cathedral is HUGE. Yes, the weather was as grim as it looks alas!

A visit to the Lindt chocolate museum. Worth it just for the shop (which sells other brands too! Love it!).

Current mood: impressed

Bits and bobs

I had another lovely weekend at Kegworth, where I demonstrated and made 2.5 pairs of tube socks, despite my machine going "sproing!" at one point and trying to ditch the lot in my lap. The missing sock has been knitted but is still on the machine.

This keyboard case was actually made towards the end of last year and never got photographed. Not sure why! Pattern was made up on the fly.

Hat made from trophy yarn, a true one-off. Yes, it really is that neon in person!

And finally, the unfortunate Passap cardigan. It came out too short and there's way too much material in the sleeve head for me. Otherwise there's nothing wrong with it, but I went off it before I even finished sewing on the buttons. Pity, because it's a very cheerful colour.

Current mood: awake

Holidays and continued working from stash

Well, there hasn't been much to report craft-wise because the Cog and I had a lovely all-inclusive week away at Cala Canutell in Menorca. Despite being only a 3*, it was the kind of AI I can get on board with. Self-service juices and an amazing buffet three times a day (two cases were given over to dessert, that's all I'll say!), evening entertainments, pretty good weather, daily yoga and aqua aerobics plus various activities organised around the pool area, and a useful little shop for day three when I discovered that yet again I'd forgotten to pack any socks. The TUI organised trips didn't really work for us date-wise so we took the bus into Mahon on market day, and booked a harbour cruise ourselves, and hired a car to see a bit of the island (and no doubt saved ourselves some money). They really take siesta seriously over there, so an afternoon cruise was a good idea as when we got back to Mahon town it reminded me of COVID days - everything bar cafes shut (and yes I got asked to leave a museum, yes, siesta is that serious!). All too soon it was time to come home (and I did feel for the ladies of the Manchester contingent, who got out before the power cut cancelled all flights, sans their hold luggage, and had to wear the same swimsuit as the shop only sold the one style). The only thing portable enough was the last ball of cotton bamboo, where I crocheted a heart-shaped dishcloth - alas, not yet photographed!

A ball band dishcloth

A crochet dishcloth

More good news, the colour changer that went on a little holiday after my machine knitting event at the start of June has returned safe and sound, along with my ribber box. The boxes got mixed up by mistake at the end. I am relieved, because they command silly money on Ebay! On a less happy note, himself is still between contracts and is getting increasingly antsy about being kept in limbo. Hopefully we will have good news on that front soon.

Current mood: happy

Another statue day

You know that saying, some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue? I spent a large chunk of yesterday afternoon putting the SK840 away, finding (most) of the bits that go with both ribber and main bed (and accidentally kneeling on a small plastic part that looks important, no idea what it is as yet!). The area got cleaned and dusted, I swapped out for a better machine table, and duly set up the KH260/KR260 combination, and sat down to knit. Which is about when I discovered the yarn I'd got plans for knits up much better on a mid gauge machine. Yes, I should have checked my Ravelry notes - for an engineer logic does sometimes fail me though. Ugh - a string vest in a wool/lurex mix is not the look I was hoping for. Oh well, I did a bunch of filing of magazines and patterns, so it wasn't a total dead loss, but after knitting something very holey and unsuitable, I stomped off downstairs to watch a bit of Bridgerton. A pity I was a football taxi last night, I only managed about 28 minutes! 

Today I discover that the KHC820 colour changer I took to the MK event has gone walkabout, in that it didn't come back home. Prices on Ebay range from £33 to £212, yikes! 2024 is turning into a very expensive year, let's not even talk about the impending dental work that's going on a credit card soon, or the partner who is between contracts. Bah! 

Oh well, I did finally manage to crochet a heart-shaped dishcloth last night, but only after I drew it up as a chart. So many failed attempts, it appears my ability with written crochet patterns is sorely lacking! Pictures when there are some... 

Current mood: annoyed

Interlocking crochet and other adventures...

Well, there's nothing like a friend asking to borrow a book to make you open the dratted thing and actually read it. I don't remember when I picked up "Interlocking Crochet" by Tanis Galik, but it turns out to be a fascinating foray into crocheting two surfaces that interlock but don't join up with each other (until you add a border at the end, anyway). I had great fun with the technique last weekend, although it turns out some of my struggles were down to errata in the book, and so far I've only managed this one piece. I love anything reversible though!

And yes, there are some minor mistakes in this. Not bad for a first attempt though!

In other news, I treated myself to a set of Clover Amour crochet hooks, this is most of them - I think the 5mm, a fetching royal blue, is downstairs somewhere. As himself is currently between contracts, it was lucky I had a £20 Amazon voucher towards these as it'll be the last treat I can afford for a while. I thought I'd give non-inline hooks another go, seeing as my anodised metal ones are great but make my hands ache after a while.

Finally, what does one do with leftover bamboo/cotton yarn? Make it into dishcloths, of course (I've had to throw a few lately that became a bit holey)

The more I think I know about crochet, the more I realise there is to learn. Check this out for a long list of techniques, some of which I've yet to try!

In the machine knitting arena, I'm trying to inspire myself to make something with cables on it for an event later this year, and completely failing to get magic cables working, even though I have a swatch from 2016 that proves it is possible (though it was done on a Brother machine, that might make it easier). Hmmph. I will keep trying.

Current mood: happy

Fun flowers and more finished objects

First, some fun swap items I received today. I love the FLOL group on Ravelry, this was the May flowers swap. I sent some floral-themed items to someone too!

Next up, an almost-finished (blue) beige helix. Turns out it involves the self-timer trying to take pictures of the reverse, apologies for catching my partner's "floordrobe" in shot. This was finished late last night, I just need to weave in all the ends, which will be interesting as this is a bamboo-cotton mix yarn made of many thin strands. The collar's so big (it's a big circle) that it almost doubles as a Jedi-style hood!

Finally, I present one argyle sock worked manually on the CSM (overchecks worked by hand, it involves a dental pick on my CSM and is not for the faint-hearted). Very pleased with it, even though I made it much harder for myself in terms of ends by reversing my colours for the overchecks. Matthew Hamilton's original video on youtube uses a third colour for the overchecks, which means a lot less ends to sew in later. The second sock will happen sometime mid June.

In other news, I've managed to catalogue all of the craft books I have stored in the craft room, whilst having a bit of a cull. Now just two big cases of non-craft books and a bunch of self-published ones (Mary Weaver, Kathleen Kinder) to add. The self-published ones take time because they don't have ISBN numbers of course. More car shenanigans - I got reversed into by a lorry whilst I was legally parked waiting to get into a training venue (turned out they'd moved the training, and the lorry driver didn't normally go to that depot). Minutes after I'd moved my car, someone else was parked in that spot. You just couldn't make it up. Anyway, fingers crossed I get the car back ASAP, the courtesy vehicle is a very budget affair. I dread to think what next year's car insurance looks like.

We've also been making some effort with the garden with the addition of a bug hotel, and some weeding (and extra mowing, in between the rain). The roses are blooming, despite the current weird "summer" of sunny yet chilly with sudden downpours. Today it's 16 degrees, grey and wet so the tumble dryer is the only way to get the laundry done. I think I've managed to sit outside in the garden maybe twice, and with warm clothing both times! Oh well, same old same old!

Current mood: happy

Startitis again...

This "use what you have" thing really seems to have sparked my mojo. I finished the tunisian cable scarf (pictures to follow), made a tuck scarf on the Passap from the Metbury Bitty book (still needs blocking) in that troublesome terracotta yarn (and STILL more yarn to go! Pah!). Poor Miss Swiss complained with error 200 a few times; I confess I defluffed both locks but completely ignored the beds, so that is my next job I think (it involves the hoover and some playing around with needle retainer bars, surgical spirit and oil). I've also cast on the Drops Blue Helix cardigan, a crocheted cardigan with a large star shape set into the back, except mine's stone, not blue, as it's leftover bamboo yarn from another project. Hoping it'll work up into a nice beach / summer cover up.

Meanwhile my s-i-l B taught me how to crochet two rows of UK trebles at once, yesterday, not a technique I'd heard of - though if she's using them in a garment, she prefers the look of them worked in vertical, not horizontal, stripes, as the WS and RS are more noticeably different. I had a bit of a destash and put some crochet hooks and my Denise needles up for sale on Ravelry, only because I'm no longer using them. I prefer inline hooks unless they're 3mm and under, and the Denise set is US sizes - since I upgraded to the KnitPro symfonie set (metric) I've not really needed them. 

The lace yoked sweater is drying in the bathroom and needs a light blocking. Pictures of the various things when the finished items are ready. Startitis, gotta love it! 

Current mood: energetic

Crochet and holidays

Apologies - I didn't realise it had been so long since my last post! Well, I have been away a few times - that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it! 

First up was the annual Knitting and Crochet Guild AGM. Four guest speakers, two elective classes. I took corner to corner crochet (turns out I could already do it, but never mind!) and mosaic crochet, which was definitely quite challenging. It made a nice change not being a teacher for once. I picked up some stitch dictionaries. I need to cull my craft books, I have way too many!

This scarf was inspired by the C2C class.

This scarf (upside down, sorry!) was one I started a while ago in arcade stitch.

This is my sample of mosaic stitches - the bottom one is made by working into the back loop only, then dipping into the front loop with a treble. The top one you "pre-plan" a gap using a ch space and then work into that gap a few rows later. I figured out how to do C2C in the round on the train home from my second trip (more on that later). I had to wait until I was home to get access to a multi coloured biro.

Our second trip was a three night stay in Gent. We discovered a brewery (see menu below, I love that their logo contains lots of local symbols) that we missed last time, as well as a tiny bar that sold 150 flavours of jenever (gin). We were incredibly lucky with the weather and needed sun screen, not bad for mid September. It only rained a little on the last day, and both times we were safely in place under awnings at two of the many outside bars.

Getting back to the UK came with a bit of a bump - it was wet and grey when we got back. I'm trying to resist the urge to hibernate - the nights are markedly longer already. Winter is NOT my favourite season! I made a start on a final (quite complex) cross stitch kit given to me by a friend, but already I have gone wrong. The dratted thing is 97 stitches wide when it should be 96. It might go in the bin at this rate. Pah!

Current mood: working