Inspirational - Dream Week 2017

If anyone reading this is wondering why I haven't posted in a while, it's because I've been on holiday. One week in Centerparcs, then the last ever Dream Week (sob!), with the likes of Tony Bennett, Bill King, Erica Thomson and John Blakeman. Sorry that the competition photos aren't great, my camera wasn't too happy with the light levels in the room.


Proto-tassel and cord - Erica's class.


Logcabin on the machine - John taught two "spiral" themed classes, the other being Diana Sullivan's tam.


Gloves from the challenge yarn made into an entire outfit.


Tony Bennett's entry - bikini and poncho

It won't be running again, although we did talk about trying to organise something at another venue at some point. It will be missed, not least because it's the one week of the year I can show off my knitwear and it's appreciated!

Came back and started work on a sideways-knitted knitweave jacket - I've had to create my own graph using Knitware and the knit radar, as I could not match the gauge on my machine with that of the Karabee pattern. Having drawn it up on some paper I bought online for Lutterloh drafting, I then found some blank sheets for the KR. Oh well! So far I've done the back and 1.5 fronts. Having not done knitweave on the SK840 before, it's actually quite meditative.

I do have some finished objects to show, that will have to wait for another post.

Current mood: enthralled

Dream Week 2016

Had an excellent, if tiring, week at Metropolitan Dream Week. Lots of old friends and new faces! Alas, my first mistake was to leave my DSLR camera on the sofa, where I had been checking batteries - so I didn't take many pictures of anything I'm afraid!

I had fun with lace edgings with Clair Crowston, did some knitweave with Elaine Cater, had a workshop with Iris Bishop, and saw some lovely double bed samples by John Blakeman. I also got to play with a Passap E6000 for an afternoon. I really do need to play more with that machine, it is such a nice machine! The week started with a talk on flower pounding, rust printing and cyanotypes (look it up, it's fascinating!) and ended with a talk by Carol about wearable art and then ideas for Christmas (see below).



My sleep was poor as usual (waking too early) but at least I got a bit of early morning exercise and saw an amazing sunset over the hotel, Hunters Lodge, who were all lovely. I've written up a fuller report for the Guild magazine; when it's been published (or should they choose not to publish it) then I will post a more detailed report here. It was very warm all week so although I did have a quick go in the gym, it meant having to wash my hair which is a 25 minute investment I didn't really have time for! I'd rather have a leisurely breakfast (to chat with the others, of course!) and a quick bit of internet catch up in the morning.



I won £60 in vouchers which was immediately spent on my new favourite yarn, Yeoman Grigna, four cones - two plain colours and two mixes with white. Pretty sure I've a Clair Crowston pattern from a few years back that will work with the pink mix to knit a smart top.

After a terrible night in a boarding house in Liverpool - alas, there was a bunch of lads staying there who confused the place with student digs and treated it as such, leaving water everywhere and generally acting like 15 years olds let loose with drink for the first time. They delighted in waking the whole house at midnight, 4am and 6am, and daring each other to parade past me in very little (with a stolen bra from one of the girls they brought back). I was polite, whilst inwardly fuming. Typical Englishwoman! So I gave up on sleep and toddled off to Abakhan for a day's shirt making technique course. The tutor Celia was excellent and the shop, of which I again failed to get pictures, is two big floors of fabric, offcuts by the kilo, haberdashery and yarn. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! Alas my nearest branch is Stoke I think, a good hour's drive away. A day trip may be in order if I can just find a spare Saturday.

We did collars, button bands, and two kinds of cuffs:







That last one was a masterpiece of fabric origami. If I've any complaints, it's that I'd've done better doing the complicated one first because I was running out of brain power at this point. The pink thread is deliberately so I can see what I've done. It was a very tiring drive home, I desperately needed sleep and/or coffee.

Alas, this is half of the contents of my knitting room:



And this is the room itself:



If you look closely at the second photo, my Passap is surrounded by stuff. The only thing that's currently accessible (out of necessity) is the tumble dryer. The painting is going slowly as it takes hours to cut in (lots of corners in this room) and G has run out of paint for the second coat.

We were both shattered yesterday as G is still working on doing up his flat, so I suggested we had a day off and visited some local heritage sites. Once the weekly food shop was done, we visited Chesterton windmill:



Turns out it's a folly, built by some rich landowner and on the cross roads of various routes - he had to pay a miller to actually use it. We then popped to see the tiny church in Hunningham (so tiny we drove past it the first time, as it's hidden on a bend behind the old bakehouse) and had a quick drink in the Red Lion pub.

Current mood: tired but happy

Frustration

The UK is busy having one of its usual mediocre summers - overcast, no breeze, no sunshine, but muggy. As most houses don't have air-con over here - with such poor summers, what would be the point? - it makes for sticky times when one is crafting (or attempting to craft).

Saturday was spent running various errands - the car needs a pair of new tyres and decided to start demanding an oil change on Saturday, both of which are booked in for this week, the food shop had to be done, sandwiches bought and delivered to himself etc etc. Sunday I decided to revisit the Dream Week challenge item, the first attempt of which was almost completely hanging off the machine (it's now circling dangerously around the circular file). Made a start on a simpler garment, which had similar problems. The challenge yarn is a pretty boucle which hangs up on the gatepegs every. single. time. it is used. So anyone knitting this with a gatepegged machine (about 90% of us I guess) is going to be tearing their hair out.

Whilst I was pondering said challenging item, I thought I'd quickly rewind the Knitpicks sock yarns and make a few pairs on the CSM. Ha, folly! The yarn is nice enough but it's quite soft, and pulling the centre out of the ball resulted in three of them making such tangles of yarn vomit it took me the best part of the day to calm down enough to detangle them (and two I ended up snapping the yarn out of sheer frustration). Soft yarns produce fluff when various strands rub against each other - a student of mine called them "flufflinks" which works rather well I think. I am thinking of writing an article explaining about how I make my CSM socks, and the biggest time suck can actually be the yarn preparation itself. If I could locate lovely space dyed yarn on cone, in the correct 80-20 wool-nylon, I would do. Alas, Texere went pop, taking Jura with it (and that was a single colour anyway) so I must needs rewind balls of yarn into cakes before I can even start a sock. So it's never a case of 3 hours for a pair of socks, however effortless the fast bits (ankle and foot) might at first appear.

I managed to get them all rewound eventually, and in between I made a stripey pair of socks which I've completely forgotten to photograph. So much for the sock marathon I had planned though - by the time I'd grafted both toes it was pretty much tea time and I was all out of patience. I've ironing to do tonight, and we'll see if the current DW is going to be big enough or whether another piece needs to be knitted. My money's on the latter, alas.

Current mood: moody

Dream week photos

We learnt flat seaming with Tony Bennett - as there wasn't much time, I did the knitting but let the other ladies have the samples. My partners very kindly held the samples flat for me!





I seem to be missing a picture of the interesting faux-knitweave technique we also learned.

No pictures of Tony's smashing designs - the pictures didn't come out great anyway (people's heads in the way) and anyway they are his copyright not mine.

Then there were some braids with Clair Crowston:





Plus a neckline:



The punk/mohican hat, expertly modelled here by the other half. Main hat made from my freebie ribbed hat pattern on the Passap, the mohican part made with the challenge yarn, a brown fun fur, made as a fringe and applied with the sew as you go technique. It didn't win, but it won me an Aussie pen! Yay!



I also may have accidentally on purpose bought some fluffy yarn for an upcoming workshop. Picked up a white fluffy one from Metropolitan, but then spotted a pale blue with green from Uppingham Yarns a few days later (something discontinued).

Dream week 2015

Had another wonderful week at the Metropolitan Dream week. Did some interesting braids with Clair Crowston, refreshed my brain about holding position and saw some interesting ideas for embellishments with Elaine Cater. Tony Bennett was inspirational as always - I swear that man can make rectangles and simple shapes into anything! Also had a class with ex-Brother engineer John Blakeman about double jacquard.

My blue bamboo lace dress (terrible choice of trousers and footwear!) won me a £30 gift voucher which I used to buy some lovely alpaca yarn. My punk hat went down a storm - Tony strutted around the room with it and had us in tears of laughter. It didn't win, but it did get me a pen from Australia, courtesy of Tony. There were quite a few hats but the winner of the non-wearable category was a lovely little monkey by a lady on our table.

It was lovely to meet old friends and make new ones - the Norwegian girls were there again (hi Randi!) but we also had a visitor from Australia, and lots of folks from throughout the UK. Lovely to see some male knitters, too. I met some lovely folks whose names escape me right now (I HAVE had some red wine though!), please come say hello either here or on Ravelry where I am known as steelbreeze. The food at Hunter's Lodge was excellent as always! Only thing that spoils it for me is the raging insomnia - I suspect weight loss will help though so that's something only I can fix! It's a mentally taxing week, but physically I've been quite the slob - three course meals every night, more brekko than I usually eat (although I did stick to cereal every day) and only two quick bouts in the gym.

There ARE some photos, but I've yet to unload either the camera or the 'phone, and right now I'm too tired to move from the sofa! Will put them in the next post.

Current mood: inspired

Metropolitan Dream Week 2013

Well, the decorating has continued apiece, interspersed with another trip to Holland for work - they're bringing in a new method of using the CAD system which I needed instruction in. 

So I started packing Sunday night and had mostly nailed it by the morning - when I woke up feeling nauseous and with an upset stomach. I hadn't sleep that well, which always disrupts my tummy, but even G's aftershave was making me feel nauseous. By the time I realised it was more serious, it was waaaay too late to cancel, as the Ozzy contingent (OzLorna and Ozisim) were already on the road from London. If I'd not been going to Dream Week, I would have been home off sick anyway. We made it to the hotel in good time and I decided to skip the first lecture and stay in my room - a pity, because it was Tony Bennett from Australia (Dormani Yarns)  talking about plating which is an oft-overlooked technique machine knitters can use to stabilize unruly yarns. I emerged for dinner feeling thoroughly wretched, and managed a bit of melon, some fish and some veg, and then went back to my room. All I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep!

Tuesday I felt a little better, and I was determined I wasn't going to spend the whole week stuck in the hotel. Tony showed us some fascinating techniques using wrapping on the machine, plus how to do a flat seam to make a garment reversible. Iris Bishop talked us through her recent work, including more variations on "travelling" stitches that appear to cross needles out of work. In the afternoon Ann Baker took "Passap for the Petrified" and was surprised to see me - however, I learnt two new tricks! She lays a ravel cord after the first zigzag row when working on both beds. This cord is left in until the garment pieces are all finished, and  a tug at both ends straightens the bottom of the welt. Also she uses an orange stripper to hold down the work between the beds when she's transferring between beds and casting off. 

Wednesday Carl Boyd took sweater design. The first half an hour was rather tense, as he admitted he'd gone back on chemo that week and he was so unsteady on his feet and in his thinking that he struggled. Luckily the medications started to kick in and he explained how to calculate a jumper yourself from a tension swatch and measurements taken from a favourite sweater. The surprise lecture was also Carl, doing cut and sew. In the afternoon I had a talk on Designaknit 8 from Matthew Bragg, the programmer. Although I don't have the software I am fascinated as to how it works and it's on my list as a someday purchase (it's the price of the cables I'd need that's holding me back). Wednesday night I had about three mouthfuls of the main course, but couldn't resist the "sticky toffee eton mess". I regretted it about an hour later - when recovering from food poisoning, one must avoid caffeine, alcohol and sugar - so I was teetotal all week and stuck to herbal teas mostly. But I defy any woman to resist pudding!

Thursday it was Ann again, with some fascinating samples using a basic pattern (card 1 elongated) and various techniques, to see what the differences were. After lunch I had hands on with Iris Bishop, and made two samples. One was of the travelling stitches, needles out of work and cables (see above) and one was a kind of leaf shape with needles out of work and twisted bars (I need to photograph that one). Then Tony gave a talk on his inspirations for various garments and had us all oohing and aahing over some of his prize-winning garments. Thursday evening is always the competition night, and it was the first night I managed to do justice to the food for once (my appetite now mostly returned). I made an attempt at the Bill King cardigan earlier on in the year, planning to work on it some more, but time got away from me. It's possibly a testament to Bill's design that most folks had stuck pretty closely to the pattern. My favourite design was Bev's, brought from Oz by Ozisim, and it was an all-in-one long top in red with a black belt. It looked fantastic on Ozisim, who is very tall! Randi from Norway submitted two designs which both came second - a black one with white stripes, and a multi-coloured one. Rachel won first prize for hers which was in fun fur. The other garment was a simple evening top in four pieces - two rectangles and two sleeves. Both winners nearly didn't bring their garments because they didn't think they were good enough, so it just goes to show! I had got as far as buying yarn for this garment and had planned a probably gaudy monstrosity in black with knitweave rainbow yarns, but I suspect it would have been too much even for me! Whilst the judging was taking place, the tutors all mysteriously disappeared, only to reappear wearing various sample garments and posing like fashion models. Bill obligingly removed his wraps (made of swatches pinned to yarn like bunting) to reveal a slinky little cardigan which he proceeded to flick in someone's face like a stripper. It was absolutely hilarious and had us all weeping with laughter. 

My entry - yeah, not great is it? Model couldn't decide which way out it was, and neither could I!

Friday morning the humid/sunny weather broke and we awoke to light drizzle and a definite colder feel to the air. The final lecture was arranged ad hoc as the planned speaker missed her train - however, the remaining lecturers more than made up for it. Tony demonstrated his half-hour wrap (a kind of shawl in the shape of the Star Trek upside-down V I guess), Bill talked about his early days as a knitwear designer in London, Anne of MKM told us a hilarious tale about a past exhibition, and Iris talked about some other garments she's been working on lately. After farewells, we got back on the road and headed up to Fairfield Yarns to have a look at the millshop. The chap there sells mill ends (all unrepeatable) from various mills when they go out of business. He also makes tape yarns using repurposed shoelace knitting machines, and gave me a demonstration - they look very like automated versions of the Hague cord knitter but with a motor and pull-down wheels. He had some industrial circular knitting machines downstairs and had me fascinated and saddened with his tales of factories shut down and equipment wilfully damaged and sent for scrap. He also collects old metal shop and railway signs. I had donated some yarn to Ruddington at the beginning of the week, so my stash briefly went down a little, so I felt justified in getting some more yarn and probably "broke even". Ozlorna found her choices easy as she flies home tomorrow and has limited space, whilst Ozisim had to put a few things back. I refused to be strapped to the roof so she could buy more yarn, and although I got attacked by the odd cone later on there was still quite some room left. We had vague plans to pop into Black Sheep Wools on the way back but decided we were out of time and drove straight back out into the Manchester rush hour, hoo boy! Once we escaped that there were no further hold ups, and we got back to mine (stills sans sofa!) around 9pm for a well-deserved cuppa. Many thanks to Ozlorna for keeping us all entertained in the car, and to Ozisim for all the driving (we didn't find the handbrake until the last but one stop - fancy-pants cars, bah!). It was much appreciated and turned what could have been a disastrous week into a fun one. I'm so glad I didn't stay home! :)

One of Randy's - I loved this one!

Another of my faves, this is Bev's. Apologies for the poor picture, my camera decided to focus on a fellow knitter's arm so I've have to tweak it a lot for it to show up at all. 

The Fairfield yarn stash:

Ozisim spotted this first but graciously gave it to me - it's a mohair loop yarn and is a complete b*tch to knit on the standard gauge. But it's soo pretty! :)

Some sort of wool mix with lurex. Very pretty, but the standard gauge nearly choked on it. 

This is some sort of wool and just about knits at T9. It felt horrible knitted, but after a wash it's really nice.

Dream week 2012

I'm almost tempted to put NOT! after that title - not because I didn't enjoy the week, but because I didn't get much sleep, and the one night I did, I managed to have a nightmare about the cat going missing - I was always too hot, too cold. Ruddy insomnia - I can never get the hang of hotel beds somehow, and nothing seems to knock me out. Well, copious alcohol does, but it's not a restful sleep and anyway it wasn't that kind of event!!! Maybe it was just so inspiring that my brain refused to switch off at night?! :)

Decided to do a one-post recap this year, as I didn't have much time to put the laptop on and do a day-by-day breakdown this year.

Well, the week began with my getting to the Crewe area in good time, but then spending an hour trying to find the hotel - himself has borrowed the satnav - and eventually giving up and heading for Metropolitan. I can always find that shop, perhaps it's the yarn-radar?! The poor eyesight doesn't help, as Northwich and Middlewich look very similar to Nantwich on a signpost and all the "wiches" are in that area! It means salt flats, apparently!

The first lecture was a very interesting one about dyeing from Fiona Nisbett, a weaver, spinner and handknitter. Alas I'm not sure there were enough handouts - I did get one sheet, haven't had a chance to look at it yet. Monday night's entertainment was a magician with a difference - he explained the psychology of distraction, but we still can't figure how he made a silk hanky get from his hand into someone's handbag.

Tuesday I had Beryl Jarvis talking about mosaic knitting, and how to design a mosaic pattern and generate a punchcard pattern for it. After lunch it was alternative edgings with Anne Smith - as it was called "Cutting Edge" I have to admit I was expecting cut and sew, but it was quite interesting nonetheless. Lastly a lecture with Iris Bishop - lots of inspirational techniques. Tuesday night it was a fashion show by Clair Crowston. By all accounts, it was a little long - not sure we need to see a garment in more than one colour - but I can't really comment as I went to bed early hoping that a "run up" of a quiet read would help my sleep (it didn't).

Wednesday it was a practical with Beryl - I had decided to do a simple "skull" pattern, and amazingly managed to punch out a card first time with no mistakes (there's a first time for everything!).


Tuck (top) makes his eyes pop. Slip (bottom) is more square and precise.



I think you'll agree, the card looks nothing like a skull. Incidentally, the right hand side of that card just knits a waffle stitch pattern which is quite nice as it is! :)

After lunch, it was hands-on with Iris Bishop - she's been experimenting with DK and thicker yarns using tuck lace and knitweave.


These came out ok although personally I'm not fond of bottle green :)

Last lecture was finishing touches with Anne Smith - this I assumed would be about different making up methods, but turned out to be how to make your garment so interesting that people won't notice the finishing! To be honest, I'm pretty sure this lecture was given as a closer in 2009, when it was how to make certain "standard" cards (ie the ones that come with the machine) more interesting by adding beads, changing colours, etc. I recognised the swatches - somewhat disappointing to have it recycled, because I would have picked something else if I'd realised. Wednesday evening we had an interesting talk by Nick of Uppinghams about the process of sheep to finished garment in the industry - I wasn't going to stay, but it was interesting and informative. They leave the garments with a closed neck until after dyeing, because the machinery would chew it up otherwise.

Thursday I was scheduled for browsing time (Uppingham Yarns being in attendance), so I slipped into Bill King's dimensional knitting lecture. I knew I'd fall off the yarn diet otherwise (sorry Nick!). Bill gave a demo of how to do a short-row "wiggle" that can add interest to the Gold Star cardigan. After lunch it was a hands-on with Clair Crowston, doing alternate edge finishes that don't need a ribber - quite appropriate for me at the moment, as the KH950i is ribberless.


Top to bottom: Picot edging, "lace" with show-through, lovely ridgy edging made with lace transfers (I love this!) and scalloped edge, which looks padded but isn't!

Lost some time in this lecture as I managed to completely jam the machine at one point and Mark was called, muttering "Vandals!" :) Then it was back to Bill King for manual transfer techniques, where he demonstrated his ingenious method of doing cables without having to cross both sides - basically you leave a gap at one end and move every other cable over. Ingenious and so simple!

Thursday night was the eagerly anticipated fashion show of the garments knitted for Nick of Uppinghams. There were two bags - and 10 jumpers I think. 90% of the jumpers were a great fit - but the last one, ably modelled by Bill King - turned out to be a cropped top designed for a 10 year old girl (I was sitting next to the perpetrator!). Despite making it impossible for an adult to wear it, Bill managed it and camped it up a treat - it barely covered his nipples. Very, very funny - no idea how next year's competition will top that!



The finished jumper modelled by Nick (see above) was done on a Passap E6000 by Anne Baker. I gather she's sick of the sight of it, so you'll be seeing it at the shows. It contains fairisle of all Nick's interests. I love the little cones of yarn which have "mystery yarns" from previous Dream Weeks. Second prize went to a dark mustard jumper with an all-over garter stitch pattern.

The final lecture on Friday was a talk by Bill and Anne about the history of machine knitting, and how the HP system originated with sewing machines. Apparently Toyota knitting machines were unceremoniously pulled from manufacture when the MD's wife learnt that Toyota weren't number one in the UK market at that point, leaving Jones-Brother and Empisal-Knitmaster-Silver to fight it out. Such a pity, as they were well made and had the Simulknit feature which nobody else had. Bill also showed us an old punchcard - before they were made to work continuously - which meant a great big red STOP line! :)

Good news about the Nottingham show - Harvey Haddon sports centre is being knocked down and rebuilt over the next three years, but the show will run on 14th April 2013 at a new venue, although Alan Hunt is retiring so it will be run by Anne Smith. I hope it doesn't impair the quality of the show, although the venue is smaller so the fashion show won't happen, which is a pity.

Got straight onto the motorway after dropping some folks back to the hotel, and completely forgot to say goodbye to a few people (sorry!). Came home to a lovely bar of white choc and a bottle of wine, courtesy of himself - what a sweetie!

All in all, a very good week! Haven't rebooked yet but pretty sure I will, not least because Ozlorna and Ozism are hoping to be there too.

Got to dash off now as the 'fridge is pretty empty and it's Heritage weekend so I plan on visiting a few places for free whilst the weather is good.

More Dream Week photos here

FO: Dream Week simple shrug

Anne Brown's simple shrug pattern wowed everyone last week - it's a simple strip of knitting, approx. 800 rows, steamed and sewn in a few places. I think these would make great Christmas presents too. I panicked a bit on the day - the class notes said not a natural yarn, Grigna would be great. I'd no idea what Grigna looked like - labels fall off cones in my house - so grabbed a cone of Uppinghams baby 4ply acrylic. As it turned out, it was perfect! After knitting I got to kill it, too, which is normally only done by mistake! :)


When worn this way up, you get a waterfall collar


When worn this way up, you get a rolled collar and a split back

Dream week competition highlights

This is just some highlights of the competition garments. Ably modelled by Rachel, Tricia and Anne Brown. Bill King modelled a bow tie at the end, but my camera batteries ran out at that point so the only pics I have, had no flash. These were taken on the run in a room full of people, so apologies for the poor angles. The whole set is here








Second prize


Carol's waistcoat.


First prize (also a necklace which wasn't shown the first time)




First prize (non-wearable)


The teddy won second prize

Some Dream Week highlights - pics of Metropolitan

Warning, rather photo-heavy post, although some of them don't seem to want to show.


Vintage hand flat machine - Bill King worked on this. You operate the large lever with one hand whilst pushing the carriage with the other. Looks like quite a work-out, but the machine isn't used much and would be smoother. The knitting it produces is very fine. One of these machines is manufactured by a company with the common spelling of my surname - a knitting ancestor perhaps?


The tearoom - purveyor of coffee, pavlova, and Bailey's cheesecake, to name but a few delights!


The shop and classroom - Anne Brown of Posh Frocks between classes



The "miscellaneous" yarn room - lots of single cones here.



Two views of the museum classroom. Pig sound effects extra for free! (the pigs live right outside this room) :)


Lots of literature in the corridor, plus odd doodads for your machines.


More yarn - the new stuff is Shamal and Metropolitan Crepe, there are two more small rooms of yarn via the door


Main corridor looking towards the entrance, coffee shop on the left (with photographs of garments worn that week in the window).


Big classroom - did my hands-on classes in here.


Bill King's masterclass in the museum.