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.

Machine knitting retreat, June 2026

Post-dating this, because 6/6/26 is my blogiversary!

Well, the two day machine knitting "retreat" mentioned in the previous post went very well - hard to know whether to call it the May or the June retreat, seeing as it fell in both months. Anyway, we took over the Alexandra Arts in Rugby for two days and generated gentle, knitty chaos, fueled by lots of lovely coffee/tea and snacks. There were a few LK150s (manual machines) going through their paces, a few electronic and mechanical flatbeds being kept very busy, and at one point, four CSMs also being worked on. I managed to demonstrate DBJ after two separate attempts - day 1 producing the dreaded stripes, day 2 being much more successful. I also managed to complete a pair of tubular socks, which is 100% more than I've ever managed on previous days. 

A group shot, taken for the one lady who injured herself before the event and couldn't come. Hope to see you next year!

Beautiful hand-manipulated lace done on the LK150 - this is just a swatch!

So many ends! Intarsia on the LK150. This lady is so brave!

A hive of industry in the garden room - my CSM is in the foreground

More pictures here.

It was lovely to see old and new friends again, bond over our shared obsession for all things machine knitting, and enjoy a meal at a local restaurant on the Sunday night. I'll be running a one day event in October this year, and probably running the two day event next year with some minor tweaks. I'll drop the competition, seeing as there weren't many entries, and maybe we'll do a "show and tell" instead, because I think we'd all benefit more from that. 

Current mood:  inspired

Bling, socks and more yarn!

Well, it's been an interesting time lately. Mojo has been lacking - partly because the weather has been ick and also because of other issues which I won't go into here. I've tried to make myself available to support my partner, and when that hasn't been required, I've been distracting myself with various social events, so there's not been much crafting time. The tumble dryer started shrieking and had to be replaced - the original manufacturer conned me into practically paying for a new one over twelve months (it and the washing machine are 8). When G returned from his snowboarding trip, we cancelled it and decided to go in for a new "heat pump" one. The old one actually destroyed several shirts when we first got it, and the sensor never sensed anything, so was costing a fortune to run and doubling as heating on laundry days. Some evil git scratched and dented my car and drove off, on a week when it could have happened in quite a few places (it still being dark fairly early), so that's another bill I could have done without. The less said about trying to get rid of our old sofa before the new one arrives, the better. It's been a trying year! 

Anyway, this weekend was the annual Kegworth "Going round in circles" event. Owing to a complete oversight on my part, I'd already bought tickets for myself, Mum and sil to attend the "Sewing for Pleasure" show at the NEC on the Sunday, and they don't do refunds alas, so I could only attend Kegworth on the Saturday. It was a lot of fun to catch up with old friends and make new ones. As I was teaching a class, I didn't get time to knit anything myself, and then I packed away quite early and wished I hadn't. Anne ran a cool class on how to make mini socks, and I'm hoping I made decent enough notes to be able to make some more of these. 

Aren't they cute?! Because of the dinky size, they are knitted as flat web and then grafted and sewn up one side. She even has a method for knitting the loop for adding to a keyring. I stayed for the evening meal, which was very nice, and then hot-footed it back home to bed. Yes, I did pick up some sock yarn, and no, I'll not bore you with the pictures. 

The NEC show was also fun - this one mostly focuses on sewers (sewists?) but there are a few yarn stalls dotted about, alongside beads, printmaking, marbling, card-making / scrapbooking, and the usual oddities - a cheese stall, olives, rum, moonshine, garden furniture and clothes/handbags. Ironically I only picked up a few findings and beads, and two pairs of "harem pants" which are great for lounging around the house in. They'll also be great for holidays, should I ever be lucky enough to go on another beach holiday. 

Some bling I picked up from the Southampton Bead Shop. It was all I could do not to buy more! So much lovely stuff! 

Current mood: awake

Machine Knitting "retreat", Alexandra Arts venue, 2nd - 3rd June

Well, it was a retreat of two halves!

On Sunday the weather was kind to us for once. Everyone arrived a little flustered, because a diversion appeared overnight (and the roadworks themselves were a good 100 yards further along, because I checked them on the Monday!). In the end I ignored the diversion to no ill effect, but of course I know my home town. I started the day by doing a little crash course in the ribber. After lunch (in the sunny rear garden!) I managed to get double-bed jacquard going (after a false start that came out stripy). The building was a hive of activity all day (and I completely lost track of time!). Some of us regrouped after people checked into their hotels for a curry in town (and some did a mini pub crawl beforehand). I fell into bed at home after one glass of white wine!

On Monday, things were a little more chilled out (including the weather, alas). I attempted to make magic cables appear (but the magic escaped me), and we were treated to a demo of Designaknit in the garden room. After lunch, I gave out small prizes for best wearable and best non-wearable item. There were some interesting machine knitting gadgets and literature to buy/donate towards, and we had an garment rail with machine knitted items to have a look at (mostly mine, and somehow I completely failed to photograph those). The ladies in the bar area finally got the Toyota to produce simulknit - the verdict was the manual could be better! The ladies in the LK150 corner seemed to be having fun. Before too long, it was time to pack up and bid farewell. By 6pm I was home with a very loaded-up car. Many thanks to C for all her help with organising the event at her lovely venue (the Alexandra Arts), and thanks to everyone who came along - I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Convincing a Toyota 901 to do what you want

The LK150 corner

Genius stitch marking on the LK150

A crash course in how to use the ribber

Fun with the electronic Brothers

Competition entries - the cushion and the blue jumper with the white motif got the most votes

I love this CSM stand, a lot sturdier than mine!

Current mood: exhausted but happy

Going round in circles (Kegworth) 2024

It's always a highlight over December / January to get the invite for the annual CSM event in Kegworth - even more so this year, with our somewhat challenging Christmas. After not teaching last year, I realised that for me, I knit socks better alone, without the delicious distractions of pretty yarn, lovely people, interesting gadgets and plentiful workshops taking my attention elsewhere. But there's a place for just knitting socks if that's what you want to do, and plenty of people do just that! 

Anyway, because the Cog had managed to "book" our car before me to go on a snowboarding trip that weekend, I had arranged a hire car. After discussion with P who was travelling with me, we decided to take her car and cancel the hire because I was still able to get a refund. Unfortunately, her car developed a minor fault the following day - one of those faults that go away if you wait ten minutes - but she thought we would be ok. So we duly set off from mine at 2pm, pleased at how we'd managed to fit everything in. Alas, her car went into "limp" mode before we'd even got to the M1, so she sensibly pulled over into a layby. We tried waiting and starting, locking ourselves in and starting, and even an on-off ignition thing that was supposed to reset the computer - then THREE lights were on, not just the engine light, and it wouldn't start at all. Hubby and relations were called; the cavalry duly arrived and of course the car started perfectly (though the engine light was still on). Hubby drove us back to theirs and a hire vehicle was booked. They couldn't get to us before 6pm, so P kindly rustled up a tea of pizza, salad and very nice ice-cream (salted caramel, ooh!). The "van" turned out to be a Ford Fiesta van, so basically my old diesel Fiesta with no back seats, slightly longer doors and whited-out windows. Tiny, but we managed to fit everything bar the trolley. It was dark by now, and as it's a car I'm very familiar with, I took the wheel and we were at our destination without further incident. I think P has been asking hubby to replace the car for some time, but as he's a classic car restorer I think he's rather reluctant! The delay meant we just had time for a drink and catch up with friends, and we missed both the rush hour and the noisy cabin-crew-in-training that use this hotel for aircraft dry runs, so win-win! My other friend C wasn't so lucky; they didn't leave until half 8, and a lorry tipped over on the M1, so they didn't get to the hotel until 11pm (we went to bed at half 10). It's only a 45 minute drive when things are good!

On Saturday I attended the "how to dismantle your machine" talk by Hilary first thing, which was fascinating - my machine is overdue a good clean. At 11am I demonstrated the circular/slip ribber cast on  - lesson learned, use my smartphone in future for taking down email addresses, because I email my hand-outs as PDFs to save on printing, and there's always at least one person whose handwriting I can't read, so I got a few bounces later. After lunch, there was a short talk on the history of machine knitting by Matthew, and how to knit flip-top mittens with a gored thumb from Jo. Someone offered to buy the Dean and Bean, part way through that - I asked if she could give me a shout at the end of the talk before she left (only thirty minutes), but when I went to look for her, she was nowhere to be found! I thought it was a bit rude (especially as she'd knocked £150 off my asking price which was already £50 off from the $ price bought new, not to mention import duties), but clearly it wasn't meant to be!

On Sunday, I helped out in the "newbies" room for a bit, before reprising the circular/slip ribber cast on again. After lunch, Jo demonstrated simple fingerless mittens (with vertical or horizontal slits), and a lovely Swedish lady Lina demonstrated how she does colourwork. I managed to sell the D&B machine to a lovely lady who offered me more than the disappearing woman, so all's well that ends well. 

The hotel isn't great - the beds are hard, the pillows flat, the walls so thin that at one point I could hear the ladies on one side talking whilst also listening to someone's tv on the other side. My kettle had a hairline crack, so I ended up with some damp tea bags in a bit of a puddle on Saturday night! But I don't go for the accomodation, I go for the event; the staff are lovely and I remember quite a few of them from previous years - one even patched me up when I caught my finger on something sharp. Yes, a bit of sock yarn was purchased, plus a few random gadgets. All in all, a great weekend and I learnt quite a lot, including that the heel I work is called the "suicide heel" by some! I guess I've just been lucky with it, in that case!

Very pretty 3d printed CSM

Bill King popped up and brought a fascinating Harrison V bed

It could only be a Bill King sock - knitted for a pantomime dame, no less!

A very shiny Erlbacher!

I didn't get the make of this 3d printed machine but it looks really cool!

Current mood: exhausted but inspired

Festival of Quilts and the summer of rain

Well, I took Friday off and attended the Festival of Quilts. I think I preferred last year's layout, this year the quilts were displayed in various areas, mixed in with stalls, and in quite a maze. I didn't really want to spend £7 on a program ( I much prefer the one page freebie map and listing available at the Creative Craft show last month) so I probably missed seeing quite a lot of quilts because it was impossible to know if you'd seen everything. The good thing about this show is that the NEC does at least provide ample seating throughout - a bonus at lunchtime because the tiny cafes in halls 7-9 can't possibly accomodate everyone at once. Tired shoppers tend to go home early and make less purchases!

I resisted buying more fabric but did buy another cross stitch kit and some dichroic glass jewellery that caught my eye. 

Saturday we had planned a leisurely day wandering around Coventry, followed by a night out and a hotel stay. So of course, it rained pretty much all day - we were ducking in and out of shops. Not really the relaxing day we had hoped for! Of course now we are back at work, the sun is out - it's still a cool 17 degrees though, not at all the sort of temperatures you'd expect in August. Sunday we made a trip to a fitness store to order a spin bike (alas they didn't have the one we wanted in stock) and then a short wander around Northampton itself. The town's a bit scruffy but the museum was very interesting, an exhibition about the shoe industry and some amazing Lego models. 

Ordered some more wax stamps from an Etsy seller and not only has the wrong thing been sent, but the delivery driver (company begins with Y) dumped it at the wrong address and scarpered. If it wasn't for the local Facebook group I'd still be none the wiser! 

Current mood: annoyed

A new rabbit hole and computer woes...

First the mini rant - you'd think buying a new whizzbang Windows 11 laptop would be a joyous thing, wouldn't you? Well, I finally managed to "attend" the virtual Radiohead exhibit that my previous laptop's graphics card could not cope with. No more falling through holes into space, forever stuck and having to hit EXIT just to go back to the front door to try again. It was an amazing piece of work and the ONLY "game" I intend to install on the new laptop. No - the IT bods, in their wisdom, have hidden the ports under W11. This is a problem because a perfectly functional DAK cable, that works fine with W10 (it makes my work laptop go "bing bong" if you want to get technical), can no longer be "seen" as viable - it says there's a fault with the USB cable, the fault being that W11 is ignorant. So I cannot get DAK to talk to the Passap E6000. I discovered this quite late at night and gave up in disgust after a fruitless hour trying updates etc. Nothing about it in the Softbyte manual, W11 has yet to be invented there. I am in dangerous waters here because I only want to add ports, I don't want to become admin and end up getting hacked. So tonight's possible job is to try and get to the bottom of that mess. Thanks for nothing, Microsoft! Ironically the Silverlink box works just fine, I suspect because the SK840, being "brainless", needs a seperately powered box with RAM, and even W11 can't ignore actual electricity! Not impressed, Microsoft! Way to annoy anyone with older kit they need to run. 

On a more positive note, I spent a happy morning at Amanda's Glass Academy making a flower ornament using bullseye glass and mille fiori with a fellow WI member and a few of her relatives. Again my only problem was not putting too much on there! I've not got it back yet as they take a while to get fired. The following day (Mother's day in the UK) was also the last day of "Sewing for Pleasure" at the NEC, which also encompassed the "Creative Craft" and "Fashion and Embroidery" shows for the same price. Four of us (Mum was one, seemed churlish not to invite her when I realised what day it was!) went there in the Cog's car and had a great day, though we all ended up splitting up ultimately. Every crafter has their own private passions! J wanted to check out the high tech overlockers, Mum wanted some scrapbooking things, W was looking out for books (not many alas) and I just wanted to feast my eyes and did my usual, very OCD, up and down, so as not to miss anything. My haul? Some beading supplies plus a goody bag which contained three kits and quite a lot of other nice beady things from The Bead Selection, a rainbow necklace and bracelet kit from The Spellbound Bead Company, a fantastic tweed jacket from Manteaux that perfectly matches my current handbag (luckily for me, the last one in my size in their van), a cat and a heart wooden block and three new paints for my block printing kit. I resisted the yarn - there was one where the yarns were pettable, and one selling off the big plastic multipacks. I also managed to resist yet more fat quarters, though I did spend a good ten minutes teasing myself. Knitting-wise it was quite slim pickings, though Rachel Johns of the big needles was there. There weren't as many exhibition pieces as I'd expected, more workshop areas, and the "scrapbooking end" (Creative Craft Show) did seem a bit smaller, but perhaps that was just my imagination. I suspect the hall is the same size but the stands are further apart. One benefit of COVID, I always felt it was a fire safety nightmare in the pre-pandemic days because a lot of folks need mobility scooters and lots of folks take shopping trolleys! So it was a lovely creative weekend. I've made quite a few necklaces and some somewhat successful earrings, I made all of the kits up within a few days. Alas no pictures yet, I will work on that. Life has become even lonelier of an evening as the Cog's dad has gone into hospital in a confused state and the Cog and his brother V who lives over the road get the "night shift" of 6 to 8pm visiting. So I am rattling around the house, beading things, wondering if I really need more costume jewellery, tidying things, watching rubbish telly and getting annoyed whilst wondering why I cannot find any half-decent books on beading that explain actual techniques rather than just projects I don't particularly like! 

The Cog did me a lovely breakfast in bed for my birthday last week and had booked us tickets to the Abba show in London, which was amazing. What wasn't so much fun was being stuck on the M1 for nearly an hour because some idiot with a Bentley (and presumably another car; that was gone by the time we got to the straight section where the accident occurred) had had a nasty collision. We literally made it to the Abba venue with enough time for a comfort break but no lunch. Good job the fast 800 diet means we're fasting pros now, as there was no interval and we'd have had to climb over about 20 people twice in the dark. Not ideal! The show was great, and after a quick l'dunch, dlinner? at the shopping centre we'd parked at, we were back on the road so G could put in another night shift. This weekend we've a theatre show to go to. Dinner was also booked but is looking unlikely with all the ferrying about. My inner five year old wants to scream. Three COVID spoilt birthdays and a fourth with yet another cancelled family event - I really wish the Cog had kept it quiet so it hadn't hung over us all week. My sister is too busy to see me and caught COVID just to seal the deal. Boo and poo! As for London? Never drive, always train it. Though I was surprised that it was £6.50 each just for a return ticket for one stop on the DLR. Wow. Even our local bus is cheaper than that! The Cog did say he'd looked at hotels but it was very expensive. At least it was a sunday afternoon showing, so not too bad and as it turned out, ideal for the Cog and getting to his "night shift" 

Oh well. I am in a very dark mood because despite the change to BST my body still has no idea what timezone it's in yet. I did not manage to drop off 'til 4am after actually having a dream that wasn't a nightmare the previous night (there's always a downside). Career and work stuff upsetting me as usual.  Ugh. Pictures etc when I cheer up and take some. 

Current mood: exhausted

Big Textile Show

I had a lovely time demonstrating at the Leicester Big Textile Show this weekend - I just did Sunday along with D and J, so cannot take any credit for the stand which was very well done (I love the new sign!). I didn't make anything, just demonstrated cards with various techniques to show it's not all just stocking stitch. Bob apparently knitted a jumper for one of the organisers on the Saturday because I saw her wearing it (I'd love the pattern)! I picked up a block printing kit (something I have wanted to try for a while), some pretty handspun that will become a hat, and some arty notelets. The exhibitions (mostly in the racetrack concourse) were amazing as always. The only downside for me was as it was the first day of GMT, and I was indoors pretty much all day, my body isn't entirely sure what day it is right now! Still, that's fairly normal for me for the next five months alas...

Current mood: enthralled

Knitting and Crochet Guild Convention 2022

TLDR: a review of this year's KCG AGM and some thoughts on the funeral of the Queen. 

Well, it was a long wait to attend my first KCG convention, but it was definitely worth it. The Guild of Machine Knitters merged with the KCG before their convention in 2019, but too late for many of us to be able to attend I think as it was mostly sold out (I ended up leading a class in machine knitting). Luckily for me that year was at Warwick uni, so I didn't need to find accomodation. We were to convene in Leeds in 2020 and had to cancel our hotel bookings when COVID started to close everything down, and last year everything was done online for the same reason. 

I spent the morning packing what felt like the kitchen sink into the car - in reality, one knitting machine, one stand, a box of patterns and machine parts to donate, a big bag of garments. I think I might sell the Toyota stand on, the legs are in exactly the wrong place for the Brother clamp positions - we nearly ended up with the machine in our laps at one point! A few items I've popped onto the UK KM sales group on Facebook (which ended up not being taken out of the boot). I also packed several projects to knit on or sew up, correspondance to catch up on, the laptop, a toolbox, the DSLR which I ended up not using and my suitcase of course. Phew! I left immediately after a quick lunch and got to the venue in good time. I do need to start ignoring Mrs Garmin, the smallest amount of slower traffic and she has a tizzy and advises me to leave at the next exit, very often quite some way from the destination. The M1 was fine traffic-wise for a Friday, I wasn't in any hurry!

The convention was at the Hayes Conference Centre, which was a large country house converted into a fairly extensive conference campus. It was a German POW camp at one point, and someone commented that perhaps they were still the same beds? They were a little firm but fine by me - I was surprised there wasn't a tv in my room, but then again I had the laptop and no time nor need for tv anyway! I never sleep well in strange places for the first few nights, so holidays are always fun but exhausting and short weekends even more so. Dunno why I thought I'd need things to do, apart from knitting a few more rows on the purple poncho, I spent most of my time catching up with friends old and new. 

We all got a little goody bag containing a skein of beautiful yarn from Knit McIntosh, the proprietor James giving us a moving and passionate talk about his past issues with mental health and how knitting and colours brought him out of it on the Saturday, alongside some interesting medical information from his partner Dr Thomas Ernst FRCP. They were lovely chaps and were both wearing very lovely coloured sweaters, I never got a chance to ask what colourways as they left straight after their talk to go home, but they were gorgeous raspberry and burgundy respectively. There was also a hardback notebook to launch the KCG's new branding (the website is next apparently). We started with a lovely welcome talk and most of us got to examine the Gladys Jeskin sampler, a strip of 899 handknit samples which is so long we only managed to unwind it across four rows of the room before we had to start winding it back - it's kept on a garden hose reel and the Guild have been examining and cataloguing it based on her notes. 

I won't go into a blow by blow account of the weekend because I'm not the best witness - I was assisting Alison teaching machine knitting for both workshop slots, so I can't comment on the other workshops. Suffice to say I wish I could have temporarily cloned myself for the weekend, because they all sound amazing - 3D granny squares, tunisian crochet, cables, latvian mittens, shetland lace knitting, visible mending (we taught a tuck lace scarf using mohair, more on that later) were just day one, beginner's crochet, double filet crochet, crochet mandalas, fearless steeks, lace knitting for beginners, how to teach a craft (we taught hand manipulated techniques on the machine) were day two. My sneaky plan is to create enough machine knitters so that one day I get to attend as a punter, not a tutor! Hey, I can dream eh?

We also had a talk by Lorna Hamilton-Brown MBE, the creator of amazing magazine covers with fine gauge machine knitted intarsia - 3 rows a day for months! What patience! The closing talk was by Professor Sandy Black who did a lovely slideshow based on her new book, Classic Knits of the 80s. I do wish the days of colour would come back, we need some cheerfulness in the world right now!

Our first class went quite well - at least two students came away with mohair tuck lace scarves, and because we weren't sure about the end needle selection setting, they both got a slightly different scarf because the pattern was worked over a group of 5 needles and a single one, which would be treated as an end needle if end needle selection was activated. Some weren't quite so lucky as the mohair snapped. I think they got the idea, and the goody bag yarn would be perfect for this with more time and less pressure. The hand-manipulation class went ok but there was more to get through than we had time for. Well, there are so many techniques you COULD teach for that class, that could be a week on its own really, which is why I love machine knitting so much. 

The venue was good, the food was good (but I learnt to snaffle dessert early after missing out on chocolate orange cake) but the wonderful company and the amazing show and tells (some of which later went on to be displayed in one of the rooms) were my highlight I think. Lots of money was raised by the yarn amnesty (I resisted!) and there were lots of lovely raffle prizes, though I didn't win anything. Someone brought an entire shop's worth of crochet tools and books, so I did pick up three books on tunisian crochet (the Annie's Crochet / Annie's Attic range) because it's a technique I'd like to explore more. 

It was so lovely talking to fellow knitters after such a long time apart, and there were so many inspiring garments on display. I was quite sorry to pack up and go really, I'm sure I could happily have enjoyed a few more days in the company of such creative people. Well done to all at the Guild for a well organised event. I've uploaded my pictures here, hope you enjoy them!

Today has been more subdued, as we have been watching the funeral and committal services for her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I'll admit I was grateful for an unexpected extra day to decompress after the weekend, and during some of the procession bits between the two services, I did have a bit of a sort out of the craft room looking for some Designaknit notes. I didn't find them, but I did establish a bit more order in there than before and found lots of things I'd forgotten I'd acquired. The weather in London and Windsor appeared clement on the tv, it's turned cold and damp here since lunchtime. I got a bit tearful, watching the coffin sinking slowly in St George's chapel. I'm glad the royals get a private burial afterwards - all of the public events must be very wearing on them at this sad time. Most of us just get 45 minutes at a church, then 20 minutes at the crematorium, and the latter feels somewhat of a production line. 

Next week's job is to start tackling all the knitting stuff stored in the attic, and to get rid of things or sell them on to someone who will use them. 

Current mood: inspired yet subdued

Fibre East

Fibre East - the weather was dismal, it drizzled all day both days! Luckily for me, the KCGuild stand was indoors, where it was dry but stuffy. A lovely display of knitting "through the seasons", including a knitted four seasons pizza. Completely failed to get any photos of the stand, hopefully it will pop up on the guild website at some point.



Picked up three yummy skeins of sock yarn (the one on the far left is already part knitted up into a plain toe-up sock), some lovely buttons and two butterfly hair clips.

KCG AGM and Convention 2019

So this weekend I was mostly doing this - exhibiting machine knitting on Saturday:











Many thanks to the Leicestershire and Long Buckby machine knitters for the loan of machines, clothes rail and items for the exhibition. Also, thanks to the N and W Yorks club for their William Morris inspired blanket (first picture, used as tablecloth).

On Sunday, ably aided by the lovely Trish (standing, right hand side), I taught seven keen students the rudiments of machine knitting:



The Radcliffe centre is a lovely conference facility on the Warwick university campus. Sunday lunch was lovely, the coffee was fab and there was an ample supply of biscuits, cakes and cookies on both days. It was an honour to be invited, and I hope to see more machine knitting and machine knitters next year.

Current mood: tired - the house currently looks like a knitwear explosion. To be tidied up tonight! :)

Nottingham show and a finished object

Wow, a month or so since my last post! Well, there's not been that much to report alas...













Lots of lovely garments and yarn and things to buy. Not sure the show is as well advertised as it could be, as I'm sure there are plenty of handknitters in the Nottingham area that would have loved it.

Had a lovely natter with old friends and demoed Designaknit for Andrea of Andeeknits. I did buy a little yarn (love me some James C Brett marble chunky in blue, I am powerless to resist it!) and a "Stitch Master" gadget, which is for knitting a net behind fairisle somehow. I love a new gadget! Only downside of the whole show was that it was absolutely freezing in the hall, I almost bought some fingerless gloves and wish I'd brought my own. Was so glad to get back to the car and get the heating on. Oh, and I forgot to take my empty cardboard cones to Nick of Uppinghams,

And finally a photo of the ten stitch blanket:



I think I found the video for it here - in future I would start with waste yarn and pick up the live stitches at the start as it looks neater, and I worked mine so as to use automatic wrapping throughout. But the principle is the same. I should technically call this a hybrid blanket because I started it on the chunky and finished it on the midgauge. :) The nice thing about it is you can easily scrap it off on waste yarn at any point, work on something else, and then rehang it when you're ready.

Current mood: very keen to make time to get back to my machines! :)