French Treats Day 2

Sunday started with the first workshop, a joint workshop with 'Face cloths' as the theme. A number of different textured stitches were offered and the students started to work on the stitch pattern they preferred.


Later in the morning students where asked to choose the yarn colour and beads for the lace and mittens project. The yarn for these 2 projects was one skein of lace weight alpaca yarn from Coldharbour Mills in Devon so this meant the skein needed to be re-wound. The tutors then found their true calling acting as skein swifts!!

After lunch we were taken on a trip to The Abbey of Fontdouce (Gentle Fountain) to look around and possibly find some design inspiration. There was also a music festival going on at the Abbey and during the afternoon a local chamber choir was singing at various places around the Abbey.

.

The Abbey was built in the 11th or 12th century as a monastery for Benediction monks. At one point it became a Royal Abbey but much of it was destroyed during the Wars of Religion and again during the French Revolution. It stopped being a religious centre a couple of centuries ago and became a private residence. It is still a private residence but they are trying to restore some of the old parts.

The Abbey was well known for its garden, a formally laid out garden but there weren't many flowers in bloom when we visited but I did manage to find some interesting flowers and images. When we got back to Le Vieux Monastere I also took some pictures of the poppies in the field by the property.

French Treats Knitting Holiday

My job can be very enjoyable, I'm currently sitting in the sun in France and teaching knitting. I'm at Le Vieux Monastere in south west France. When I arrived I took some photos of the site which includes a number of cottages and a swimmingpool.

I'm staying in the cottage above the workroom with 3 very nice ladies so its not far to go to work! The workroom is very nice, light and spacious.

It didn't take long to settle in and start knitting while waiting for everyone to arrive.

Once everyone arrived we were welcomed with drinks and dinner. What better way to start a working holiday.

Patchwork Jacket in Knitting Magazine January 2010

Over the years I have had a number of designs and articles published by Knitting Magazine. This Patchwork Jacket was published in the January 2010 issue along with an article about how to work the seam joins which are an important feature of the design.




The garment in the pattern was knitted in 2 strands of Drops Fine Alpaca. The Fine Alpaca is about a 3 to 4ply thickness so when it is knitted double it is about Aran weight. A number of people have asked about an alternative yarn for this design so I knitted swatches in a number of Aran weight yarns to see if I could match the tension.



These are the swatches I knitted. They are all knitted with 4.5mm needles. The light pink swatch is the original yarn i.e. 2 strands of Drops Fine Alpaca and the gauge was 36 rows and 19.5sts to 10cm. The dark pink swatch is Debbie Bliss Fez and it knitted up as 36 rows and 21sts. The black swatch is Rowan Kid Classic which knitted up as 36 rows and 21sts to 10cm.
The dusky pink swatch is Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk and it knitted up to 36 rows and 20sts to 10cm. The first green swatch is Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed which knitted to 34 rows and 19.5sts. The second green swatch was Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton and this knitted to 32 rows and 19.5sts. The cream swatch was Wendy Serenity and knitted up as 32 rows and 19.5sts and the last swatch was Rowan Felted Tweed Aran which knitted up as 32 rows and 19.5sts to 10cm.


None of the swatches exactly matched the original tension but the ones that matched the stitch tension would probably be a better match than the ones that matched the row tension.


Substituting yarns and matching gauge is an age old problem with knitting because each individual person will knit to a slightly different gauge from the next person. someone else may take some of these alternative yarns and find they match the original gauge exactly. I offer this information as a guide to possible alternatives.


When people ask me about substituting alternative yarns I always suggest that they buy one ball of the substitute yarn to start with and knit a large gauge swatch to

• check the gauge they knit against the gauge given in the pattern
• get a feel for the yarn and how it knits i.e. if they like the way it feels when knitting with it. if you are going to knit a large garment you want to enjoy the experience.
• practice the stitch pattern used in the garment. This garment has a very simple stitch pattern but if you were knitting a lace or cables pattern it is a good idea to practice it first . If you find you don't enjoy knitting the stitch pattern you have spent out a lot of money at this point if you decide not to knit the garment.

As well as people asking about alternative yarns for this pattern some people have had problems following the construction of the jacket so I will knit a small sample garment and post images of each stage if you want to follow how this garment is made.

Fairground Craft and Design Centre

Last weekend on our way back from a wedding in Gloucestershire we called in at the Fairground Craft and Design Centre at Weyhill. I have driven past the Craft Centre on several occasions and seen the signs to the Craft Village but never stopped there before. we weren't in any hurry to get home so decided to stop and were very glad we did so.

The Craft Centre consists of a number of small shops/studios covering a variety of crafts from card making/paper crafts to bespoke jewellery, hand made furniture and a chocolate shop, to mention a few of the businesses. There is also a cafe if you want some refreshments.

We visited all the shops that were open and were made to feel welcome even though we were only browsing. The last shop we visited was Fabricraft, a fabric shop that specialises in hand made bow ties where we had a long chat with the owner Lianne. As well as telling us a bit about her bow tie business and how she got started she also told us a bit about the Craft Centre.

The Centre is open 10am till 4pm Wednesday to Sunday and they also run a couple of event weekends every year. The Garden and Vintage Fair is on May 15th and 16th and the Michaelmas Fair will be 25th and 26th September. If you are in the area call in as I'm sure they will make you welcome.

Where do you knit?

I recently got back from a great holiday going from LA to Vegas via Death Valley and back again. Before going on holiday one of the lads at the film studio (Knit1 TV) suggested I should take some photos of 'extreme knitting' while I was away.

OK these photos aren't exactly extreme knitting but they do show me knitting in lots of different places that most people don't knit. The knitting I took along with me was a new project for Knitting Magazine as I needed to get started on it. It is a lace cardigan in Drops Kidsilk and Sirdar Flirt but I was just knitting the start of the lace pattern. You may be able to tell it has grown over the 8 days or so we were way.

We started the holiday in Santa Monica but I didn't get any photos there. Unfortunately we also didn't have time to go and visit Wild Fibres which is a yarn store in Santa Monica. (I'll have to do a trip of yarns stores next time I go to LA!!).

On the second day we drove to Lone Pine in the Sierra Nevadas. (The knitting and map picture was on the way to Lone Pine). The film industry used to make lots of B movie Westerns in and around Lone Pine and they have an interesting Film Museum there. There are no yarn shops but I happened to go into Elevations, a climbing and hiking shop and the shop owner turned out to be a keen knitter, particularly felted knitted bags.

The next day we left Lone Pine and headed off to Death Valley. This picture is looking towards Paramint Valley at Father Crowley's Point on the way to Death Valley. We are about 4000ft here.

Having crossed various mountain ranges and Paramint Valley here I am knitting at the top of one of the sand dunes in Death Valley. The picture is not at all staged!! That night we stayed at Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

Next day, having got up at 6am to see the sunrise at Zabriskie Point (famous film and song apparently) we drove on through Death Valley.

Another not at all posed photo of me in Golden Canyon on the way to Badwater as we drove through Death Valley.

Having been at over 4000ft the previous day I'm now knitting at 282ft below sea level at Badwater.

From here we drove on to Las Vegas.

We stayed at the Flamingo so this is me doing some knitting by the pool (which was closed for swimming) after breakfast out here before setting off for some sightseeing. We don't do gambling but we did spend $4 on the penny slots and no we didn't win anything.

We did go and see quite a few of the hotels as they are something else. We had a very nice lunch at a restaurant in The Venician with part of an opera being performed in the 'St Marks Square' where we where and then watched the gondolas for a bit!!!

The next day we drove to Hoover Dam stopping on the way to see out first glimpse of Lake Mead (and another opportunity to knit). We also called in at a yarn store called Woolly Wonders in East Las Vegas. (I would include a photo here except I can't get blogger to put the photo where I want) The shop had lost of interesting yarns and the member of staff there that day was very friendly and helpful, so if you are in Vegas it is worth going to visit.

We did the Hoover Dam tour and nearly got stuck 500ft underground as the lifts decided they didn't want to work for a while!! Luckily they did work again as it would have been a long climb back up to the top of the dam.

They are building a new freeway and the bridge is still being build as you can see. When it is finished the view from the freeway bridge will be quite spectacular.

We spent one more day in Las Vegas and then drove back to LA. We spent the last night of the holiday in Hollywood and flew home the next day. Again unfortunately we had very little time in LA so I didn't manage to get to any of the yarn stores in the Hollywood area as most of them didn't open until midday when we were on our way back to the airport.

I might get around to posting some of my other photos soon.

Stitch and Creative Craft Show at Sandown Park

I was going to write something about going to the show before the show last weekend but was too busy getting ready!! so here are some pictures of my stand at the show.

I was given a well positioned space as I was running the knitting surgery again. I also ended up with a larger space than originally planned as unfortunately another stall holder was not able to attend the show. This gave us a small 'knit and relax' area next to where I was running the knitting surgery which worked well.

My stand was in the raised area at the left hand end of the main hall which meant we had some daylight and a larger open area in front of us. The other stands in this area included the Guild of Machine Knitters, The East Surrey Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, the Lace Guild and the FLEWs Group which is a group of feltmakers. Although we weren't in with the main trade stands people did find us fairly easily as the knitting surgery was marked on all the maps and the show was not as big as in past years.

There where a lot of card making and other 'stuff' stands but there where a few knitting stands. Toft Aplacas where there with their yarn, knitting kits and finished items. I had quite a long chat with Kerry as I wanted to arrange for her to come to the studio to film for knit1.tv. Hopefully we will arrange something in the next few months. She will be able to bring fleece, yarn etc but not the alpacas so no cute animals in this film!

I also chatted to Erica on her stand Debonnaire and again asked if she would be interested in coming to film as well as she had some interesting yarns and garments on her stand

As well as having some new patterns on my stand quite a few people did pick up information about knit1.tv and the various workshops I am teaching throughout the year which was all to the good as well. Quite a few people also took information about 'Unravel' which is at the Farnham Malting on 27th and 28th February. I'm there running the knitting surgery again so hopefully this event will be as well attended as it was last year, or possibly with more people as it is over 2 days this year.

Unravel is the next big event I'm attending and I've got to get my chevron waistcoat pattern written by then so I better get back to work....

Snow and Christmas presents

We had an unusually large amount of snow this week, 5 or 6 inches, and most of it is still there making life a little difficult to get around. We did manage to get the car out of the drive to take DD back to college in Cardiff but I wasn't doing the driving!

As a result of the snowy weather I wasn't able to go to Arundel to do some more filming for knit1.tv. I'm supposed to be going again this week but I'll wait to see if the roads improve. The main roads are fine it's just getting out of our road that is a little interesting!

Anyway all this snow has given me some time to look through my Christmas presents. As usual I got quite a few knitting books (as you can see from the pictures). The 'Reversible Knitting' book wasn't quite what I expected. The stitch patterns are interesting viewed from either side but are not necessarily what I would have called reversible. They do give a lot of food for thought and when I have some time I will try out some of the stitches. The garments themselves are interesting (although not my personal style) but use some interesting styling techniques.

'Haiku Knits' is a pattern book but it does have some interesting details. 'Knits from the North Sea' has a variety of lace patterns to play with. They are used in scarf and shawl patterns but most of the patterns have charts so you can work the stitch patterns in your own design if you want. 'Noro' has information about the development of Noro yarns and some very wearable patterns. 'Swing, Swagger, Drape' also has some very wearable patterns and like many XRX books is beautifully photographed by Alexis Xenakis.

'Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys and Arans' has lots of information and traditional stitch patterns to try out. I asked for the last book 'No Idle Hands' after it was recommended by Joyce Meader (historical knitter) who said it was a great read and although I have only read the introduction it is very readable, I just need more time and fewer magazines to catch up on, then I can get on with reading it properly.