Some Party!

Well, Knitting and Friday night arrived, and so did lots of cake! Here you see Ness cutting the birthday cake, with a little help from M.
We also welcomed lots of new members. (eight,I think). I can't remember everyone's names, but we will be delighted to see them all return.
A fair amount of knitting went on. So many different styles of project!
Several people ( Steenie, Amber, Jacqui, Ramona, Kat, Carla, me, and I can't remember the names of the others) went and Knitted In Public at Wellington monument on Monday. That was lovely. It was to publicise the Oxfam project, as well as Close Knit.


While we were there, we were able to get fabulous coffee from the lovely Lisa, who was running Coffee for gossip from her portable coffee bar. (You get cheek as a side order!).



On the knitting front, Steenie has reminded me (!) to post a photo of my mittens/gloves. I finished them in March, from a Rose Michelle Orne pattern. The wool is Jaegar matchmaker d.k. from Hayes.

Tomorrow 5th May wellington monument from 12 noon

Hello everyone - don't forget to come to Wellington Monument tomorrow from 12 noon, to celebrate May day and to knit and eat cake as well as enjoy some of the other attractions (music, dancing, tree decorating, woodland play scheme, Painting etc) that will also be going on. We will have the close knit gazebo up hopefully from about 12 - and all you need to do is to bring chairs/rugs to sit on - and your knitting of course. Don't forget to bring cake too - if you wish/have time!

Hope to see you tomorrow! Blessed Beltane! xx

Happy Birthday

Today is the May Close Knit, which means we have been meeting, knitting, and eating cake for a year! So, Happy Birthday, Close Knit. Also, Thank You, Ness, for setting it up.

[It's also Amber's Birthday about now]

So, tonight, come and knit. And eat more cake than usual.

Yeah baby - all done!

Here you go all! My (or rather M's) lovely new vest - my first attempt at cable! Am so proud! It was from a pattern in Knitty i think. I used a paton's dark raspberry wool mix pink yarn -reasonably cheap - from Dave's of course. Only needed 250g. I did have abit of a problem with the straps as they weren't long enough the first time - so having totally finished it I had to undo all of it (arm holes and straps as well as the collar border) and start again - but it was OK - no biggy. Anyway, hope you think it's as wonderful as I do! M loves it too - which I guess is the main thing! Hrmm - what to do next!??? xxx

My Fininshed Bag!!

I used yarn Christina gave me to knit up a Saturday Market Bag.

This fantastic bag was knit in a few days, though it took some time for me to do the finishing touches (though I tackled those in our staff meeting!). I used it for the first time last week and it held up well. I put the details on my Ravelry page, but the highlights are that I loved it. :)

I will bring it along the next time I attend a meeting. I won't be around next week as I will be flying back to the states! Enjoy the cakes for me! :)

Cables

Right. Cables. Well, you should not need to add or subtract stitches when you make cables in the design, BUT you must keep your tension even. Another must, if you want well defined cables, is that there should be at least two stitches either side of each cable that are different from the cable and the border; i.e.

5 stitches garter. 2 st. reverse stocking st. 8 st. st.st.[cable] 2 st. rev st st. 5 st. gart.st.

I hope this helps, but if it's as clear as mud, I can demonstrate at our next meeting, which is next week. Also, remember that if you are doing a main ground of something like moss stitch, you need to have an odd number of stitches to get good border definition.
Have fun!

A question re the squares and tension etc

Thanks L for all the info re the squares and tensions etc...how does it work if you want to make a pattern? For example - if I decided I wanted to cable the square, would I put more stitches on, or would it not make a difference?
Confused and unravelled
Steenie

Good reasons to knit

Finished. The little cardi whose sleeves I forgot to shape. It is also the first knitted object I have ever designed. It is in superwash double knit pure wool, from Hayes wools [of course].Made for a friend's new baby girl.
Ness and I were discussing the OXFAM squares project last night, and realised that a number of our newer knitters may be wondering how to decide on needle size and stitch numbers for each square. We will do a little workshop at one of the meetings, but for now, I suggest this;
Use double knit wool, size 4 mm needles and cast on between 47 and 54 stitches.If you are a loose knitter, try the lower number.If a tight knitter, go for the higher end. If you are still on the big size having used the lowest number, you can go for even fewer stitches or use a 3 .75 mm needle [or both if it's really big ] and, obviously, the reverse [more stitches, 4.5 mm needles] if your knitting is still too tight/small. I hope you enjoy making your square, it's such a good cause.

Got some stash?

Hello, all.

I'm looking to tackle my next project and am hoping someone might have some unwanted cotton balls to spare from their stash. I'm looking to knit a bag on 10 and 6 mm needles, and was hoping to use some wool that needs a loving home before buying some new stuff. I'm hoping to find some cotton or cotton wool mix, not too stiff type of stuff. If you have anything that you don't mind parting with, I don't mind about colour, then let me know! :)

Tea Cosy!

I am so excited to say that my teapot cosy I've been working on is now finished! I started it at our last meeting, but frogged it all in order to make it better.

I decided awhile ago that it would be fun to create a tea cosy. Having never had a tea cosy, or a teapot, growing up, I wasn't quite sure what I would be creating. I looked on the internet, and a coworker even gave me a fantastic old knitting pattern for Gollywogs and tea cosys. But that still wasn't quite what a I wanted.

I set out and found a teapot for the cosy (though most people likely go about this the other way - cosying an existing teapot). I then spent some time sketching out what I wanted to make and actually did a gauge swatch to make sure it would work. I then knit it up. And it's fantastic! It looks like a corncob (or ear of corn as people say). Just as I wanted it to. And I adore it! :) When I get the camera working, I will go ahead and take a picture. :) Until then, anyone want to come over and share a pot of tea! :)