KNITTING HISTORY

I first learned to knit at primary school at the age of six or seven.  The whole class was taught and we made a square which was to be a pot-holder.  The yarn resembled soft string and mine was a dull pea-green.  The teacher took them all home - there were well over 40 in the class - to sew in the ends but she also tested them for heat resistance and found that they needed to be sewn together in pairs to be thick enough, so only half the class got to take one home.  The teacher held each pot-holder behind her back and one of the pair chose a hand - I was unlucky but it didn't deter me from knitting.  Encouraged by my two aunts, I haven't really stopped since then.  At the age of eight or nine I knitted myself an off-white short-sleeved jumper (it had started off being white).  This is me knitting in the garden aged about 11:

My aunts were pretty hard-up but loved knitting.  They used to knit two colours together and make themselves jackets which they sewed up with sewing thread so that they could be easily unpicked.  Then they would recombine the colours and start again.  A third aunt crocheted (more about crochet to come).

Recently I've been knitting small jackets and hats for premature babies in the local hospital and, for a really worthwhile cause, vests for 'Fish and Chip Babies' - see

www.snvb.org.uk/Documents/Fish_and_Chip_Baby_pattern.pdf

Apart from clothing (and fish-hats), I've knitted all sorts.  The pictures below are the two sides of a cushion from the book 'Cushy Numbers', written by two mathematicians - see

http://www.woollythoughts.com/public.html

I've also made another cushion from their book '12 Pillows of Wisdom' for one of my granddaughters when she did GCSE Maths.   It was called 'The Other Two Sides' and is a really good demonstration of Pythagoras's theorem.

MOVING HOUSE

After 30 years in the same house in outer London, I downsized and moved to the Midlands.  Moving from a house to a flat meant disposing of a lot of furniture and deciding what not to throw or give away.  Apart from necessities I decided to keep all my sewing stuff, yarn and my long-neglected recorders.  I soon found recorder players and am now involved in several informal groups and HERO - the Heart of England Recorder Orchestra - and the local village band.

I found the Midland Arts Centre brochure which offered an embroidery course so decided to join.  It was scary at first.  The class were working on 'Trees', each member creating her own interpretation, and I was given pictures of trees, paper, scissors and paints and told to design something.  I wasn't sure that I would go back the next week but did for several years and learned almost everything I know now, including that I was creative.

This is the final result of that first attempt, which I made into a cushion.  The background is made of bits of old sheets and the trees are painted calico and old net curtaining.

Many of the others in the class were members of the Embroiderers' Guild which I thought sounded very important but I was persuaded to join.  The Birmingham branch is a thriving and go-ahead group, meeting monthly with a speaker or hands-on session, drop-in sessions at the new Birmingham Library, Saturday workshops and other activities.

MORE KNITTING NEWS

More ways to use up bits and pieces:

This jacket is my second attempt at Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'surprise jacket' using leftover double knitting yarn.  It is knitted in one piece and there is almost no sewing up.  My first attempt was rather too large but great in the winter over lots of layers.  There's a baby version too in her book 'The Opinionated Knitter'.  I've passed the pattern on to several people and have seen two lovely completed jackets.  My collection of bits and pieces is growing again and I can feel another jacket beckoning, perhaps in time for next winter.

Then I came across a pattern for fish hats and these are the first two I knitted for my youngest grandchildren.  Another great way to use up bits and pieces.  I've lost count of how many I've made.  

JAPANESE TRIPS

I've been lucky enough to visit Kyoto twice in the last five years on textile trips organised by Nancy at Kyoto Kimono (www.kyotokimono.com).  Apart from fantastic sights to see, practical workshops, shopping at a great exchange rates, particularly in 2014 for my friend Marion and me - the only English people on both trips - we visited markets to buy fabric, kimonos, obis and souvenirs as well as being inspired to sew more.  The 100 yen stores (actually 108 yen including tax) worked out at about 70p an item last year and because we paid for our trip, not including flights, in dollars we did well then too.  The weather was generally excellent (in October) and the food is a matter of taste.

We found a stall in one of the markets which sold second-hand kimonos at knockdown prices - two for about £5 on the first trip and two for about £3 on the second.  These kimonos were slightly soiled or damaged but couldn't be washed because of the two different types of fabrics used for the outside and the lining, and I am still recycling some of the fabric.  Kimono fabric is about 14" wide and the border on the picture below (wider than shown) is part of a roll of heavy slub silk.  The kimono shape is made of pieced and embroidered patterned kimono fabric and the pink background is part of the lining from the same kimono embellished with running stitches representing how the stones in Japanese gardens are swept.  I had intended to make a small quilt but, not being experienced in quilt-making, realised that the fabric was too floppy and unsuitable.

On our second trip I bought a couple of little stuffed buttons and was inspired to make the hanging below:

There are 162 (hand-stitched!) buttons each about 2cm in diameter decorated with gold or silver thread and a bead in the centre.  The design comprises parts of two Sierpinski triangles (Google it!).  (Well, I was a maths and statistics lecturer.)

HOW TO USE UP SAMPLES

I used to live in a house with a ghastly 70s fireplace which we had removed, leaving a large blank wall, so I dug around for all the bits and pieces I had accumulated over the years, made a few new ones and attached them to a piece of fabric I'd meant to do something with several years ago.

The hanging now occupies another blank wall-space and measures about 1.25m by 1.45m.  The sides of the squares are 12cm.

Here are three of the samples:

 Beaded and machine-embroidered handmade felt.

 A design from Stitch magazine  - appliqué, machine-stitching and sequins.

Hand-stitching on silk-painted fabric.

GOLDWORK

All that glisters is not gold, but gold materials are very effective, attractive and interesting to work with.   

'A' IS FOR ... 

Padded gold leather, wire, metal mesh, beads and threads on a silk background.  Sold to a neighbour who bought for his friends Ann and Andy.

A WEDDING GIFT FROM THE BRIDEGROOM'S PARENTS
Padded gold leather, wire, metal mesh and threads on a silk background.  The butterflies and date are couched gold thread.

                                                             CASKET

A constructed casket using pink grosgrain fabric, painted silk, couched gold threads, painted aluminium foil, Crunchie wrapping, beads, sequins, hand embroidery and other gold bits and pieces.  The design is based on a piece of jewellery using reflections.  It won first prize in a competition.