Some Sad News

A Message From Ann

I was so looking forward to visiting Stitching Time in Hamilton tomorrow as I had finally finished using all the wool on my lovely red, white and blue socks for my wee daughter. I have just discovered that David, the owner and avid knitter, passed away in January. He was always such a lovely, helpful and incredibly funny man who remembered me every time I went in. I just thought I would share it with the group. Anyway, see you all on Tuesday.

I know that a number of people from this group shopped there. Helen was particularly fond of the store and raved about it all the time. She described it as a candy store for knitters. Everyone who had been there also mentioned the owner who always found exactly what you were looking for even if you didn't know it. I had planned to go along at some point myself but never quite got around to it.

A Few Ideas!

Helen has sewn on the button to the preemie set she knitted a few weeks back. Here it is here with Ann using her hand to show everyone just how small it is. This is the first size. You can actually fit the little cardigan on the palm of your hand.

This is the second set she finished last week. It's still tiny but is actually one size up from the first one. Helen knitted both sets using one ball of 100g 4ply baby yarn. She thinks she might be able to get booties out of what's left. Not bad for one ball of yarn. Last night she was knitting a lovely scarf as a gift for a friend. It's a leaf scarf in a lovely shade of greeny-blue. She got the pattern from new magazine "Knitter". The pattern called for an Orkney yarn. As it would take time to get here Helen looked at the content of and tension of the yarn and was able to substitute it for Rowan kid silk haze. It's a lovely pattern and as Helen loves scarfs she plans on knitting one for herself too (Helen is not the only one since a number of us have borrowed most of her scarf patterns, lol).

Monika finished her scarf during the week and brought it in to show is. It's a lovely lacey pattern and the yarn is very soft. Monika spent last night looking through a crochet book as she has decided to give it a go next.

I was finally able to photograph something that Ann has finished. She has knitted a number of pairs of socks but she is usually wearing them when she brings them back in to show us (no one can blame her as all sock knitters in the group say they are the comfiest socks). These lovely stripey socks are for her daughter. She has enough self striping yarn left to knit up matching wrist bands. Ann finished these right before she left.

A while back Ginnie suggested that we blog about new yarns out there. Or at least interesting yarns that the group are using. Joyce has been knitting up a jumper using Sirdar Crofter DK. It caught our attention. It's a lovely yarn and the shades Joyce chose are lovely. This yarn though imitates Fair Isle. In other words you can knit up a lovely Fair Isle jumper without having to work on a complicated pattern. It's also beautifully soft and comes in many different shades. Not sure where it can be bought in Glasgow but you can purchase it from Knit and Sew and at the Black Sheep. I have bought yarn from the second online store and received it quickly. I am almost 100% sure someone from the group may have purchased items from the first site.

Helen also came up with an idea last night. She suggested that once a month we bring in our old knitting magazines, the ones we don't want and do a swap. With the credit crunch magazines might seem like an extravagance and this is a good way of still trying out new patterns. I'll email everyone with the idea and a suggested starting date if there is enough interest.

One last idea. I though maybe once a month we could profile a member of the group here. Take a few photo's and then do a Q&A. Thought it might be a good way of new members getting to know people better. We also might be able to pick up some tips from each other. Again I will send out a group email to see what you think.

Big Socks! Little Socks!

The large set of socks was knitted by our very own sock lady, Ginnie. The sock yarn she used is lovely. It's amazing that yarn can knit up like this. The first time Ginnie brought in similar socks none of us could believe that she had not had to used several different colours and a fair isle sock pattern. All you need is some lovely sock yarn and to follow a simple sock pattern. The baby booties were knitted by myself. My first pair of socks although, they are for a preemie baby.

Ginnie also knitted this lovely scarf. She knitted it up using a lace pattern. The yarn was meant for socks. However, it would knit up thicker than she would normally like. As the yarn is such a lovely colour she decided to use it on this scarf instead (I told you I would get evidence of non sock knitting, lol). It's so pretty though, how could I not show it off.

Gillian has also been busy. She started this beautiful, green, aron cardigan a couple of weeks ago now. She would have finished it long before but she ran out of yarn after knitting more than half of it. It was yarn she got quite a while back and wasn't sure if she would be able to get more. Luckily a relative found more in the shop it was originally from. Would have been a shame if this hadn't been finished.

This brightly coloured jumper and hat set was also knitted by Gillian. She knitted this for a little boy. Children love bright colours which makes this perfect. Although, thanks to Ginnie, I do wonder how this yarn would knit up as a pair of socks.
I did promise to show some preemie knitting that we are working on. Here are a few things knitted by Gillian. Two lovely little hats and a set of tiny mitts. All of which were knitted using 4ply yarn. Helen and myself were also knitting preemie items. Helen has knitted a few little cardigans and hats. I've done a hat and the set of booties shown in the first picture. A few people were asking for patterns. I did find a site that displayed free patterns for knitting preemie items. You can find it here. I am also adding the link to the blog side bar.

This photo was taken by Donna. She actually sent it to me a few weeks ago but forgot to post it here until now. This is our youngest member Adam learning to knit. Back in the day this was actually how children were taught to knit. When knitting was very much part of industry children would sit on their mother's laps as they knitted. They couldn't help but learn to knit. Soon Adam will be overtaking all of us.

So, what else was going on? I was still learning to crochet but als spent some time on preemie kniting. Ann was back after a painful shoulder injury. She was knitting knee length socks for her daughter in red, white and blue. Ginnie was onto another scarf this time using a lovely blue sock wool. Val was working on her cross stitch and Janette was knitting her jacket. Margaret had also started a jacket. Isobel was back on the baby knitting (when she wasn't giving Adam cuddles).

Baby Knits

Seems to be a lot of baby knitting just now (there is a reason behind some of it which I will go into soon). This gorgeous reversible crochet blanket was done by Donna's gran. Donna herself is attempting it in blue and white. She brought this one a long to make sure she was following the pattern correctly. It almost looks like two blankets stitched together. When you get up close though you realise that it is one blanket cleverly done.

Margaret also brought along a little Aron Cardigan set she finished the week before. This was knitted for a friend who's daughter just a had a baby. The matching hat and mittens is perfect for this horrible weather.

Margaret also finished the scarf she has been working on. It's a pattern that both Helen and Isobel have used. Margaret decided to use noro wool which gives it this colourful look. She is now working on a jacket which is again perfect for the current climate.

Janette and Val are always stitching something and here is their latest finish. This jacket was stitched by janette for a class. She is showing off her favourite side. The jacket however, is reversible and you can see the colours for the other side on the cuffs and collar. Val also stitched this jacket but in paler colours. Janette is currently working on a jacket using three different shades of green knitted together. Val is now working on a lovely cross stitch design.

The reason for some people's baby knitting is that some of us would like to knit for a charity. We thought that we could spend maybe half an hour each week knitting for this. We did talk about what we could do and we have settled on knitting for preemie babies. The plan is to knit enough and then make a drop of during the summer. The final plans have still to be arranged and a hospital in Glasgow has still to be contacted but some of us have started knitting anyway. Hopefully I will have some photo's of these tiny knits soon.

In other news we will be starting a sister group within the Borders in Glasgow's city centre. It will start on Sunday 1st March from 10am to 12am. They have kindly let us use their large table set out very near their craft books in the basement. They have even begun calling out for members for us as you can see here on their events page.

Better Late Than Never!

I have been meaning to post this all week. Sorry! Look at the beautiful wall hanging quilted by Janette. It's an African design. This photo in no way does it justice. The colours stand out a lot more on the real thing. Janette and Val had also done jackets which I will hopefully get a photo of this week. Janette continued with knitting her jacket which is more than halfway done now (in this snow she is going to need it). Val was also working on her cross stitch.

Laura also had some stitching to show off. How lovely is this? Again the photo doesn't do it justice. The colours are so much brighter in the real thing. Almost a year ago now when Laura came along to the knitting group she was working on this. She has done a lot of other projects in between (her Tunisian crochet, and a lot of other cross stitch designs). Just now she is making baby blankets using Tunisian crochet.

Lastly here is Adam, our youngest member, showing off his mums knitting. A lovely little leaf cap. It's very cute and Magdalana said it took no time at all to knit up. The original pattern had ties for underneath the cap but Magdalana left them out. I think it looks cuter without them.

The experts were out in force last week. Annie needed some advice with her knitting and so Gillian stepped in to give her a hand. I decided that I was going to learn to crochet finally even if it killed me. Luckily Carol and Magdalana were there to help out. There is always someone there to lend a hand if you are learning something new.

Before I forget to mention, Sock Lady Ginnie was knitting something other than socks again. She was in fact knitting a scarf to match the gloves she didn't knit last time. I did take a photo of her to prove to the world she has knitted something other than socks. Unfortunately you can't actually tell she isn't knitting socks because of the position of her hands. It's the last time I forget to bring my camera and have to resort to the old camera phone. Next time sock lady Ginnie, next time!