Good Luck Sheena!

Our Sheena is getting married next week. Congratulations Sheena! We celebrated by giving her some vouchers. We won't tell if she decides to spend it all on yarn, honest! Sheena is also our member of the month (yep, I know it's been a while but these are still going on). I will post the interview in a few days.

Since we are planning on a sewing class soon Helen brought examples of what she is going to teach. These are Japanese bags. Perfect for little gifts.

Donna's sister just got engaged. She asked Dawn to make a card for her and once again she out did herself. Donna might actually not want to part with it. I suggested giving a photo of the card instead and keeping the real thing.

Sheena also had a finish. These are bootees she has made for Aileen. This is Sheena's first attempt at knitting.

And we also have a finished sock by Elaine. I taught her to knit socks over the Gartmore weekend with some extra lessons over the last few weeks. As Ginnie gave her, her first lesson last year it was really just a reminder. Most of the sock she did herself. She's already halfway through the second one so I will soon be able to show you a finished pair.

We also had yet another new member. Liz'z friend, Joanne, came along. She was doing some embroidery.

Growing!

We had two more baby finishes by Margaret this week. A friend in work has asked her to knit some baby clothes for her grandchild which is why she has been working on so many. This week she knitted two lovely baby cardigans with cute buttons. She got the patterns from one of our swap nights. She also knitted this lovely flower broach. Margaret is now working on another baby jacket.

Sheena also had a finish. She knitted a baby bootee. This is her first attempt at knitting. Well done Sheena for knitting something complicated on her first go. She is going to use finer yarn to knit them again so that it turns out in a smaller size.

Our little group is also growing. We had two more new members. First of all Rhona's youngest, Freya, came along as she wants to learn lots of crafts. On Tuesday she was learning to cross stitch. We also had Liz along who learned about the group through national knitting day. She is knitting a jacket.

Believe it or not I managed to make a list of what everyone was working on this week. Moira was knitting a baby blanket using snowflake yarn. Joyce was knitting a cute smock baby jacket. Rhona was working on a baby cardigan using self striping yarn. Caroline was knitting a purple shawl. Isobel was sewing up a baby cardigan that Alison had knitted. Alison was knitting a jumper. Stephanie was knitting a baby top. Aileen was working on a Mr Men alphabet cross stitch. June was crocheting a granny square blanket using self striping yarn. I was knitting socks as was Dawn who was learning to turn the heel.

Our Five Minutes of Fame!

Just after Christmas I was contacted by a lady who writes for knitting magazine Knit Today. She asked if I would mind doing a little interview for our group. Of course I didn't mind and so answered some questions and sent in some photographs. That interview is now out in this months interview. I did photograph it but the lovely Alison scanned it into her computer which meant we can see it more clearly. Have a look and see who you can spot. The magazine only came out last weekend so it should still be in the shops.

Aileen finished her first crochet blanket. She used lovely self striping yarn for the centre. She then stitched some satin round the border. I love the little coloured corners. She is now working on a MR Men alphabet cross stitch design also for the baby's room.

Margaret finished this lovely yellow baby cardigan. The little buttons are bears which sets it off. She is now working on another baby cardigan for a friend.

Magdalena plans to make all the kids in her family a quilt. First up is Adam who is obsessed with the Teletubbies (he associates colour with the teletubbies). So Magdalena made this beautiful quilt for him. I love the jigsaw like pattern in the middle. She finished this just at the end of the night.

A big thank you to Hobbycraft at the Glasgow Fort. As a thank you for going along to the store on Saturday for National Knitting Day they sent us some goodies. I couldn't even begin to list what they sent but everyone went away with something. There was even lots of fabric which you can see us cutting up. Should come in handy when we get out sewing lesson from Isobel.

We had two new members along. Rhona found us through our blog. She has been looking for a knitting group to join for a while now. She is currently knitting little squares. She stitches them into blankets and then hands them into a local nursing home. June found us after coming along on Saturday (you can see Donna teaching her in the last post). She was continuing with her crochet lessons and doing a lovely job.

Also a big thank you to Annee. She sent us some sweets as a thank you for the baby shower. They were very much appreciated and we are glad she had a good time.

Knit in Public Day at Hobbycraft Glasgow Fort

Knitty greeting to you today. I hope you are all well, and managed to enjoy Knit in Public day as much as we did. Unfortunately, our fearless leader Karen couldn't make it due to family commitments hence the reason why I (Dawn) am standing in to write the post and take the pics. Yes, I am in charge! (insert evil laugh here) so, I've decided to post a pic of our Karen who was sadly missed yesterday at the event.



The lovely Hobby Craft staff set us up just at the bottom of the stairs, there were quite a few of us (think they were surprised so many turned up)and we soon had commandeered all of the chairs in the whole shop. Helen and Elaine had brought some copies of our group poster, telling people a little about the group and where we could be found if they would like to join us. Helen was particularly enthused by this thought and proceeded to stalk (in the nicest possible way of course) anyone who showed even the slightest interest in our group, she got quite a few shoppers interested and kept the rest of us amused greatly with her idea's to put our leaflets in amongst the wool and various magazines and books in the knitting section.




A few of us brought along finished pieces to arrange on the table set up for us by the staff, we also added our group info, some knitting,craft and crochet magazines and Hobbycraft leaflets. It really was like a mini meeting of our group just in a different location with a few less members.

The General Manager of Hobby Craft, George was very pleased at how many of us took part in the Knit day, and said we would definitely have to do it again, so this may become a more regular occurence. George also took a few photo's to send to Hobby Craft head office, and told us of how much they like getting involved in local projects. They already have several schools involved in various craft projects and how well they are being received. We managed (twisted his arm more like!)to tempt George into trying a little knitting too.



Donna had a little impromtu crochet class, when a prospective new group member, June showed an interest in Donna's gorgeous granny squares. Here is Donna teaching June the basic beginning of granny goodness.



June did great and we are hoping to see her at the group on Tuesday evening.

So that was our Knit in Public day, and I think it went very well. We had a great time in Hobby Craft, the staff were wonderful, made us all feel welcome and gave us two HUGE bags of goodies which will no doubt bo oooed and ahhhed over on Tuesday.

I've really enjoyed documenting our day. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading it too.

With regards Dawn.x

National Knitting Day!

It's National Knitting Day on Saturday. We don't normally do anything for this by Hobbycraft at the Fort asked if we would like to come in to do some demonstrations. We of course jumped at the chance. We will be there from 12-3pm so please come along and say hello. I won't be able to make it along but a number of others will and Dawn is going to be our photographer and blogger for the day. It should be good fun and it was nice of Hobbycraft to ask us along.

As well as a baby shower on Tuesday we had a few other things to photograph. First of all Donna brought along a blanket that her gran crocheted. Donna remember it when she was little although she doesn't know exactly how old it is. Love those colours and you would think it had been made yesterday.

We had a reason to celebrate too. Josephine is a crocheter and on Tuesday she finished her first knitting project. She knitted this lovely baby cardigan. Fingers crossed that she will keep going.

Margaret also had a finish. She finished this beautiful baby jacket she has been knitting for a friend. Love the yellow edging.

Elaine had been working on this sock monkey the last few weeks. This is for her daughter's birthday. It matches the lovely blanket Elaine made for her room last year.

Isabel also got to do her favourite - babysit. I took advantage of her storytelling to take this photo.

Annee's Baby Shower

Warning: One photo heavy post coming up. That can only mean one thing - baby shower! Annee is the lovely lady who has helped us quite a bit. She even offered us use of the conference room at the Fort when we needed more space. She's a crafter herself and a talented photographer.

As always the baby shower had high attendance which is why there are so many photographs. First of all Annee received a pair of knitted baby trainers and a reversible blanket from myself.

Stephanie couldn't be there as she is on holiday. She did however knit a lovely baby cardigan and a baby bib. The first time most of us have seen a hand knitted baby bib. We can always trust Stephanie to come up with something unusual.

June did one of her famous baby crochet blankets which was much admired and she gave Annee some lovely baby books.

Magdalena made one of her lovely baby toys.

Helen knitted a beautiful jacket and hat. Ideal for when baby has his/her first social event.

Isabel gave one of her favourites - the hooded bath towel.

Margaret knitted two baby cardigans in cream and white with little socks to match.

Joyce knitted one of her famous heart blankets. We all love these blankets. The edges have bobbles which unfortunately you can't see in the photograph.

Roberta also wasn't there as she is away her holidays too. She knitted a lovely baby hat and an aran, two-toned jumper.

Caroline knitted this lovely red baby cardigan and matching hat. I love the colour.

Unfortunately you can't see the lovely cross stitch card that Aileen made. She also gave Annee these cute baby onesie.

Dawn gave a set of sweet little babygros. Will definitely come in handy.

These little baby boots and matching gloves were knitted by the talented Linda. I think she also gave some very useful bibs.

This cute little baby hat was knitted by Donna.

Elaine knitted one of her famous hot water bottle covers. She used snowflake yarn which is so unbelievably soft and added cute little motifs.

This stunning blanket was knitted by Alison. The striping yarn was very much admired by everyone.

Lastly, this quilt was made by the talented Isobel. This was the finish I couldn't post a photograph of after our weekend away. The back is fleece making it lovely and warm. Annee mentioned that her daughter may try to pinch it from the baby. Turns out it was baby's big brother she should have been worried about.

In case you can't tell we all love throwing a baby shower. It give us an excuse to spoil someone and make cute baby items. I think Annee had a good time too.

In case your interested our knitting group is going to be giving a demonstration between 12-3 at Hobbycraft in the Glasgow Fort. This is to celebrate National Knitting Day. I won't be there but a small group of lovely ladies will be. Also Dawn has offered to take some photographs for the day and she will be blogging about it here. Yep, you won't have to put up with me droning on for one whole post.