August 2020 new subscriptions

NEW SUBSCRIPTION If you select this option, no money will be taken with your order and your subscription will start next month with the September 2020 magazine, to be mailed out to subscribers on Thursday 6th August. If you’d like to start with this August issue, you need to order a Quick-Start Subscription.

QUICK-START SUBSCRIPTION If you’d like to start a subscription with the August issue, you pay for our current August 2020 magazine when you place your order and we send you a copy straight away. From the next issue, your magazine will be mailed direct from the printer on the first Thursday of each month and the September 2020 issue goes out to subscribers on Thursday 6th August.

August 2020 (Issue 271)

Our full-colour August 2020 issue has gone out to subscribers and is officially on sale on Thursday 9th July. Our cover design is an easy-to-knit classy cardigan that will look good all year round and we always tell you how to knit all our patterns on standard gauge machines. Sally-Ann Carroll shows us how to slip timeless classics into our wardrobe and Bill King takes us ‘off piste’ this month, to try some experimental knitting. By very popular demand, we’ve sold out of the original magazines, so Bill King’s All In One seamless top is repeated in this issue! Fay Butcher shows Passap knitters how to knit a gorgeous fabric with alternating panels of tuck and stocking stitch and we’ve a fabulous 20% off yarn offer from Woolyknit. Jane Harrison and her Needles of Steel help us through lockdown and we’re ‘all friends together’ on our letters page. We always include news and reviews, letters, club details and book offers with great savings from Search Press.

Current update

Dear Readers

It’s been another busy month so let me start with the news just in that the Knitting and Crochet Guild July 2020 Convention, which had been postponed until September, has been cancelled and moved to September 2021. There will now be an ‘Un-Convention’ week-long virtual event running from 9th to 15th September 2020. It will include workshops, videos, discussions, show and tell and much more, across various social media channels. If you’d like to be involved, please get in touch via unconvention@kcguild.org.uk

It now seems unlikely that many face-to-face events will be possible for the remainder of this year. We must, therefore, all do what we can to make sure we keep machine knitting afloat. Our clubs have taken a pounding and are doing their best to keep members interested and connected. Sue Snook wrote to me back in March to tell me about the Downend Machine Knitters in Bristol and asked to be put in our Clubs Directory. Little did we know then that our monthly clubs listing would go on hold, as a chunk of the country was about to enter lockdown. Schools and leisure centres closed and, as clubs use them as venues, meetings had to be cancelled. Our Nottingham Show bit the dust and many knitters are still self-isolating or shielding. The staff at Bournemouth School for Girls will be on a new learning curve as they re-open the school for teaching in September and this brings me to my sad but, I suppose, inevitable news that there will be no Bournemouth Show this October. Let’s hope that the ‘new normal’ that lies ahead for all of us, will include the possibility to meet up again to enjoy our craft.

Now let’s have a little bit of cheer. In around a month’s time, King Cole will launch two new yarns and we hope to have some samples in time to include a garment in the September magazine. For one of them, dust off and stand by your LK-150. If the hand-knitted sample is replicated on a machine, it will give us the most spectacular results I’ve seen in a long time, from knitting plain stocking stitch. The second yarn is an Aran weight and if that’s fine on the machine, there’s a couple of nice men’s designs in the pipeline.

Finally, we send our congratulations to Fay Butcher who writes our Passap articles. At the AGM of Macknit Inc earlier this year, Eleanor Goldfinch retired and Fay was elected President until 2021. I’m so pleased that between us all, machine knitting is very much alive and kicking both here and down under. Until next time, keep well and stay safe – all of you.

NEXT ISSUE

September 2020

Subscription copies sent out Thursday 6th August

On sale Thursday 13th August

Ask your newsagent to reserve a copy or subscribe now

Keep calm and craft on!

Two full days of craft demos from Saturday 4th to Sunday 5th July 2020! Search Press will be partnering with ICHF to bring a virtual feast of great authors and inspirational projects to crafters and artists throughout the country with The Creative Craft Show LIVE weekend. While we can’t obviously meet in person as we’d all prefer, this online initiative is the next best thing to get everyone’s creative juices flowing.

Join in on 4th and 5th July for two full days of online craft demos, all hosted by the amazing Debbie Shore and Pretty Gets Gritty‘s Lynette Jasper! It’s completely free to watch and there will be over 16 hours of the best craft tutorials. Get ready to improve your existing skills and learn something new!

Some of the artists and crafters have provided equipment lists so you can craft along with them, or play back and craft at a later date. You can find these demo worksheets on the ICHF website. They’ll be adding to the list, so keep your eyes peeled!

There are two ways you can watch the live demos:-

1. Head over to the ICHF Facebook page @thecraftshows and watch live. You’ll be able to ask the demonstrators questions during the demo.

2. Watch on the ICHF website (www.ichfevents.co.uk) You won’t be able to see comments or ask questions but they’ll be streaming the feed and you can watch live on there.

Can you help?

Hello

I’m looking for a knitting machine repair shop or person in the West Berkshire area to repair my gorgeous, newly-acquired, bashed in the post Brother KH-881. Would anyone be able to help, please.

Thank you, Tracey

Help!

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my Brother KR850? I’m knitting the band of a cardigan but the ribber keeps jamming up after I get so far – usually after I’ve made all the buttonholes. I must have tried six times, so please HELP. Thanks, Hazel

Thank you NHS

Iris Rowe has designed this rainbow for us to knit and hang in a window, to thank care workers in our area

PATTERN RATING * Easy to knit.

MACHINES This pattern is written for all standard gauge machines. Use a mid-gauge or chunky machine and thicker yarn for a larger version

MATERIALS Any suitable 4-ply yarn Small amounts in Lilac (L), Magenta (M), Blue (B), Green (G), Yellow (Y), Orange (O), Red (R).

MEASUREMENTS Height around 8 cm, 3¼ in. Width 32 cm, 12½ in.

TENSION No tension gauge is necessary. Iris used Tension Dial setting 5 as main tension (MT) throughout unless otherwise stated. The knitting needs to be tighter than for a garment.

ABBREVIATIONS For a list of abbreviations we use, please turn to page 62 in any magazine.

NOTES Iris used knit side of knitting as right side. ‘Thread off’ means break yarn, using a bodkin, thread end through stitches and release from machine. Always leave a long length of yarn when casting on and casting off to use for making up.

TO KNIT Push 21 Ns to WP. Lilac curve Using L make a woven or automatic closed edge cast on. Set RC at 000 and K to RC 015. Place a WY marker on centre N, then K to RC 025. Place a WY marker on centre N, then K to RC 035. Place a WY marker on centre N, then K to RC 045. Place a WY marker on centre N, then K to RC 055. Place a WY marker on centre N, then K to RC 070. Thread off.

Magenta curve Using M knit in the same way placing WY markers on rows 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60, then K to RC 080. Thread off.

Blue curve Using B, work in the same way placing WY markers on rows 25, 35, 45, 55 and 65, then K to RC 090. Thread off.

Green curve Using G, work in the same way placing WY markers on rows 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70, then K to RC 100. Thread off.

Yellow curve Using Y, work in the same way placing WY markers on rows 35, 45, 55, 65 and 75, then K to RC 110. Thread off.

Orange curve Using O, work in the same way placing WY markers on rows 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80, then K to RC 120. Thread off.

Red curve Using R, work in the same way placing WY markers on rows 45, 55, 65, 75 and 85, then K to RC 130. Thread off.

MAKING UP With right sides tog, pull up stitches at each end of tubes, secure then join seams. Turn right side out, making sure roll is even. Using a long piece of red yarn, make a large knot in one end Start at centre and thread lilac tube onto yarn followed by correct sequence of colours, removing WY no longer needed. Lay tubes on a flat surface and straighten out. Pull tubes together lightly then make a small stitch at top of red tube to hold in place. Fasten off on inside of tube. Repeat this process each side of centre join. Using a very long length of red yarn thread a bodkin with a double length. Make a large knot in the end. Thread through the tubes starting with lilac and keeping in line with last set of WY markers. At top of red tube make a small stitch, take yarn across to WY marker on the other side leaving a long loop at top of rainbow to hang it in place. Adjust length as required. Make a small stitch before threading yarn through each tube until you reach the bottom. Pull slightly and fasten off inside the tube. Hang in your window.

July 2020 new subscriptions

This is July 2020 and our latest issue

NEW SUBSCRIPTION If you select a new subscription, no money will be taken with your order and it will start next month with the August 2020 magazine, to be mailed out to subscribers on Thursday 2nd July. If you’d like to start with this July issue, you need to order a Subscription Bundle.

SUBSCRIPTION BUNDLE If you select a subscription bundle, you pay for our current July 2020 magazine and we’ll send you a copy straight away. Your magazine will then be mailed direct from the printer on the first Thursday of each month and the August 2020 issue goes out to subscribers on Thursday 2nd July.

Looking for a pattern

Hi – I’m looking for a pattern for 4/5 year old girls summer dress. I need it for a standard gauge Knitmaster 700 machine with a ribber and lace carriage. Could anyone help, please? Thanks, Sue

July 2020 (Issue 270)

Our full-colour July 2020 issue has gone out to subscribers and is officially on sale on Thursday 11th June. Our cover design also has a V-neck version with a hood and we always tell you how to knit all our patterns on standard gauge machines. Sally-Ann Carroll brings us a bright and sunny summer and Bill King keeps the lockdown boredom at bay in Masterclass. By very popular demand, we’ve sold out of the original magazines, so Bill King’s Spider’s Web design is repeated in this issue! Lorna Roach uses jelly beans to add colour and life to her knitted socks and Karin Rogalski shows us how to knit our own face masks to match our knitted wardrobe. We’ve instructions for quick and easy head bands and back straps for front line workers and a rainbow to knit and hang in a window to say: “Thank you NHS”. We help each other through the lockdown and always include news and reviews, letters, club details and book offers with great savings from Search Press.