2020

Multi-purpose

Multi-purpose

Hello Anne

I saw your page in MKM and read about your grand-daughter machine knitting. How time goes by for us all and I see you were surprised at how the LK-150 knits, so I thought you’d be interested in my information about this brilliant machine. It’s my best seller of all the machines I sell for beginners, but most of all for hand knitters. The hand knitters love it, as I do myself, to get something done a bit quicker. Hand knitters love the various wools it can knit and creating patterns by hand is also great. I try out all yarns on it, to see how they will work. At first it was guess work, but the LK-150 is now listed in DesignaKnit 9. King Cole yarns from 4-ply to fine chunky are great on this machine and it loves knitting Aran. My buyers enjoy the machine and after short instructions they’re soon making garments. In my opinion, the LK-150 is far better than the old Bond used to be and the machine is magic, because it has everything except a ribber. Love to all, Joan Fielding-Brown

The Little Knitting Fairy, Old Redhead Cottage, Clovenfords, Galashiels, Selkirkshire TD1 1UG

Tel 01896-850734

Email joan@littleknittingfairy.co.uk

Website www.littleknittingfairy.co.uk

A clean sheet

Dear Anne

I wonder if you might like to put this in your magazine, as a lot of readers may be pleased to have the information. Over the years, I’ve had quite a lot of experience buying, reconditioning and selling various bits of machine-knitting equipment. More than once, whilst servicing machines and attachments, I’ve been faced with the problem of cleaning a KL-116 Knit Leader sheet. Often the pen marks simply won’t come off with soap or washing up liquid, so today I tried some kitchen cleaner. First of all I was a bit dubious that it wouldn’t work, but then I became more worried that it would work but take off the lines as well as the pen marks. To my surprise the kitchen cleaner worked beautifully and didn’t take off the permanent lines! It’s called Cif Multipurpose Ultrafast cleaner and I’d recommend it to clean all knitting machine pattern sheets. There may be some permanent marker lines that might not come off using anything, but the marks I used it on were coloured permanent marker lines. Use a damp micro cloth, spray a small amount on the sheets and gently rub it off. Clean the Cif off afterwards with a clean cloth, to make sure the cleaner has been completely removed. Kind regards, Sandy

March 2020

Our full-colour March 2020 issue is now on sale, with over 10 designs. Our cover design is a 4-ply lacy cardigan with a wide size range from bust 71-76 cm (28-30 in) to 112-117 cm (44-46 in) and we always show you how to knit all our designs in a different yarn on standard gauge machines. Sally-Ann Carroll tells us the colours, prints and styles for Spring and Summer knitted wardrobe and Bill King combines all needle rib and tuck for one of his favourite looks. Helen Lewis has fun with a bit of ‘make do and mend’ reconstruction for a new Spring jacket and we’ve a Phyllis Moran multi-design for all Passap machines. Claire Newberry begins a series of tutorials for DesignaKnit 9 and Joan Lafferty breaks every tension rule in the book! We always include news and reviews, letters, club details and great reader offers on new craft books from Search Press. There are great bargains this month, with all the books under £10.

Machine Knitting LIVE! Bournemouth 2020 is cancelled

With continued concern over the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, heeding the health advice and using common sense, we feel the most sensible decision is to cancel this year’s show on Saturday 3rd October. We’re sorry to disappoint exhibitors and visitors, but feel this is a prudent decision in these uncertain times.

Celebrate St Blaise at a wool market in Bradford


A Wool Market is being held for the second time at Bradford Industrial Museum to celebrate the patron saint of wool-combers, Bishop Blaise and the history of wool in Bradford. The event, which takes place at the Bradford Council-run museum on the feast day of St Blaise, Sunday 2nd February, will have stalls selling woollen yarns, textiles and hand looms, as well as fun family activities including spinning and weaving demonstrations.

Delicious food will also be on offer from Café Maison Express and the Yorkshire Pie Bakery and there will be a pop up pub in the museum which will have beer from Leeds based Sunbeam Brewery, who will be service their specially brewed Blaise Ale. Entertainment will be provided by a local band and choir.

Stalls at the event, which takes place from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm, will include local companies selling all manner of knitting gifts. This will include hand-dyed British wool, fibres and equipment for felt making and spinning, luxury and lace-weight yarns, haberdashery, knitting patterns and accessories and products made from alpaca wool. All of this will be alongside the museum’s fantastic displays that tell the story of Bradford’s industrial past. The free event is being organised by Bradford Industrial Museum.

Bishop Blaise is the patron saint of wool-combers. He was a physician and bishop in Sebastea, Armenia and was believed to have lived around the end of the 3rd or early 4th century. People went to him for cures of both spiritual and bodily ailments and he was thought to have also healed animals. He was reported to have been tortured by being flayed using pins from a wool-comb and beheaded because he refused to renounce his faith. Bradford was once known as Worstedopolis due to the number of mills and wool processing businesses, including wool-combers that operated in the district.

Up until 1825 the wool-combers of the district would hold a parade through the city to celebrate their patron saint. It was a four day festival where one of the wool-combers would dress as Bishop Blaise and parade through the town. A new Bradford Woolly Heritage Community Interest Company has been set up to support the wool festival with the ultimate aim to have a major citywide internationally linked celebration of the Bishop of Blaise’s Day in 2025 which will be the 200th anniversary of the last time there was a major celebration of the saint in Bradford. There are two ‘Bishop Blaise’ coats that were worn in the parades in the collection. One is from Bradford and one from Keighley. Some other memorabilia from past parades also be on display. For more information visit www.bradfordmuseums.org

February 2020

Our full-colour February 2020 issue has over 12 designs. Our cover top has a matching jacket that’s perfect for mid-gauge and chunky machines. There’s a wide size range from bust 71-76 cm (28-30 in) to 112-117 cm (44-46 in) and we always show you how to knit all our designs in a different yarn on standard gauge machines. Sally-Ann Carroll gets our Spring and Summer wardrobe one step ahead of the game and Bill King tells us how to bring shape into a garment using a simple machine-knitting technique. The final part of our series on colour changers looks at double jacquard variations and Fay Butcher helps all Passap knitters to reduce their stash. If you need some Boho Chic, we show you how to yarn-bomb a child’s chair and there’s masses of help for Silver Reed LK-150 knitters. We always include news and reviews, letters, club details and great reader offers on new craft books from Search Press.

January update

Dear Readers

As this magazine arrives at the beginning of January, we’ll welcome in the New Year with piles of sprouts replaced by even larger mounds of Easter eggs in the shops! We always have to go to press very early with this issue, so let me remind you of one or two things which may slip through the net.

The first is the very welcome news that a new club is starting up in Scotland. The Dunfermline Machine Knitting Club’s first meeting will be Thursday 30th January from 6.00 to 8.00 pm and thereafter on the last Thursday of each month. The venue is Fife College, Dunfermline Campus Media Centre, Room 7.10 and it’s open to all levels of experience. You don’t need to have a machine and you can just drop in to discover what machine knitting is all about. If you have a machine, you’re more than welcome to take it with you. It’s going to be a relaxed group, aimed at teaching and sharing in a warm and friendly atmosphere. If it’s within travelling distance, you’ll need to know more so email buttonmouse01@gmail.com for all the details. Naturally, we’ll add the information to our Clubs Directory next time, along with other recent changes and we do wish them every success.

In Newsline last month, we told you about Susan Guagliumi’s video class that’s available for streaming. It’s a companion to her book Open Spaces: Machine Knit Eyelets, Ladders and Slits. With all the decorations packed away for another year, January is always a good time to take on something new. Don’t forget that Susan is offering a huge 20% discount to all MKM readers until 31st January 2020. If you want a more flexible option, sections are also on offer along with the original video for Hand Manipulated Stitches at a bargain price and also with a 20% reader discount. If your January magazine was thrown out with all the papers to make way for visitors, don’t worry, you’re not alone! Just give me a call and I’ll let you have full details, as it’s a one-time offer that’s not to be missed. You can also visit guagliumi.com for everything you need to know, as well as find lots of free downloadable patterns, instruction and videos.

Finally, we’ve had a hurdle or two to jump over, but plans are now in place for our 2020 shows. Bournemouth takes place on Saturday 3rd October and Nottingham’s date is Sunday 5th April. West Park Leisure Centre now has new owners and undergone significant alterations, so we’ve a different path to tread and we’ll need to make a few small changes for this year’s show. Do give me a call for the most up-to-date information.

Now the visitors have gone for another year, it’s time to turn the ‘temporary’ guest bedroom back into a knitting room. So, until next time, let’s all enjoy a happy return to machine knitting.

NEXT ISSUE

March 2020

Subscription copies sent out Thursday 6th February

On sale Thursday 13th February