2022

February 2022 update

Dear Readers

Wherever we live, keeping snug and warm is the order of the day at this time of the year and I’ve been glad of a few extra layers. My chunky knits have served me well, but they’ve seen better days and I need something new in my wardrobe. We’ve a couple of really nice designs this month and the man’s sweater on Page 22 is gorgeous. I’d have to hand tool some garter stitch for the woman’s sweater on Page 16, or perhaps cheat? In all my years, I’ve never known a machine knitter follow any pattern to the letter and I’m no different! I’m very tempted, but I know I need a quick and easy alternative, so I’ll see what it looks like with the needles arranged for a 3×1 mock rib. The colour variations in the yarn are lovely, so my even faster option might be to simply knit it in stocking stitch and use the purl side as the right side. There’s a very good size range but if you need a bit of extra ease anywhere, don’t forget you can take the tension up a bit and then gradually reduce it for the main part.

Some news has come in that’s too late for the main magazine, so let me tell you Liz Holness has been in touch to say Fleet Knitting Club is to start meeting again, but at a new venue. It’s a larger and more airy room, so there’s plenty of space for social distancing. It’s been two years since the group last met, so they’re looking forward to getting together again from 1st February. The new venue is Fleet Methodist Church at 72 Reading Road South, Fleet, Hampshire GU51 7TF. Meetings are on the first Tuesday evening of each month, from 8.00 to 10.00 pm and everyone is welcome. If you’d like more details, call Liz on 01252-676276, email liz.holness@ntlworld.com or visit www.fleetknittingclub.blogspot.com

One thing not to miss is The Wool Cabin’s update on Page 28. King Cole Opium, in plain colours and the stunning Palette multi shades, is on sale this month at just £3.50 a 100g ball. The RRP is £4.99, so it’s a huge saving and it slides through mid-gauge and chunky machines. The cover design on last December’s magazine only needs six balls for the largest finished size of 112.5 cm, 44½ in. With free local delivery and mail order, I guess the offer is while stocks last so call Jason on 07553-847483 for availability.

Next month will be our 36th birthday magazine and despite two years of lockdowns and a worldwide pandemic, we’ve kept our craft going. It’s a huge achievement, for which we should all be immensely proud so until then, knit happy, Anne

NEXT ISSUE – April 2022

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On sale Thursday 10th March

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February 2022 (Issue 289) with a star-studded cast including Milissa Ellison Dewey, Alison Dupernex, Susan Guagliumi and Bill King

Our full-colour February 2022 issue is on sale and our cover design looks great with jeans and trainers, with waist-pleat trousers and a jacket or paired with tracksuit bottoms for the perfect Hygge look. There’s a real mix of designs this month, for all ages and abilities including an Anne Baker Karabee Design plus four designs from Alison Dupernex. We’ve a full-length step-by-step feature for knitting socks on a circular machine from Milissa Ellison Dewey and Bill King stretches our machines and imagination beyond comprehension! We’re honoured to have the exceptional talent of Susan Guagliumi in the magazine, offering lots of free help and advice and Sally-Ann Carroll has some stylish season-stretchers to perk up our tired winter wardrobes. You’ll love our new Show & Tell series, sharing techniques developed over a lifetime’s machine knitting and Passap knitters have a perfect winter gilet to knit. There’s always help and advice in Dear Anne plus news, reviews and club details for ideas and inspiration.

All change

Leicestershire Machine Knitters are able to meet up again, but not in their usual room on Wednesdays. There’s no proper ventilation and, as no other room is available, monthly club meetings will now be held on the third Tuesday from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm. They’ll also continue their monthly Zoom meetings at 7.00 pm on the first Thursday through the winter. The venue is still West End Neighbourhood Centre, Andrewes Street, off Hinckley Road, Leicester LE3 5PA. The secretary is now Susan Marlow and she’ll pass on full details if you email susanmarlow47@btinternet.com

Meet and greet

Members of Crossgates MKC in Seacroft, Leeds have a new venue, day and time. They now get together once a month on a Tuesday afternoon from 1.00 to 3.00 pm. Their meeting place is Wellington Hill Residents Association in Ringwood Drive, Seacroft, Leeds LS1 4HR. Susan Baddams is your contact and she’ll be pleased to give you full details if you email Susie_anne@live.co.uk

More please!

Terri Dutton called with the welcome news that a new monthly meeting has started. Members already meet weekly on Tuesday afternoon from 2.00 to 4.30 pm and now there’s a get-together at the same time on the first Saturday each month. Visit The Yarn Barn, 362a Hoylake Road, Moreton, Wirral CH46 6DF. Email theyarnbarn362@gmail.com for full details.

Facetime

Jean Richardson has sent a happy letter to let us know that meetings have started again and she writes:-

Hello Anne

I thought I’d drop you a line to let you know that our Bromsgrove Machine Knitting Club has started face to face meetings again each month. We’ve also settled into our new venue in Finstall Village Hall. At our first get-together for over eighteen months, we were lucky to have two new ladies join our club and we offered a warm welcome to them and enjoyed tea and cake! We’d lots of knitting and crochet items for our Show & Tell and this was a lovely way to re-introduce people to the club. Since then we’ve looked at various methods for knitting socks for the colder weather and at a future meeting there will be a demonstration of ‘twisted stitches’. It’s hand-tooled and produces more of a texture than ‘big brother’ cables. We’re all looking forward to a more normal year in 2022. I believe that if Covid-19 has taught us anything, it’s that time spent knitting and crafting in general gives us a feeling of well-being… maybe because we’ve had more time to appreciate our crafting. Happy knitting everyone and best wishes, Jean

Bromsgrove is such a friendly club and members meet on the 3rd Thursday each month from 2.00 to 4.00 pm. The venue is Finstall Village Hall, 27 Alcester Road, Finstall, Bromsgrove B60 1EL. You can email jmr543@btopenworld.com for more details.

Time for tea

Let’s now go to Reading in Berkshire for news of Berkshire MKC. Members now get together on the first Thursday of the month from 7.30 pm. They’ve a lovely meeting place at The Tea Room in Woodford Park Pavilion, Woodford Park, Haddon Drive, Woodley, Reading, RG5 4LY. The new contact is Philip Massey. Do email Philip at bkmc.info@gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/berkshiremachineknittingclub for lots more information.

Together again

Members of Ewenique are thrilled to return to meeting each month on the 4th Tuesday from 1.30 to 3.30 pm. Their venue remains New Earswick Folk Hall, Hawthorn Terrace, New Earswick, York YO32 4AQ. There’s parking and a café at the hall and Anne Bradley will be happy to let you have full details if you email anne.bradley@btinternet.com

Starting over

We mentioned briefly last month that Carbery Machine Knitting Club had closed, but the group has started up again as Dorset & Hampshire Coastal Machine Knitting Club. Members meet monthly on the first Wednesday from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon at St Catherine’s Hall, 17 Marlow Drive, Christchurch BH23 2RR. For more details Janet Shuttleworth is your contact, so please email jan.knitting@outlook.com

Green for go

Dear Anne

My friend is having trouble knitting her garments and they all appear to be a different size. She does not use the Green Ruler and my question is would you be so kind as to explain this to me and I will pass it on to her. I haven’t been machine knitting for some time as I looked after my dad until he passed, then we moved house and just recently I had a bad fall so everything is on the back burner for now. Many thanks, Janice

Thanks for asking Janice and the Green Ruler is an excellent way of measuring the stitch and row tension of machine knitted swatches. It’s as accurate as most machine knitters require and can be used on all machines. A while ago, Sally Butcher wrote to say:-

Dear Anne

My chosen method of tension swatch measuring is to use the coloured rulers, as I’ve always been a Silver Reed (Knitmaster) fan and these were supplied with the machines. The three colours are used on the different gauge machines; green is for standard, yellow is for mid-gauge machines and blue is for chunky. They have different scales and are designed to measure different quantities of stitches and rows. It’s important to get this right in order to get an accurate swatch measurement.

• Green (standard) measures over 40 stitches and 60 rows.

• Yellow (mid-gauge) measures over 30 stitches and 40 rows.

• Blue (chunky) measures over 20 stitches and 30 rows.

I drew up a little table which I’ve printed off several times and laminated. I keep one with each machine and I’m happy for you to print it. With best wishes, Sally Butcher

Sally is one of our Knitting Buddies and she runs a club in Bodmin, Cornwall. She also has video demonstrations on her Facebook page, showing techniques on the SK280, LK150 and SK155 Silver Reed machines. The link is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDxy6pQHAs4gd5XBztYWmw and it’s called Sally Butcher’s Kalamunda Krafts Machine Knitting.