Dear Readers
There’s been lots going on this month and it all started with a deluge of requests for Bill King’s patterns. By the time I’d searched through the back issues from 2011 to 2021, it became obvious I needed to print them again. I’ve started with perhaps the most sought after, the All In One on Page 32 and new readers may wonder what all the fuss is about. So, let me say that every machine knitter can knit Bill’s top on any machine, in whatever yarn comes to hand. It’s a simple, classic and timeless design, that’s also very easy to knit. The only making up is threading the end of yarn back into the cords you knit at the start and finish. Spider’s Web is the next obvious choice and I’ll include it in August.
I’ve also had lots of calls and emails asking why we no longer include For Sale adverts at the back of the magazine. You’ll remember that everything faded away during the pandemic. We could no longer drive or collect machines and equipment from one another. No-one advertised, so there was little point in offering this free service. If you’d like it to return, you need to let me know and for word to spread, let’s say by the end of July. Please drop me a line or send an email, as the phone is often very busy. It’s always been a service for private sellers, not for those in business and that’s how it will remain if we reinstate it.
Another request from some of you is that we bring back Knitting Buddies. For new readers, it was also a free service of volunteers with a reasonable knowledge of machine knitting, that might be on one machine only. They gave help and advice over the phone to beginners, or those returning to machine knitting after a break. Sadly we’ve lost some former Knitting Buddies and others have retired. If you’d like to volunteer, please let me know, again by letter or email. I’m sure there will be a new team we can put together, for everyone’s benefit.
Finally I’ve been in touch with Soft Byte, to chat about the free trial that’s available for DesignaKnit. It’s something that’s always been offered, but not many people seem to realise it’s there. With the current financial climate as it is, you may well want to find out more and try before you buy. Claire Newberry is a DesignaKnit expert and she writes for us each month. So if you’d like to know more about this garment shaping and stitch pattern design program for hand and machine knitting, full details and a QR code are on Page 7. Until next month, knit happy.
NEXT ISSUE August 2024
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