Dear Readers

Hello everyone, just a quick note to say it’s now too late to order advance tickets for Bournemouth 2011, but tickets are available on the door at £6.
Best wishes
Anne”

Machine Knitting LIVE! in Bournemouth is almost here and our Guest Speaker this year is Queen of Posh Frocks, Ann Brown.

The Sherborne Club presents our fashion show this time, with lots of new designs and ideas.

Our exhibitor list so far includes:-
Silver Reed knitting machines, Silver Viscount sewing machines and overlockers.
Elaine Cater designer books, patterns and Knitwords magazine.
Nina Miklin kits and exclusive Italian designer yarn.
Fiona Morris machine knitwear design, craft courses on hand and machine knitting and she gives talks.
Guild of Machine Knitters – join today and support our craft.
Ann Brown yarn and notions plus Posh Frocks designer patterns.
Beryl Jarvis brings her own unique Info Sheets and teaching techniques plus the new Mock ‘V’ DVD.
Metropolitan’s Aladdin’s Cave for all machine knitters including DesignaKnit, yarns, machines, books and accessories for all machines.
MKM current and back issues plus Passap and Brother patterns and books from Anjo Designs.
B Hague & Co with linkers, twisters, bits and bobs.
Anne Baker with Karabee patterns and kits.
Arnold Bennett with yarns and button selection.
Weather and family circumstances permitting, Busy Bee with masses of well-loved patterns.
Phyllis & David Hilton demonstrate intarsia.
Sherborne Machine Knitters with amazing club ideas and samples.
Uppingham Yarns – with industrial, hand and machine knitting yarn plus superb Italian yarns.

Finally let me add just a quick note to say that we’ve re-instated the registration form with a couple of changes to see if we can beat the spammers! Now you can register yourselves, but don’t forget you’ll have to click the activation link in the email we’ll send you, which may find its way into your spam folder, depending on how strict your mail server is. If you have any questions or problems with this, please drop Matt an email.

NEXT ISSUE
Our 25th Birthday Issue
April 2011
Subscription copies sent out
Thursday 3rd March
On sale Thursday 10th March
Ask your newsagent to reserve a copy

”

I hope you enjoy using the site, and if you have any questions, please email me and I’ll try to help.

Matt.”

Betty and other club members first met Gloria when she retired from Saudi and returned permanently to the UK. As soon as she was back at home, I remember including a request in the magazine to see if we could find her a local knitting club. Betty spotted the letter, telephoned her and from then on the two became close friends. They also formed a small group of six knitters who each owned an E6000. Every Tuesday morning they met in one of their homes and Gloria taught them much more than the basics. A good time was enjoyed by all, including a good old natter. Gloria had been very ill for some time with several medical problems and sadly she passed away in October. Betty and the group will miss her very much at their Tuesday get-together. They’ll always remember her – not only for her love of her machine, but also because she was a really kind and helpful person. Over the years I often chatted to Gloria and the last time I saw her was at the Thornbury Show. Together with Nick Traylen at Uppingham Yarns we sorted out some 2/30s for her to take home to knit. Although her health was failing at that time, she still had lots of ideas and enthusiasm for future designs. I’m most grateful to Betty for letting me know and I’m sure you’ll all join me in sharing the group’s grief at Gloria’s passing.

Diary Date Change
After such a sad start, let me leave you on a brighter note by letting you know the revised dates for Machine Knitting LIVE in 2011. I’ve managed to move the Chepstow Show to a Saturday. If my memory hasn’t totally failed, I’m almost sure it’s around the time that Alice used to have her summer Get-Together. We’d pack up from the Croydon Show one weekend and head for Wales the next. This year, there’s a week in between so the Croydon Show will be on Saturday 16th July, followed by the Chepstow Show on Saturday 30th July. Please make a date to join us at Croydon and Chepstow for some Summer fun.

NEXT ISSUE
March 2011
Subscription copies sent out
Thursday 3rd February
On sale Thursday 10th February
Ask your newsagent to
Reserve a copy : see page 61

Many of you ask repeatedly for inspiration and I hope we can provide it this month. There’s an amazing Andy Holden exhibit at the Tate until 10th April and I can’t wait to go into London to see it. Yes, your eyes aren’t playing tricks : there’s machine knitting at Tate Britain! Andy broke a Knitmaster and Silver Reed machine before seriously injuring a Brother chunky during his epic knit-in. The result is absolutely awesome and I’ll include a feature in the next couple of days.

I’ve had more inspiration on from the next generation of Oz knitwear designers. Tony Bennett has sent us some great examples of their work and not one of them had any experience with machine knitting at the start of their year. Tony was a tutor at his local college and I wish he was over here to share his undoubted talent with us. Interestingly, lots of the yarn the students used was from Yeoman so we can replicate some of the ideas.

For those of you who like to attend workshops with eminent names in machine knitting, I need to mention that there’s a rare opportunity to work with Iris Bishop on an individual basis from July 19th to 23rd. It’s hands on and you’ll experiment with single and double bed fabrics, in preparation for textiles and garments. It’s for Japanese machines only, but single or double bed. Places are strictly limited and for more details please call 01270-628414.

Good luck with your endeavours and happy knitting.
Anne

I also had the pleasure of taking with me a watercolour painting of Joan and her grand-daughter. It had been copied from the photo of the two of them in October 2009 on page 59. I know you’ll all remember Ruth Cox. When she retired from Pippin Designs, Ruth took up painting as a hobby and I asked her if she’d accept a commission to copy the photo for me. It was absolutely lovely, so it went with me and I was delighted that Joan loved it. It’s to be framed to fill just the right size gap on one of Joan’s walls. Now I need to nudge Ruth’s son Chris into action, because it would be nice to have his cartoons in the magazine again.

My other good news came as a result of Glenys Taylor’s plea for help in the December issue (Clubline, page 10). Joyce Monks has run a very successful club in Warrington for 37 years and she’s offered to be a new Knitting Buddy. Joyce wrote a very useful and popular series on setting up a club from scratch and running it. It was first published in World of Knitting and I’m sure the ideas might help Glenys and others wanting to start a small group. Some of the suggestions may also be useful for giving existing clubs a new lease of life. We’ll bring Joyce’s articles up-to-date and start the series next time. Clubline will therefore take on a new look but please continue to send in your club news, because we’ll include it elsewhere in the magazine.

Now all that remains is for me to join everyone at MKM in sending you the compliments of the season and wishing you a very happy New Year.

We’ve another fabulous idea worked out on the machine by Dianne Bunyan and you’ll find her pattern for a scarf and hat on page 24. Diane has produced a fascinating stitch design that shows on the right side and is completely hidden on the reverse. This means that the beanie can be pulled down and worn as a plain navy hat, or have the brim turned back to show the intricate eyelet holes with a navy backing. Any small pattern repeat of six rows can be used and it really is a new technique to try. Our packed issue has meant we’ve had to hold over news from Anne Reid about Undy YarnCrafts’ move to a country park outside Lydney. We’ve also had to postpone Norman Whitfield’s return to our pages, but they’re both waiting in the wings.

Our cover design this time is from Clair Crowston and knitted in a gorgeous DK acrylic yarn from James C Brett. Marble is 100% acrylic in 15 marled and variegated colourways. Texere is selling it online, so it’s sure to be a website winner as well. At just £1.75 per 100g ball, you’ll just go into the third ball and there can be no grumbles at looking as good as our cover girl for £5.25!

Finally, don’t miss Carl Boyd’s easy-to-make clutch bag on page 16. You need just 100 grams of yarn plus a few bits and bobs to be bang on trend. There’s still time to check if there are any vacancies for Carl’s Hands On week at Metropolitan. The date is Monday 23rd to Friday 27th November, from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm each day, at a fee of only £175. Call Carol Hocknell now on 01270-628414 to see if she can fit you in. Carl will be with them for the whole week as a tutor. It’s a unique opportunity to absorb and put into practice his innovative ideas. If you wish you can make this bag or any of his designs, with his special finishing touches and expert guidance.

I’ve included a lovely story from Irene Krieger in this month’s magazine. A friend of hers was inspired to create an amazing four-panel mosaic, by a tea set given to her parents. When she was small she’d been fascinated by the picture on it and wanted to preserve the spirit of her childhood memory. I remember when Carl Boyd was giving lectures a while ago that he talked along similar lines. To create something original for yourself, find something that you love for the colour and it may be some china, a birthday card or picture. Whatever it is, match as best you can the colours in the object and then use those colours for your knitting. You’ll find it really does work and next time you need some inspiration, why not take a leaf out of Irene’s friend’s book? On similar lines, do look at Ann Matthew’s Alpaca designs in Newsline. Ann is a Knitting Buddy and she worked with a breeder to develop the yarn. Ann loved the warm, natural colours as well as the texture and feel. That, in turn, inspired her to make some gorgeous garments. It wasn’t easy going and Ann had to switch between standard gauge and chunky machines, as well as fiddle around a lot with the tension. However, her hard work has paid off and she’s produced a fabulous collection.

A couple of weeks ago I was thrilled to receive an e-mail from Susan Guagliumi. As you’ll read on Page 6, she’s back in print with Hand Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters. It’s one of the best source books of all times for machine knitting and I have one of the original hardback editions. It seems that Bond USA had the reprint rights for the book back in 2001 and it came to Susan’s attention two or three years ago that it was out of print. Bond USA was acquired by a very big outfit, but they only bought the assets. The original film was lost, so Susan spent months re-assembling photos and drawings and putting the book back together again. It was a huge amount of work and she’s republished through Book Surge, an arm of Amazon.com. She’s also had the video switched over to DVD. If you didn’t buy the book the first time round, then it really is one not to be missed. My hardback version is 210 x 260 mm and has 250 pages crammed with masses of ideas. This is the only book you’ll ever need on a desert island with your machine and a stash of yarn, I promise! I spent many happy hours with Susan when lots of us visited the States in the heyday years of machine knitting. It was around the time of the Bramwell Expos and I also joined in the fun with Susan and lots of American knitters and tutors at Camp Tuckanitslip. Her e-mails have brought back many happy memories for me and I hope we can meet up again.

I’m finishing this issue a little earlier than usual, because I’m having a few days off to go back up North. One of the reasons is to check out an alternative venue for Machine Knitting LIVE! in Bury. For a few years now, parking has been difficult and there’s been no room available for us to have talks. Things are looking very promising and I’ll let you know how I get on next time. When you read this, Machine Knitting LIVE! at Croydon will be just round the corner, so do come and join us for a lovely day out.