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October update

Dear Readers

To remind us that this is the October issue, we’ve Carole Dunkerley’s seasonal ideas for spooky hats, so have some fun knitting for the young and ‘young at heart’. There’s more magic in store as we shine the spotlight on the Machine Knit Community’s (MKC) fifth birthday celebrations. We’re really excited about a brand new knitting event being organised for the start of October. There’s to be a Machine Knitting Summit and we’re all invited. Nic Corrigan gives us full details and offers us great savings and discounts, so turn to Page 10 for all the details.

We’re also pleased to see that Tools With A Mission (TWAM) is to be MKC’s partner charity for the coming year. We’ve long supported TWAM’s charitable work in recycling our once-loved knitting machines, together with accessories and all types of yarn for hand and machine knitting. TWAM welcomes haberdashery, needles and threads, large pieces or rolls of material, buttons, zips and tapes, then turn them into kits. Through a team of volunteers, they’ll also collect items from you. Nic Corrigan tells us more on Page 50 and she includes one or two joyful stories from people receiving a full machine knitting toolkit.

Other news closer to home is that there’s to be an autumn meeting of the Scottish Machine Knitters Association (SMKA). New members are always welcome and SMKA membership is open to all machine knitters worldwide. The cost is £16 a year, they send out four newsletters a year and hold workshops in the spring and autumn. If you’ll be in travelling distance, the autumn meeting is taking place on 25th October 2025 from 10.00am to 3.00pm at Parklands Centre in Alva. It’s not far from the M80/M9 and seven miles from Stirling. Everyone is welcome, the cost is £5 for members, £8 for non-members and tickets can be bought on the door (cash payments only please). Tea and coffee is available but take your own lunch. Firm favourites are the demonstrations, raffle and sales table plus yarn bargains, books and magazines. The special guest this year is Eilidh Weir and visit www.scottishmachineknitters.org.uk for full details.

 Yes, it’s that time of the year again, bringing the prospect of a busy few weeks ahead. I hope you enjoy this month’s magazine and let’s all get together again at the Machine Knitting Summit. As always, knit happy!

NEXT ISSUE November 2025

Subscription copies sent out Thursday 2nd October

On sale Thursday 9th October

Ask your newsagent to reserve a copy or order a subscription NOW!

September 2025 (Issue 332) with Bill King & Nina Miklin

Chunky machines will make short work of the gilet on our September 2025 cover. It has a good size range and is in our mix of patterns for standard, mid-gauge and chunky machines. Nina Miklin’s classy design will make you fall in love with whisper-light mohair all over again and Alison Dupernex is an invaluable support. Bill King has a ‘hook-up’ technique to inspire us and Susan Guagliumi’s expertise lives on in the Machine Knit Community, the new custodians of Susan’s invaluable online content. Joan Lafferty gets us weaving and swaps ‘mistakes’ for a ‘design feature’ and we’ve a reader’s gorgeous padded cot quilt to make using a cone of 4-ply and some oddments. It’s another packed issue including Sally Butcher’s plus-size design in punch tuck rib and all the usual advice, news and reviews.

NEW DIGITAL VERSION From the January 2025 issue, you can now buy the digital version of the magazine. Just head for the SHOP and select either the hardcopy or downloadable option. The downloadable magazine is just £4 (sterling) for each issue and available straight away. It saves the huge expense and wait for overseas postage, so check it out NOW!

June update

Dear Readers

A couple of weeks ago, many of us  thought Spring had finally arrived… and it did for a week! Despite that lovely sun, we’re now back to bitterly cold winds and rain by the bucketful. If this weather is the best the south can do, I’ll need every thick sweater I can pack, for one last essential trip we’ve to make to Scotland in a week or two.

I hope you’ll start to smile when you read Clubline on Page 10. Chris sent me the photos you’ll see, from the Easter Yellow challenge Janet had suggested for the Rumney Class & Club. One-by-one the pictures popped into my inbox and I was beaming long before they’d all arrived. Chris said that every club member was smiling as they arrived and unwrapped their items. There’s something very appealing about lovely shades of yellow and we all love Clair Crowston’s gorgeous top on Page 14. She’s included instructions for both Brother and Silver Reed machines with a lace carriage. If you’re just starting your machine-knitting journey and Clair’s design is too much of a challenge, do try her chain stitch cast on edge. It looks great and lays flat. She’s explained it in full and we’ve included step-by-step instructions for a latch tool cast on in Purls of Wisdom on Page 17.

Are you in the habit of going for a walk, especially in woodland? You might like to turn to Page 50 to see what you can do with a handful or two of young, waxy ivy leaves. Google and YouTube will whisk away any scepticism. I’ve only to walk to the end of my garden for ivy in abundance and you’ll read that Joan Lafferty manages a similar number of steps to her knitting room in Magical Memories this month! At the end of Joan’s feature, you’ll notice that Macmillan’s coffee morning for cancer support is on Friday 26th September this year. Bill King’s tea cosy is enduringly popular and if you join the seam completely, it makes a cosy hat to keep out piercingly cold wind. I’d better knit one quickly, as I’m sure to need it on our trek North. Until next month, knit happy!

NEXT ISSUE July 2025

Subscription copies sent out Thursday 5th June

On sale Thursday 12th June

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February update

Dear Readers

Each year I’ve to finish this issue in the middle of December, so let me tell you about one or two things which may slip through the net. Sadly, Jo Newton, a dear friend and well-known name in machine knitting has decided to close both her website and design business. Jo’s intarsia designs captivated many of us for years. She was a frequent exhibitor at shows and a highly-respected, major contributor to most magazines including MKM. For a short time, her books will still be available, but you need to be quick. If you’d like any of them, send me an email with your phone number and I’ll ask Jo to call you before she finally hangs up the ‘closed’ sign.

I must also let you know about two recent bereavements and the first is a designer knitters will remember from Modern Machine Knitting days. It’s Terry Armitstead, who was a major contributor back in the early 1990s. He was a popular club speaker, often joining forces with Jane Huntingford. They’d talk about intarsia motifs, garment patterns and geometric designs for punchcard and electronic machines. Terry really could squeeze everything possible from (what looked like) an ordinary, rather boring stitch pattern. I’m certain Terry’s collection of samples was second only to Bill King!

My second bereavement is someone known to most machine knitters in Northern Ireland. ‘Old hands’ who’ve read the letters in Dear Anne over the years, will recognise the name Joan Wilson. Joan was 103 and will be very sadly missed by everyone who knew her. She’d been machine knitting since 1955 and I’ve kept in touch with her since 1986, when I first published the magazine.

Joan started with an early second-hand Passap, progressed to a Silver Reed SK840 electronic and knitted on everything from every manufacturer in between. With advancing years she’d moved into a care home. There was no room for her machines, but not long before her 100th birthday, she’d an LK-150 set up and was learning to knit on it. As she put it: “I need to keep my brain working”! In both our younger days Joan would often scold me, but always in a constructive way to help me improve the magazine for all machine knitters. It’s been my pleasure to remain in touch with a woman who will have inspired more of us than she ever realised. Joan kept her love for machine knitting right up until the end. She was still knitting clothes for her great grandchildren. I send my sincere condolences to everyone who knew both Terry and Joan. They both died in loving, peaceful surroundings.

Joan’s letters were always beautifully hand-written and this month I can think of no better way to sign off than how Joan ended every letter to me. “I’ll be glad to hear from you. All the best healthwise and good luck otherwise.” I send you all my very best wishes and hopes for a happy, a healthy and a prosperous year ahead.

NEXT ISSUE March 2025

Subscription copies sent out Thursday 6th February

On sale Thursday 13th February

Ask your newsagent to reserve a copy or order a subscription NOW!

Design competition

Blenheim Palace launches design competition to mark final month of Icons of British Fashion exhibition

Blenheim Palace is searching for the next generation of Icons of British Fashion, with the launch of a nationwide design competition, with their design visions showcased at Britain’s Greatest Palace. The launch of the fashion competition is in celebration of the biggest exhibition in the 300-year history of Blenheim Palace, Icons of British Fashion, which is open to the public until 30th June 2024.

​To enter, fashion students must register their interest to blenheim@cabcampaign.co.uk along with their portfolio by Wednesday 12th June 2024. A shortlist will then be invited to experience and take inspiration from Icons of British Fashion at Blenheim Palace.  The fashion students will then have three weeks to visit, sketch and submit their designs which have been inspired by the exhibition and the Palace itself by 30th June 2024. Entries will be judged by an esteemed panel including Kate Ballenger, Keeper of Palace & Collections at Blenheim Palace, fashion designers Alice Temperley and Lulu Guinness.

The winner will be announced in July and will receive an exclusive Icons of British Fashion prize, an afternoon tea for two as well as luxury lodge stay for four worth over £1,000. They will also have the opportunity to display their winning design in the Palace, and for it to be featured in a photoshoot for their portfolio. All entrants must currently be studying a degree or equivalent in fashion design, textiles or related subjects.

​Icons of British Fashion at Blenheim Palace features a display of renowned classic pieces, as well as never-before-seen looks by the late Dame Vivienne Westwood, Jean Muir, Terry de Havilland, Bruce Oldfield, Turnbull & Asser, Zandra Rhodes, Lulu Guinness, Barbour, Alice Temperley, Stella McCartney and Stephen Jones Millinery for Christian Dior. For more information about the exhibition visit and to book tickets visit,  www.blenheimpalace.com/whats-on/events/icons-of-british-fashion/.

Black hole

Dear Anne

At the moment I’m knitting a black cardigan and have decided to make horizontal buttonholes. My eyesight isn’t too good, so I experimented with the awkward row where I have to transfer the stitch from Needle 2 to Needle 1, then return both stitches to Needle 2. The next step is the difficult part for me on black wool, lifting the stitch from the first needle over the second stitch to form a new stitch. I’ve found it easier to put Needle 1 of the buttonhole into holding position, take the stitch from Needle 2 and slip it in the hook of Needle 1. All that needs to be done then is to take Needle 1 back into working position to form a new stitch, then transfer this new stitch to Needle 2. It sounds very complicated but it’s much easier to do. Best wishes Rhona in Edinburgh

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Machine Knitting Techniques

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By Bill King

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By Bill King

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USA machines

Marguerite has two knitting machines to give away. The first is a KnitKing, including many pattern books, which she hasn’t used in over 15 years. The second is a Japanese model which she’s never used. She inherited them from her sister, who used both extensively. The Japanese model is newer than the KnitKing, with several beds still in their cases, but she knows very little about it. It has the label STUDIO SK-303. She’d like to find a happy home for them, preferably with someone who is able to use them and is willing to pick them up from her in Pennsylvania.

Hat’s off

Some hand knit patterns are unworkable on knitting machines. You should look for a short row pattern for a beret done on the machine. In these patterns you short row on both sides of the knitting. One side comes to a point in the center because you are knitting a circle. The other side of the knitting is sized to fit the head circumference. Best wishes, Carolyn

Knitters beware!

Dear Anne

One of my students sent me this poem. She’s no idea who wrote it or who gave
it to her, but we thought everyone would enjoy it! Best wishes to all, Lidia

The Tension Square

I had a sudden brainwave, on how to earn a packet.

I sat down with pen and paper and designed a lovely jacket.

I started with a tension square, the first seemed short and fat.

My second one was long and thin so I’d had enough of that.

I decided not to bother with a tension square at all.

I carried on regardless, throwing caution to the wall.

Now, my creation’s finished, but I don’t know what to do.

I’m looking for a customer five stone and eight feet two.

So let this be a warning, have patience and take care.

When you are in creative mood, remember the tension square!