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Could you knit a blanket to help cats during lockdown?

If you’re looking for a new project while the country is on lockdown, an RSPCA cattery in London is hoping you can help!

RSPCA Friern Barnet Adoption Centre – located within a new Pets at Home store at the Friern Bridge Retail Park in North London – is calling on creative and crafty people to help provide some knitted blankets for its cats. Nicole Grover, from the centre, said: “We give all of our cats a knitted blanket when they arrive here. It’s something warm and cosy for them to curl up on in their pods and when they find their forever homes it means they have something to take with them with a familiar scent. This helps the transition from our centre to their new home much easier and less stressful”.

“While there are lots of people spending more time at home during the current Coronavirus lockdown we thought it would be a great opportunity for anyone who knits or crochets to make a blanket for our lovely cats.”

The centre is asking for blankets around 30 to 40 cm in size, made out of machine washable yarn. “Some of our wonderful volunteers have also been making dangle toys and toy mice to keep our cats entertained and to make their pods more fun,” Nicole added. “We’re incredibly grateful to all of our wonderful supporters who spend time creating toys and blankets for our cats so we’d like to say a big thank you”.

  • Please send your donations to Pets At Home, Friern Bridge Retail Park, Pegasus Way, Friern Barnet, London N11 3PW.
  • For more information, visit the RSPCA Friern Barnet Facebook page. 

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

Exquisite embroidery on show

Saturday 28th September is the opening date of a one-off retrospective exhibition of exquisite embroidery art by Royal Academy artist Teresa Forrest, who is now a resident in Stratton Village in Cirencester.

Teresa’s works have been hung twice in the Royal Academy in 2012.  There will be over 30 pieces on show during the week-long exhibition.

A skyline scene called Oxford at Dawn will be for sale via silent auction during the exhibition and any donations given with the profit from the auction will go to the scholarship fund at Blackheath High School in London, setup by Teresa and her husband Jack in memory of their late daughter.

August 2019 Subscriptions

This is August 2019 and our current issue.

New subscription If you select a new subscription, it will start with the September 2019 magazine, to be mailed out to subscribers on Thursday 1st August. If you’d like to start with this August issue, you need to order a Subscription Bundle.

Subscription bundle If you select a subscription bundle, it will start with our current August 2019 magazine and we’ll send you a copy straight away. Your magazine will then be mailed direct from the printer on the first Thursday of each month and the September 2019 issue goes out to subscribers on Thursday 1st August.

August fun day

On 10th August, from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm, V V Rouleaux will be at The Makery in bath with Sewisfaction and their fabrics to hold a pop-up shop. There will be a selection of £5 workshops all day long and V V Rouleaux will also have lots going on, including goodie-bags with every purchase. Oh, and there will be cake! The Makery is at Beau Nash House, 19 Union Passage, Bath, North East Somerset BA1 1RD or call 01225-581888.

March 2019 – Contents

Here’s a detailed list of the Contents in our March 2019 issue.

Patterns

All our patterns now give details for knitting on standard gauge machines.

16 Coffee ‘n’ Cream MKM pattern for chunky machines

19 On The Border Two Carl Boyd designs for standard gauge machines

22 In Two Parts MKM pattern for the Silver Reed LK-150 and all machines

28 Country Boy Anne Baker Karabee Design for standard gauge machines

32 Under The Hood Two MKM patterns for Silver Reed LK-150 and all machines

38 Dinosaur Park Iris Rowe toy pattern for all machines

 

Features

10 Clubline We’ve news from home and abroad this time and some diary dates of special interest

12 Dear Anne Take note of our letters page this month, because readers have passed on invaluable help and advice

14 Style File It’s the start of the new season, time to show your knits a taste of summer and your knitted wardrobe is in for a treat says Sally-Ann Carroll

47 DesignaKnit Rachel Mayer returns to help us work with Original Pattern Drafting in this fabulous software

52 Spotlight On… Edie Ashley and her design tribute to her grandmother, Laura Ashley

53 Look At Life Joan Lafferty isn’t suggesting spring cleaning, because we’re certain you won’t want her to remind you!

56 Masterclass Bill King reminds us about an enormous time saver for even small pieces of fabric

 

Regulars

4 Subscriptions Delivered to your door each month

6 Newsline Our monthly look at people and places, patterns and new yarns plus lots of ideas for inspiration

8 Book Review This month’s book is packed with every bit of information a machine or hand knitter would ever wish to find – and there’s a reader offer, too!

27 Back Issues Every copy is a vintage so complete your collection or take a lucky dip

31 Binders Keep all your copies safe this year with the tidy answer that looks good on your bookshelf

37 Clubs Directory Form Spread the word, write in and get your club noticed

41 Machine Knitting LIVE! It’s time to order tickets and make a diary date for our Nottingham and Bournemouth shows this year

44 Mini Mart We’ve re-stocked our mail order shop this month, so look out for bargains

45 Knitting Buddies Readers’ help just when you need it

58 Clubs Directory List The latest details and updates to find your nearest knitting club

60 Market Place Browse around in the comfort of your own home

61 Coming Next Month Reserve next month’s issue now

62 Pattern Information Lots of practical help, abbreviations and easy pattern conversion

 

NEXT ISSUE

April 2019

Subscription copies sent out

Thursday 7th March

On sale

Thursday 14th March

Ask your newsagent to reserve a copy now

January 2019 – Issue 252

We ring in the new with a perfect top for party time on the cover. There’s a sleeveless version and they’d both look great as summer knits. We also include instructions for converting all our patterns for knitting on standard gauge machine​s​. We’ve Anne Baker’s mermaid ‘fishtail’ pattern in small and large sizes to fit all mums and girls, a snuggle bag for babies, lots of chunky knits and meercat mischief with a toy pattern for these cute critters. Sally-Ann Carroll adds a pop of colour to our knitted wardrobe to cheer up cold winter days and Bill King looks at the rack and release technique to knit some fabulous fabrics. We the second of a new 3-part series about using the garter bar for far more than simply turning work. We also have a wonderful story about a reader who has overcome huge hurdles in her life, to become a happy machine knitter. We always ​include news, books and fashion plus special reader prices in our Book Review.

October 2018 – Issue 249

This is October 2018 and our current issue.

New subscription If you chose a new subscription, it will start with the November 2018 magazine – to be mailed out to subscribers on Thursday 4th October.

June 2018 – Issue 245

June 2018 was officially on sale on 10th May. Anne Baker’s lace cardigan on the front cover is one of her all-time best sellers and easily knitted from a cone of 4-ply.

Come and join us

Dear Readers

If you can travel to Nottingham, do please come along to the West Park Leisure Centre in Wilsthorpe Road, Long Eaton NG10 4AA. The centre is about a mile and a half from Junction 25 on the M1. When you come off the motorway, take the exit to Long Eaton onto Bostock’s Lane. After about half a mile, at the junction with Longmoor Road, turn right onto the B6002. The road bears left and becomes Petersham Road. Continue along the B6002 into Wilsthorpe Road and the Leisure Centre is along this road on the left.

This year our show is from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm on Sunday 8th April and Guest Speakers are Clair Crowston at 11.00 am, Marianne Henio at 12.30 pm and Bill King at 2.00 pm. The lectures cost an extra £1 each and numbers have to be limited so it’s best to book in advance. If you can’t then don’t worry, as we usually have tickets to sell on the door. The talks are held upstairs, but there are stairs and a lift, so access is easy for everyone.

Clair Crowston is a popular designer, giving a talk and demonstration on different neckbands instead of rib. Marianne Henio is an up-and-coming designer with a large Internet following and she’ll talk about how her life started in machine knitting and the new directions her machine knitting is taking. Bill King is an incredible fabric designer and his talk is about hand transfer and producing amazing cable-type fabrics on a machine. Bill also takes masses of samples he’s produced for industry and he’s always a source of inspiration. Clair is classic style, Marianne is wacky and modern and Bill always leaves us speechless with knitting you’d never believe had come from a domestic machine.

We’ll have hot and cold snacks and drinks available and last year’s excellent caterers will look after us again. I look forward to seeing all those who can join us. We’ll have the usual lucky dip for free tickets and you could be one of our winners. Send an sae as soon as possible, marked Nottingham in the top left hand corner of both envelopes to Machine Knitting Monthly, PO Box 1479, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 8YX. We’ll pick out the winners before Easter and send out their free tickets at the same time. If you’d prefer to buy your ticket on the door but would like a map then just give me a call.

I’ve had some sad news from Brenda Gould, who publishes Knitting Machine Journal. For a number of personal reasons, she’s unable to continue editing KMJ and August will be her last edition. It means she’ll not have her usual stand at Nottingham this year, so we can’t say a personal goodbye. I know everyone will join me in thanking Brenda for all she’s done to support machine knitting and wish her well.

Finally, let’s all give ourselves a huge pat on the back. In March 1986, the first issue of Machine Knitting Monthly went on sale, so this month we celebrate our 32nd birthday. Some of you have been with me from the very first issue, so each one of us must share the satisfaction of knowing that we’ve played our part in keeping machine knitting alive. My very sincere thanks to everyone reading this magazine for the enduring support you’ve given and long may we all continue to fly the flag for machine knitting.

 

NEXT ISSUE

May 2018 Subscription copies sent out Thursday 5th April

On sale Thursday 12th April