Tuesday Night Knitting Club

Just thought I would introduce you to my knitting group - The Tuesday Night Knitting Club (the name came after reading the book by Kate Jacobs called "The Friday Night Knitting Club").

In the summer of 2007 Christina, the Manager of St. Ives Library, asked me if I would set up a knitting group in the library. We decided that September would be a good time as autumn is when most people think of knitting. So one Tuesday evening at the beginning of September our group was born.

We meet once a fortnight, 7 - 9 p.m. (the library is open until 9.30 p.m. on a Tuesday) to chat, drink tea and coffee, eat biscuits and, oh yes, knit! The group is very friendly and has members of different ages.

Regular attendees include me, Brenda, Ireen, Maureen, Carol, Pat, Magda, Yvette and relatively new members include Jo, Catherine, Dee and Janet. At our last meeting we had a visitor, Olive, who was on holiday from Hertfordshire. She saw the article in Simply Knitting, when we were the Knitting Club of the month and rang me to ask if our group was meeting while she was down here. She has also had an article in Simply Knitting as she knits scarves on very short 4 1/2mm needles, and joins them up to make jackets.

Our group meets all year round as we are not just winter knitters and new members are always welcome, together with knitters who are visiting St. Ives on holiday.

This is a photo of us with the wool we received from Simply Knitting magazine when we were put into their draw of featured knitting clubs and we emerged the winner!

Our members have a range of knitting abilities, from relatively new knitters to those who do not need a pattern to create an amazing garment.

Cloth Paper Scissors Charm Swap

I entered the Cloth Paper Scissors Charm Swap (didn't unfortunately photograph my charms before I sent them off!) Here are photos of the charms I received, sorry if the quality is not too good. I was really pleased to receive them and look forward to making something with them.

My thanks to the artist who made these and I hope everyone who received mine enjoyed them too!

Ayr Field Create a Butterfly Garden

On Saturday 6th June I had a lovely time with the children helping to create a Butterfly Garden in Ayr Field, St. Ives Cornwall.

We made butterflies from felt and decorated them with sequins, ribbons etc., and put them on sticks to be put into plant pots which the children had sprinkled wildflower seeds into to create their own butterfly garden at home.

This is daisy's plant pot ready for her butterfly:-

Meanwhile outside:-

The weather may not have been as good as earlier in the week, but nevertheless everyone had a great time improving this area. I think the hot drinks and bacon rolls supplied by the St. Ives Scouts probably helped!

The next event at Ayr Field will be Ayr Field Day on 5th July - a great day and I will be there making bunting for people to leave messages on.

Website

Just to let you know my updated website is now up and running and is even better than it was! Many thanks to my web designer, my husband Steve, for doing such a great job. You can find it at:
www.knitweave.co.uk

Open Studios

Today was the first day of the Creative Skills Open Studios.  This is the week when artists throughout Cornwall invite people to visit their studios and see their work.

Despite not having many visitors I have had a great day!  Open Studios gave me the incentive to get my workshop sorted out and ready to work in after leaving it rather messy (to say the least!) over the winter.

During the course of the day I have managed to come up with an idea for a range of cards and have started making some as well as just enjoying having a whole day in my workshop, listening to the birds in the garden and thinking of ideas for future pieces of work.

I am open again  on Monday and look forward to even more creativity (and hopefully visitors!).

Frances Pickering

Thought I would start my blog by telling you what a brilliant workshop I went to last weekend.  It was organised through the Cornwall Embroiderers' Guild at Truro and run by Frances Pickering who creates the most beautiful little books.

She was extremely good at sharing her knowledge and techniques, as well as the Transfer Dyes and Brusho!

Most of her books have a theme such as flowers, hearts etc.  At the start of the weekend I didn't have a theme for my book but was more interested in how to make the book.  Having created the cover and painted the pages it became clear to me that my theme was going to be mermaids, something I love anyway so that wasn't a problem!

By the end of the weekend I had a book ready to fill with mermaid pictures, poems etc., which I was extremely happy with.  I also have a list of ideas for future books!

Photos will follow shortly of my work and some of the members of the Guild who attended the weekend.