Hello all,
I have been developing my skills in doing Tunisian crochet in the round and creating new designs which is all exciting. I have sent them off to the magazines to see if they would like to use them. Fingers crossed :) I would show you them however, the rabbit thief strikes again!!!!!! It appears that she has taken to seeking comfort lately...........not from me but my designed good. It is a bizarre habit but I suppose if it keep her happy who am I to judge?
As you may be aware I have recently moved to Birmingham and started to look for local knit nights. I love attending one on a Saturday 11am-1pm at Stitch Solihull. This beautiful knitting hut can be found inside Nottcutt's garden centre in Shirley. It is only £1 to attend and there are lovely biscuits and tea on hand. Stitch Solihull hold a variety of workshops and one that I am intending to book onto is Tunisian Crochet with the lovely Denise Pigott. The workshop is open to any ability and I am desperate to learn how to do double sided Tunisian crochet. I am booking onto the workshop on the Saturday 6th June.
I have located another group near Bournville held at City knits in Birmingham. This group is on the last Wednesday of the month and runs 6.30pm - 8.30pm. This is a lovely group and there are usually a range of handmade cakes, tea and knitting gossip. I have enjoyed this group and will hopefully attend again in May as I am away in April.
A group that I would like to try is at Guthrie and Ghani. This is held on the last Thursday of the month 6.30pm - 8.30pm. I love the shop and the atmosphere and I am intending to go along in May. The shop is in Moseley which works out great as it is not far from the day job.
The final group that I have heard of is Stitches and Ho's which is held at a pub called the Hare and Hound pub in Kings Heath. This group runs on the last Tuesday of every month and starts from 7.30pm. This group seems different as it is based in a pub and shows the public how great knitting (and of course crochet) is.
I am off to Brighton soon so if anyone can recommend and knitting shops that I must go to that would be much appreciated.
I have updated my Ravelry shop with all my latest patterns so please check it out :)
Until next time
Happy crafting
www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect
@knitsnotperfect
http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-reed
Hello All,
I can finally take a breath as I have completed all of my Christmas knitting. I am looking forward to the open day at TOFT alpaca on the 20th December and I hope to see you all there. If you are a little behind with your knitting and need a place to go with lovely cakes, I suggest that you go to TOFT's knit night. At the moment it is on every Thursday 4pm-8pm to provide you with time to catch up with your festive projects.
The Christmas stocking bunting is on my fire place ready for Santa. Maybe as there are so many mini stockings I will get loads of gifts this year. I feel this was one of the cleverest schemes that I have hatched muhahaha. ......... Unless I have been naughty which means there will be a lot of coal for my fire place........
The final project that was published in Inside Crochet was Tunisian Mittens. This was a good challenge that I had set myself as I used a special way of crocheting. I have used this technique before and it involves a long crochet hook. With standard crochet you would work with one stitch at a time. However, with tunisian crochet you have a front pass where you pick up stitches on the hook, this means there could be 20 stitches plus on the hook at one time!!!!. You then work a back pass where you remove these stitches so you are back to one on the hook. You never need to turn the work and the stitches can mimic knitting stitches. There are not many books out there to provide guidance on this technique but I recommend a workshop with City Knit's In Birmingham. The courses there are a reasonable price, the tutor Kate was lovely and extremely knowledgeable and it is a good excuse to visit the lovely shop in the gorgeous area of Bournville.
As I am a beginner at tunisian crochet, I wanted a project that did not require increases or decreases. I have learnt three stitches which were a standard, knit stitch and purl stitch and wanted a project to combine them together. This is where is the mitten was created. I used the wonderful Erika Knight's yarn. I love the texture and colours and feel this really added the the project. I also wanted to use different colours which is again another skill. I really enjoyed making this project and I hope that you do too. I feel that if you are new to tunisian crochet, this is a good place to start.
I have added a couple of new patterns to my Raverly page so please check it out. There is not a crochet mug cosy and a knitted Christmas gift bag.
Until next time
Happy crafting.
www.facebook.com/knitsnotperfect
@knitsnotperfect
http://www.ravelry.com/stores/knits-not-perfect---sarah-reeds-designs
