Redbridge crafts

The recent hot weather has made knitting difficult for some – Who wants a shawl, jumper or blanket draped over their lap in this heat? Much better to do small projects that are not long enough to lie about on you.  So I have started knitting a Dwarf Helmet. Why you may ask. Well it all has to do with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. The Convention is in August and some of us , who didn’t get tickets for the main Gala Dinner, are doing an alternative event. Since the theme is the Crowning of The Low King of the Dwarves I am making an appropriate outfit. The main hat will be grey wool with a bit of cable to give it a bit of interest and the hair and beard will be knitted to fit. I have to get two of these finished by August Bank Holiday – in addition to the other projects!

Hi all

 It is some time since I have been able to post due to various circumstances but normal service will be resumed from now on.

Since our last post Clayhall library has started a Craft and Chatter group, I have taken part in the Race For Life and we celebrated World Wide Knit in Public Day at The George pub in Wanstead(pictures later)

Race for life was fun, many members of Stitch London were there knitting all the way round the course.

World Wide knit in Public day saw 25 knitters from several groups and a few people who don’t yet belong to any group meeting up to celebrate knitting. It was wonderful to see so many knitters and meet people from as far away as the Barbican Craft and Conversation group. We hope to make this an annual event at different venues

Everything is getting back to normal despite the weather.  Groups are meeting again and starting to think about what to make for the new season.

After a successful Christmas orders are already coming in for next Christmas so it is time to get the patterns out and gett stitching.

Don’t forget the Knitting and Stitching show coming up in February at Excel, London. It is usually an excellent opportunity to stock up on stuff for the next few months. Watch out for meetings of Stitch n Bitch , London and samples of Geurilla knitting round the capital.

In a library you can really get a distorted sense of the passing of time. When the three week issue date hits a bank holiday the computer says to itself “oh I have to give them an extra week”  over the Christmas period, of course, you get consecutive bank holidays so some lucky people have an extra fortnight to read their books. All of our groups in the libraries will be taking a break over the Christmas period and will restart in January. My own group in Wanstead will be the last to meet on 17th December.  The Keith Axon Centre group, Fulwell Cross and Ilford Groups all meet between 4th and 9th January and would welcome new members for the new year.

 My own projects are going well with only one scarf and the games board to finish before Christmas. After Christmas I have a couple of months costume making before the new reenactor season.

I have a group of about 8 regulars, all very keen knitters mostly, and a few bring along a friend occasionally. So far they are happy just to use the time for swapping patterns and ideas and introducing their other clubs and interests to each other. A couple from the Art Club here offered the rest spaces on their coming coach trip next week which were eagerly taken up. So I feel that our members are getting the opportunity to make new friends and take up other interests, which I guess was the original idea. They were all quite disappointed that there would be no group in August as school hols. Our next meeting is fixed 10 – 11.30am Thurs. September 10th