August meeting

Once again we had a good turn out with a few new faces.

Eleanor reminded us that the NSW Machine Knitting Association have organised a weekend at Kiah Ridge (near Picton NSW) from Friday 31st October until Sunday 2nd November.

If you can’t make it for the whole weekend, there are still places available to attend two workshops on Saturday 1st November. For more details please email the blog.

This month like many others we had plenty of items for show and tell.

Ruth brought these alpaca scarf’s that she made on her Passap machine.

  

Margaret brought in a lovely blanket made from 1 end of pure wool in a tuck stitch using both beds of her Passap machine. 

Margaret also bought in a couple of hand knitted items.

Including this mitred shawl,

and scarf.

 

Leslie has also been busy, making this blue cardigan out of acrylic.

 

Jan brought in this 2 colour Jacket made from wool and lurex on her Brother machine using a garter carriage, so there are no floats on the back. As you can see there is a great deal of detail in this garment no wonder it took nearly six weeks to complete!

Jan also let us know that her husband has now started servicing garter carridges, so if your carridge is in need of some tlc please contact Jan at jan_rich@optusnet.com.au for more details.

And lastly a member brought in this fair-isle hooded jacket, complete with lining.

The jacket is made from 2 strands of 2 ply 100% pure wool from Bendio and the lining is 1 strand of 1 ply 100% merino.

July’s show and tell

This month Barbara brought in some scarfs that she had made and then felted.

    

The scarfs were knitted over 42sts, in stocking stitch using the complete ball. Then foam balls were attached using little bands. The scarfs were then soaked in luke warm water for 2 hours and put in the washing machine on hot for 5 minutes. They were then left to dry for approximately 3 days before the bands were removed and the balls released.

 

Barbara also brought us in this hand knitted scarf, knitted in triangles made from sock yarn.

Leslie brought in this handy little tool that her DH made for her.

It’s amazing what you can do with an old needle and toothbrush. I’m sure there must be more knitters that have come up with inventive solutions to tricky problems when machine knitting.

Lorraine brought in a green cardigan with zipper, made from 5ply Bendigo wool.

  

 

Margaret brought in a lovely mohair shawl that she knitted on the bulky.

 

 

Robyn brought along this hand knitted wrap for us to see.

 

 

And finally this is a scarf that Eleanor brought in.

  

Thanks once again to all who bring in their creations for show and tell and allow them to be photographed and put onto the blog.

Dates for 2008

Creative Machine Knitters meet at Epping Creative Centre

(Dence Park), Stanley Road, Epping.

On the third Thursday of each month

 

The meetings for this year will take place on the following dates.

January 17th

February 21st

March 20th

April 17th

May 15th

June 19th

July 17th

August 21st

September 18th

October 16th

November 20th

June’s meeting

It’s amazing how quickly this year seems to be slipping by.

As I write this we are now in August and I’m only now getting around to posting photo’s from June’s meeting, where have the last few weeks gone?

As usual, we had a few items for show and tell.

I’m always surprised by the variety of projects our members create.

 

Barbara brought in this hand bag to show us.

  

Lorraine also had another busy month making cardigans for her grand daughters.

         

Bev also brought us in a hat and scarf.

        

and lastly here is one of Joyce’s creations.

 

As usual click on any of the images to see a larger picture.

May’s morning Tea

Part of May’s meeting was a morning tea and donate a hat to raise money for the cancer council.

As you can see from the photographs there were plenty of hats made for the occasion. 

  

There were 44 hats made and donated to the children’s hospital at Westmead. We also raised $160 for the cancer council, thanks to all who contributed and thanks to Barb for dropping off the hats and money.

April’s Meeting

April’s meeting found us with Barbara in the driving seat, and a demonstration by Lorraine but more on that later.

It was decided that at next months meeting in May, we will have a festive morning tea in honour of the biggest morning tea event. Please remember to ‘bring a plate’ if you can.

In addition, it was suggested that we all try to make a hat for charity and bring it along with us.

The patterns that were distributed include one for a bulky machine, a beanie type for a standard gauge. A ’straight’ hat using a ribber and an 8-ply pattern for use on a standard gauge so lots to choose from and remember to let your imagination run wild.

If you didn’t get the handouts and would like more information please e-mail us and we can organise to get you a copy of the patterns.

On thinking about who might be wearing the hats it was suggested that acrylic yarn might be more suitable for young heads rather than wool.

I thought that last month we had a bumper show and tell, well this month would easily have surpassed that. I’m not sure if it was because winter seems to have come early or everyone was feeling inspired at the same time! Whatever the reason it was great to see.

Once again the range of items presented was amazing, we really do have some very talented individuals within the club. Makes me wonder why we don’t have more entries to the various knitting shows?

Here are some of the items presented, again listed in no particular order.

John brought in a number of items this month, including this colourful fair-isle cardigan, vest and scarf. 

 

 

 

 

in addition to the items above John also managed to make a selection of hats, from a Russian ‘Cossack’  to a balaclava and a beret hat inspired from one recently seen on a catwalk show! well done John.

 

 

 

 

Still finding my way

I’m still finding my way around this program so sometimes images don’t quite sit correctly. Also I’m still working out the best way to post images. Last month I made four or five different posts, however this month I am going to try to make one large post to see if it reads better.

More show and tell later, now on to the demonstration, 

This months demonstration was on ribs, and Lorraine very kindly took us through various types of ribs and how to get the best results. Armed with some samples the ’she made earlier’ we all gathered round the trusty Brother machine and learned a few tricks and tips along the way.

Here are some samples that Lorraine brought in to show us.

I’m sure there were more than a few beginners that found the demonstration very useful, thanks again to Lorraine for your efforts.

As well as the more experienced machine knitters bringing in something for show and tell we also had a couple of recent beginners.

One new machine knitter who brought in a work in progress was surprised when i asked to photograph it, “but it’s not finished” was the cry. However wip’s are just as important to see as the finished articles. Quite often we can gain the experience of another member to help us with finishing tips.

I look forward to snapping this one again when it’s finished.

Another new member brought in this bag to show us, I think we can all appreciate the time and effort that has gone into this.

 The detail truly is amazing

Once again Margaret has been busy, this time with a woven top that was knitted sideway as well as a lovely blue jumper made with 5 ply from Bendigo’s classic range, a 1ply mohair shawl. She even had time to hand knit a scarf!

In addition to the pictures above, Margaret even found time to make this sleeveless top with pin and then rope a few tennis friends into helping with this hand knit blanket.

Bev brought in a couple of blankets that she made on her Brother 940 with 2 ends of cashmillion one in pink and one in grey.

Bev and Susan-May also had their thinking caps on for a local show that had a lot of children. They came up with interesting ideas to encourage the kids to have a go on the machine.

Here are a couple of those ideas, one is a ‘bracelet’ and the other are some small flowers

And Finally

As well as chairing this months meeting Barbara also found time to make this twin set to bring along.

  

The twin set was made from a linen/cotton blend. The cardigan was made with partial knitting in an elongated octagon shape, then Barbara used the cut & sew technique to shape the neck and armholes. Complete with a sleeveless vest to match underneath.

Exhibition opening

 

Alison Gwilt and Alana Clifton-Cunningham warmly invite you to the opening of their exhibition and book launch, ‘Fragments: methodologies of making fashion’. 

The exhibition opens 6pm on Thursday April 10 at The DAB Lab Research Gallery, located at the University of Technology, Sydney, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, Level 4, 702-730 Harris Street, Ultimo. 

Exhibition runs until May 9 2008.  
Open Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm.

“To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.”
Giorgio Armani

Everyday fashion components and elements such as the pocket, the sleeve, or the seam often become eclipsed by the theatrics of the fashion spectacle. Through an examination of the details in fashion garments such as fabrications, construction
techniques, surface decorations and finishes we can reconsider traditional methods and techniques of fashion making and lead designers to explore new innovations.

 

In particular this exhibition suggests that through this method of specialisation the lifecycle of a fashion garment may be extended. Whilst the exhibition does not attempt to offer all the solutions, it presents a range of creative responses that aim to engage and inspire other fashion designers to devise new creative interplays between contemporary fashion practice and sustainable methods.

Bumper Show and Tell – Part 4 – Final

When I started snapping away at the meeting last week, I didn’t realise that I would end up with so many photographs.

It really was a bumper show and tell! 

Once again another member didn’t want to have her work photographed as this was only a ‘test piece’

This is a “crazy knitting” bag that Helen is currently working on.

 

Helen also brought us in a couple of jumpers.

 

Finally, anyone who has been a member of the creative machine knitters for any time will know of Joyce’s famous dish cloths.

So here are a couple of photos of Joyce’s cloths that I’m told can be used to clean almost anything!

 

Needless to say if anyone would like to buy any cloths, please see Joyce.

That’s all for this month’s show and tell. If anyone has any suggestion about the weblog please send us an e-mail. 

Bumper Show and Tell – Part 3

It wouldn’t be Easter without the Easter bunnies, these three are the work of Sue.

Susan didn’t want me to photograph her baby blanket, why is it that machine knitters are so shy about their work? 

 

 Margaret also brought in a blanket that she had made on her Brother 930. This one was made using one end of cashmillon and tuck stitch.

 

 

 

Bumper Show and Tell – Part 2

Part of the reason for keeping a weblog of the creative machine knitters is to inspire others who can’t attend club meetings, and hopefully encourage us all to keep the tradition of machine knitting alive. At every meeting Eleanor encourages us to enter our work into every and any craft show going, this month was no exception. Eleanor brought along her ‘40 minute’ scarf.

   

Not only did this scarf only take her 40 minutes to knit up, it managed to bring her 1st prize at a local craft show – well done Eleanor!