October 2016

It was the Charity evening for the October meeting.
Charity Challenge entries:

1st joint Snowman scarf by Marcia and Teapot cosy in red and green striped by Vee

 

2nd Hats 3 with each red, blue and green by Janet

3rd White baby set with a topsy turvy top by Sandra

4th Baby lace lilac hat by Margo

5th Xmas snowman tree hanging by Shirley. the pattern is from Nov 2994 MKNews  pattern by Diane Bennett

Usual Monthly Competition:
Advanced
Shirley with Xmas snowman

September 2016

The topic this month is the 'Ribber'.


Items discussed or demonstrated on the machine using a Brother KH864 and KR850.

• Setting up the ribber and main bed
• The settings
• Casting on
• Fully fashioned increase
• Fully fashioned decrease
• Vertical buttonholes in rib
• Horizontal buttonholes in rib
• Scalloped edgings using ribber

 

Competition

Beginners:

Sandy knitted the pink cardigan in crepe and the back has a lace panel into a v.

 Advanced:

1st Valerie with a white lace shawl with crochet edging threaded with ribbon.

2nd Shirley with a red top knitted in 3 strands of crepe

3rd Sue knitted a jacquard waistcoat on the passap using 2 strands of each colour

 

 

July 2016

A talk was given about different ways of knitting cables on the machine and using them together for various effects.

The cables were not demonstrated on the machine but a number of samples were shared and passed around the group for discussion. The samples included:
Various widths of cable knitted across a number of needles
Cables crossed in various directions
With needles in and out of work
Using cables to join 2 pieces of work across the shoulders or seams
On pockets
On the rib for a fancy texture
With cords or ribbons threaded through the cables
Cables with beads and other decoration




Some baby garments were made by the group for a local charity.

Competition
Advanced only entries this month.
1st  a jacket knitted in teal Grigna from the Ann Brown Versatile Jacket pattern by Shirley
2nd a scarf/wrap knitted with 2 strands very fine yarn in green and grey by Valerie

 

 

 

 Other knitting for another club competition were brought in and shared.

 

June 2016

The speaker this month was Janet from our group. Janet provided a talk about 'cut and sew'. This is the method of stitching or securing the knitting before cutting usually the neckline shape and then attaching the neckband. The method can be used on any garment from simple stocking stitch to complex patterning. However it is mostly used when the patterning is fairly complex or lots of it, where shaping around the neckline might be more complicated using decreases or where pattern matching either side of neckline may be challenging.

Janet's approach used a template to help get an even placement of the intended neckline. She had provided some to take away traced onto card. The template by Carl Boyd was mentioned too. Janet advised :

1. marking both sides of the neckline with a pin to ensure the shoulders lined up
2. placing the template evenly in the middle and pinning
3. tacking around the outline of the template
4. zig zag using a sewing machine
5. cut with sharp scissors within the tacked/zig zagged area leaving a seam allowance   

The neckband was made in advance and taken off onto waste yarn ready to be attached.

There are various approaches to making and attaching the neckbands and some were discussed and samples shown.

Competition

Advanced

1st Vee - navy cardigan with a frilled edging and raglan sleeves knitted with 4 strands industrial yarn twisted together using a yarn twister. 

2nd Val - grey jacket knitted on a mid gauge using garter bar to make garter stitch and with side splits.

3rd Marcia - supersheen and lambswool plated jacket using holding position for shaping.

May 2016

At the May meeting, team member Shirley talked about and demonstrated the LK150 mid gauge machine. The differences with regular standard gauge machines were pointed out such as no sinker posts and there is no punchcard patterning. However it was simple to use, light to carry about so very portable and very good for converting hand knit patterns to be knitted on it.


Shirley had made a few samples and passed them around and then gave everyone the opportunity to see it in action and try it for themselves.


Shirley brought some cones of chunky yarn to sell at the meeting. Stephanie and Vee brought in some pattern books and machine accessories. Sandra showed Ann Browns lightweight striped cardigan from her new to be released pattern that had been seen at the recent workshop. It was knitted in two strands of fine crepe and was ideal for using up ends of crepe cones.