french knitting

The Easter hols are done and dusted and that means the next thing I am looking forward to is a trip to the South of France to teach some lucky folk how to adapt patterns and even design their own. Here are some pictures of the last class I did there.

If you are free from the 13th-17th May and fancy some sun, sea and some fabulous knitting along with great food and company, come along! Check out the fabulous Les Soeurs Anglaises site for this and other great classes. I fancy the Tango myself....

Point de Croix

Here are the pictures as promised from the amazing cross stitch exhibition at l'Aiguille en fete in Paris at the weekend.
The first section of the exhibition displayed some sweet and incredibly complex samplers in the Souvenirs de jeunesse or 'Memories of Youth'. These demonstrated how, in the exhibition's explaination, young school girls of past years learned the skills of women by practicing their cross stitch, sewing, knitting and repairing skills on small samplers. There are some great examples on the website, so check it out.

Amongst these were also more complicated and beautifully detailed samplers from the colleciton of Joke Visser, some from the 17th century. My personal favorites were this stunning olive green piece and the one below it with a very cute yet, strangely, at the same time stately stag.

Another section was from more modern cross stitchers, called Treasures of Cross Stitch. Amongst other pieces, I liked this one based on the metro. Each part represents a station on the Paris underground system.


The most intersting exhibits to me were definitely the hundreds of vintage sewing, embroidering and cross stitch artefacts. I liked everything about this section; the way the objects were all arranged higgledy-piggledy; the colours; the retro pictures and graphics printed on the packaging; the small and intricate cross stitch embellishments on scissor cases and needle wallets.

I am a sucker for a hook and eye, especially when its packaging is as sublimely pretty as these:

What I would give for some of these storage solutions, especially this wooden and glass box, labelled appropriately of course!

This arrangement of items is really appealing to me, it has it all - some religious iconography, wooden spools (with or without yarn - I don't care!), tin boxes and pretty, shiny threads. Sigh.

Overall, though, I think these star shaped darning thread cards are simply divine and my absolute favourite display. They are almost like little gleaming war medals or falling snowlakes. My cards of darning yarns are almost always square, I would be so, so happy if I were to find a little six-pronged wrap of yarn like this, let alone a collection as fab as this one. As it is, I had to settle for this intriguing exhibition. However, it left a fabulous impression and was a great inspiration.

l'aiguille en fete, paris

Loop yarn shop had a stand at the 'needle fair', l'Aiguille en Fete in Paris last week and I went along at the weekend to help out, or rather to hinder sales with my pigeon French. I understand quite a bit of the language but tend to dry up in fear when I have to speak it, so I stuck to such reliable terms as point mousse (garter stitch) point tricot (stocking stitch - except apparently it is not, it is 'jersey' oops! See comments below), tres doux (very soft), the numbers for prices, grams, meterage and needle sizes and the trusty old Parlez-vous anglais? when all else failed!

It was really interesting to compare and contrast the fair with British alternatives such as the Stitch and Knit show. There were very few yarn stalls and the French crafters were intrigued by many of the yarns on Loop's and Habu's stands which we knit with frequently in Britain, such as the hand dyed sock yarns and unusual fibers we are used to. Most of the fair consisted of needle point and cross stitch, although there were a few things that caught my eye. There was an incredibly cute toy kit stand, la Sardine and you know that I cannot resist a plushie textiles creature.

I also spent most of the spare time I had poring over the Japanese book stall Junkudo. I have long admired Japanese craft books, but had yet to make a decision on which of the many beautiful books to buy. However, it almost proved more difficult having the hard copies there to thumb through as I found I wanted them all! I succumbed eventually to this retro styled amigurumi book which reminded me of some pictures I have of myself as a child with my own toys. I also really wanted a sewing book, however I spent most of Sunday agonising over which one to buy - I know from my previous forays into sewing that I would not end up using them all, so I was very restrained and decided on the simple tunics and one piece book, as it seemed the simplest.

The draping book, while fabulous, may be beyond me and the one with the fantastic grey dress with pockets on the front (regular readers note; my dress/pocket obsession is getting ridiculous) had no other patterns I liked.

Aside from the Japanese book stall, my favourite part of the fair was an amazing cross stitch exhibition. This was so fabulous, it needs another post, so stay tuned for a lengthy post on vintage needlepoint and artefacts and in the meantime feast your eyes on the la Tour Eiffel at the top of the post in glorious textured cross stitch to tide yourself over 'til then.

I cannot leave you without sharing a great and very apt picture, which I promised the lovely Juju I would post. Outside of the fair, it seemed the needle fever had spread throughout the city, as across from our hotel was the amazing 'Knitting Pig' restaurant. It was actually called Au Cochon de Lait, but the sight of the milk laden pig knitting ecstatically in the sign was all we needed to change its name. So there you go dearest internet, even the livestock knit in Paris; now I feel my affinity with the country of my ancestors even more...

knitting class in france

I am very happy to say that I have just booked another class at the beautiful, sunny, idyllic Les Soeurs Anglaises in the South of France. The lovely Katie has been working hard on her new website, so hop on over and take a look.

My class this time is going to be about designing your own knitted items, looking at swatching, yarn choices and substitution, altering and designing patterns. We have booked the 14th-17th of May as the dates, but are thinking of lengthening the class to include finishing a small accessory then beginning to design a larger garment, with a break of a day in the middle for touring the area looking for yarn shops and markets. Let me know what you think of that idea.

If anyone is yet to book their summer hols and wants to combine knitting and the sun for a perfect craft break in France, this is the perfect choice for you. The food and company are sublime, the scenery fantastic and I cannot begin to describe the superb wine selection....I can't wait!

tricot français

A very busy and emotional few weeks have seen a lack of posting from me, but I have finally found a free moment to sit down and write about a lovely weekend spent knitting and crocheting in the beautiful South of France. I was there to give a craft workshop weekend with Les Soeurs Anglaises and had a thoroughly lovely time. The house is stunning, and we had the good fortune to be there in the spring time with the garden in full colourful bloom.




More indulgent pictures of the grounds can be found here.
The course was great fun, with hilarious anecdotes regarding learning French shared, new stitches and techniques learned and great food served aplenty to fuel the creativity. Katie and Mike, who own the house and run the courses, provided fabulous culinary delights, including fresh salad leaves from their veggie patch, all accompanied by fantastic wines from Mike's wine cellar.
Here are just a few of the lovely necklaces, beads, flowers and other delights created over the weekend.







We also made a trip to the local yarn shop, where I liberated some of this fab rug yarn from the top shelf - the 'vendeur' told us nobody had bought any for 25 years, whereby I promptly purchased a lovely sicky green colour for one euro. I shall of course never use it, he probably saw me coming a mile off, but I think it's a fair price to pay for such a lovely sixties label. It shall be proudly going on show somewhere in my studio room!

the only downside to the weekend was that it did drizzle on and off over Saturday and Sunday, but when the sun came out, it was absolutely glorious. Les Soeurs Anglaises have some dance classes coming up, as well as some with Julie Arkell, so keep an eye out on their site for those, and some more next year, it is well worth the trip.

knitting workshops in france

Recently I had the exciting task of booking some dates for a workshop with Les Soeurs Anglaises in the South of France. What a fantastic setting for some relaxing knitting! Check out the dates in my class list and dont forget to look at the website to get the details not only for my class, but also to check out the other talented artists and designers that run courses at the maison de maître.