west dean vintage knitting

Huge apologies for my lack of posting in February, but I have been unbelievably busy. Now a few of the pressures are off, I shall catch you up with everything I have been doing.

First, I spent a relaxing weekend in West Dean teaching a new class - adapting vintage knitting patterns - which is the perfect place to begin to learn how to design your own knitting patterns.

Had another great view from my room this time....

west dean in summer

The only season I hadn't been to teach at West Dean was high summer, which has now been rectified as I have just spent two days there teaching some beginners classes. The ladies in the class were lovely, even if the weather turned against me and I didn't get a long, lazy, summers evening stroll through the sheep fields.

The gardens were in full bloom however and looking just beautiful, even in the drizzle and the view from my fabulous room in the quaint vicarage was gorgeous.

I am teaching a new class at West Dean next time, looking at adapting vintage knitting patterns to fit the modern sizes and tastes. Come along and peruse my extensive collection of vintage patterns or bring along your own pattern to decipher.

knitting and crochet classes in london and the south east

This is the latest list of knitting and crochet classes I shall be teaching in 2010:

Project Crochet; Chevron Pillow, an intermediate class run as my alter-ego, Make Do Mend, where we shall be supplying all materials needed to complete a pretty zig-zag patterned blanket as we hold your hand through the first steps of the advanced stitches. Each project we make throughout the series will increase in difficulty and be varied enough to hold your attention. Other planned projects include vintage style bags, flowers and simple first garments. 23rd May, Kingly Court, London.

Crochet; The Basics, a taster day at West Dean College, Sussex, 13th July

Hand Knitting; The Basics, a taster day at West Dean College, Sussex, 14th July

Crochet for Beginners at City Lit college, Covent Garden, weekday evenings, 28th-30th July

There are also quite a few interesting classes in the pipeline for fairs and festivals this summer and autumn, which I am excited about, so I will let you know when these are confirmed.

spring into knitting

Another incredibly busy few weeks has seen me teaching knitting all over the place. This bank holiday weekend brought me to my favourite place of all; West Dean College in Sussex and it just so happened to be my favourite time of year to visit too; the lambs were gambolling all over the front fields, ducklings paddled in the pond and spring flowers bloomed everywhere. The food was divine as usual, using all the local spring produce and of course, as with any time of the year, the company was excellent.

I had a rather more art based collective of students than usual, which led to an interesting, fun and inspirational weekend, fuelled by very different creative personalities. We also had a Kiwi taking a stop gap travelling the world and an Oz based Brit, making us a very cosmopolitan group, which also added interest to the colours chosen, as the ladies who saw the sun a little more often were more daring in their palettes than those of us more used to wet, grey days!

Most of the experimental pieces made at the weekend looked like they should have been at the bottom of the sea, as part of some great, vibrantly coloured coral reef - perhaps it was the antipodean influence. Whatever it was, it made a typically grey bank holiday weekend much brighter and the oddly shaped jewels, beads, flowers and art pieces all served to inspire and intrigue.

This weekend, there were two other jewellery craft courses occuring at the same time as mine, a felt making workshop run by Heather Belcher and a polymer clay workshop with Carol Blackburn. Both looked like great fun and I always enjoy watching Heather's industrial carder at work. She also had fabulous colours on display in her unspun wool hanks, it seems that, just like me, she cannot resist a rainbow! I wish we had all realised beforehand we were all doing jewellery at the same time as our students could have bartered over each others colourful and unusual beads, creating a truly unique necklace out of it.

Next time at West Dean, after my taster days teaching beginners knitting and beginners crochet, I shall be doing a vintage fashion and knitting patterns inspired course. Keep an eye out for more details soon.

knitting classes

Below are some of my upcoming beginners knitting classes and craft workshops in London, the South East and the rest of the world!


Hand knitting for improvers April/May 2010
City Lit College

Textiles Jewellery - Innovative Knit and Yarn techniques, 30th April - 2nd May 2010
West Dean College, Sussex

Knitting classes in the South of France! Next class will be in May 2010 and will be designing your own knitting. Contact Les Soeurs Anglaises for details

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to arrange your own bespoke knitting, crochet or craft classes in London.

If you want to book classes for groups, please check out my alter ego, Make.Do.Mend

beginners ahoy!

I had the pleasure of introducing some enthusiastic students how to knit and crochet this week at West Dean College in Sussex. It was gloriously sunny autumnal weather and the weekend was lots of fun; filled with great food, great weather, crafting, relaxing and laughter. Just as it should be at West Dean!

This is some of the knitters' great first attempts. They all did fantastically well and there are already plans for more one day tasters of knitting and crochet for improvers!

west dean chilly weekend

This weekend I taught a knitted accessories course at a very crisp, chilly and stunningly beautiful West Dean College.

But while it was sub zero cold outside, it was definitely warm and fuzzy indoors as I had a really relaxing and fun time with the lovely ladies in my class, who produced some gorgeous and inventive accessories......

among them the most perfect teeny tiny pom pom I have ever seen......!

Check out the work in progress, final textiles and more striking shots of the grounds here

west dean spring weekend

Last weekend I was teaching at the lovely West Dean College in Sussex and spring had most definitely sprung; gorgeous little lambs were bounding over the fields, bluebells were blooming in carpets under the blossoming trees and a family of fluffy ducklings had taken up residence in the courtyard. Ah, bliss! The ladies on the course must have been inspired by all this new growth as they produced some beautiful pieces in bright spring colours and floral shapes.
I got a chance to experiment with some wire (above) which proved most effective, everybody who tried it agreed, if a little hard to work with. I am surprised we all managed to survive the weekend with our fingers and eyesight in tact, although there were a few yarn based injuries, including some rather strange bruised fingers....!

This is just some of the yarn and materials I brought to inspire:

and here are some examples of what was created:

pretty things

i have been planning my next course at West Dean College which led me to look at what the talented ladies made last time, thought you might like a look.

here you go..........

...these are mine, it makes you want to be creative when others around are busily making and i didn't want to be left out!

this is the lovely college and grounds, how beautiful, even in the howling wind and rain...although having said that, i hope the weather brightens up a little bit by april, it would be nice to see the gardens in full bloom!