moving house...

...which is why i have been away....

more news soon :)

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.

coatigan

The new issue of Yarn Forward dropped onto my doormat this morning and inside was my Coatigan pattern. I like it as the stripes and little bow remind me of Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat for some reason and that makes me happy!

Hope you like it too.

catch up

An insanely busy few months has meant that recently I have been rather neglecting the blog I am afraid, so sorry! I have been trying to cater for all you lovely folk who want to learn how to knit and crochet, and so have been running round London teaching with my friend and co-crochet obsessive ChainCreative. Alone we are just two mad yarn freaks but together we are the dynamic duo Make Do Mend, so do let us know if there is anything you wish to learn!

All this means that I have forgotten to tell you about the interviews with li'l ol' me in a few craft mags around and about and a few patterns in Yarn Forward which have come out recently. So there you are, I was in Yarn Forward a couple of times and in a Baby Knits Craft special of Lets Get Crafting and with an exciting new collaboration with Yarn Forward coming in the next few issues, you may be fed up of me soon! More of that very soon.

Therefore, I shall keep it short and just let you know that I am off running round London Teaching improvers knitting classes this weekend, firstly at High Tea of Highgate on Saturday morning, then at City Lit college on Sunday, which is a three week course. Let's hope the weather stays nice as I love walking round Covent Garden on my lunchbreak - spending my wages as fast as I can earn them!

Oh, and I shall be in Bethnal Green on Monday teaching some crocheters to make granny square motifs, not just square onesbut also granny circle, triangles and rectangles! Pop by if you fancy making yourself one of these Paul Smith inspired cowls, which is one of my latest projects. Crochet seems to be overtaking the knitting recently, I am also working on a crocheted cushion, a bag and a hairpin lace top - everyone is going mad for crochet! If you don't yet know how to do it, now is the time to give it a try!

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....

happy easter knitting!

Just before I rush off to relax my knitting fingers over the Easter weekend, I wanted to let you know of the Easter workshops I am running for children next week at Sally Bourne in Crouch End, North London.

You have a choice from Wednesday 7th or Friday 9th in the morning from 10.00 - 11.30am. We will be aiming to make little wonky toys, a little like my mad alien friend above, with buttons, felt and the basic knitting stitches. So if your kids are driving you mad this holiday already, send them to learn a craft with us!

Have a happy Easter and don't eat too much chocolate!