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Stepney City Farm and knitted treasure

14/8/2014

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After my Fiber East post, Probably Jane commented that, along with Nickerjac, she's part of a knitting group that meets at Stepney City Farm.   Jane mentioned that the farm has a large farmyard to run around in, toy tractors, great cake and kittens (real, actual kittens) , so I decided this would be a way of combining knitting and boys during a summer holiday morning.

The kittens were friendly and cute beyond words. We also fed sheep and patted donkeys, noshed bacon sandwiches and ate the chocolatiest-ever chocolate cake. 
The knitting group was the best bit though. Nic and Jane were so welcoming, helpful and chatty. 
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I found out something really cool too. I sort of knew Nic already; before I had the boys I used to go to a knitting group that met every couple of weeks at the cafe in Liberty department store.  Nic used to go there sometimes but it was a large group and I hadn't spoken that much with her. Soon after I had my eldest son, 10 years ago now, I received a hand-knitted blanket in the post from the Liberty Knitters.  Nic told me yesterday that she had made and sewn together some of the squares in that blanket. 

I was a bit lost for words. I remember that it arrived on a day when new-motherhood was hard. Receiving a surprise parcel and opening it to find that there were people in the world who thought enough of me to knit 65,000 stitches into a blanket for my baby was a powerful way to lift my day.  

When I got home from Stepney I remembered that after receiving the parcel, I'd been given access to the Yahoo messages group that the Liberty Knitters had used to co-ordinate blanket-making activities. I found the messages online still, and the final one, dated 14 September 2004, was a thank you copied in from an email from me, so that all the girls who had made squares could read it:



Not quite lost for words - but 'Wow' was all I could manage first thing this morning. I received a large parcel, and inside was one of the most wonderful presents I've ever received... a baby blanket, beautifully knitted and lined by the Liberty group. I am so touched, I can't tell you. Whoever thought of it is genius, because I can't think of anything that I could treasure more. 

I have been a little down over the last few days. I love my baby more than I can describe, and he was very much wished for, yet still being a new mum is hard. This morning's present has made me feel supported and loved, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Ten years on and I'd like to say again: thank you, Liberty Knitters, your stitches are still treasured.

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Ten years of use - and look how well that Rowan Handknit Cotton is wearing!
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Contoured cats and diamonds

30/5/2014

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I've done a lot more swatching than 'end product' knitting over the past year. Luckily I like swatching. Clara Parkes talks about swatching as 'taking your yarn for a walk' - not just as a means to check gauge, but as a way of getting to know it, to see if you're going to get along and where your yarn might best be employed. I've been 'taking my ideas for a walk' over the past year and it's been fun - sometimes frustrating, sometimes rewarding - and there's still more exploring to do.

So I've made very little this year, apart from a big pile of colour-clashing swatches.  As much as I've loved it, I've been itching to get an actual thing on my needles, some tangible proof of my efforts with contoured intarsia. 
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A good knitting friend's thirtieth birthday gave me the opportunity, though a May birthday excluded anything too cosy and I decided on a bag.  She's a fellow cat-lover, so I wanted to incorporate a cat motif that I've been working on.
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And I used a diamond pattern on the back:
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There's a definite texture with contoured intarsia that isn't there with traditional intarsia.  I have to admit to blocking these with the quick and effective treatment of placing a wet tea-towel on the knitting and blasting it with a hot iron. The blocking works its magic, but the texture isn't completely tamed. I see it as part of the charm. 
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What do you think? I have loads of ideas for what to do next, but I'm currently doing more swatching, with cotton this time, to see if I can persuade an inelastic, less forgiving fibre to work with this technique. I'm not convinced yet, but I'll keep trying because I have a summer top in my mind that won't go away.

Wendy x
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A hand-knitted gift 

7/2/2014

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It was my birthday last week. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world, not least because we had a party at Knit Night, with a delicious, flamboyant cake and prosecco. The girls wore badges professing their love for me.  I was very embarrassed and a little flattered, just as they'd planned. 

I was also given this:
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My very own hand-knitted Muddy Sheep! And he is knitting!
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Receiving any knitted gift is always wonderful for me. As a knitter I can imagine the trials and emotions invested in that gift:

I imagine the knitter's mind wandering as they knit, thinking what the recipient will say when they see it, and maybe chuckling inwardly at the thought.  

I imagine the apprehension the knitter feels that it might not look as good in reality as it does in their imagination.  
 
I imagine there's a good chance that the knitter underestimated the time it would take to complete - despite having underestimated many times in the past already (or is that just me?). So I imagine them cursing as they find themselves knitting at break-neck speed to get it finished in time. 

And finally I imagine the satisfaction when it's done: when that perfect button has been located, the mattress stitch has worked its magic again, and all the fiddly ends are sewn in.

I knew all that in my heart when I was given that gift, and now I've put it into words.  Thank you to all my Knit Night friends for a wonderful party. And for my Muddy Sheep, thank you Karen.

Wendy x
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