Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness . . . . .

Wow! September already! This will be the last 'quiet' month for us before we start an increasingly busy run up to (sh!) Christmas. I am also preparing for 3 specialist Bear Fairs in the last 3 months of the year, which will mean I'm putting my bears in front of a more knowledgeable sector of the public (not that my existing customers aren't knowledgeable, but they're not, on the whole, people who are so bear obsessed that they go to specialist fairs!) So, to impress people who are that immersed in bear 'stuff' I'm going to have to show my best work! Of which, at present, I don't really have enough for one show, let alone 3!

 

The first Bear Fair I'm doing is the Telford Teddy Bear Parade, at the Park Inn, in Telford on October 27th, run by the excellent Mohair Bear Supplies, who have a truly inspiring range of bear making fabrics and components.  I did this fair a few times in Orkid's first incarnation, when it was run by Bears On The Square, in Ironbridge, and it attracted an impressive array of exhibitors and discerning, but not too bonkers, customers! I do hope the same customers come as used to, and maybe some of my Gloucestershire customers will consider a day out and a wild, new experience?! Check out http://www.telfordteddybearanddollparade.co.uk/ for more information ;o) I'm really looking forward to it, though we're going to be exhausted come Monday morning!

 

 This month I only have 2 fairs - Sturminster Newton's Fayre Exchange next Saturday morning, and the Artisan Fair at Sherborne's Digby Memorial Hall on the 7th, but next month I still have The Fayre Exchange on the first Saturday, but there's Telford and the first of 4 fairs booked at Salisbury's Guildhall, on the 19th. This fair is run by Kevin Murphy, and the very first outing for my bears, in 1997, was to this Salisbury fair, so a circle is being closed!  

My 'realistic' bears seem to be being well received, so I shall pursue this further, perhaps in both larger and smaller scales, and I can see I shall have to get some more of the very long pile, dense velvet as soon as I can afford it! It's quite expensive, but obviously you, my lovely customers, like it, so what you want, I must supply ;o) 

I also have some loyal knitting customers, so they're keeping me busy - mittens for the coming cold weather at the moment, but my selection of Aran patterns is with a customer now, for her to decide what she wants, so I'm looking forward to that challenge!

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is coming, with all those rich colours and yummy harvest from the summer to look forward to - how inspiring!

Knitting Necklaces

Next week I shall be running a workshop to help people knit necklaces to this pattern, which I adapted from one I found in a library book, it's quite different from the original, so I feel it was my inspiration, but so heavily modified I don't feel bad in claiming it as mine.  There has been much interest from knitters in this idea, so I thought I would share the pattern for anyone who wishes to use it!

It is worked from this chart, threading the beads onto the yarn before starting to knit, putting the beads on the yarn in reverse order to which they will be knitted.

 

The above picture shows quite clearly how the beads are distributed, including the 20-30 beads each side of the central motif and showing how the feature beads can be included to make the lower edge more interesting.

You will need:-
1 pair 2/2.5mm needles
Ball of Goldfingering or skein of Perle embroidery thread
Quantity of small round beads (with large enough hole to thread on chosen yarn)
Optional - 7 feature beads for lower edge

Start by threading the beads on to your yarn , in reverse order to which you will knit them. ie the first bead to go on is the last one to be put on the yarn. Follow the chart, remembering to thread on 20-25 beads each side of the row of beads that form the lower edge of the necklace. 
The easiest way to thread the beads on is thus:- Thread a fine sewing needle with a short doubled length of ordinary sewing thread, thread the start of the knitting yarn through the loop of the doubled thread so that it hangs down and you have a loop of knitting yarn through the loop of the sewing thread. You can now start threading the beads onto the needle, and thence onto the yarn.

Cast on by the backward loop method, this enables the beads to hang loosely between the stitches and drape properly.

Cast on 3 stitches, slide 1st bead up to needle, cast on 2 sts, slide up next bead, continue thus till you have 20 - 25 beads cast on, then cast on 2 sts between each of the groups of beads at the centre of the necklace (one,two,three, four, five, six, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. If desired, one feature bead at the centre of each odd numbered group) Then cast on 2 sts between each as before till you have another 20 -25 beads on the second side of the centre, then cast on a further 3 sts, turn.

2nd row, knit till 3 sts beyond the last bead of the central group, wrap & turn (move yarn to front of work as if to purl, slip next stitch on to right needle, pass yarn back to other side of work, replace slipped stitch back onto left needle and turn to start working back in other direction. written as 'W&T')

3rd row, knit 5 sts, knit to end of 2nd row of chart, inserting beads as chart - you will find yourself setting in beads exactly above the previous ones. one bead less per group. When all beads have been knitted in, knit 3, W&T.

4th row, knit till 3 sts past the last bead in previous row, W&T.

5th row, W&Ting at the end of the row, continue as before from the chart till all rows of the chart are worked and you've run out of beads (assuming you counted right!)
When all beads are knitted continue to end of row, turn and knit one row, then cast off loosely.

Sew hook & eye fastenings to each end, then wash gently in hand hot water, use a little fabric conditioner in the final rinse and pat dry in a towel. Hang to dry by fastening, this helps the necklace to hang properly in wear. 

 Hopefully, the photographs will give you an idea of how adaptable this pattern can be, it depends on your choice of yarn and beads! The last example is knitted with multicoloured perle embroidery thread, which gives quite a lot of pzazz! If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email me for help at mwmyn@yahoo.co.uk, and feel free to pass the pattern around!

Ongoing evolution.

Finally got my own website up! Take a peek at www.mwmyn.com, still some things to be tweaked, but now you don't have to trawl through Etsy to find my cuddly friends and adopt one!

In other news, have also managed to make real another idea, that's been in the back of my mind for ages - Jeffery's charming drawings of my bears on tee shirts for little people!  Tee shirts in tiny sizes are difficult to get hold of at reasonable prices, so I'm printing body suits (like a vest, but with poppers to hold it down between the legs) with long or short sleeves - more practical, anyway.  I'm focusing on babies at the moment, but will do adult sizes on request.

I have sent out my second monthly newsletter today - let me know if you'd like one in your inbox, too. As the cold weather creeps up on us, my output is likely to slow down, arthritis doesn't much like cold and damp :(

 I'm focusing entirely on the bears now, knitting is for my own satisfaction only, now!  However, in response to a wave of requests, I'm running a workshop on making my knitted necklaces next month, still have a couple of places if you want to join us. On the 4th December, at Sue's Crafts in Cheltenham 10-4, get in touch if you're interested.

Also considering running a year of monthly workshops on bear making next year, have a couple of people interested, how about you? We'll start with a simple velvet bear, then work on to jointing, etc, going through stuffing techniques, needle sculpting, fabric choices, and anything else people need help with!

Knitting Necklaces

I have been knitting necklaces for nearly 2 years, having started because a friend has sensitive skin, and metal made her skin sore.

I have been selling them at By Local, in Cheltenham for nearly a year, and, having recently opened an Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/MwmynsMakes I decided it was time to offer them to a wider world!

 Each one is made by threading the beads on to embroidery silk, fine cotton or Goldfingering yarn, in the reverse order to which they will be incorporated (i.e the first bead to be threaded on is the last one to be knitted in) which requires me to really have my brain in gear! Then I cast on, slipping the beads into place as I go, till the lower edge is created.  I then use a short row technique to shape the centre of the necklace, including the beads in order as I go, so that the necklace will hang in a nice curve.

 This is the necklace I have just put on Etsy, and I call it 'Spring Garden', because it made me think of the crocuses that are coming up, and the way their colours sparkle in the dew & raindrops on the grass around them!

This is what it looks like when I'm about half way through the actual knitting! I use bamboo or wooden needles for this job, less likely to lose everything when I put it down than I would be using slippy metal needles.

 When i've finished knitting it looks like this.  I still have to put on a way of fastening ( I use normal, garment hooks & eyes, as proper jewellery findings are much too heavy - believe me, I've tried, disastrous!)  I then wash them and pull them into shape, hanging them to dry in the shaped curve they need to lie in on the neck.

Finished article! They mostly work out between 16 - 18 inches long, can't always predict exactly, as they stretch differently when washed, so they sit neatly at the base of most necks. I can, of course, do longer ones to commission, but this seems to be a popular length.  There's another one on its way, keep an eye on my Etsy shop!

Serendipity and wool

For several years, now, I have been a Twitterer.  Twitter seems to be one of those 'Marmite' things - you love it or hate it. Clearly, I love it! I have learnt so much by following people who are experts in things I know nothing about, and by following people with common interests, I have made friends all over the world, whom I am unlikely ever to meet, but who have enriched my life immeasurably.

I would like to tell you about one of the ripples that has spread from my involvement with Twitter.  Some months ago, I started following @SockYarnShop, whose 'real' name is Pip.  I'm not a great maker of socks, though I'm quite capable of it when appropriate, but I read through her tweets, and thought she sounded like an interesting person, from whom I could learn more about modern yarns, for instance.  We exchanged a fair amount of friendly nonsense online, as one does, and a month or so ago, she posted pictures of a new yarn available in her online shop.

It was a luscious, multi coloured yarn, spun from high quality wool, and was, therefore, way beyond my budget!  However, I loved it, and said so, adding that I wished I was rich enough to buy some!  Bless her, Pip sent me a ball as a gift, just for fun, in a glorious, carnival rainbow of colours.

Obviously, I had to return her generosity in some way, so I used some of the wool to make her a little bear, called 'Pip', of course! Having posted him off to his new home in Wales, I posted pictures of him on Twitter & Facebook - I now have more requests for a similar bear than I can handle!  There is one on the needles for one of my granddaughters (Christmas sorted!) and there will be enough wool left for one more - which will go on sale in @By_Local, since I can't pick from any of those asking for one - first come, first served!

If you would like to know more about By Local, which is a community gallery in Cheltenham founded & run by Rosie Lomberg (brilliant artist) and Keziah Kurg (makes inspired bead jewellery & stuff) go to http://www.by-local.co.uk/

Knitting jewellery

 In about 10 days I shall be teaching a workshop under the aegis of By Local, the gallery in Cheltenham where I sell my work.  Amongst the work I sell are washable necklaces, knitted from embroidery silk or fine cotton, with a sequence of bead being threaded onto the yarn before i start knitting. This is the technique I will be teaching at the workshop.  The knitting itself is fairly simple, and the geometry of the sequence is more or less the same each time, but the weight of the yarn, and the combination of beads, makes an enormous difference to each necklace.

If I use evenly sized, identical beads, the geometry  becomes immediately obvious, and the design looks extremely neat and conservative, however, the more varied the size and weight of the beads, the less ordered and 'tidy' it can appear, partcularly if i am fairly anarchic about the order in which they are threaded!  Depending on the weight of the yarn, and the size of the needles, the same pattern can make a choker or a long, pendulous necklace - to be frank, I'm never absolutely quite what the result will be!

Being made from washable thread, the results can be washed by hand - and actually hang better once they have been washed.  This makes them very appealing to those with allergies and sensitive skin, as they can select for threads and beads they can tolerate eg non-metallic, non-mineral or natural materials only.

I look forward to posting the necklaces made at the workshop on this blog ;o)