Stitched Up :: Nottingham Craft Group

Community Blankets Project

A lovely lady called Tracey Smith, founder of InterNational Downshifting Week, is calling on crafters this April to celebrate sustainability, kindness and community. Let’s join in!

Downshifting Week began 7 years ago and this year takes place between Saturday 23rd and Friday 29th April. Downshifting is about finding a better work / life balance, slowing down the consuming and embracing living with a little less. I think we could all do with a bit of that.

Anyway, this year’s featured activity is the Community Blankets Project – getting together with a group of knitters or crocheters and making patchwork blankets for vulnerable people in our community. I know us crafters are quite a thrifty bunch already but to make these blankets as sustainable as possible, the idea is to source the yarn from your unused stash or local charity shops or anywhere that otherwise it would have gone to waste.  Then get along the local press to raise awareness about downshifting, supporting each other and crafts. Sounds like a good idea doesn’t it?

Well, if you’re up for a bit of community crafting, pop over to Tracey’s InterNational Downshifting Week website to find out more. She wants to know what you’re doing and to be in touch with your group. She might even come to visit you!

Here’s a video Tracey made to tell you all about it:

A piccie of my first crochet square is above if anyone would like to join me in making a community blanket here in Nottingham.

Knitting Fever in Notts

It seems that there’s knitting fever in Nottingham this Autumn with a fab new shop and knitting classes popping up!

Knit Nottingham

Is a brand new shop just opened last weekend on Mansfield Road in Nottingham City Centre. They sell all types of yarns, needles and locally designed patterns. They are also planning various knitting workshops and group charity knitting projects so there are plenty of ways you can get involved.

Their website isn’t up and running yet but you can find out more at our friend Guzzi Sue’s blog or you can e-mail them at knit@knitnottingham.com and when the website is up it’ll be at www.knitnottingham.co.uk

The White Rabbit Teahouse

The beautiful White Rabbit Teahouse on Hounds Gate in Nottingham is running a knitting group every Tuesday from 28th September, 5.30pm to 7.00pm. It is £4 each including tea and cake and beginners are welcome. Visit the White Rabbit Craft House to find out more.

Knitting in a Country Pub

Knitting designer Chrissie Day is hosting Autumn all day knitting classes at The Plough Pub in Normanton on the Wolds. Visit Chrissie’s blog for full details of the classes and venue.

Stitched Up

Of course knitters are very welcome to come along to Stitched Up. We don’t provide knitting classes because we are a social craft group but if you love to knit then do come along!

Tell us more – If you know of any new yarn shops opened in Nottingham or upcoming knitting classes or groups let us know about them in the comments below….

Sack Hat

My RSI has calmed down a little bit, although my shoulder is still frozen solid, so I thought I could do a little bit of knitting. Boy oh boy have I missed knitting this last couple of months.  Anyway, I had a Debby Ware kit in my stash – the Sack Hat.  It’s knitted in the round on a circular needle, so is a really easy knit.  Although it’s a small project and was quick to finish, there’s no denying that it gave my RSI a tweak.  Evidently, I still have an issue there, so it’s back to sewing or crochet for a while longer.

Sack Hat

Fannar

Some days I’m quite bright, other days I’m very stupid.  Yesterday was one of my Very Stupid days.  My RSI has been incredibly painful, but yesterday it didn’t feel too bad, so I decided I could finish Fannar.  Fannar is a jumper I’m knitting for Macuwita Sni.  It’s a pattern from Best of Lopi, using chunky Alafoss Lopi yarn.  I started it at the beginning of the month and made good progress until my shoulder and arm flared up.  It has been sitting on my coffee table ever since, staring balefully at me.  It only needed a few hours work, so yesterday evening I picked it up and finished it.  Here it is.

Okay, so it looks very nice, but even while I was knitting, I was thinking “Oh dear, my shoulder and arm really hurt”.  Did I stop knitting?  Nope, I carried on regardless, with the result that my RSI screamed blue murder all night and is agony today.  See?  Very very stupid.

So it’s back to hand sewing for the foreseeable future.

Colwick Woods

Okay, so this is a bit off-topic, but I thought I’d share this strange sight from Colwick Woods this morning. This tree is on the edge of the field and we walk past it every day without really noticing it. Not this morning though:

Here’s a closer look at the grisly specimens:

Try as I might, I couldn’t get a decent picture of the view across the lakes, as I was aiming straight into the sun:

All that open space on one side, but move your camera slightly and you see how close you are to the city. On the right of this picture, you can see the edge of the race course, plus houses in Colwick and the Meadows leading towards the city centre:

Pip loves going to Colwick Woods – for her, it’s a new adventure every day.

Okay, better have a bit of craft content! I’ve finished another Baby Surprise Jacket for Macuwita Sni. Here it is straight off the needles:

Here it is finished:

Pip’s Woolly

Here she is, in all her toasty glory.

Baby Surprise Jackets

At our last Stitched Up meeting, I was busy with a Baby Surprise Jacket. This is a famous pattern designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  I think you can find it in a couple of her books – my copy is in The Opinionated Knitter.  It’s a very curious, not to say weird, way of constructing a cardigan.  It’s knitted all in one piece, with clever use of mitred increases and decreases to form the basic shape.  Best of all, for those of us who hate seaming, there are only 2 short seams to sew at the end, across the top of the sleeves. 

I used Brown Sheep Lambs Pride worsted weight yarn in two colours for my first jacket.  This yarn is slightly thicker than the pattern envisages, so the jacket is big enough for a toddler.  I needed 1 skein of each colour and it was only just enough!  For my second jacket, I used Cascade 220 worsted weight yarn, again in 2 colours.  This yarn is a little bit finer than Lamb’s Pride, so the jacket is smaller and I had a bit of yarn left over.

Both jackets are now on their way to the US, as part of the Macuwita Sni project.

Fab doggy knit book

I saw this book on Etsy and almost didn’t believe it was real until I looked it up on Amazon.

Men Who Knit and the Dogs Who Love Them.

Hmmm…. don’t think this poor little fella has a lot of love for the chap who put that court jester style collar on him. The look on his face says it all!

Notice that the man is hiding his face.

There are loads of other cute doggy knit books on Amazon though that aren’t quite so alarming.

Welcome to Stitched Up!

Welcome to Stitched Up!

This is the blog part of the Nottingham craft group ‘Stitched Up’ website.

Here we’ll post about our projects and the things we’ve been making at our craft group. We’ll also keep you up to date with any news or changes to our meeting time or place – so watch this space!

Stitched Up meets every Wednesday and you can find out more about where and when on our ‘About’ page.

If you’d like to join us then do come along. We’re a friendly bunch and really want to welcome new members to the group. It doesn’t matter how much craft experience you have or what your favourite type of craft is.

Get in touch with us if you’d like to know more.

We’ll look forward to hearing from you!