Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
I’m currently making final preparations for my next improvers workshop at Amble Pin Cushion this coming Thursday 30th October This time we are making cosy textured headbands.
Participants will receive a complimentary 100g ball of James C Brett Aztec yarn in the colour of their choice. This includes some alpaca in the fibre blend that gives it a gorgeous soft feel. This Aran weight yarn is thicker than the double knitting I use in my beginners classes, and requires a bigger hook – 5mm. Here’s a small selection of some of the colours available.
We’ll be perfecting our half treble stitches (UK terminology) and learning how the stitch placement creates the ridged effect, which resembles knitting.
Having mastered the basic stitches, we’ll then go on to make the headband. I’ll be explaining how to adapt the pattern for different child and adult sizes and how to make the central twist.
As usual I’ll provide full illustrated instructions to complete the headband at home, including left-handed versions of how-to stitch guides for those who need them. There’s still places left – full details can be found here.
It’s the first brand new workshop I’ve developed in a while and it’s nice to do something new , especially something seasonal…..perfect as colder weather approaches. There’s enough stretch for a comfortable fit, whether you wear your hair up or down and the band is wide enough to keep your ears warm when the wind is biting
My friend Edi kindly agreed to model it so we did a little photoshoot – you can see how great it looks and what a perfect fit it is.
I had the great pleasure of teaching six more beginners the crochet basics recently at Amble Pin Cushion
In my “Crochet For Absolute Beginners” Workshop we start by going through the principles of how to hold your hook and yarn to maintain tension and maximise control of the hook. I feel it’s important not to be too prescriptive about this. After all, everyone’s hands are different. I myself don’t have full movement in my wrists. I’ve taught people with arthritic conditions and a lady who had very little movement in her left forefinger. In every case I’ve tried to find a hold that works comfortably and effectively to suit that person. I’ve also developed some illustrated “how to” sheets in both left-handed and right-handed versions. Crochet should be accessible for everyone!
It’s always nice to come away from a workshop with something you’ve made, so my beginners worked on some colourful striped bookmarks (I also gave them full instructions to take away in case they didn’t finish or wanted to make more at home). I think they absolutely nailed it!
All three made great progress and were crocheting like pros by the end of the session.
I think they enjoyed themselves. They certainly look pleased with their work, and rightly so!
Look out for news on my next workshop….coming very soon!
I had the great pleasure of teaching six more beginners the crochet basics recently at Amble Pin Cushion
In my “Crochet For Absolute Beginners” Workshop we start by going through the principles of how to hold your hook and yarn to maintain tension and maximise control of the hook. I feel it’s important not to be too prescriptive about this. After all, everyone’s hands are different. I myself don’t have full movement in my wrists. I’ve taught people with arthritic conditions and a lady who had very little movement in her left forefinger. In every case I’ve tried to find a hold that works comfortably and effectively to suit that person. I’ve also developed some illustrated “how to” sheets in both left-handed and right-handed versions. Crochet should be accessible for everyone!
It’s always nice to come away from a workshop with something you’ve made, so my beginners worked on some colourful striped bookmarks (I also gave them full instructions to take away in case they didn’t finish or wanted to make more at home). I think they absolutely nailed it!
All three made great progress and were crocheting like pros by the end of the session.
I think they enjoyed themselves. They certainly look pleased with their work, and rightly so!
I’m currently getting ready for my next improvers workshop at the end of this month. This time we are making cosy textured headbands.
Participants will receive a 100g ball of James C Brett Aztec yarn in the colour of their choice.. Aztec includes some alpaca in the fibre blend that gives it a gorgeous soft feel. It’s an Aran weight yarn so thicker than the double knitting I use in my beginners classes, and requires a bigger hook – 5mm).
We’ll be perfecting our half treble stitches (UK terminology) and learning how the stitch placement creates the ridged effect, which resembles knitting.
Having mastered the basic stitches, we’ll then go on to make the headband. I’ll be explaining how to adapt the pattern for different child and adult sizes and how to make the central twist.
As usual I’ll provide full illustrated instructions to complete the headband at home, including left-handed versions of how-to stitch guides for those who need them. There’s still places left – full details can be found here.
It’s the first brand new workshop I’ve developed in a while and it’s nice to do something new , especially something seasonal…..perfect as colder weather approaches.
My friend Edi kindly agreed to model it for this photo so you can see how good it looks and what a nice fit it is.
I’ve been continuing to teach crochet this year at Amble Pin Cushion, developing new courses and honing my skills as a tutor.
It was workshop day last Thursday, teaching 10 participants over 2 sessions. I teach a maximum of 6 people per session. It’s about the right number for the room I use but I also want to ensure that everyone gets the tuition they need,, and avoid spreading myself too thinly. I limit the sessions to 2 hours at a time.. Teaching can be quite intensive and I don’t want to run out of steam!
We were making the classic granny square, so called (I think) because our grandmothers and those before them were the queens of recycling and ‘make-do and mend”. Nothing was wasted out of a need to be frugal. These crocheted squares were the perfect way to use up scraps of yarn left over from other projects or unravelled old and unwearable jumpers. The squares could then be joined up to make colourful blankets and other useful items. Granny square garments are now gaining popularity as much for their looks as their sustainability.
I did enjoy Thursday – both groups were an absolute pleasure to meet and to teach…. and from far and wide too, with one crocheter from Australia (now living locally) and another who has local connections but was visiting from the USA , where she now lives.
There was a range of abilities too, from complete beginners, those needing a bit of a “refresher course” and one experienced crocheter who wanted do her homework to prepare for an imminent big Granny Square project.
I was really proud of the progress they all made in just 2 hours. They went away with full instructions to complete their granny square and make more, how to join them together and some helpful tips and tricks, along with a yarn pack to practice at home. I wonder if they’ll get hooked on crochet!
One of my new workshops this year is “Crochet for Absolute Beginners” This came about following a conversation with another crochet tutor. We agreed that describing a workshop as “suitable for beginners” covers a pretty broad range of abilities, from true beginners with zero experience to those that are pretty good at the craft, but are either not very confident or they haven’t picked up a crochet hook in some time. I began crocheting when I was about 8 years old, taught by my grandmother and when you’ve been doing it that long you take some of the skills involved for granted. It’s all too easy to assume that others will have some basic knowledge.
That’s why this workshop was developed: for people who have never picked up a crochet hook – nothing is assumed! It really is back to basics and though participants may get as far as making a bookmark, there is no pressure to complete anything in the session.
As well as some basic stitches we cover the principles of holding the wool and hook, to maintain tension and control the hook efficiently. I feel very strongly that there is no set way of holding your work, wool and hook as long as you can stick to those basic principles. After all, everyone’s hands are different: left or right- handed, large or small, with long or short fingers, maybe some joint stiffness or other impairment. I try to work with my students to find the best hold for them. I’ve also recently begun to develop some new hand outs for left-handed participants – I tried them out for the first time last week in the Granny Square workshops and they seemed to work well.
I have run the Absolute Beginners workshop a few times now and it’s going really well, but there’s always room for improvement. I ask everyone to complete a very short anonymous evaluation at the end of each session. It’s good to get feedback so I can improve what I do and get ideas for future workshops. A left-handed participant on one of the first Absolute Beginners sessions inspired me to develop the LH specific handouts I used for last week’s Granny Squares.
I think it’s important to have fun too. Enjoyment is important for its own sake, but it turns out that it also helps people relax and stops their crochet becoming too tight!
One particularly enjoyable session included a husband and wife. He had bought her a crochet kit as a gift and he suggested that it would help her learn to use if she did a workshop and she agreed, but only on the condition that he came along to. They both did well, but he was exceptional. producing some really beautiful skilled crochet work Then, he confessed. After they booked on, he had been watching You Tube tutorial videos on the quiet and practicing in secret! No wonder he’d got so good!
Do you have any funny crochet-related stories to share. I’d love to hear them
STOP PRESS
I’ve just added an extra Absolute Beginners Session to run on Saturday 4th October from 10.30 to 12.30pm. (The one on Thursday 25th is now full, but please check for cancellation).
After Saturday’s Embroidery with Sea Glass workshop I got to thinking about a couple of others I’ve been to over the last year. Almost a year ago. I went on a worship on Entrelac and Modular Knitting with Judith Schur of Needlecase at Amble Pincushion. At the time I fell in love with Judith’s beautiful modular shell cowl and started to make my own – I got it finished a while back.
I used West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sock Yarn in Woodpigeon (variegated in mauve, grey and white) and some pink and purple sock weight yarn I got from a stash sale. I’m so pleased with it – and learning this technique has cured me of my dislike of picking up stitches.
I went on another of Judith’s workshops a few months back. This one was on 2-colour brioche knitting. If you’ve never come across brioche knitting before, it looks a bit like K1 P1 rib and in the case of 2 colour brioche, the knit stitches are in one colour and the purl in another to form stripes…. then you can make the lines cross and form waves. It’s double thickness, so each row is knitted twice (you have to slide the stitches back along the needle before you knot the second one so you need to use circular or double pointed needles.). It feels really squishy .
During the workshop we learnt the techniques and produced a sample square ( I must admit I made a bit of a mess of mine, mainly because I was chatting to the other participants. I had another go and perfected my sample when I got home. Brioche does require a fair bit of concentration.
Next I started a cowl using one of Judith’s patterns. This and two balls of James C Brett Aztec were included in the price. I chose a pale duck-egg blue and a deep green – brioche looks most effective when you use strongly contrasting colours. It’s a lovely aran weight yarn with some alpaca in the blend which makes it really soft.
I did make some mistakes, but I pulled them out and kept going until I got it right. The end result looks amazing and is so lovely to wear – the softness of the alpaca and the squishy brioche knitting makes it incredibly cosy.
I do love a craft workshop, so when my plans for today got cancelled I realised I could go to one that I thought I’d miss. This was the first embroidery one I’ve been to at the Amble Pin Cushion where I teach my crochet workshops.
Today we were learning “Embroidery with Sea Glass” taught by skilled stitcher Bronagh, who works at the shop and is studying for qualifications with the Royal School of Needlework . She is also part of the team of skilled needleworkers that make and repair textiles at Durham Cathedral.
Bronagh collects seaglass as she walks on local beaches and has found a way of incorporating them into her embroideries – today we were learning the techniques used in the piece she made pictured at the top of this post.
We used some lovely batik printed fabric in subtle shades of sea green as a background and attached the pieces of sea glass using a network of stitches.
Bronagh then demonstrated various embroidery stitches which we incorporated into our work.
Finally she showed us some techniques for adding beads, so we had a go at that.
All the material (embroidery hoop, fabric and backing, wadding and felt to line the piece, ribbon for hanging, seagrass, needles, embroidery threads and beads) were provided with instructions and a tote to carry everything.
Bronagh is a great tutor (you can tell she’s been a teacher in a past life) and I really enjoyed spending my Saturday in her company along with the other lovely participant.
This is my work in progress. I’m going to have so much fun doing it.
I spent a very enjoyable Saturday at a knitting workshop run by Judith Schur of Needlecase, at Amble Pin Cushion. Five of us were learning about modular and entrelac knitting under Judith’s expert tuition. She’s also recently run workshops on Fair Isle, Brioche and Sock Knitting.
Judith began by showing us some of her modular and entrelac creations, including, scarves, cowls and blankets. They look amazing!
We began learning the basics of modular knitting, making a mitred square, then picking up stitches along one edge before knitting a second square, and so on to make a 2 x 2 square sample.
We then worked on samples of entrelac.. which uses a similar technique but gives the appearance of woven strips of knitting. It looks really effective.
It was a lovely relaxing day, spent in great company.
I got my entrelac sample almost finished, completing it the following day. I’m really pleased with it.
One of Judith’s completed items that caught my eye was this cowl made using the modular technique, but using shell shapes instead of squares.
I think it’s stunning and couldn’t wait to try it, using one of the patterns Judith gave us during the session. I made a start tonight and completed the first shape. It’s so exciting to be learning something new!
The upstairs room at Amble Pin Cushion was buzzing yesterday for my latest crochet workshop.
This time I was introducing participants to the joys of Amigurumi – those double crochet toys and figures that have become so popular. I took some previous projects and a work in progress to show them, including a couple of my mini-ponies.
The project I’d chosen for them to make was a cute bumble bee that I’ve named Betty! Isn’t she bee-utiful?
Betty’s construction included several techniques that are commonly found in amigurumi…
Magic loop (a way of starting off when crocheting in the round that leaves no gapping for stuffing to show through)
Double crochet increase
Double crochet decrease
Changing yarn colour
I’ve been making some mini tutorial videos to help my students continue their project at home without getting too bee-wildered. There’s only so much of it can be completed during a 2-hour session so I hope this will bee a useful way to help them practice these skills.
As with all my classes, I prepared detailed illustrated instructions but also included an info sheet about amigurumi. I also put together materials packs, including cotton yarn, filling, beads for eyes and pre-cut wings (made from offcuts of dress netting) , some of which had been kindly supplied by APC’s owner, Norma. The only thing the students needed to bring on the day was a crochet hook.
Five people took part, and before long the room was a hive of industry. All were fairly new to crochet and included a pair of sisters, a member of my spinning group, who is also booked on to my Granny Squares workshop next month, and one of my regular students. What a lovely group of women! There was a really nice atmosphere and I thoroughly enjoyed running the session.
I always ask people to complete a short evaluation at the end of the session. think if I run it again it might bee a good idea to prepare some ready-started projects, with the magic loop completed – it took some of the group a while to get past this which really ate into the time available. … and I don’t want my lovely participants getting bee-fuddled by something early on in the session and bee put off.
Hopefully they’ll now have enough information to complete their projects and there’ll be a whole swarm of Betty Bees dispersed through this part of Northumberland.
I’ll stop the bee puns now!
I’m back in the training room at APC next month to repeat my popular Granny Squares workshop – there always seems to be a demand for this one, with lots of potential projects in unlimited colour combinati0ns once you’ve mastered the basics.
I mentioned in a recent post that I’d been crocheting lots of granny squares to prepare for teaching my very first crochet workshop. I spent a while getting prepared.
Last week I was joined at Amble Pin Cushion by 6 lovely ladies – my students for the afternoon. They all worked really hard and the two hour beginners class flew by – we could have made it longer really!
By the end they had made real progress on their granny squares and I encouraged them to keep going and practice at home.
Today I got an email from one of the participants with a photo attached – she’s been working away and wanted to show me her completed square. She’s made a great job of it.
I always said when I was asked to teach these workshops that I would see how this first one went before I committed to more, but I loved doing it and the students seemed to enjoy it too. I’ve agreed to continue and I’m now planning my next one for the end of November.
Stitches by the Sea 