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Monday, May 1, 2017

Memorandum Monday bursting with creativity

A big wave to you all as we welcome in the month of May. 

I've had a lovely creative time this weekend - actually since Thursday - at the Edinburgh Knitting and Stitching show.  Our crochet, knit, chat, eat cake group was asked to be part of the Creativity in Action (CIA !!!) section where each stall had people doing their craft and ready to chat and answer questions.  In exchange we got a free pass to the show.  So I spent a lot of the time, over 4 days here


doing easy bits of crochet and talking all things crochet and knitting to lots of people.  I was delighted to hear how many people go to a social crochet and knitting group and how many of those groups do some charity work.

I also went to some workshops - not that I have time for any new crafts but I do enjoy trying new things. 

I loved the wet felting and sculpting of a flower - we used a process which has a fine silk layer under the wool which means the fabric you make can be very thin and fine - and it is also easy and quick to do. The green in my flower is the silk.


I bought some of the silk used and my sister already has some felting wool so we will be making more of these.

I was intrigued by a workshop for stick weaving - I've tried many types of weaving but never heard of this - I was relieved to discover the sticks are the loom, not the material being woven.  It is a very old and practical way to weave


you wind the wool around the two sticks - and then slide it down onto attached yarn and create a long woven strip - which you can then sew into something - we spiraled ours to make a mat

It its a very relaxing process once you get started and I will do some more, trying out using different yarns and fabric strips. I think it will be a great way to make handles for the bag I'm planning to crochet (I bought some t-shirt yarn at the show for this project - I'll report as it takes shape).

The show was a great mix of shops and displays - lots of lovely quilts and embroidery and yarn items to admire and try to work out how they were done and note down ideas to try at home. One of the displays was garments knitted using Kaffe Fassett designs - he was the big think in knitting in the late 1970s / early 1980s and I still have his books.  He does wonderful things with colour and creating intricate designs that are easy to work.  On the last day I wore a jacket I made over 20 years ago from a pattern in his first book - and of course I had to have a photo of me in the midst of the display.

Back to crocheting by myself today but still feeling full of creative buzz and ideas.

Hope you all have a good week and time for some creativity,

8 comments:

Patio Postcards said...

Helena you have so much crafty ability - wow to the wet felt flower. I really like the photo of you amongst all the knitting wearing your own creation. Sounds like a very enjoyable 4 days. I bet the energy in that building was amazing with all those crafting minds at work.

Lady Ella said...

Sounds like a fabulous time. And I really like that jacket - hope you still wear it. It reminds me a lot of a coat I once had - wore it till it fell to bits!

Eileen T said...

I love your jacket, it's gorgeous. I too am envious of your crafting abilities and look forward to seeing your next lot of felt flowers.

Karen said...

I'm another fan of your jacket, and also impressed with the wide variety of crafting you do. The silk and wool felt flower is gorgeous; I love the blue colors you chose for the mat.

Sandie said...

A long time since I visited (blogs in general, not just yours!) so, good to pop by and find out that you have been having lots of fun. I love the Kaffe Fassett jacket that you knitted, it still looks current and that's the beauty of timeless patterns.
I set up a Knit and Natter group last year where we knit (surprise!), crochet and sew. I went to the Stitch, Sewing and HobbyCraft show at Excel last week and saw some amazing pieces of work. It's good there is such a revival in yarn and handmade, everyone benefits because one of our projects has been to knit Twiddle Muffs for people with dementia. A good way to use up odd pieces of yarn and haberdashery. I was interested in your long-strip weaving by the way, that's ew to me. My granddaughters would probably enjoy that.

Sian said...

Wow..what a wonderful opportunity to mix with lots of yarn lovers. I'm sure you were tired by the end of it! My Mum knitted me a Kaffe Fassett jumper in the 80's: I have it packed away somewhere and I've been meaning to get it back out again. Your fabulous photo has got me wondering if I should check out our attic!

Wishing you all the best with the week ahead.

debs14 said...

What a weekend! How fantastic that you have an 'original' Kaffe Fassett to model in amongst all the new ones. Sounds like you had a great time.

Alison said...

I saw the flower on IG and was very impressed...sounds like you thoroughly enjoyed your weekend! xx