There are a couple of things I would like to mention in this post, the first of which being how I spent my Friday:
As some of you may be aware, this weekend is the
Stitch & Craft Show, going on from Thurs 17th - Sun 19th.
I spent a fantastic day there on Friday, doing my best to help out at the Knit One, Pass It On stand. We were on hand to teach beginners to knit, answer technical questions and generally chat knitting!
Please visit their website
http://www.craftclub.org.uk/ to find out more about their campaign to get knitting back into schools, find crafty things near you and register as a volunteer (like moi!).
I met some lovely new people, discovered a few local knitting groups to me, caught up with some familiar faces and passed on a few of my sock knitting techniques!All of this is co-run/organised by the
UK Hand Knitting Association. It really is worth going onto their website
http://www.ukhandknitting.com/ as they are a fantastic organisation!
I first became aware of the UK Hand Knittng Association when I became a finalist (and then a little winner, too!) of the UK Textile Award in 2008, which they were organising.
I spoke to many people over the course of these shows, so it can be an impossible task to recall individual conversions. However, last month I recieved a very lovely e-mail, from an even lovelier lady Pam, whom I spoke to a the Harrogate show.
It started with the usual knitting banter (can't get enough of it!) and turned out we both came from the same town. A few years down the line.... She has moved back there and very kindly offered her Brother KH-881 knitting machine, with an ambundance of accessories, absolutely free!
I cannot put into words how touched I was by this, not only had she held onto my business card (I would have misplaced it a few months down the line!) but all she asked is that I make use of it... Oh, I can certainly manage that! Pictures will follow soon; it has been in my possession for almost a week now and today is knitting machine set up day!
You really do meet the best characters and some genuinely lovely people at these shows. It never ceases to amaze me what a small world it is - very cliche I know, but so true.
So, many thanks to Pam, the UK Hand Knitting Association, Craft Club, Fred Knitty and all the people I spoke to at the show yesterday!
Enough typing from me, I've got some knitting to do!
Even the cats like it...
I made this from one copy of an old Evening Standard I had lying around and a ball of unwanted garden string, which I chain stitched as a joining string for the triangles. 
