Knit yourself a holiday

Yes, I know it seems like we've gone knitting mad on the blog recently but we just wanted to mention this knitting competition  from the sunny Channel Island of Guernsey.

Everybody's heard of the Guernsey sweater. Designed originally to keep sailors warm they've enjoyed wide fashion status over the years (and they still look rather cool with jeans and espadrilles).

In days gone by each family on the island would have its own unique pattern that was passed down through the generations by word of mouth. But the Second World War and evacuation meant that many of these oral histories began to die out.

The competition is encouraging knitters to... re-interpret the original garment, how the family patterns might have looked, or would look today if the tradition had continued and evolved.

The winner will receive an trip for two to Guernsey. The winning design will also be published in a leading UK knitting magazine.

To maintain the Guernsey tradition competition entries should try and incorporate the following features in their designs, drawings or patterns:
• inclusion of the traditional box shape
• British [or Guernsey] wool - four or five ply
• pattern designs for size 10-12.

Designs can be uploaded to the Visit Guernsey facebook page

Guernseys are made of single colour worsted yarn, usually four or five ply, tightly knit using fine needles [as small as size 13 or 14].

The sweater was originally knitted in the round, with a purl stitch to mark the side seam. Patterns are made up of simple knit/ purl combinations, the most elaborate of which would have covered the top half of the body and arms.

Patterns on Tudor knitted stockings produced in Guernsey had names such as Turk’s Head, and Peacock’s Tail, which may have also been used on jumper designs. Jumpers have a boxy shape which means that they can be worn both ways; front and back (originally to prolong life-span).

Other common features include a funnel neck, triangular inserts under the arms and at the neck edge, and side splits in the hem for ease of movement.

Get your needles out.

Knit your own masterpiece

Thanks to Jenny Brown form Australia for sharing the low-down on this fantastic knitting group from South Shields in the North of England.

The Materialists are a group of knitters of  mixed abilities from complete beginners to professionals. Every Saturday morning they meet up at the Customs House in South Shields. The group got started in early 2009 (around about the same time as us!) with the Coat for a Boat project in which 350 knitters contributed to knitting a giant coat for a fishing boat, including sails, which was launched on the Tyne.


One of the group's recent projects is to recreate art masterpieces in knitting. Here are a couple of examples:

Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe

Munch's The Scream.

Inspirational sewing makeovers

MIAMI member Carol Seatory is a fantastic role model. She's put her sewing talents to everything from making small purses and little girls' dresses to  re-upholstering old chairs - and along the way has transformed her work as an illustrator  by working with scraps of fabrics to make fabulous collages.

Carol squirrels away remnants and unwanted scraps in her fabric stash and then finds all kinds of uses for them. Here's a little Welsh stool Carol has rescued and recovered in vintage fabric - itself "rescued".

Read Carol's story - including how when pregnant she just couldn't stop herself from sewing until she'd made over 40 little dresses - even though she knew she was expecting a baby boy! Read about Carol and see more examples of her work on our website

Rag Rug book offer

We recently ran a giveaway on the website for a book called Rag Rug Making - and it turns out a lot of you are keen to give rag rugs a try as it was one of our most successful competitions.

When we told the publishers, they decided to give our followers an exclusive offer of £3 off the book which we reviewed here.

To take advantage of the offer - ring the publishers on 01684 588599 and quote the code RAGMIAMI. Offer available until 29th April 2011. 

Tea cosy hats for kids

MIAMI member Angela recently shared her instructions for making traditional tea cosies.

Angela has just sent us these photos to show how she's adapted her pattern to make a child's hat. She's done one for a girl and one for a boy. She asks

"Now... HONESTLY.... is this a snuggly, warm, can-be-pulled-down-over-ears child's hat.... or is the poor kiddo going to be laughed at mercilessly... 'ha ha ha... you're wearing a tea cosy!' (Or maybe nowadays, young kids don't even know what a tea cosy is... or what it looks like!)."

We think she's done a great job and these cosy hats should keep any child warm in the playground come Winter. And it's so rare you see a proper tea cosy these days that there's little risk of being accused of wearing one! What do you think?

The boy's hat (above) has a bobble and the girl's has a crocheted flower on the top (petals lift up separately)

To adapt the hats from Angela's tea cosy pattern just cast on 84 stitches instead of 98 then work as for the tea cosy pattern, but instead of doing 4 repeats of the 12 row pattern just do 3 repeats then work as for the original for the reducing rows. Add your bobble or crochet topping. 

 

>> Get the pattern from our website
>> Read about Angela

Sun, sea and MIAMI

Okay, it wasn't Florida but but there were palm trees along the seafront and the sun shone in Eastbourne for Local Life 2011 and we had a great day there.

If you didn't manage to get along - don't worry. We sent Anne round with the video camera to catch some of the highlights - enjoy.

We're off to the seaside - come and join us!

Next Saturday 19th March, the MIAMI team will all be at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne at the Local Life show there - between 10 am and 5pm. Entry is free.

That's us in the picture - left to right - Anne Caborn, Clare O'Brien, Clare Flynn and Hilary Bruffell.

If you are in or near the area please come along and say hello. We're bringing lots of our stuff along - from done-up dining chairs to garden planters and we'll be sharing tips and ideas such as how to make sourdough - starters and bread as well as making everything from marmalades, jams and chutneys to decorative tealight holders.

So if you can spare the time, and are in the area, please come along and meet the four of us behind the MIAMI movement.

Clare F

Update on my quilting progress

I haven't posted anything recently about my efforts at making a sampler quilt - but I'm still at it and really enjoying it.

I've completed the sample blocks, sewn all these together and today started the slow process of doing the quilting of the three layer "sandwich". I've decided a thimble is definitely in order - I never usually use one but pushing the needle through the three layers can be painful work.

So far I've just quilted one block so I think it's going to take me a while to finish. I'm glad I'm only doing a small nine block quilt as I'd be at it for ever - I'm doing it all by hand.Rather than tacking the layers together before quilting i used curved safety pins - it makes it very quick and easy.

I'm going to put up some instructions for making the quilt sandwich on the website - and there's also instructions for the Rail Fence block and instructions and template for Maple Leaf. Hilary and I plan to publish instructions for all the quilt blocks featured in my quilt on our main website - but right now I'm too busy making it!

Why buy the drill when all you want is the hole?

At MIAMI Towers, we've all been enjoying a new book by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers called What's Mine is Yours - How Collaborative Consumption is Changing the Way we Live.

You can read a review of the book on my business blog - I thought it would be worth sharing this with friends and followers of MIAMI too as the book is so close to the principles we espouse ourselves with Make it and Mend it.

It's all about accessing rather than owning - think LoveFilm or StreetCar, about bartering skills, about sharing and swapping - think StreetBank and Landshare. Why buy and accumulate stuff when you can borrow or rent it for the task in hand? Or as Rachel says in the video why buy the drill when all you want is the hole? (Apparently the average power drill gets used for a total of 12 minutes in its entire lifespan).

Check out the review and read the book - or catch Rachel explaining about the concept at TED Sydney in the video below.



Clare Flynn

Waiting for a bus? Why not knit one?

At Make it and Mend it we never cease to be amazed by the creativity of your average knitter. But this latest effort from Cocoon Knits down on the UK's South Coast has sent us to new heights of admiration.

The picture shows a rather fetching 'bus stop cosy', as we've termed it. But Cocoon's knitters are not stopping there...

By this summer they want to have knitted a cover for a open top double decker bus, in order to raise money for a local hospice, The Martletts. The aim is to raise £40,000.

Cocoon want knitters - experienced, beginners or just curious - to pick up their needles and help. Each participant will collect sponsors and knit a minimum of three 15cm x 15cm squares. The minimum sponsorship amount is £25 per entry.

"We’re looking for pink ones, green ones, patterned, striped or any colour you wish. To celebrate the end of the project the bus will be driven along Brighton seafront on the 20th August with contributors and guests aboard."

After the event all blankets will be broken down and sent to Africa with the help of Knit a Square charity.

For more information and to register please go to www.cocoonknits.co.uk 

Anne Caborn

The Marmalade Factory

I'm no longer a marmalade-making virgin! This weekend I made two batches and while it takes a lot longer than jam it's very satisfying and the results are absolutely delicious.

The window for making is quite narrow if you're going to use Seville oranges - and you should - as these rather bitter oranges are absolutely perfect for the very best breakfast experience! The Sevilles are in the shops now and tend to get snapped up quite quickly. I bought mine from a fruit and veg shop - I noticed Sainsbury's don't stock them - probably because they don't conform to the supermarket ideal of horrible, uniform, flawless, ersatz, plastic-looking orbs. The two kilos I bought were in all shapes and sizes and the skins were very gnarly looking. Wonderfully real!

When you cut them open (oops forgot to take a photo of that!) you'll notice immediately that they're full of pips - that's probably another reason the supermarkets don't like them  - but these plentiful pips are what give the pectin needed for a successful set.

On the radio recently someone was commenting that sales of marmalade have declined dramatically in the UK - and immediately this provoked a corrective backlash of people rushing out to buy some. As someone pointed out, hopefully the sales decline is down to more people making their own. If you haven't tried it give it a go - you'll enjoy the results for months to come.

>> Here's the foolproof recipe I followed

Clare F

More from Maia! - silk painting

My ten year old neighbour Maia (see the piece below) called round again this evening to show me her latest handiwork - this time a delightful silk painting.

She told me that the piece of silk had to be stretched on a frame first. The dark lines that separate the colours in the painting are done with something I'd never heard of before called un gutta, which creates a barrier to prevent the colours running.

The overall effect is a bit like watercolour painting  and I'm sure you'll agree Maia has done a lovely job. She told me she also made a painted silk tie for her grandfather in Cyprus - as he grows olive trees she depicted an olive tree on the tie. I'll bet he was chuffed to bits with that!

Here's a close up of the painting - I think it has a feeling of Matisse about it!

I really like the effect of the silk painting and so plan to investigate this technique further when I get some time and do a how-to piece on the Make it and Mend it website.

Clare F