French knitting

Alice wants to do French knitting on a grand scale, as part of her knitting degree, she needed a big Nancy. We had a think and a search on the internet and came across the idea of turning a wooden stool into a knitting machine! I bought a Frosta stool, from Ikea, a broom handle from Wilkinsons and with power tools we made them into a Nancy. It should be interesting to see the knitting Alice produces from it.

These flowers are so simple to make and look as fresh as spring!

Basic Flower 

I knitted a length of i-cord 25cm (10") long, you could make it from French knitting. From this I formed a five looped petal flower then attached a button for the centre, piece of cake!

Flower Hair Band

On Saturday I went to The Knitting and Stitching Show. The venue was Alexandra Palace in north London. Set in a park high on a hill, the views over London were spectacular in the Autumn sunshine. You could see for miles, way beyond Canary Wharf. The exhibition covered all areas of textiles and much more. There were hundreds of exhibitors selling specialist supplies and workshops where you could try your hand at a new crafts. It was a paradise for anyone interested in textiles. And to admire and inspire they had textile artists exhibiting.

I have been busy in my spare time, crocheting flowers. Last week I learnt how to crochet by following a tutorial on the internet and ever since I have been hooked!

like a lot of people I learnt to French knit when I was young. It's a very simple skill to master and the knitting grows really quickly, but I can't think of one single item I made from it. The knitting device used is called a Nancy, as a child I had a wooden cotton reel with four small nails hammered into the top. You can buy  wooden knitting Nancys from craft shops, I have one that looks like a painted figure. I also bought a child's knitting set from Poundland and that contained, amongst other things, a plastic Nancy.