Knitting

I love this knitted wig!

On St Albans wednesday market, there is a jumper stall that sells new and second hand jumpers,  just £2 each. This is a great resource for Alice, studying knitting at uni., she can have her own archive of designs at affordable prices. It's interesting for her to see how the sweaters are constructed and the type of stitches and yarns that are used. The pieces are usually made in luxury yarns like wool, mohair, angora, and cashmere. The latest find is an oversized 80's jumper, in mohair, it's an abstract geometric design in bold colours.

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.

My daughter Alice is at Uni. in Brighton studying textiles specialising in knitting. Alice learnt to knit at junior school, Aboyne Lodge, taught by one of the mums who gave up her time and patience, It paid off, thank you Mrs Loader. One of Alice's projects I paticularily like is based on decay, she took photographs then interpreted the texture and colour using knitting and crochet. I think the colours are very effective, proud mother moment.