First year Knit workshops

Ive recently started doing the first year knit workshops with David, which have been going really well but ive felt that i didn't have a lot of confidence when talking to the students. 

But David wasn't there for one of the workshops, so i had to take it on my own, which i was at first really stressed about, but i went and i am so glad i did it!

I was go much more confident on my own without David there watching me.

I felt like i connected with the students well and i made sure everyone understood what i was showing them and if they didn't i would show them one on one.

Also when doing the workshops with David i had found myself that if i was the students what would i want and i have made myself in my technician folder some photos of the knitting machines and what each button does / means and also how to thread up the yarn tensioner. In previous workshops i had said to david i think they would find it helpful to have some takeaway sheets so that they feel they can come back and get started on the machine on there own but David didn't take to the idea so they didn't get the hand out. 

But with the workshop on my own i decided that i would print these out and they would have helpful sheets to take away with them so they felt they could come back. I asked everyone if they would find it helpful / would like them and they all said yes so thats what i did.

I showed all the students the basics i.e cast on / off, tensions stripes, colour change etc

Over all i think that the workshop went really well and i really enjoyed engaging with the students. 

Ive found now that the students will come and find me just to show me there samples and things they have made, which i love as it makes me feel like ive taught them a skill and i love that!

This is something i really want to carry on and would love to go into as a career and feel it is important to show students every discipline there is and i feel it is important for them to have someone that they can ask/ get support from in each area.

Workshops

Ive recently met a lady called Claire Howard and she makes silver jewerally, and we have recently collaborated, so she makes these silver hand stamped discs to add personalisation to my knitted wrist warmers which i love!!! 

So from the collaboration we got talking about doing a workshop together, Claire already does regular jewerally workshops.

We got thinking about what we could do and we came up with the idea of a keyring / bag charm workshop so we went with the idea of a tassel workshop.

Claire and i advertised it on her Facebook and i posted on instragram etc, it proved really popular so we open it for two nights instead of one which was amazing!

We held the workshops at Claire's studio near Fakenham

I brought all my lambswool yarn and she had all the silver and key chains.

Claire has space so we were able to have a few of my products out on display so people could see what we both do, above and below is my table with a few pieces on.

Above is the workshop is full swing, i found it great to see peoples reactions when they realised that they could make something like that themselves. 

It was brilliant teaching them all how to make the tassels in something they could do themselves at home. I loved seeing everyones different ideas and how individual people wanted to be with there key chains.

I showed everyone how to make a large tassel for the key chain but then also a tiny tassel that we made into earrings 

Below are some images of their final charms that they went home with 

Overall i was so happy with how both of the workshops went, they gave me a lot of confidence to do these kind of things again and maybe start some of my own workshops. 

It was also amazing to get peoples feedback and they all said how much they enjoyed it and how i grew with confidence as the night went on.

Shima Seiki

Ive been lucky enough to be given the chance to go to Shima Seiki in Derby to do there week long basic knit training course. 

On the course it was me and another man who worked at John Smedley's 

The course was very full on, but as the week went on i got my head around it. 

On the course for the first 3 days we were on the Apex programming software which is like a very complex photoshop. 

To use the shima machines you have to programme everything on the Apex system.

The image above you can see is one of the first patterns, we were told the basics and just had a play around with patterns on the screen to see what we could do. 

Each of the colours at the bottom of the screen is a different action for the knitting machine to do, i.e the red background means front bed knit and the green means back bed knit and the red and green stripes at the bottom are for a 2x2 rib.

The coloured lines either side are called option lines which again each line is a different command to the machine so for example option line R3 means yarn carrier change which you would put if you wanted to change carrier to have a change of colour. 

For the first 3 days we were being taught all about what the different colours and option lines can do so it was very intense but i soon got the hang of it. To test us we were given knitted swatches and we were asked to make that swatch on the computer and then knit it. 

I found this quite easy as i am used to looking at knit structures so i was able to work out how they were made and reproduce them.

We were then shown how to thread the knitting machine, we were using the SVR122 machine which is a 7 gauge machine. 

Above are all the tension and yarn feeders that go into the machine and through to the carriers.

The yarn is threaded above though the yarn carriers.

These are some of my sample pieces which i had made from looking at an already knitted swatch.

Above you can see ive zoomed in so you can see what each colour means. This was a sample jumper front so you can see ive had to do the shaping with the colour white and purple but tell the machine to transfer a stitch to the left to create the shape.

Once we had got the hang of this we were allowed to make our own swatches and knit them on the machine, which was amazing to really get to grips with what the machine could do. 

Above is my certificate from shima to say ive passed the knit course which i am so proud and happy to have done and also met everyone at shima who have been amazingly helpful

Dye Kitchen

Ive decided for this project to dye my own yarns, ive chosen to use combed cotton as i wanted to use a yarn i hadn't used much before.

With the advise of Yasmin we decided for the colours i wanted it would be good to try the cold dyes, which i hadn't ever used. 

The first colour i wanted to get was a florescent so i mixed lime green and some yellow together to get the colour i wanted.

With the cold dyes you have to have the dye with salt into the water all measured out, then add the yarn leave for half an hour stirring occasionally once the half an hour is up remove the yarn from the dye bath and add the measured soda ash which is a fixative, wait until that dissolves and add the yarn back into the dye for another half an hour and then wash.

 Below are the colours fresh out of the dye ready to be washed 

 The grey was a little more blue than i wanted but i am still happy with the final colours 

I really liked doing the cold dyes and i think I'm going to try this process with some wool and also a thicker cotton 

Below are the final colour that ive put onto cones ready to knit, i may have to double up the cotton to use for some double bed knitting but i am also going to order some thicker cotton to dye as well, as this cotton is a little to fine for what i want to do but i should of tested it before i dyed it all but i can still use it for some single bed knitting.

Hanks

For this project i have chosen to use cotton yarn for my jumper and also i've decided to dye my own yarns which i haven't done in a while. 

Im dying three different colours 

One Lime ( florescent ) and very pale pink and a light grey from my new colour palette

Drawing

In my tutorial with Grainne i said to her how i felt lost and a bit like i had run out of puff and didn't know where i was going with anything, other than the fact i knew i wanted to make jumpers for my final collection.  

Grainne never fails to really see where i am enjoying myself and where i am not which for me is the most helpful as it points out to me where i should be going and continuing, she could see that i wasn't enjoying the 'drawing'. 

With the suggestion of making life size paper jumpers and drawing directly onto them i found my spark again and found this process really helpful

Doing this helped me to think about proportions and designs which along side drawing i could run to my knitting machine when an idea came and try it out straight away

Jumper making

For our final university project i decided i would like to learn to make some garment so i went with the idea of making a collection of jumpers

To make my jumpers ive used designaknit at university which you can put in measurements etc to get the size jumper you would like, and also type so cardigan / sweater or if you would like a round neck or v neck. 

For this first sample jumper i decided on a sweater with ribs and a rounded neckline and i am using black acrylic yarn, i have chosen to use acrylic yarn as it makes for a softer garment and also a thicker fabric compared to the lambs wool which i normally use. 

It didnt take me long to knit the pieces for the jumper which i was surprised about, i then decided to come home and link the jumper together as it makes for a better finish then sewing.

I had to learn as i went with this as i had never made a jumper so figuring out how each piece went to together took a bit longer for me but now i know i will know for when it comes to making the final jumpers 

I had to learn how to attach a neckline rib which was a bit confusing but got there in the end. Below is what i did first and it looks horrible, and above is the correct sample which has a nice clean edge to it.