Free Craft Wednesday

I had such a lovely time at the Wednesday craft morning this week. More and more people are turning up with inspiring projects and it's great to see how much progress they make during the week.

In between the moments of deep concentration there was plenty of time for chatting and I'm learning so much about the local area and its community. This week a couple of women from the East London Women's Institute popped by - I never knew about WIs before now but it's such a great institution, inspiring actually.

Crocheted vehicles

Love this macho motorbike's feminine makeover. It's by Theresa Honeywell

It reminded me of this crocheted Mini, unfortunately I can't remember where I found the image.

Today

I've had a slow but lovely start to the day. Went for a coffee at the Victoria Park Pavilion. I feel so lucky to live right next door to one of the most beautiful parks in London.

My slow start means the rest of the day is going to be a bit hectic. Before it starts to rain, I'm going to hurry out to the post office to post the latest batch of monogrammed pendants.





I also need to finish preparing the goody bags for tonight's knitting class - I'm really looking forward to this class, I'm going to try to remember to take some photos this time. If you'd also like to learn to knit or crochet, please do get in touch, I do individual lessons from my flat, or at your preferred location - It's £15 per hour if held at my flat or £20 at any other location, this includes materials, tools and worksheets. Just email me at knitstitchandhook@gmail.com for more info.

Valentines Cards

These hand embroidered cards are now for sale in my Etsy shop. They'll also be available in this Pop-up shop on the 5th of February.

Ben 4 Marie

The only good thing about living in a very poorly insulated flat during the winter, is that I sometimes find notes, that make me smile, written on my windows.

Crochet a Rainbow

This is a nice project. The blog Sarahlondon is asking all crocheters to donate a granny square. She'll then use all the granny squares to create colourful and warm blankets for those affected by the floods in Australia.

All the instructions on how to take part can be found here.

Thanks Bibi, for sending me the link.

Free Craft Wednesday

I had such a lovely morning at Back to Basics, it made my day! Every Wednesday they have a free craft morning where people can pop in with questions about projects they're working on, share inspiration, do a bit of networking, or just for a chat about crafts... You can read a bit more about it here.

I really can't recommend this brilliant initiative, by Back to Basics, enough - it's a fantastic way to meet other local creative people.

I'm going to be there every Wednesday helping out with any crochet/knitting queries, so please do come and say hello anytime between 9-11.30am.

Back to Basics also offer lots of different creative workshops in the evenings and weekends, it's a completely non profit organisation - your fees will go straight back into the community so not only will you learn a new skill; you'll also provide the opportunity for someone else to learn one.


The pictures were taken by Jill Robertson from Back to Basics.

Knitting Class

There are still a couple of places left on the knitting class next week and if you bring a friend you'll get £5 off.

See www.knitstitchandhook.com for more info.

Email me or comment here to book.

Free Craft Wednesday

I am involved with a local charity called Back to Basics, it's run by really lovely people at St Margaret’s House and it's such a great initiative. As well as running a wide variety of craft courses, they also have a weekly craft morning: every Wednesday you can pop by their space in Bethnal Green and enjoy a free craft session from 9am-11:30am. While having a cup of tea and a chat, you will be taught a craft such as crochet, knitting or hand sewing. All they ask in return is a £3 donation!

This Wednesday I will be there teaching crochet. If you're stuck on a project just bring along your pattern and I'll help you figure it out, if you need a bit of inspiration for your next project then come by and browse a few books or if you're a complete beginner then I'll teach you the basics.

Embroidered Necklaces

I'm going to be selling a few things at a Valentines pop-up shop in Bethnal Green in a few weeks - I'll post more about it later. These pendants are some of the new products I made for the shop, until then, they'll be on sale in my etsy shop.

Crocheted Dress Guards

In London Fields, where I live, lots of people have started cycling, which I think is great as it's, by far, my favourite way to get around and the more cyclists are on the road the safer it's becoming. Although, cyclists over here don't seem to follow the same rules as we do in Scandinavia, like not over-taking in heavy traffic, indicating when you are stopping and turning, but the most peculiar thing was watching cyclists attempt to ride their bicycles on the thick ice covering the streets just before Christmas!

Luckily the ice has melted and I can start cycling again. I might just give my bike a more summery feel with these lovely Dress Guards by the Dutch brand Simili.

Knitting Stensil

I love these cake and coffee stencils by Icelandic based illustrator Megan Herbert.

Spool Art

Not only is this a beautiful piece of art, it's also a great storage idea. I could definitely fill one up with all the yarn I have lying around.

Found here

Beautiful

Very inspired by this cross stitch. There is something very soothing about white on white linen.

Image taken from here.

Classes in January

There are a couple of new classes coming up in January - please see the website for more details.

Email me on knitstitchandhook@gmail.com to book a place and get £5 off, if you bring a friend.

Collections

This picture is from one of my favourite blogs. Every day during 2010 Lisa posted a picture of one of her collections. She has so many and it makes me wonder where she keeps them all... I'm not good at collecting things, my Scandinavian genes have caused me to dislike clutter. When I was growing up, I did have quite a large collection of erasers, I spent most of my pocket money in the stationary shop.

Crocheted packaging

A friend of mine and fellow crocheter, gave me this soap with a crocheted packaging. It's from the shop Anthropology in London. It's so lovely, the only problem is that it's too nice to actually use! It really inspired me, I'd like to crochet around stones or gems to create necklace pendants.

Resurrection fern, makes some absolutely beautiful crocheted stones - her pictures always makes me want to go for a walk in the forest.



The last picture is taken from here.

Rolf the English Bulldog

Over the Christmas holiday, I knitted this dog as a present to my boyfriend. It's a fun project where it feels like you're constantly making progress, as it's made up of several small pieces that you finish individually. I got the pattern from the book Best in Show by by Sally Muir and Jo Osborne. At times the pattern was quite tricky to follow and, I think, badly explained when it comes to the assembly part. It definitely involved some trial and error and a few near tantrum moments, where I felt like throwing the whole thing in the bin. I'm so glad I didn't though, I absolutely love the end result.