This morning I spent 3 hours at a sewing workshop run by Jo Paloma Makes at Amanda’s Fabrics in Mold. There were four of us taking the class and by the end of it we all had our own completed zipped pouch. I learnt so much during the morning and made copious notes on the handout as well as taking plenty of photos of specific stages.
I chose to make the smaller of the two size options and it’s the perfect size for a sock project or similar!
Another great thing about this size is that you can get two of the smaller bags from two fat quarters of fabric. The large size would be ideal for large scissors, pencils/brushes/projects with straight knitting needles.
Jo is a great teacher – very kind and patient – and was super helpful if any of us got stuck or just wanted to check something before we sewed or cut.
For the majority of the time we were looking at the lining fabric and sewing the corners became quite a feat of origami.
But when we turned it out through the gap we’d left it was like magic! I just couldn’t stop grinning. It’s not perfect; the seams next to the zip are not identical and the tabs aren’t exactly centred, but it was the first time I’ve made anything like this, and I shall certainly be making more – and improve my sewing with each one!
The end of the Summer KAL went well last week and the updated pattern of Marianne Half Hap Shawl (the laceweight sample of this was my KAL project) has now been published. If you have an older copy, please do download the new version.
You may remember I recently started a new sample of my Amy March Shawl using two gorgeous skeins of yarn from The Yarn Artist. It’s zooming along now – and might even be finished before the Pop-Up Wool Show on August 19th.
When you’re knitting two colour brioche, there’s a decrease called the ‘Br4st dec’ (brioche 4 stitch decrease) where you have to put the centre stitch of five onto a locking stitch marker or similar while you work on the stitches around it. I find this quite fiddly as locking stitch markers are quite small and it’s easy for the stitch (and its accompanying yarn over) to slip off. However – I may have a new solution! I popped into Yarn O’clock after the sewing workshop and saw the new ‘Flox’ multitools from Floops Stitch Markers that Anne has. I’d seen them on her Instagram, and had thought they were the size of regular bent cable needles.
They’re really not – they’re much smaller and the cable in the middle is moveable (and stays where it’s put) and I think they’ll be perfect for this brioche decrease. I had to get the rainbow one!
I’ve started advertising my September knitting workshops. They’re all taking place at Shaz’s Shabby Chic in Buckley on Wednesdays 6.30-8.30pm. All the details are here, but the short summary is:
- 6th Sept – Absolute Beginners’ Knitting Workshop
- 13th Sept – Next Steps Beginners’ Knitting Workshop
- 20th Sept – Working with Colour – Slip Stitch Knitting
- 27th Sept – Knitting in the Round
Places are limited to 8 per workshop, which means everyone gets plenty of individual attention, and yarn is included with all of them. If you know someone who would enjoy one or more of these workshops, please pass on the details to them.
That’s all from me for today – I need to go and marvel again and what Jo taught us to make! Take care and why not think about learning something new? K x
That multi tool guy is so great! I probably would have got the rainbow one too, very cute.