The Epping group meets at the Epping Creative Centre on Stanley Road in Epping at 10am every Monday. [map] The Convenor is Jill Francis. To contact the group, send e-mail to the Convenor.
Well today was our last gathering for the year. No formal meeting, just a time to knit and natter, with a few show and tell.
Thelma had a jumper to show us that she made for a nun. When asked if she could knit this jumper she didn't feel she could say no to a nun! The jumper is a classic round neck raglan in Bendigo Woollen Mills Duet - an 8 ply 70% wool and 30% mohair mix. Thelma used the shade Mystic. The colour is gorgeous with the mohair strand giving a lovely fleck to the yarn. The classic style very much suited the yarn. Beautiful Thelma.
Yvonne had two lovely scarves that she has made for Ann Collins (or one of her customers to be precise). The scarves are made using Ann Collins' hand dyed 2/20 silk in feather and fan stitch. Again, another simple classic stitch that lets the yarn do the talking.
Sandy was wearing a recent Christmas present - a Lacis wrist yarn holder. Someone doesn't wait until Christmas eve or morning to open her presents. With this yarn holder, Sandy was able to walk around knitting with easy access to her yarn.
Finally, Meg had one half of the wall hanging that we have been working on for Yarning Our Country. It is coming together so well. Meg has done a fantastic job of putting all our squares together.
Once again, I must apologise for the photos - they don't do justice to the knitting. I must remember to bring my camera, I must remember to bring my camera, I must ...
Best wishes to everyone for a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.
Today's formal meeting was kept quite short, as today we had our Christmas celebration. This is when we get to sample the wonderful baking skills of the members as well as admire their knitting skills, and also our members generosity.
In the entrance there was two boxes - one for donations to the Exodus Foundation, and the other for our Kris Kringle. The Christmas decoration was formed from a few of the branches that we have made for a tree that is forming part of our contribution to Yarning Our Country.
We started with the formal meeting - kept short so that we could then get stuck into the wonderful spread that people brought. I don't know who made the Snowman Pops, but they were very good! I have since found out these were made by Jill, our convenor, who I have discovered bakes as well as she knits and she knits beautifully.
One of the highlights of the meeting was hearing about all the work that our members had been doing for various charities - it was a very impressive list.
1 Wraps With Love rug
7 squares for a rug
98 teddies
7 mini blankets
21 premie caps
46 beanies
20 scarves
2 pairs fingerless gloves
6 titbits
2 bags of hats and beanies for the Cancer Council as a result of our Biggest Morning Tea
The Tiny Teddy Award was given to Jacqui who made if not all, then most of those 98 teddies. These teddies go the the Children's Hospital at Westmead.
Not counted in that total, was a beautiful crocheted jacket shown below, that I believe was made by Marie.
And the meeting would not be complete without show-and-tell. I think most members were focused on bringing food to share rather than any knitted show-and-tell, but Margo covered both bases with her item - a knitted Christmas pudding. Probably best just to look at rather than trying to eat! Margo learnt how to make these delightful little numbers at a Ku-ring-gai meeting.
Once again Daphne wowed us with another of her magnificent blankets. We were relieved to hear that Daphne doesn't whip these up between meetings, but have been knitted over a few years. The one Daphne showed us today was made for her brother-in-law. It has a multi-coloured yarn that is used in each square to create a constant theme. Each square starts with the striped triangle, using the multi-coloured yarn plus two other colours. The second half of the square is made by working two smaller triangles in the two other colours that were used in the stripes. The squares were then crocheted together with the smaller triangles meeting to make a diamond and the larger striped triangles also forming diamonds. Daphne finished the blanket with a crocheted edging, using the multi-coloured yarn, and this blanket also features a "pocket" on the reverse side that the blanket gets folded into.
Daphne has also been busy knitting hats for Christmas presents.
Today we had two meetings, our normal formal meeting and then our AGM. After 3 years in the role of Secretary, and doing a fantastic job, Sandy has stepped down and Jill Rowling has kindly stepped forward to take on this role. Jill Francis continues as Convenor and Hazel Reddish continues as Treasurer.
Some other points to come out of the meeting were:
our Christmas celebration will be on December 3 - see calendar for more details
the last meeting for the year is December 10
the first meeting for next year in January 14
In Show and Tell, Daphne produced two more of the magnificent rugs she has made. These two examples have a "quillow" that the rug folds up into. The first rug consists of freeform knitted and crocheted squares, framed with black crochet. Daphne then embroidered "squiggles" over the top. The second rug is made up of pattern test swatches all joined together. Both rugs are made using 8ply yarn.
Susan had a mobius of her own design to show. She had used a pattern stitch which is very similar from both sides and is made from Bendigo Woollen Mills 2 ply yarn.
My apologies to Daphne and Susan for the poor photos - I must remember my camera in the future, I just can't seem to take good photos with the phone.
Epping Group
