I have recently joined a knitting group which meets in Wymondham Abbey, (1) a beautiful space to sit and knit , drink coffee and chat.
I walk past this roof angel each time I go to knitting, I am always in awe of the size and making of it
and the explanation
A request came via Norfolk Knitters and Stitches for Shawls for the neo natal group at the hospital.
I am currently knitting the middle of the big Firth Shawl from Elizabeth Williamson. (2)
I am getting quite excited as I am half way through the 4th repeat of 4. ie the end is in sight. It is looking glorious.
But this sort of shawl even if much smaller would not be suitable for such a baby, the holes are too big! (See post of 24 Nov 25 for some photos)
I have had a Brother 830 knitting machine with 850 ribber since new about 1975/6. When we moved to Cheshire in 2001 I could not believe my knitting machine life. I lived a few miles from the legend that was Metropolitan Machine Knitting. It was great in may respects for good bin ends etc of yarn and more importantly courses. It was run by Carol Hocknell who ran courses herself and had tutors of national and international repute. My machine knitting capabilities increased exponentially!
2 of the many courses I attended were on Knitweave - the Audrey Palmer way. Audrey sadly was no longer with us but had been a South African who had devised her own system of knitting with fine (synthetic), mainly crepe yarn, with another thicker synthetic yarn (eg acrylic) added by knitweave. Simply the yarn lays on the fabric’s surface and is held in place virtually invisibly by the finer yarn. When steamed this makes a very fine, stable fabric which drapes. (Thicker fabrics can be formed but they would be used for fabrics for skirts, jackets, etc. )
sample of the knitting
Also Audrey has also devised some great edgings and garments. I have 7 of her books, I think this is all she wrote.
This is the main book
a sample of an edging
To get used to the system and how one can personally modify it, Audrey describes knitting a baby blanket. I did this first course with Carol in April 2008
When my first grandson was born in May 2008, he had a traditional Shetland Shawl - square, knitted outside in.
And then this shawl I knitted on the course.
This latter one looked great and was a very useful addition, it could go into the washing machine endlessly and still look great. In fact it was also used with grandson 2 in 2013. Around that time I knitted several of these.
So a couple of weeks ago I decided to knit another! First I found all my notes and started doing some samples, including off the edges. It came back to me fairly easily. I had modified Audrey's pattern by adding some Tuck rows too. The hardest thing was maintaining the correct order of the elements of the pattern. So many balls to keep in the air at once.
And once the shawl was done it needs steaming to make the shape perfect. I dress it as I would a Shetland shawl, and then there are the edges to add. I love Audrey's edges -.so simple and so effective. The first stage of each edge is to put one of the edges back on the needles, then the edge is knitted on using the knit machine. Again attention to detail, counting stitches, measuring lengths pays off. I like to use both threads I used in the shawl but this time treating them as one yarn.
Shawl dressing
Close up of edge, these are added to all 4 sides
The final shawl- I hope it is enjoyed
During lock down I knitted a top, and it is one that doesn't crease either
This is described in a post here of 10 May 2020, or search on the right under ‘knitweave’.
Notes
1. Wymondham Abbey is well worth a visit if you are in the area. It is very difficult to date the start of the abbey, but a masonry wall underlying the south isle is unlikely to have been built before 1066. ( ref Wymondham Abbey ed Paul Cattermole). For anyone interested in Textiles there is on display a replica burse and associated information, one of the oldest pieces of embroidery in Britain, 700 years old!
2.Elizabeth Williamson, born in Shetland and from a line of Shetland Knitters, who designs traditional shetland lace shawls. She, with her mother lead classes during Shetland Wool Week. She can be found at Elizabeth Williamson Knitting.
