NEW EAST END KNITTING CLUB.

If you are in the mood for finding new knitting friends for 2011, then get yourself down to Wednesday Knit at The Victoria, London E3, organised by Jackie, one of the busiest Prick Your Finger customers. Have fun!

OUR NEW DOOR HANDLE.

Two and a half hours away from closing on our last day of 2010, I finally fixed us all a new door handle, made from a guitar neck which I found in a bin in Victoria Park in the summer.
It just took me six months to work out where to put it.
We can now shut the door behind us, without jamming our fingers in the funny brass thing.
The door will be ready for re-opening on 11th Juanuary 2011.
We hope you all have a lovely Christmas, and that everyone loves the presents you might have worked so hard to create.

R.I.P CAPTAIN BEEFHEART.

Dear Don,
we are sorry that you died last night. You taught us to spin off an axis, set to any angle. It was great the way you ditched fame to make more art. You were a true artist, and when we have eaten lentils for several days in a row, we remember that that's how you made Trout Mask Replica.
The other day a new learned friend asked us weather we went to art school. She had been discussing the matter with another learned friend. They concluded that we couldn't have been to art school, because if we did, we wouldn't have had such 'gusto'. We explained that we did go to art school, we went to punk school, or which you were of course, Dean.
We shall continue to work very hard at being unpredictable.

WINNING CHRISTMAS.

How gorgeous is Susan Crawford's re-working of the traditional Christmas reindeer jumper?
The easy to follow pattern appears in 'Vintage Gifts to Knit' (on sale here £14) and is one of the hottest knits this season; especially cosy in JC Renne Shetland 4ply.
Finishing this detailed garment before Christmas morning, is entirely possible, but for those of you wishing you'd started earlier, we say "KEEP GOING!" You are creating an heirloom to delight your friends and family year after year, and not stooping so low as to buy the H&M version, which is bound to be herding itself to landfill next summer.


Last summer we heard Annemour talk about Norwegian knitting. She told us how her grandmother knitted reindeer on jumpers for all the family, and one day a lady from the over the valley knocked on the door and said 'Could I borrow your reindeer pattern?'
Annemour's grandmother said 'Knit your own bloody raindeer!' and shut the door.

TOM VAN DEIJNEN'S READING GLOVES.

'I wondered what the hammering was,' she said feeling weak and breathless, and a little afraid of him, as he looked straight at her.
"Ah'm gettin' th' coops ready for th' young bods." he said in broad vernacular. She did not know what to say and felt weak.
'I should like to sit down a bit,' she said.

'Come and sit 'ere i' th' 'ut,' he said, going in front of her to the hut, pushing aside some timber and stuff, and drawing out a rustic chair made of hazel sticks.
'Am Ah t'light yer a little fire?' he asked with the curious naivete of the dialect.
'Oh don't bother.' she replied. But he looked at her hands; they were rather blue. So he quickly took some larch twigs to the little brick fireplace in the corner, and in a moment the yellow flame was running up the chimney. He made a place by the brick hearth.
'Sit 'ere then a bit and warm yer.' He said.
We are looking forward to Tom Van Deijnen's Reading Gloves to be shown at Prick Your Finger in February. Tom has knitted gloves for our favourite characters from classic novels.
Pictured above, Mellors and Lady Chatterley from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H Laurence.
Mellors made from Nettle fibre £5 per skein, and Lady Chatterley 4ply Wensleydale £4/50g.

LOUISE'S FAMILY SPRING A SURPRISE.

Yesterday we were excited to hear that Louise's mum and cousin Fi-Fi were coming for tea, but surprised as more and more family piled in -
From left to right along the back - Stephen, our friend passing by on his way to lunch and it turned out his father was vicar in the church where Louise's Grandma Mo got married down in Cornwall, then Louise's mum Sally, Louise, Grandma Mo, Louise's dad Berny, Aunty Sarah and Uncle Clive, and on the floor cousin Fi Fi and me.

REMEMBERING WHAT YOU FOUND.

On adventures away from home I like to send postcards.
In New York I was surprised to find the museums and galleries had rather poor postcard selections.
I bought 'From head to Hand' by David Levi Strauss and in it found that the Inca's thought writing memories down helped them go away, where as tying knots kept the memories alive, passing information on to future generations.
I thought by tying knots I might be able to describe my adventure in more detail when I got home. Fortunately I was carrying red and yellow Jaimson's DK (£2.80/25g)
I only tied 5 knots before it was tie to catch the plane, but it does work -
The knots represent more than the places visited, but I won't write about that for risk of forgetting.