er ... Joyce Meader?

The excellent ‘I Knit London’ are holding a weekender from 11th – 12th September with scheduled events including workshops, classes and presentations.

I spotted a couple of workshops to lure the vintage knitter: the first one features Susan Crawford (knitwear designer, knitting teacher and lecturer in fashion and textiles).  Susan is co-author (and publisher) of the newly republished A Stitch in Time, apparently her presentation on Vintage Knitwear is not to be missed!  You can catch Susan on Friday 11th September between 4pm – 6pm.

The second one is held by Joyce Meader, an historical hand-knitting expert. She has a wide and extensive collection of commercially printed patterns from the 1840s to the present day which are used to hand knit items for museums, re-enactors and for private commissions.  Joyce will be hosting a free presentation and discussion of Knitted Comforts for Your Soldiers from Crimea to Today and showing some of her vast collection on Saturday 12th September between 12pm – 2pm.

You can find more information on these events at the I Knit London website.

Smocked Vegetables

Came across this rather brilliant and slightly surreal picture whilst browsing the Embroiders Guild website the other day – a trug full of smocked vegetables on display at the Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire until 4th October 2009.  It’s part of a larger exhibition – ‘Smocks & Smocking – From the Field to Fashion’ and is made by 4 dedicated (and patient) members of the ‘Smocking Branch’.

The mill itself looks pretty fascinating … a rare relic of the 19th century silk trade which is still managing to produce, albeit in limited quantities.

I’ve never tried or even considered smocking so wouldn’t even know where to start with this.  Shan’t be experimenting with it myself any time soon but wouldn’t mind catching the exhibition and a quick glimpse into the textile industry’s past.

Handmade Nation

Looking forward to the release of Handmade Nation, a film by Faythe Levine (“filmmaker, author, independent curator and creative director” – some people are so lazy), but rather disconcerted to see that the only scheduled screenings in the UK are in Birmingham and Manchester (as far as I can see anyway), so I’ve contacted Faythe to find out if there are any more planned.

Looking at Faythe’s blog I scrolled down to her Indie Craft Fair’s section … now it might be that I’m looking in the wrong places, but I’d love to see this kind of quantity, hip-sounding, vibrant and non-elitist network of events in the UK (Urban Uprising, Crafty Bastards etc).

Inevitably, the events where Faythe is screening prove me wrong – UK DIY (“a craft uprising in the North of England”) and the Flatpack Festival (which is taking place as I type), but we need a few more.  Near me in Brighton we have the great annual Brighton Craft Fair, Made, but it’s enormous and the kind of thing I have in mind is a smaller, more community based affair.

There’s a bit of a fusty air around craft here (as I’ve ranted many times before) and things tend to reek of ye olde England and country shows, we need a more exciting fair network to get going.  The fact that when you Google ‘uk craft fairs’ nothing much comes up doesn’t mean that there aren’t any, just means they aren’t getting the web space, network gossip or press they deserve.

If you’re reading this and shouting out that I’m wrong, please let me know, I’d love to know where and when they are … if they’re out there they certainly need some SEO advice!