Butterflies & Bees Workshop at Rowntree Park Cafe

Workshop at Rowntree Park Cafe

Today was our first indoor workshop, making creatures for the Rowntree Park Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm.  It took place at the fab Rowntree Park Cafe (my tea and scone were yummy!).  We had plenty of tables and so were able to spread out.  Lots of beautiful things were made and brought. Nicky made some lovely crochet butterflies...

Nicky's Crochet Butterflies

Janet & Christine went wild on pompom bees and Janet also made some knitted and stitched butterflies and flowers...

Janet & Christine's Makes

Heather's fab stitched butterflies are pictured here having a natter and sunbathing...

Heather's Stitched Butterflies

Linda was busy knitting cute little bees...

Linda's Knitted Bees

And Judy had already made quite a swarm of super butterflies...

Judy's Knitted Butterflies

We also had delivery of...

Pie's Knitted & French Knitted Butterflies

Chris' Crochet Butterflies

Sally's Crochet Butterflies

A Vibrant Stitched Butterfly

and there was treasure to collect from the basket too...

Collection Basket in Rowntree Park Cafe

Thanks to everyone who came and those who brought or sent their makes along - we love them all!  Thanks too, to Marcin and the team at Rowntree Park Cafe for making us so welcome.

There's still time to join in with the Butterflies & Bees Yarnstorm.  Our final workshop is next week at the Trafalgar Bay Pub on Nunnery Lane, York - book here. If you want to find out more, take a look here for details, and patterns. If you can't make our final workshop, you can join in by making at home or with friends.  You've got till the end of July 2021 to get your makes to Rowntree Park Cafe.  All the patterns are online here or use your own.  

The Knitting Mill - My New Toy

 

Knitting Mill

If you have ever tried French Knitting which produces a knitted cord you'll know that it is very time consuming to produce anything of any length.  Well - now you can buy a knitting mill which allows you to make this knitted cord at a rate of knots simply by turning a handle!

First round - yarn caught by 1st & 3rd hooks only

First of all you thread your yarn through the lower and upper guides on the mill.  Then whilst turning the handle clockwise make sure that only the first and third hooks pick up the yarn. On the next round all four hooks should pick up the yarn.  Make sure the weight is in position on the end of your cord and you can now pick up speed.  You have to move your weight up as your cord gets longer.  I attached it with a safety pin as this seemed easier than trying to get the rather thick hook on the weight through the cord itself.  Also it helps to give the cord a tug from time to time to make sure it is properly weighted down.  You do just need to keep an eye on it all to make sure everything is going smoothly.

Subsequent rounds - all hooks used and weight in place

Ideal set up for knitting mill!

In this photo you can see the full set up - weight attached to cord & yarn in a container to stop it rolling away.  A slatted table is particularly good as the cord can hang through the slats and the knitting mill can sit on the table. Without slats you have to hold the mill off the table so the cord can feed through the hole that runs up the middle of the knitting mill.

This is what it produces - I used double knitting yarn ...
 

Knitted cord from the Knitting Mill

I used my first attempt at knitted cord for my Le Tour Yorkshire mini jersey bunting part of the Knit a Bike project. 

Mini Tour Jerseys on Knitted Cord

Can't wait to make more!