At 9 I popped to the station to pick up Mary, one of the other attendees, and then once we were back and everyone had arrived and got themselves installed we started a lovely day of knitting at 9.30.

Here are some of the attendees in action, although this was actually taken later in the day:

The theme for this year’s workshop was chevrons. In his books Horst calls these Herringbone. So we started off with chevrons, either on their own or joined to mitred squares, depending on what each person was interested in. After a tea break (very well orchestrated by Roy), we then looked at triangles, to fill in the space at the top of a chevron, or between two mitred squares on the diagonal. We then got onto different methods of joining as you go. We started off with joining one strip you are working on to one you have already finished, in three different ways, and then went on to three-needle cast-off for joining two already worked pieces after lunch.

Here is Penny’s sample, showing a mitred square, two chevrons, triangles, and a knitwise join:

Lunch was again very well organised by Roy. He took all our orders during the morning and then went out to the Fish and Chip shop to collect them just before we broke for lunch. We had a lunch table set up away from the knitting so people could leave their work in progress as it was without having to pack up, and yet we could all sit together and chat over our meal.

After lunch we continued with joining methods, and then moved on to making a paper template for a jumper, to your own measurements. This is a method that Horst advocates, that you make a paper template and then can keep trying your knitting up against it until it is the right size and shape. It lends itself well to knitting in modules, or also freeform knitting and crochet. However he doesn’t really show you how to create the template from your own measurements. So we talked about how to take your measurements, and where you need to be measuring, and then using the very kind and accomodating Mary as our beautiful model we measured her and drew up a template for her for a long length jumper / jacket with modified drop sleeves (also sometimes called square set-in sleeves), a round neck, and waist shaping. We only covered drop shoulders and modified drop shoulders, since really set-in sleeves can be a day’s workshop in themselves, and the two basic shapes we covered are a good introduction, and also lend themselves well to patchwork knitting.

After everybodies brains were filled up with measuring and calculating, we moved on to show and tell. I love to see all the creative things people have been working on since we last saw them. So many great ideas, and beautiful knitting. Very inspirational.

Here is the table full of items ready for show and tell:

To finish off the day Jill and Rosie had had a great idea for how to go about planning your next patchwork knitting project. Armed with a block of post-it notes, they drew on the row lines for mitred squares, and cut some to make triangles. You can then play around arranging them on a convenient surface until you have a pattern you like, before you start the knitting.

The tidying up went surprisingly quickly, and after hardly any time we were waving everyone off and saying hello to my aunt and uncle who had come to pick Mummy up for the next leg of her round Britain tour.

It was a lovely day, I hope that the other attendees enjoyed it half as much as I did.

Rosie Sykes, Heather Murray and Jill Brownjohn will be holding a patchwork knitting workshop using Horst Schulz’s techniques.

Times: Saturday 20th August 2011, 09.30 – 4.30

Cost: £40.00

Venue: Marlow Bottom, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, UK

For several years Jill has organised a Patchwork Knitting Workshop in Marlow, based on the join-as-you-go techniques of Horst Schulz, the internationally-known German knitting designer. Horst came over for two of these events, but now Rosie Sykes, Heather Murray and Jill Brownjohn keep his techniques alive with these annual Workshops. We do this with his blessing.

Our formula of informality combined with a full programme has worked really well, so we are offering a similar Workshop this year. The Beginners will work on mitred squares, adhering strictly to Horst’s two books, and previous students can be re-inspired, improve and extend their skills with Chevrons (or Herringbone as Horst calls it in his Children’s book). The two groups come together when they join their shapes to knitted strips and see how these can be assembled into garments, accessories and soft furnishings. In addition there will be some ideas for combining these hand knitting techniques with machine knitting.

We encourage our Returners to bring in their patchwork knitting projects to inspire other students.

Details from jill@craftyevents.com or telephone Jill to reserve a place 01628 471397.

It was a really nice bright space, enough room to move but without being cavernous and intimidating.

We covered a variety of different module shapes and joining techniques. Rosie has recently been working on strips made up of hourglass shapes. Here is the shape attendees were working on in class, with a mixture of stocking stitch and garter stitch:

And here is Rosie’s scarf she had made all in garter stitch. I love the sequin yarn used just on the joining sections.

Apart from the teaching, one of the other things I love about these days is the opportunity to see what everyone has been working on. Very inspiring!

This is a blanket by Marion, using a variety of different shapes, and one subtle multicolour yarn:

A blanket in two yarns, one solid and one with flecks, by Jill:

And an example that shows you can create very interesting texture effects using mitred squares in just one colour. I think this one was by Helen, but please correct me if I have got it wrong:

All in all a lovely day. We are hoping to hold another at a similar time of year next year, I am looking forward to it already!

We will be covering a wide variety of different modular knitting techniques, including:

• Mitred squares, a great and very versatile introduction to modular knitting. These are the basic shapes I used in my Patchwork Jumper.
• Rosie will be teaching how to make a reversible hour-glass shape she has recently been working on.
• I will be teaching how to make reversible ribbed leaves

This is the shape I am using to make my Handspun Leaves Waistcoat.

• We will demonstrate various different joining techniques to attach your modules together, and how to make garments (I will also cover how to increase and decrease within your mitred squares to create shaping, as used in my Patchwork Jumper).
• Jill will talk about patchwork knitting and machine knitting, and how to use these techniques to combine hand and machine knitting.
• There will be an inspiration and show and tell session where we all get to talk about what we have made and what we are currently planning (I get some excellent ideas from this session!)

I look forward to seeing you there!

For more info and to book a place email Jill at jill@craftyevents.com or telephone Jill on 01628 471397.

PS. I have a shiny new washing machine (arrived this morning)! Woohoo!

Times: Saturday 21 August 09.30 – 4.30

Cost: £40.00

Venue: Marlow Bottom, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, UK

This 7th annual Workshop will be small so participants gain maximum practical benefit.

Skills needed: cast on, knit, purl, decrease.

Details from jill@craftyevents.com or telephone Jill to reserve a place 01628 471397.

On Saturday 22nd August I had a lovely time in Marlow, Bucks, helping Rosie and Jill teach a workshop on the patchwork knitting of Horst Schulz. We were joined by twelve delightful and enthusiastic knitters, who I have managed to photograph in the most unflattering and blurry way possible. I am getting a bit better at photographing knitting, but my photographs of people leave a lot to be desired. Here is the least awful picture.

This year as well as talking about basic mitred squares, and variations on them, including increasing and decreasing, I did some samples of different edgings. With these patchwork knitting workshops we are aiming to give people the skills to be able to design and create their own items and hopefully these edgings will be another something to add to the design toolkit. One of the parts of the day I enjoy the most every year is when everybody shows their patchwork knitting projects they have been working on (both finished and in progress). There are always such a lot of wonderful and creative projects to see, and so many different directions in which different people have taken the same basic building blocks. I’m afraid I was enjoying myself again so much that my photos are dreadful. Luckily though, one of my few reasonable photos is of Rosie’s beautiful short row cushion.

I found all of the projects very inspiring, and am looking forward to incorporating some of the ideas in my own knitting. I hope that the other participants had as much fun as I did, and I look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

Times: Saturday 22 August 09.30 – 4.30

Cost: £35.00

The Workshop will be small so participants gain maximum practical benefit. Regret not suitable for non-knitters, but only simple knitting skills required. Beginners to the techniques and previous students have different schedules, but combine for some time together. The more experienced you are, the faster you will progress. There will be some ideas for combining these techniques with machine knitting.

Details from jill@craftyevents.com or heather@heatherknits.com

or telephone Jill to reserve a place – 01628 471397

We had 11 participants, a mixture of beginners and those who had been to the workshop Rosie led last year, and the ones Horst taught a few years ago. It was a really nice number, and having three of us doing the teaching meant that we could be running several different things at the same time, giving people a choice of what they would like to try.

Here are some of the early arrivals before we got started (as with all the other pictures, click to see a bigger version).

I’m afraid a lot of my photos are a bit on the blurry side, the weather was rather dark and grey outside – a great day for being inside and doing lots of knitting. So here is Rosie talking at the start of the day.

We covered a variety of the modular shapes used by Horst Schulz, and also various of his joining techniques. Jill also talked about combining machine knitting with modular knitting, and I talked about shaping within modules, using the techniques I used in my Patchwork Sweater (I really must come up with a better name for it).

Here is Jill, showing her bag made by machine knitting strips and then joining them using one of Horst’s techniques.

And here Jill is again, talking about a waistcoat she is part way through working.

As well as showing the modular knitting we had been working on, we were fortunate enough to be able to show to everyone some pieces made by the other workshop participants – some of whom are very prolific! This is from Patricia Werner’s Dazzling Knits.

It was wonderful to see the different directions everyone had taken using the same basic ideas. One of the things I love about going to knitting groups and workshops is to see the creativity of all the participants, and to see the fantastic range of things produced when everyone is starting from the same basic starting point. Everyone has different tastes and interests and sees things slightly differently, and it is such a delight to see so many different approaches and what everyone brings to the process.

Here everyone is winding down at the end of the day and just finishing things off in time to pack up.

I had a really great time, and hope that all of the other participants had as much fun as I did. It was wonderful to spend a day with so many enthusiastic and talented knitters. I had such a fantastic time that I was totally exhausted when I got home and slept for 13 hours that night! I am looking forward to the next meet-up and to see what everyone has been making.

On a completely unrelated note, I have become completely addicted to Fantastic Contraption over the weekend. Marvelous for all you armchair engineers