Knitting at High Haven Care Home

This morning, four of our group spent some time at High Haven knitting and chatting with a group of ladies who live there. Olive and Beryl have been knitting squares to makes into blankets.

Olive

Beryl

We also met Pat, Mary, Sue and Jane their care worker. Beryl told us about the lace making she used to teach at evening classes. Elizabeth had made a delicious chocolate cake for us all, and we were also served with coffee. There was a lovely peaceful atmosphere, and the ladies are obviously well cared for. We hope to go again before long.

Mary

Pat

Cherry with Barbara

Nik, Pat and Mary

 

knitting in the lounge at High Haven

St Edmund's Heritage Fair, Downham Market, Norfolk

On Saturday 8th September St Edmund's Church in Downham Market held it's annual Heritage event for Heritage Open Days. and this year we had a stall there! Coral set up and ran it all day, with just an odd break here and there. Here's Donna joining her from her Lubi-loo craft stall which she ran with her mum.
We sold wool, patterns and knitting magazines. Coral was also an excellent spokeswoman for our group. We will see tomorrow morning if she managed to recruit any new members!!

We set up a craft activity in case any children attended. Last year there were hardly any young children, but this year, the advertising must have paid off, because there were lots of mums with pushchairs and youngsters.  Below Coral is demonstrating how to make a Mexican God's eye.

Here is my niece Laura with her two boys, my gt nephews, Rick and Sam:

Sam

Laura and Rick

Sam & Rick with finished Gods' eyes

It was a wonderful day with loads to do and see. There was a 3 day Flower Festival inside the church which had started on Friday. (The photo below was taking during setting up on Thursday).

The one day Heritage Fair had lots of community and craft stalls. There was food inside the Church Hall, also coffee, tea, juice and wine; and the beer was especially gratefully received as it was a boiling hot day! 

Just before midday the rector, Fr James Mather arrived in the middle of the church field and proceeded to place himself in the stocks! He was wearing his cassock, but that didn't prevent him from being pelted with wet sponges for the next 20 minutes! Here's Florence about to launch her wet sponge at him!

We had a real treat at 2pm when Cy Payne and the Downham Market Swing Orchestra started up. They played almost solidly for the next 2 hours, concluding a wonderful inaugural day out with our stall.

Simply Knitting mag

Well we've made it!  Live in Simply Knitting a national, sorry, THE national knitting mag!! We sent them in an interview back in March, and look what they have done with it!! Feeling very special today :-)

Maid of Fibre boat trip with yarn - Downham Market

Maid of Fibre is a 60ft narrow boat, custom fitted to be a sanctuary for knitters!  Brothers, Richard & Stewart Ellis invite knitters on board to sit, relax and view next season's yarns whilst wending your way along the river.  We first met them 3 weeks ago at our Knit in Public Day and now we were taking advantage of them being moored here in Downham Market overnight, before heading off to the south of England. Although the guys are often in East Anglia with their van, it has been 4 years since they last brought the boat here, and it will probably be another 4 years before it returns.  Six members of the group were free to visit the boat today, plus we invited local talented craftswoman  and author Sue Welfare, and local reporter for the Lynn News, Jo Garner, who were both delighted to join us for our jaunt.

First group excitedly about to embark. Weather grey, windy and impending rain.

 Sheila, Sue, Pat and Donna snugly seated onboard, with coffee. Bring on the yarn!

next season's scarf yarn

Wonderful Peruvian alpaca loveliness.

Will  Donna choose the purple?

 Sue and Pat watch Donna's choice.

yarn storage on the boat

Stewart, the perfect host and salesman

           Cap'n Richard, who drew the short straw today!

2nd group about to embark (Nik, Sheila, Tricia and Pat-Jo has yet to arrive)

Nik and Jo in the bow of the boat

Sheila finishes Stewart's scarf !

fab hand-dyed Chilean cotton yarn

Pat and Tricia are renowned for having similar tastes. They often go out wearing the same colour (like today). So maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that they both fell in love with the same pattern and the same yarn!!  We all had a fabulous day and feel very blessed that we were able to make contact with the guys and visit their wonderful workplace!! Looking forward to seeing them again at the Ally Pally in October.

Maid of Fibre here we come!

Next Monday several of our group are meeting the lovely Richard and Stewart Ellis from Maid of Fibre  as they are coming to Downham for a couple of days. We have planned a 'cruise and peruse' along the waterway, and will see next year's yarn. So exciting. There are a couple of places still if anyone in the area would like to join us. You must let us know in advance as group sizes are limited to 5. Cost for the trip is £10 for 2 hours, of which £3 is to cover expenses and refreshments. The remainder is entirely redeemable against any purchases or orders made on the boat on the day.

 

You may remember that Stewart, Richard and Maggie joined us for our Worldwide Knit in Public Day on 14th June here in Downham.


 

Knit in Public short video -Downham Market Town Square, Norfolk

I made this from the images taken at last Thursday's Knit in Public event.

Lovely ladies on a June morning

What a wonderful morning session;  chatting, coffee, biscuits, and lots of knitting and crocheting. Best of all we had 5 new ladies!!!! Women knitting together are a wonderful tonic. A warm welcome to (another) Sheila, Cherry, Linda, Sandra and Mrs 'Belle's and Whistles'!

click on image to enlarge it

Below is the lovely 'Belle's and Whistles' learning to crochet. She makes lovely handmade items which she sells  here . Her new website is here.

click on image to enlarge it

We now have four members of the group registered on Ravelry;  Brenda, Sandra, Pat and myself. If you don't know Ravelry, then do pop onto their website and take the tour.

We are all very excited about our Worldwide Knit in Public on Thursday, and are praying for good weather!  Come and knit or crochet with us on Thursday if you can get into Downham Market in the morning. We will be in the Bar Room of the Town Hall, and the Town Square. You won't be able to miss us!

 

Future plans include a group outing to the  Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace which takes place from 11th to 14th October. We are looking into hiring a coach. Interested?

Knitting in Public is LIVE on the website

We are now registered with Worldwide Knitting in Public Day, and are still the ONLY event happening in Norfolk to date. Woo hoo!

Here is how our listing shows up:

 

NOW WE NEED LOTS OF KNITTED BUNTING!!!!!

March daytime group meets and welcomes Nik!

Second Tuesday morning of March means daytime knitting group....yay! Florence, Dot, Tricia, Pat, Mary, Sheila,  PLUS we had someone new turn up - Nik. She's the one bottom right with the big wooden needles. Samples of what we're all working on are also shown today. Can you see Nik's adorable home-made dog-covered carry-bag on wheels?

Valentine's Day Knitting Group !

Today was the first day-time meeting of the Downham Market, St Edmund's Knitting Group. We enjoyed real coffee and Valentine's Day cakes. We even had a visit from Fr James (who came without his knitting)!

Where does the knitting group meet?

We meet in St. Edmund's Church Hall, on the field next to the church. Plenty of car parking space adjacent to the Hall. St Edmund's Church is marked on the map above.

Daytime knitting group launches tomorrow 14th Feb

Just a reminder. No charge, just pay for coffee. A nice way to spend the morning of Valentine's Day :-)