Hi
I would like to make some knitting with the cancer ribbon motif on them but I can't find a pattern anywhere.

Tuck or lace would look nice I thought. The cancer is not breast cancer it is the rare appendix cancer (Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) which I had two years ago and I would like to make things for my charity to sell. The colour is yellow.
Thanks

You've created a monster! (LOL)

Dear Anne
Thank you so much for printing my letter and photo in the Dec issue of MKM. I must admit, I can't stand a braggard but I've shown the issue to every friend and relative I have - whilst wearing the sweater of course. (ROFL) I even took it to the local JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby - two craft stores I use a lot and am friendly with the staff. I even got an invitation to demonstrate a Bond machine (paid of course) at the Hobby Lobby. The interest the photo caused and the oohs over the sweater I was wearing have added an Ultimate Sweater Machine to quite a few people's Santa wish list, I'm sure. (LOL) Anyway, thank you so much for this. It's done more for my ego and has been better for my Sunlight Deprivation Depression than a case of the best anti-depressant drug they could give me. (ROFL)
Best regards and may you all have a VERY HAPPY AND BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON ! ! !
Ronny Woods

PS - I have to get back to my machine. With only a few more days till Christmas, I still have a list of things I want to make to give as gifts. I always plan a lot more than I can possibly do and am I alone in this or do I have a lot of similar overloaded friends? Well I'll do what I can and give a token gift and and IOU card to the ones I don't have time to get to. (ROFL)

Using DK on a Toyota

Does anyone know if it is possible to use double knitting yarn on a Toyota 901 please? I'm finding it difficult to get 4-ply in the yarn I would like.

Many readers will know me as a designer, or have met me at Machine Knitting LIVE! shows.

You may not know that I also run a knitting club and we meet once a month in Hounslow, West London. About 18 months ago a number of club members asked if we could hold a Knit & Natter Day. They’d attended similar events and found them both enjoyable and stimulating. The only drawback was the travelling distance and transport so on 17th September we held our first Knit & Natter from 10.30 am to 4.00 pm. It was a great experience, but full of stresses and a few strains leading up to the day. Any club contemplating such an event might find my checklist a help, as I know of no instruction booklet on how to set it up.

Find a venue We were lucky to have a club member on the hall committee of a local church - All Saints in Hampton, Middlesex. The hall had plenty of room, was light and airy with parking and disabled access. It was also reasonably priced for the hire, so it didn’t break the bank.

Find a date It’s important to hire the hall when as many members as possible can attend.

Decide on an entry price and what it will include We decided on £5 plus free coffee or tea. If we’d charged a nominal amount for the drinks, it would have helped to defray the costs. Many people who attended wanted to give us a donation for their teas.
Invite exhibitors to the event. We were lucky to have Brenda Bristow from Heathercraft, Sue Castro and Nina Miklin for the day. Others we invited were either away or had previous commitments.

Find a guest speaker Carol Chambers agreed to be ours but things were touch and go, as she was due to have a knee operation and thought it might be scheduled on the week of our Knit and Natter. Thankfully it was done ahead of time, which was a great relief to us and showed, once again, that she’s a fine designer and speaker.

Publicise the event MKM and the GMK newsletter informed many machine knitters and messages were placed on some Yahoo knitting group sites. The church newsletter also carried details before the event.

Ask club members to demonstrate aspects of knitting if they’ve some special skills We’ve a very talented group of knitters involved in other crafts as well. Jenny Kelly used DesignaKnit to design and knit our logo. Barbara Logan demonstrated her sock machines and allowed visitors to have a go. She also created our embroidered name badges, so visitors would know who we were! Norma Valvona demonstrated adding embroidery to knitwear with her sewing machine. Brenda Moger and Margaret Grant helped anyone with hand knitting problems. Sandra Saunderson and Janice Engall showed how to make Dorset and woven buttons. This proved to be extremely popular and I think almost everyone who attended left with a Dorset button made at the event. All our members (except one with a holiday booked a year in advance) supported the event. It was a real team effort with not enough space here to mention everyone, but in the end we all enjoyed ourselves.

Organise the front-of-house Janet Naylor posted herself at the entrance to take money and issue tickets. Sandra’s husband Harry took charge of parking and directing traffic.

Middlesex Machine Knitters meet on the second Wednesday of the month (except for December) at Hounslow Community Association Hall, 9 Montague Road, Hounslow, London TW3 1JY and everyone is very welcome. Whether we decide to do it again will be discussed at our next club meeting but I do hope so. I’m sure the first time you try something is always the most difficult and we should know that, we’re machine knitters!

Fenland Machine Knitters are holding a two day Craft Fayre at the Oliver Cromwell Hotel at March on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th November.

There are lots of different crafts including, hand-crafted wooden gifts, decorated hessian bags, a lady covering old tired comfy shoes, a hat maker and willow basket maker. There’s free admission and a raffle for two charities. The hotel postcode is PE15 9LH and please call Barbara on 01354-651734 for more details.