Exhibitions, yarn shows and fibre festivals
My first visit to the Fashion and Textile Museum in London was to see the exhibition 'Kaffe Fassett - A Life in Colour'. Do I need to tell you Kaffe's life story? Just in case you are not familiar here is a summary. Kaffe Fassett was born in California and became…
On Saturday I returned to the National Centre for Craft and Design in Sleaford for the 'Keep Calm and Carry Yarn' event. The Sun was shining and the countryside looked beautiful. During Keep Calm and Carry Yarn, there were exhibitions, demonstrations of spinning and weaving, and opportunities to try felting,…
I've been going to a couple of knitting groups for many years - actually both are into their second decades! The Charnwood knitting group has met in various venues over the years (homes, then Blackberry Yarns in Mountsorrel, then homes again, then the Toby Carvery in Loughborough). Recently, we have…
A few weeks ago I visited The National Centre for Craft & Design for the first time. This is in Sleaford, a small market town in Lincolnshire. I didn't see that much of Sleaford (unless you count driving around the one-way system several times), but the little I did see is very attractive.…
In my last post, I wrote about the St George's area of Leicester and showed you some of the old warehouses and factory buildings. Regeneration of this area and its rebranding as 'The Cultural Quarter' started around 2000. A new theatre (Curve) was built, Leicester's art cinema (Phoenix) relocated, and the Moderne cinema became the Athena conference…
Recently I visited the Cultural Quarter in Leicester. Even though I grew up near this city and visited often, this is an area with which I'm not that familiar. The things I do remember are the Moderne former Odeon cinema and the flat-iron corner of The Exchange Building, with its…
You may have noticed a lack of blog posts in the last few weeks. There's nothing to worry about; things have been busy with work, which is a good thing, but has meant that some things, such as writing for Being Knitterly, have slipped. There's actually a lot to write…
I've always had a fascination with how things are made, whether that be by hand or machine. As I child, I remember watching milk bottles being filled in a factory; it was quite mesmerising! Recently, a group of us went to Birmingham, which is Britain's second largest city. For many…
Santorini by Marie Wallin I first saw a Rowan Knitting magazine when I lived in Glasgow in the early 90s. One of my flatmates was a fashion student at the Glasgow School of Art; she was making an outfit comprising knitted shorts and a vest top with swan's wings (not…
Loughborough is a large town in the East Midlands. It has an excellent university (HQ for Team GB during London 2012), several fantastic markets, lots of Victorian terraces, many Art Deco buildings in the town centre, a small medieval area, one of the few working bell foundries in the UK…