Transition Kensal to Kilburn

Crochet/knitting workshop at harvest festival?

I've been asked if the newly formed crochet and knitting group could contribute a workshop at the upcoming harvest festival. I am still quite new to crochet and it took me a while to just learn the basics so I am not sure a workshop involving people making something using crochet or knitting will really work. It's not really something you can pick up and do and have a good result in a short amount of time. I will put my thinking cap on but if anyone else has any ideas please put them on here!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sanchia Dunn on August 18, 2011 at 13:48

Hi Jen,

I'm a knitter and sewer (if that's a word) but unfortunately not crocheter. I might be interested in helping out with this at the harvest festival. (I've been trying to commit time to come along to the planning meetings but haven't found any spare) Anyway, a really fun and easy idea I've seen at knitting stalls at fesitvals, where people typically might not have the skills or time to do much, is a combined knitting project. Can't think of the best word for it, but basically you have a big bag of different types of wools and needle sizes, people can cast on, knit as many rows of whatever size they want, and then leave for anyone to pick up and continue with in whatever way they choose. Prob best to decide beforehand a goal (eg giant apples and pears), and you could stitch bits together to make these objects (and this might be good to combine knit and crochet). Whoever mans the stalls can guide as much or little as needed. It's cool for experienced people to show off a fancy stitch or experiment a bit, and for newbies it's not too daunting to do plain for even a few stitches.

I've also seen a project where the starting point is an item of clothing, say, a jumper from a charity store. Stitchers then pick up stiches off this item and begin knitting in a direction. Theme could be about networks, communities, recycling whatever and could end up with a weird and wonderful creation......

If you want a short skills workshop, I saw a pattern a little while ago for an apple cosy. Yes, a knitted cover for your apple. Possibly pointless except to learn skills, and it was relatively easy, but I can't remember if suitable for absolute beginners. Nicely suitable for harvest festival, though.

I feel as if I have dozens more ideas but I swamp you all at once. Get in touch if you think I can help.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Rea on August 18, 2011 at 16:58

Wow Sanchia you have some really good ideas! Please do keep them coming and I'll have a think about them over my holiday next week. Knitting, crochet and sewing ideas are more than welcome. As long as we can get together a load of spare wool and needles I'm sure we can come up with something. I've got lots of patterns for crochet food that we could decorate the stall with but alas no real time to make them! I'll see if i can make some over my holiday - 2 weeks in rainy devon might give me enough time!

We could have a sheet with an empty basket painted on it and lots of food cut out of coloured material and then people can sew the food on the sheet? Not very exciting but is harvest festival related and involves sewing! There might be a way to make that more interesting!

Permalink Reply by George Latham on August 18, 2011 at 18:57

Love Sanchia's ideas above - brilliant and will really engage people. Last year we did some pom pom making which was very simple and kids loved it. I think we still have the kit somewhere.

Permalink Reply by Sanchia Dunn on August 19, 2011 at 9:54

I have quite a lot of spare and scrap bits of wool that I could donate for this. I might also be able to scrape together a few pairs of needles but we could probably do with more, depending on what we do - any local schools have knitting groups that we could ask to borrow needles from?

It would help to know what format this will take. Do we want to offer a class or workshop of say an hour, and produce a crocheted, knitted or sewn item? Or will it be a stall where people stop by for for as long or short as they want? Or both? Jen, you mentioned not having time to crochet all those items, but I think it might be nice to ask people from the group or any residents we might know to help. Do we want to sell said items for the group or just use them to decorate the stall?

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Rea on August 26, 2011 at 8:04

I've managed to borrow some knitting needles from my mum - about 8 pairs and I've also got about 8 crochet hooks. You can buy acrylic wool quite cheaply so if we don't have enough scraps I could pick up a few balls of that. I've also been thinking about ideas. I think having an activity that people can spend 5 mins doing on their way past the stall would be good. Perhaps knitting squares to make into a big picnic blanket? There are charities that also take knitted blankets though I've not found one yet to find out what they use them for. We could always just keep it and use it to sit on at the next big lunch?! I do really like the idea of adding to a charity shop jumper but does it relate enough to our harvest theme?

Permalink Reply by Sanchia Dunn on September 4, 2011 at 12:25

I agree about the project ideas Jen, and vote for the picnic blanket. I wonder if it might be worth giving it a head start by getting the crochet/knitting group to stitch some squares beforehand? That way it's a work in progress and people can get an idea of what it's going to look like, maybe get more excited and motivated enough to sit down and add a few rows. Perhaps we can also have a few apple cosies or whatever to sell for our group, in case we want to raise money for wool for future projects? Just an idea, and I suppose that depends on how much we can produce between now and the festival. (we have about a month now, I think)

I'm planning to come to the stitch group at the Tricycle on Tuesday. I have plenty of scrap wool that I'll bring along, as well as some other bits and bobs. So we may not need to buy anything. We can chat and agree a plan then. (along with the rest of the group, of course...) See you there. x

Permalink Reply by Sanchia Dunn on October 6, 2011 at 17:34

Our Transition Stitchers group has a stall at the Harvest Festival on Sunday 9th October.

It would be great if anyone, either group members or just interested crafters, were able to come and support us on the stall. We're planning to get people to help us crochet or knit squares for a TTK2K picnic blanket.

We don't expect people to stay for long, so we'll need help finishing off squares. And we expect that some people might want help learning the basics. So any time you can offer on Sunday would be fantastic.

Look forward to seeing you all there. (Get in touch if you want to help, and we can spread our time over the few hours of the festival)