Belgian Raveler Meeting 2014

Most of you knitters are probably also regular users (or abusers) of Ravelry, like me. For those of you who don't know it I would probably describe it as "facebook for people who like knitting" but it is actually much more because it has an incredible amount of free patterns and links to shops, designers and yarn sellers and on top if this you can display and exchange your own projects, measure your progress and get help if you are stuck with a pattern. It is, in short, every knitter's dream!

I have been a member for a few years but only started using it seriously about a year ago when I started documenting my projects by uploading pictures and posting comments but even then I was not very active in the forums and groups. I only joined one group which unites all Belgian knitters online and is interesting to use as a resource besides my regular "Stitch'n'Bitch" meet-up in Brussels (to be perfectly honest I have not managed to go to many meetings lately but I mainly follow via facebook).

Once a year, the Belgian Ravelers meet up offline as well (or "irl" as I heard it is called by the young people nowadays) and I joined them in Gent in October for the first time. It was a truly delightful experience! About 40 knitters in a café, knitting away or trading yarn and discussing projects, kind of like our weekly meetings but just much, much bigger. I also saw a few familiar faces from Brussels but basically people were coming from all over the country and even from France. I was very impressed by the skills that people brought to the table and interested to learn about new "trends". 

I think the most intriguing thing I learned was about the whole "Wollmeise" craze which, to be honest, I cannot really understand. Yes, it is a lovely yarn and I like that it is hand dyed and all that jazz but since I'm really more in for the basic, raw wool yarns I can't see what the fuss is about. Maybe I should give it a try though since it seems to be so immensely popular. Oh, and the second interesting thing I learned was that you can raise your own silkworms, harvest the thread, spin it into yarn and then actually eat the silkworms to make the sustainability life cycle complete. After that, there wasn't much left to say. 

 

Stash update & fleamarket finds

More yarn, more fun! I got another delivery from Latvia, a very colourful one. I haven't decided what to do with this fiery colour-combination but I liked the quality for fair-isle knitting. The only problem is that the shades resemble each other too much and there is not enough contrast so it might be difficult to find a good pattern. Any suggestions are welcome.

The white yarn is going to be used for a Shetland lace shawl, at least that's the ambitious plan I have after receiving a book on lace knitting from Scotland from my Mum. The blue yarn is a similar quality but a different brand so that might go into some nice woolen mittens, ideally with another contrasting colour. I'll see if I can find something from the same brand online.

Oh, and did I mention that I was a regular at fleamarkets this autumn? This also included an excursion to Germany where I found those amazing original 1970s Swedish clogs. What can I say, it was love at first sight (although I'm sure my downstairs neighbour will love it a little less, those wooden soles are damn noisy).

 

I know what I did this summer

It's probably not the most beautiful city and definitely not the sunniest one but there's absolutely nothing wrong with spending the summer in Brussels. Proof can be found below. Picnics, fleamarkets, concerts, festivals, markets, food and of course countless crafting sessions made up a wonderful summer, only to be followed by an equally exciting autumn in my favourite city.

 

Autumnal creativity

It's high time for a knitting update! Because I finally finished my scallop jumper, sleeves and all,  and even though I'm better at posting pictures on Ravelry I'm so excited that I want to share them on my blog, too. And, by the way, this is the original Top Shop jumper that served as inspiration. Thank you, internet.

 Besides the jumper I also managed to squeeze in a beret in preparation of colder days (finally!), a project with leftover yarn from my fair-isle cardigan. I used the "Kim" pattern from Madeleine Weston's and Rita Taylor's book "Knit Vintage" which I found in the public library by chance. It's a lovely pattern if maybe a little too big (this time I really made sure I used the right gauge but it seems like I just have a small head).

I currently have another cardigan in the making and this weekend my stash was (not so miraculously) enlarged by a donation of some wonderful Latvian wool yarn in all shades of red and blue. Pictures soon to come.

"Journée de la Laine" @ ParckDesign

On 14 September, the "Journée de la Laine" (or "Wool Day") was organized as part of the ParckDesign festival here in Brussels. I saw the notice on the good old Stitch'n'Bitch facebook group and it sounded really interesting, especially because the festival focuses on sustainability and eco-friendliness so I was quite intrigued. I read an article in the Guardian recently which suggested that 99.9 % of wool produced in the UK is a by-product of the meat industry - that certainly gave me something to think about. It also made me wonder about the mass produced yarn that I usually buy and that the sheep who provided the wool were probably not happy on a green pasture somewhere but in all likelihood already transformed into stew. It had actually never crossed my mind before.

The ParckDesign festival thus looked like a good start to explore better alternatives! The idea was to show different stages of wool production and processing in a simple way, including the carding, spinning and dyeing processes. The little farm that was established within the framework of the festival actually had some real sheep, too, but I doubt that they contributed the raw material (it looked like they were more of a petting zoo).

The people that organized the different workshops were super friendly and patiently answered all of my questions. Of course I know a thing or two about knitting but I did not really know much about how the yarn is being produced. This was all very small scale and to be honest, it looked like it's doable - even though you need some extra equipment such as the carding machine or the spinning wheel if you want to do it properly. It surely takes some time and practice to master the arts of spinning a regular thread and dyeing seems to be yet another step on the professional ladder but it would be worth trying. For the time being (and lacking the proper equipment) I have decided that I will start by trying to buy more ethically sourced yarn. I haven't done much research on this but if I have some recommendations I will certainly post them here!



Festival impressions:

(1) The park (2) Dyeing yarn with natural dyes (3) Walnut skin dye (4) Spinning with drop spindle (5) Weaving demonstration