Wednesday, March 13, 2013


Solving the Mystery of Knitting!

Miss Marple was always up for a new adventure, so as Miss Marple's Knitting Club, we're ready to set out into the world of blogging!  
Miss Marple's Knitting Club is made up of a diverse group of knitting enthusiasts who all have shops on Etsy.  We have members of all ages, hailing from at least 11 different countries. Some of us are experienced knitters and some are relative newbies. Some of us knit from patterns, some write patterns, and some avoid patterns altogether, making it up as they go along! We'll use this blog to share our adventures into the age-old-but-always-new art of knitting.  Welcome! 

What have we been working on?

LitKnits has the I-Carry-Your-Heart fingerless gloves!

SticksNStones made face scrubbies!

Come meet a few of our members!

Courtney Clark from Knits by CeCe hails from Portland, Maine. She says,
"I make hand knit accessories for the fashionista in all of us! Love your style, love yourself!"
You can find Courtney's work at https://www.etsy.com/shop/KnitsbyCece

Susan Gillespie of Odyssey of Threads will soon be working out of Bellingham, Washington. She says, 
"I have been knitting for 65+ years, since childhood in New England. My mother made suits and coats and dresses but she always had to follow a pattern. I am trying to understand the concepts better, to 'read' my knitting so that I can create my own patterns. Knitting is creating a textile but it needs to drape appropriately for its use, So I guess I have reached the point where I want to translate design into knitting. Everything I have listed on Etsy is my own design."
You can find Susan's work at https://www.etsy.com/shop/OdysseyofThreads

Lizette Venter of Clovetree joins us from Edinburgh, Scotland. She says, 
"I was taught to knit by two scary matriarchs with a very Victorian approach to children. That was in primary school. And I didn't like knitting.
Knitting with joy came later. My first jumper was a massive... well, just massive. It was almost sleeping bag material. And with cables too. But I learned a lot about sizing, wool weigh, etc. from making this mistake.
Since then I've knitted all sorts of things, and realised that I am actually designing my own knitwear, since I change every pattern to suit my aesthetic, and the finished product has neither the same texture, shape or any resemblance to the written instructions.
So: no more patterns - I just make my own. I've also started spinning yarn after an impulse buy at my local yarn shop. They had a re-conditioned spinning wheel, priced at exactly what I had in my pocket to spend on yarn. I confess - I bought the yarn too, and some fleece. Then came the joys of dyeing, playing with wool, colour, doing some felt work, and of course knitting all the time.
I am also teaching knitting classes. Beginners at the moment, but I intend to branch out and do lace knitting, socks and Aran cablework too. And maybe Fair-Isle... Just depends on how thinly I can actually spread myself.
I finally have a studio to work from, and perhaps my home can recover from my yarn obsession. According to my teenage daughter, home is where it looks like a rainbow sheep explosion. And to add to the mayhem, I've started producing silk, so there are silkworms in all stages of growth, from egg to moth. Well, the kids did ask for a pet - so they got 8 000. 
I am currently busy tweaking some designs, re-writing the illegible ones, and spinning up wool for custom orders. 
Hooray for sheep! (and llamas and bunnies and silk-worms)"
You can find Lizette's work at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Clovetree

Thanks for reading!
Signed, Miss Marple's Knitting Club