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Dice Knitting Pattern and Yarn Bombing Derby Feste!

Posted on by Abi

This past weekend was Derby Feste and Anne organised to once again Yarn Bomb Derby’s Silk Mill. Many enthusiastic individual knitters and knitting groups got involved and between Anne’s wonderful patterns and everyones hard work (many a knitting needle was worn out) they managed to produce this wonderful tribute to everything game related!

Unfortunately the display was somewhat obscured for part of the day by a giant blow up snake (interesting planning on the part of the event organisers there) but when it was visible the yarn bombing was hugely popular with adults and children alike. All the contributers came along to visit and there was a general feeling of pride that their combined efforts had managed to produce such a wonderful display. Unfortunately it had to be removed at the end of the day but it is due to decorate the local hospital over the next few days.

Knit A Dice

The dice were particularly popular with the Feste visitors so I am very pleased to be able to share Anne’s knitting pattern with you all here today.

Using double knitting yarn and size 8(4mm) needles.

Cast on 20 stitches and knit every row.

Knit until it makes a square, I had to knit 34 rows (this may very on how tightly you personally knit).

Cast off.

Knit 5 more squares in the same way for the other sides of the dice.

To Make Up:

Firstly sew 4 sides together.

I found it best to sew the cast on edge of the first square to the side edge of the second. The side edge of the second was sewn to the cast on edge of the third and then the cast off edge of the third was sewn to the side edge of the fourth.

Sew the first and fourth pieces together so that all four pieces are joined.

Now attach the fifth square to start making it into a cube. Again stitch a cast on edge to a side edge and sew around all four sides.

When stuffing the dice I wanted it to look as square as possible so I used foam cut to size, each side measured approximately 8.5 cms. I had to use several pieces of foam to form this particular cube.

Once it has been stuffed with the foam attach the last side.

I cut circles of black felt to make the spots. They were roughly the size of a 20 pence coin.

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International Yarn Bombing Day!

Posted on by Abi

Last Saturday was International Yarn Bombing Day! In honour of this and because we had just Yarn Bombed Derby’s Silk Mill Anne decided to keep up the fun loving spirit, but this time she yarn bombed people!!

She returned to the Silk Mill where most of the creations from the previous weekend were still present. A bit or rearranging was required, all the bees had flown away to new homes, so the birds now took their place.

It was wonderful to see how well things had survived despite the awful wet weather during the week. Anne also managed to take a few dry pictures, which made a welcome change.

Here is a closeup of one of the chains that were hung from the building and as you can see it has survived really well.

Aside from international yarn bombing day, Saturday also saw a Red Cross Shop n Swap arrive at the Silk Mill. Part of the event was to bring along clothes you no longer wore and swap with someone else.

This went extremely well and everyone had a good time swapping and looking at a variety of stalls.

Anne had knitted five chain necklaces and both stall holders and customers took part in wearing them for a while and then they picked out someone new to yarn bomb. Each necklace had a small tag detailing the idea. Everyone really got into the spirit of it and was a lot of fun.

If you fancy seeing yet more yarn bombing, there is a website where people across the globe put the projects up for all to see http://yarnbombing.com/

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Yarn Bombing!

Posted on by Abi

This past weekend Derby was lucky enough to host a Maker Faire in the historic Silk Mill Museum. Maker Faires started in America to celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects, technology and the Do-it-Yourself mindset.

Derby is the third city in this country to host one and as part of the celebrations a small group of knitters and crafters (Anne and myself included) decided to Yarn Bomb some of the outside area of the Silk mill building!

We began by deciding exactly how we would like to decorate the building. Two members simultaneously came up with the idea to knit ‘paper’ chains. The first photo is of one of the chains hanging in my garden and the second is of 7 chains hanging from the building itself.

We also decorated some large ornate gates, railings and posts outside the mill. Unfortunately like much of the country the Faire suffered from heavy rain on the day and this can be clearly seen in the photographs. Thankfully Anne had thoughtfully sprayed all the knitting with a waterproofing spray so the creations survived, much to the delight of all.

It was great fun creating and decorating with knits and felt and we now feel inspired to do more. In fact this Saturday (9th June) just so happens to be International Yarn Bombing Day, so if you fancying getting in on the action and bringing a little creative joy to your neighbourhood now is most definitely the time!

If you don’t feel comfortable yarn bombing a large structure then knitting a few decorations such as our chains can be a wonderful way to decorate your own garden and trees at home.

To Knit Our Chains

Use Double Knitting Yarn

4mm (or size 8 needles)

Cast on 40 stitches.

Knit 10 rows all in Garter Stitch, then cast off.

Then make them up as your would a paper chain, but instead of sticking the ends together, stitch them!

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