Close Knit Manchester

Inspired by the collection

closeknitmanchester — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:56:00 +0000

The Close Knit project has been inspired by over a hundred years of knitting patterns found in the collection of the Costume Gallery at Platt Hall.

Collected over many years with examples ranging from Vogue to Leaches, there are thousands of patterns held in the stores of the gallery. The Close Knit project hopes to make this collection available and on hand during the sessions hosted by the Costume Gallery to be browsed through and used as a source of inspiration for your next project.

Making these patterns accessible to the public is so important as so many have been lost because they are out of print or because the magazines have been destroyed. Due to copyright issues I am unable to upload our collection directly onto this blog and am therefore using free versions from the internet. I will also link to some fantastic websites such as Skiff Vintage Knitting Patterns which has many free patterns available to be downloaded http://www.skiffvintageknittingpatterns.co.uk/.

Here is a selection of the wonderful knitting magazine covers, similar to the ones which inspired the design for our leaflet.

Click to view slideshow.

A Stitch in Time

closeknitmanchester — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:45:04 +0000

The workshop at the Costume Gallery last Saturday was a great success and we had over 34 knitters attend, ranging from those who had been knitting for years to those who were only just starting. Check out our photos below.

How to Knit – The Basics

closeknitmanchester — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:55:58 +0000

The Close Knit workshops are for everyone, from people who have ben knitting for years to those who are only just starting. I am a complete beginner and find YouTube really useful when I’m at home and can’t remember what I am doing. So if you are a beginner too, here is a video which may will help you get started and ready for our next session at the Manchester Museum at the end off the month.

Welcome!

closeknitmanchester — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:41:40 +0000

Hello, and welcome to the CloseKnitManchester blog!

This blog is to coincide with a series of year long knitting workshops being held across Manchester at Whitworth Art Gallery, the Manchester Art Gallery, the Manchester Museum and Gallery of Costume .

Each session will have a different focus and a different location, but all will fall on the last Saturday of the month. They will be a great chance to meet new people, show off your own projects or perhaps learn something new. It doesn’t matter if you are a complete novice or a semi-pro, everyone is welcome.

The first session is on the 28th January at the Costume Gallery and it would be great if you could join us! The ‘Stitch in Time’ workshop will be a chance to hear all about the programme and get started on some knitting. We’ll do some ‘get to know you knitting’ and share some of the hidden gems of the Gallery of Costume’s knitted collections.

Download the leaflet for more information.

Hope to see you there,
Closeknitmanchester Team