Derby Mini Maker Faire

Sunday, Doug and I decided to go to the Mini Maker Faire in Derby. It was held in the Derby Silk Mill which was built on the site of the world’s first factory.

There was some stunning yarn bombing outside the Silk Mill.

Yarn bombing

It was so pretty! It was such a shame that it was pouring with rain and it was a bit soggy

Beautiful Lady Bird yarn bombing

Some of the other things that caught my eye inside –

Stag Beetle Violin Case by Jake How

crochet set in glass by Anna Krystyna Casey

I loved this cardboard box robot

I especially liked his eyes. Would love to make one sometime.

There was also a Dalek patroling the Faire

"SMILE?! I'M ALWAYS SMILING!"

he had a human to help steer him around the mill. Perhaps it was a roboman?

Blurry shot of big Scaletrix track by Derby H:O Racing Club

I also had a chat with the creator of a site called Pics to Knits – wish I’d got his name since it’s not on his site. But Pics to Knits is a free website that allows you to upload any image and turn it into a knitting pattern for dk or 4 ply yarns. Basically you upload an image file and it removes some of the details to make it easier to knit. You can set it to 4 colours up to 32 colours and get a pdf of the final stocking stitch pattern. Check it out, it’s a great idea and very generous of them to make it available free of charge.

Really enjoyed the Maker Faire and hope to go to another soon. I particularly love the message that it doesn’t matter what methods we use to create, be it a soldering iron or a crochet hook, we’re all makers.

Thanks for the lovely messages following my shingles attack. I’m now on the mend and feeling a lot better although I’m still taking pain killers.

Project wise I’ve finished off Edinburgh Rock, although have yet to photograph it, and have yet another Leethal knit on the needles, Wild is the Wind, in addtion to her Twitter Mystery pattern plus Woolley Wormhead’s Meret, too. Lots of smaller projects because I seem to have more luck with them than larger ones at the moment.

I’ve not knit any socks for a while but there’s a new online kniting magazine called The Sock Report dedicated to all things sock yarn related. I haven’t looked through the whole mag yet but so far I love Chris deLongpre’s Pocket Pals – cute woodland creatures knit from sock yarn. Fans of Rachael Herron’s Cypress Hollow novels should definately check it out because Rachel’s put up a free short story there called Socks for Alex.