Stitchy Snippets - Thread is A Thought

Cos Ahmet's art practice combines woven tapestry, collage, printmaking and sculpture. I find his tapestry collages to have an ethereal quality that is mesmerising. In Ahmet's words 'The constant thread in the works becomes my words, thoughts, a path of ideas'.

The human body is a constant reference in his work, Ahmet chooses to explore themes of the self, sexuality, identity and the human form.

Through the medium of textiles he creates metaphors for the human form such as: ‘thread as the thought’, ‘warp as the skeleton’, ‘weft as flesh or skin’, and ‘weave’ as the soul. Cos Ahmet explains: 'These ‘gestures’ take on their own symbolism and appearance, but are implicit presences, traces or imprints of identity and self.'

You can see more of his work, which will be exhibited under the title Thread is A Thought at the upcoming Knitting and Stitching Shows in the U.K. and Ireland this Fall.

The Knitting and Stitching Show - Spring 2015

Thank you Floresita for the shout out for my live tweeting at The Knitting and Stitching Show this morning. In case you missed it, I've Storifyed it, as I got to see some fantastic artists there.

I also forgot to tweet that I saw an interesting stand from the Fashion and Textile Museum, which has made me curious to visit. The museum is in Bermondsey in London, so if you're in the area, it looks worth a visit.

Also of note were the stitched sampler books which were on display on Jane Greenoff's stand, no photos were aloud unfortunately, but you can see the exquisite books on her website.

Thank you Twisted Thread for inviting Feeling Stitchy to the show!

Jo live tweeting from the London Knitting and Stitching Show!

Also on @MrXStitch stall, Paperclip Parrot, Stumpwork by Charlotte Bailey pic.twitter.com/zPDCrPI7Ma

— Feeling Stitchy (@feelingstitchy) March 7, 2015

Our blogger Jo is out at the Knitting and Stitching show today in London, and is tweeting all the wonderful things she finds, like this fabulous paperclip parrot!

Visit our Twitter to see more of her amazing finds!

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2014

Feeling Stitchy was very kindly invited along to The Knitting and Stitching Show this year at Alexandra Palace in London. The show was gigantic, with lots of shopping opportunities, as well as lots of craft workshops and lectures. I went along to a red work class to make a needle keeper.

I then hit the shopping opportunities big time. There was a real mix of stalls, quite a lot was for crafters perhaps a little more traditional than I am (but even then I found their stuff lovely, like these 3D needlework cottages from The Nutmeg Company, don't you just love the little post office?).

But there was also plenty of more modern stuff and it was great to see stuff actually made up from popular craft books and companies, such as from Louise Walker's Faux Taxidermy Knits (the two animal heads), Merchant and Mills (the dresses) and Sew Over It (not pictured but they do have a new London shop opening soon!).

There was also lots of fantastic suppliers, it was great to see companies I'd previously only known from the web in the flesh, such as The Eternal Maker (some great fat quarters) or to find companies that I hadn't heard of before but totally won me over with their products and their enthusiasm, such as Ernest Wright and Son, who make the most beautiful scissors that feel like you're cutting through butter (check out this short film about how they make their scissors).

There were also lots of gold work and bead work suppliers to, selling stuff that isn't always easy to find even with the aid of a Google search. This makes The Knitting and Stitching Show a great place to find new craft supplies long term, as most of the suppliers also have websites, so even if you go along to the show feeling a bit broke, you can easily come away with a long list of companies you can try in the future.

(Vineyard Silk from West End embroidery)

There were also lots of displays of work, from a fashion show from Coats, featuring among others knitwear from Rowan and fabrics designed by Zandra Rhodes for Freespirit.

As well as art work from individual artists, my favourite was work by Renate Keeping.

Renate Keeping

So, I had a fantastic day, time flew by, before I knew it I'd been there all morning and a good chunk of the afternoon. I will definitely be back next year. But it's not too late to go this year, as it's still on tomorrow (12th October) between 10am and 5pm.

Knitting and Stitching Show... giveaway!

Hi everyone - I have some very exciting news for you very lucky UK readers! We are doing a giveaway of free tickets to The Knitting and Stitching Show  Oct. 8 - 12 in London!



Just looking over the schedule - there is so much to see and do there, and literally hundreds of hands-on workshops where you can learn new crafting skills!

We were given a pass so that our very own Jo, can attend as well - maybe you'll run into her when you're there! By the way, all of these wonderful photos were provided by The Knitting and Stitching Show.



More details on the show:
The Knitting and Stitching Show takes place at Alexandra Palace.

Wednesday 8 Oct – 10am – 5.30pm
Thursday 9 Oct – 10am – 7pm
Friday 10 and Saturday 11 Oct - 10am – 5.30pm
Sunday 12 Oct – 10am – 5pm

Tickets prices – Adult: £16 on the door (£13.00 in advance); Children £7 on the door (£6 in advance)
Visit www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/london for more details.




And now for the good stuff - the Knitting and Stitching show is giving away of 5 free pairs of tickets for all day Wednesday, Thursday 3-7pm and all day Sunday!

To enter this giveaway - email mail@twistedthread, put K&S Ticket Giveaway on Feeling Stitchy in the subject line and include your full name, email address and full postal address. The giveaway will be open through Monday, 9/29/14.

Thank you to the wonderful people at The Knitting and Stitching Show for making this giveaway possible!

Whether you are in the neighborhood of London or not, just for kicks - what do you think you'd attend at The Knitting and Stitching Show? I'd hit a basic sewing class and camp out in the tea rooms!