Great workshop .... though I say it myself

Having rejected a heavy reel of wire from my bag, I set off for the station, stapler in pocket.
The train was on time, and I got a table seat and stapled the remaining handouts.

Walking up to the far end of town was relaxing.
Passing through the farmer's market I saw russets for sale "Fill a bag for £1.00".
(I did on the way back, and got 2.6 kg.)

Arriving at the Friend's Meeting House at 09.25, the room was filling up.
We average about 12 people for a meeting.
Today there were 17, and 3 had sent their apologies.

I had decided to have an unstructured workshop.
People are too constrained when they have a pattern to follow.

After an introduction, showing selected small pieces of my wire knitting, I invited all present to select wire and a pair of needles.

The needles were all double ended, and ranged from 2.5 - 3.5 mm.
Most people chose the brightly coloured 0.2 mm wire.

Then came the moment I had been dreading.

"How many stitches should we cast on?"

I thought that I had already explained in my introducton that I wasn't going to dictate what people did with the wire and needles.

"Cast on 10, or 5, or 3 or even only 1 stitch or whatever you want to" was my reply.

After the initial confusion at being cast into unknown waters, it went brilliantly.

One crocheter supplied her own hook.
She was determined that she could get results with the 24 gauge wire (0.56 mm), the stiffest I had brought with me.
A simple bracelet with occasional bobbles resulted.
(This was the point when I wished that I had a camera with me.)

A couple of people knitted for a while and then in desperation screwed up the resulting fabric.
That was a new idea for me, which might result in yet another new direction with wire.

I was inspired by a ring knitted from four or five different colours.

Of course cross fertilization is bound to happen at a session like this.

Until now I hadn't had much 0.2 mm wire.
I usually use 0.1 mm, which is much more flexible (and fragile!).

On the way back home, I stopped off at Q Arts for the excellent "Nazar" exhibition of photography from the Arab world.

Then a quick trawl through some charity shops, and a visit to Textile Art Studio.
I had listed them as a supplier of fine wire for knitting despite the fact that I hadn't been there since last summer.

I found three colours of 0.2 mm wire in colours that I didn't have, and had an interesting conversation with a couple of people there.

Then back home shortly before three to a cool house.
I had meant to programme the central heating to come on about an hour before my projected return.