The Knitting Man Recommends

09/10/2026

Two weeks to go!!!
The Murdered have been Murdered!!!!
Now to find the Murderer....
No forensics. No SOCOS. No DNA. No crime scene tape.
Not even a bit of old fashioned plaster for a footprint mould.
All we have are the little grey cells!!
book now
https://www.trybooking.com/au/event/murder-on-the-lot-19-tram-1113652

A play-reading introducing the World Celebrated Knitting Detective, Monsieur Purl-Row (along with his loyal offsider Captain Arthur Bastings (OBE)).

Will an innocent crafter be stitched up?
Will the wool be pulled over Monsieur Purl-Row's eyes?

Will the Detective (with his hitherto unknown skill as a superlative lace knitter (He is Belgian after all))... be able to untangle the mystery?

Follow the amazing The Knitting Man Recommends ( FOTM Friend of the Machine ) to find out more about this mysterious event !

Murder on the Lot 19 Tram

World Première!

Saturday, October 24th 2026
Two Sessions 1pm and 5pm

The Lot 19 Vintage Tram… Murder, Mayhem!

Lot 19 Arts' Precinct, 19 McShanag Drive, Castlemaine, Victoria , 3450

05/10/2026

Many Murder-Mysteries start in the most charming and benign of ways.
The power of the Murderer's charm works perfectly to lure the so called "innocent" into the trap from which all the artful contrivance occurs.
"Murder on the Lot 19 Tram" is no exception.
The Vintage Tram is warm, welcoming and ready to trundle its passengers out along the long pier over the joy, wonder and excitement of yarn retreat.
The destination is the luxury resort over on "Sleeve Island"...
In real life any knitter knows that "Sleeve Island" is a metaphor for a kind of knitting purgatory.
But in this instance it is a joke surely.
What could possibly go wrong on Sleeve Island?
The Kniterati will be there, all the fabulous yarn-dyers will be there. There will be workshops and gin and ch*****ne and shopping...
BUT... first the Tram trip...
The perfect opportunity to sit back and knit...
And, even better, a World Celebrated Designer is using the Tram to launch his new pattern!
It gets better and better...
Be warned however, there are undercurrents swirling, like bilge in the water the Tram has to cross to reach Sleeve Island.
The Lot 19 Tram is housed at Lot 19 Arts Precinct in Castlemaine.
It is a fabulous space. 4 acres of bush with 17 studios, an Exhibition space, a fabulous bakery and a great bar.
The is on and the gallery and outdoor areas will have over 100 sculptures on show.
The Castlemaine Garden Festival is also opening that day.
And, the icing on the cake, the She's Crafty Yarn Market (with associated workshops) is happening also.
"Murder on the Lot 19 Tram" is scheduled to be read twice.
There is a 1pm session.
There is also a 5pm session for any yarn vendors, workshop convenors or participants who want to attend.
This is both a Murder-Mystery and a Comedy.
Refreshments available and a fabulous deck...

https://www.trybooking.com/au/event/murder-on-the-lot-19-tram-1113652

02/10/2026

"Murder on the Lot 19 Tram" is a knitting themed Murder-Mystery that I am in the very process of writing.
So, surely in a knitting themed "Who-Dunnit", we can expect Death by Needles!
At the very least.
October 24th 1pm and 5pm.
The presentation is being done as a cold reading.
This is an incredibly exciting way to experience live performance.
Nobody really knows what is going to happen!
There are no props or costumes... just actors, at their finest, working on their feet.
It's a form of extreme sport.
All box-office goes to pay for the actors/readers.
If you can afford full price... pay it.
If not proudly choose the concession price.
None will be checking...
Remember it will be "A Dark and Stormy Night..."
Link to tickets in profile section
Lot 19 Arts Precinct
McShanag Drive
Castlemaine, 3450
In the Tram.
Refreshments available.
Sculpture Prize exhibition on
And maybe Petra Rodgers

30/09/2026

Thank you Vincent Casey Brand Design. Firstly for keeping design/ graphics real ( it's in the style and the detail).
Secondly for posting the graphic with the correct date!
If you are interested in process, there is no finer way to experience and contribute than by coming along to the reading of a first draft.
24th October
It will be raw and because of that it will be real.
There are two sessions
1pm and 5pm.
There will be refreshments.
Actors will be reading.
The entrance fee will pay for the actors.
Original work by real people...
In a creative industry already, pre AI, insecure and underpaid, let's pay actors and designers and writers.

Vincent's text...
Loved working on this poster design for an upcoming play in Castlemaine. The brief: a murder mystery for knitting enthusiasts.

Small jobs are often the most satisfactory.

Side rant: I'm seeing an ever-increasing amount of 🤮 AI generated designs on socials over the past while - even by organisations and businesses that I would expect to be above all that. If you need something done, send me a message and I can help create something original and distinctive.
Reposted from Vincent Casey Brand Design

28/09/2026

TICKETS OPEN
After a long absence from writing, what better way to begin than
”It was a dark and stormy night…”?
Meteorological Insanity is unparalleled as a beginning for a Murder-Mystery in my opinion
The very idea makes me giddy.
The wind howling, the thunder growling, the lightening cracking and the raindrops smacking!
All this audio dissonance creating a dark symphonic portent of frailty, evil doings, and the wretched isolation and morally bankrupting claustrophobia we experience when endangered BUT trapped.
Mwah,ha,ha,ha,ha....
October 24th
A reading of a new work...
Two sessions 1pm and 5pm.
$35 and $25 concession (the actors need to be paid and it is cheaper than a skein of yarn)..
https://www.trybooking.com/au/event/murder-on-the-lot-19-tram-1113652
Come on a Harrowing Adventure over the dire Straits of Raglan to Sleeve Island where a luxury Yarn-Retreat gets into a horrible and malevolent tangle.
Will I finish in time????

23/09/2026

Work on "Murder on the Lot 19 Tram" heats up.
You can buy tickets via this link...
https://www.trybooking.com/au/event/murder-on-the-lot-19-tram-1113652
This work is not really suitable for children however. t is quite risqué.
The work is being presented as a reading.
The actors will have their scripts and will, for the most part, be static.
I can't quite believe that I have gathered the courage to commit to writing a play and putting on a reading.
I have 4 weeks.
Yikes.
Meanwhile life continues, in her inimitable way, to throw the curve balls.
I am desperate to get back in the train... but the Saga of the Grey Ghost (my car) continues...
On Saturday somebody drove into me (and bounced at speed) along my driver's side panels.
Her car is undriveable.
Mine, clearly is a tank.
But insurance and assessments interrupts my thought processes.
I am hoping for clear days next week to sit in the train and work.
Meantime today sees me embracing the bliss of spring.
The wisp of knitting is a test knit for Teti Lutsak
The pattern is .
I am knitting it in my Mr Fluffy.
Session times for the reading are 1pm and 5pm
There will be a bar.

04/09/2026

My train adventures resume next week. The Limo has been playing up and Her Highness demanded priority.
Hopefully she will return to her reliable self on Tuesday.
I will then be able to return, after an 8-13 hour trip on the train, to a car that starts and takes me home.
Sigh!
Meanwhile i have been writing "Murder on the Lot 19 Tram" in snatches where I can.
I am at the stage where panic is beginning to gnaw at me. October 24th is not far away!!
October 24th will be a big day in Castlemaine.
The She's Crafty yarn Festival is on in town.
The Castlemaine and District Festival of Gardens kicks off and, over a Sleeve Island (where I am) the Lot19arts will be enjoying its final weekend.
And, of course, over at the Tram the bar will be open and the readings will take place.
In between writing i am dyeing yarn.
If there is interest I will open my studio on the day.
Here is a peek at some of my inventory thus far.
Lot 19 is a wonderful space for a market... a Salon des Refusés in the making.
I will have quite a bit of yarn by the end of October.
Lot 19 (Sleeve Island) will be at peak bush beauty.
Tickets will be on sale next week... by some kind of medical magic, the purchase of a ticket to "Murder on the Lot 19 Tram" inoculates the purchaser against Second Sock Syndrome.
Very handy if you are going to come onboard.

24/08/2026

A long time ago, in a land far away (about the time Dinosaurs were pooh-poohing the Ice Age)
I had a career as a playwright and screen writer.
I encountered a cross road (mystical speak for a handsome man) and took a different turning.
Since that time, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that I am treading water... waving, not drowning.
I am now at another crossroad. There are no handsome men at this one. Nor are there likely be.
The Ghost of the writer i was, is here however.
So I decided I would resume work on an unfinished play... A Murder Mystery. A knitting/crochet based murder mystery.
It is called "Murder on the Lot 19 Tram".
It is scheduled to be read on Saturday, October 24th on Sleeve Island (Aka) (where I also have my studio).
The idea of writing a play and putting on, even just as a reading, is terrifying.
My life is a tangle of diversions.
And i need to focus.
So, I am availing myself of Victorian Rail's Regional train service as a mobile writing room.
For $2.85 I get an entire day of travel.
Last week I went to Warrnambool and back.
Today is Swan Hill.
6 hours of writing time.
Wish me well...
More details soon

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcZpQGTBTY0/?igsi=MTZsbWhmM3MwN2hrcw==

13/08/2026

This story of Knitting Heroine-ism plays testament to the fabulous collaborative power of fibre arts.
From the women who archive the patterns (Yes! Your stash is an Archive) to the wonderful power of and work done by the Knitting Guilds….
All around this is a wonderful story of reclamation…
Go knitters! (And crocheters, weavers, tatters, embroiderers…..)

An Aussie actor has firmed up as a favourite among Hollywood stars to take the lead in the iconic franchise.

14/05/2026

I finally finished the test knit for 's .
I absolutely love it. This is a precision modular knit. The individual elements add up to create a powerfully simple whole... the sum of the parts... and all that stuff.
This has not been an easy knit.
It took a while to find gauge. I used my Possum/Merino "Dame Edna". A 4 ply in an extravagantly warm colour "The Spice inside your Arms", touched with the blood of "Red Flag" (The two colour rib is my addition and I take full responsibility if it jazzes it up/distracts too much.
A 3mm needle was required to get gauge.
You read that right.
3mms of an all over cable pattern interspersed with paddock sized quantities of half twisted rib.
While knitting this my fabulous, wilful companion has been ailing.
Ihave taken Frankie to the vet twice to be euthanaised. Twice I have returned home full of hope and wonder at her resilience.
Last night she was up from 11pm and her usual cures could not resolve her issues.
I had planned a fabulous photoshoot for my vest.
But in spite of a gorgeous day, she and me are sleep deprived. We are also in that blessed daytime world where everything is normal again.
She doesn't have a lot of time left.
I have pushed everything to one side to sit with her and hold her.
I have withdrawn from all markets. Including Bendigo.
I will return to the studio after she has died.
And I will knit.
I am going crazy of course.
I have never been more grateful for my Knitting... and my style of knitting... slow, precise and measured.
This vest contains slices of my old exuberance in those slashes of deep red.
I am sorry I do not have the zing to photograph and style in the way I had planned.
Frankie of course couldn't care less about knitting.
I am grateful for her lack of regard.