In The Footsteps Of Sheep

In the Footsteps of Sheep by Debbie Zawinski is a brand new book published by Schoolhourse Press.

We are delighted to be able to offer the book for presale! Dispatch will be approximately 20 October.

Through the course of a summer, Debbie travels to all corners of Scotland to personally gather fleece from 10 extant Scottish breeds. A longtime spinner and knitter, Debbie designs and knits socks to reflect the characteristics of each breed and the spirit of her journeys.

She writes beautifully and movingly about her travels; the landscapes explored, the sheep and people she meets, weather both foul and fair, and an intriguing island of feral sheep. A Welsh-born Scotlander, Debbie has a real connection to the land, its people and animals, magnified by her main method of travel: on foot, with tent, spinning stick and needles packed in her rucksack.

A wonderfully illustrated travel adventure through Scotland, with 11 original sock patterns included. 

buy the book here >>> www.iknitshop.org.uk 

Knit for Calais

I Knit London is hosting an event organised to help the displaced people in the camps in Calais.

We’ll be knitting and crocheting and collecting hats, scarves, gloves, blankets … anything that might help people keep warm as the weather changes and we move into winter.

CalAid have asked for hats for men as a priority. If you can help people join us on Tuesday 29 September 5pm - 9pm. Anything made an collected will be taken to the CalAid collection point so they can take it to Calais. If you can not make it to the shop and want to help please send anything to the shop in Waterloo and we can pass it on. Or you can send directly to CalAid. www.calaid.co.uk

I Knit at Camp Bestival

We had a marvellous time at Camp Bestival again this year. There was a definite increase in the number of young people wanting to learn knitting and crochet. Lot's of happy faces and some that look not so happy but that's only due to the levels of concentration while finger knitting for the first time!

Pompoms were well and truly on the agenda, as usual. Who wouldn't want to look as beautiful and amazing as this young camper?

There was also lots of finger knitting, as usual. We encouraged people to plait the finger knitting and make things like hats...

...or mats...

 ...or coasters.

I taught this reveller to make moss stitch and she was very proud of her new skill! This is picture and story is a little misleading, however, as I work with a team of volunteers who help me run the knitting tent at Camp Bestival. They all work so hard every year and I'm so grateful for their help, skills and friendship. Ros, Annette, Gemma, Nikki, Angela, Heather & Seb, and Mike - thank you for being amazing and making the knitting tent fabulous!

Camp Bestival is an amazing festival for families. There is so much to keep the young people entertained all through the day, not just on the main stage, with lots of treats for adults thrown in. This is the 7th year we've been at Camp Bestival running the knitting tent and we are there because the organisers want us to be. It's amazing to teach young kids (and adults!) and share our love for knitting and crochet and to be given the opportunity to do this at Camp Bestival every year is a testament to how fantastic Rob and Josie Da Bank are. They are helping to engage an army of young people in knitting and crochet and I know this because we get to see lots of regulars who return every year and when they ask to learn something new we are thrilled. Thank you to the Da Banks, your festival is marvellous.

And now it's on to Bestival in September, which is a an entirely different festival! And I can't wait.

I've recently added a few new colourways to the Ziggy Stardust collection. The speckled effect is really popular so I thought I'd have a go and base it on song titles from David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars album.

Below are the first four colours. There are four more to come, I just haven't been as happy with the colours as I'd like to be so I'm still working on them. I reckon I'll be happy by next week, though, and so they'll be ready and online for sale.

buy them now at www.iknitshop.org.uk

Lady Stardust

Soul Love

Five Years

Moonage Daydream

I Knit or Dye STRIPES

I've been dyeing sock blanks for a while now to offer I Knit or Dye self striping sock yarn. They are a bit messy and take a little longer but I love the effect. I love the way the colours interact with each other when the sock blank is re-knitted into socks, I call this yarn Lazaretto. The most popular colour has always been the freedom rainbow flag. However while the Lazaretto is fab I have always dreamed of doing some 'proper' self striping sock yarn.

A few weeks ago Catriona tasked me with dyeing her some self striping sock yarn, she wanted purple and lime. Cat was a volunteer for me at Bestival in our knitting tent last September and so I couldn't refuse, really. Or rather, I couldn't resist. It took a while to get the right colours but it took a little longer to reskein the yarn and dye it and then ball it up!

This is my first Grotbags colourway sock. Cat loves the yarn, btw.

It was a matter of moments before I thought about dyeing red and white to make my dad some Liverpool FC socks!!

But the main event is really the freedom rainbow flag colour way, Love Wins. This is a super duper duper set of colours and I love it.

All these colours, plus a couple more, are available in our online shop, www.iknitshop.org.uk 

Gxx

Different Class Pool Party 4ply

I Knit or Dye Different Class Pool Party is a 4ply weight yarn that is perfect for all kinds of different garments. It is 100% British Bluefaced Leicester - born, reared, sheared, spun and dyed in the UK.

Several colours are available online now, www.iknitshop.org.uk

The finished garments are soft and feel gorgeous against the skin and as you can see below, I've made lots of Hitchhikers. Hitchhiker by Martina Behm is available to buy in revelry.com.

It's called Pool Party because it poooooools!!!! Pool Party is so entertaining to due to the way the colours continually change and and interact with each other.

a hitchhiker

Jan with 2 hitchhikers

another hitchhiker

A cardigan made by Brenda