Bye-bye boys' night...but hello to bog roll covers and book groups...

Hello everyone...yes, I am still in the land of the living, although my bulging discs have slowed down my socialising somewhat I am satiated with my current diet of internet, daytime TV and quiz shows. Physio continues but no real improvement (although I've come off the painkillers at last). If only sitting down was possible rather than having to spend all my time lying on my right-hand side, which restricts activity just a bit. Anyway, thanks to m'colleagues at the National Theatre who sent me these gorgeous flowers (and choccies too, not pictures cos they didn't last long enough!) They are beautiful, but I daren't get too close as, mentioned in the last post, sneezing is like stretching my sciatic nerve the entire length of my body. Ouch.

Readers of the newsletter will have seen that there's a-change a-coming at I Knit London, with a shifty around of our knitting group night and other stuff. It's all down to 'popular demand', honest! The Wednesday night meetings at the shop are getting very popular and we realised that meeting on the same night every week left some people with no chance of experiencing IKL...and that's just not fair is it? So, we'll still be having the fortnight in the pub (if anything just to keep G & I sane - we've spent more time in the last year in the shop than we have at home!) finding all the best alehouses for knitting, and we'll also be at IKL every Wednesday in between. No change there, but from 4th October we'll be having it on a Thursday too. Every Thursday at IKL from 6 as usual for those who miss the Wednesday. This means that film night (left) finds a new home on a Friday - which seems like a perfect start to the weekend. We've had some good films in the last few weeks, but numbers dropped - probably because they weren't too well known - but it's always a good night, and genuinely relaxing (if you can sit down that long. Ouch). We kick off with The Talented Mr Ripley on Friday 4th October...which links nicely to the book group, another new venture!

I put my hand up and admit that I haven't read a book for almost TWO YEARS! I know, shame. I got bogged down in a biography of Arthur Rimbaud and, being an anally-retentive, pedantic geek I felt I couldn't start another book until I'd finished that one. Mmm. Well, thanks to Ravelry we discovered a desire for a knit-friendly book group and offered ourselves up as a venue. We can't take any credit for it, but we're really excited to host it, on the last Tuesday every month, and I have just finished the book (The Cry of the Owl, by Patricia Highsmith - that's the link to Ripley, by the way, if you didn't get it). We're called The Kniterati and anyone can come along. We've put a page on our website to keep folks up-to-date with meetings and books. It has dawned on us that in order to have 'a life' we need to include everything we do into IKL - that is our life, and pretty much everyone we know we've met through the knitting group, some great new friends and some brilliant times.

Sadly, in amongst all this shuffling around something had to give...and it was the Friday night men's night. I think we're both proud that for over a year we hosted the only dedicated knitting group for men in the UK (?). We were never trying to make any kind of statement, we were just offering a place to go and enjoy a few drinks without those weird looks - believe me, we still get them, and unless you've been a part of ANY minority group it's probably quite hard to understand that feeling of freakishness you get when fingers are pointing. Happily, we've always enjoyed being freaky. We never thought we were different, better or worse than anyone else but the men's nights have been some of the best knit nights I've had, and, again we've made some close friendships that will last. Next Friday, 28th September, is the last ever. Join us if you can, whoever you are and whatever you've got.

One more thing to mention before I go and lie down (on my right-hand side, ouch) and it's these two books...

After the phenomenal reaction to the Jean Greenhowe booklets we chose Tea Cozies as our 'book of the month'. It's gone down a storm. I am now realising that for all the overstyled Rowan magazines, the glorious Erika Knight (love her!) books, the expensive hand-spun silk yarns and the unfathomable-but-beautiful Victorian lace shawl patterns there's a whole host of us knitters who just like the simple things in life - and what could be cozier, more English and more useless (which makes it a must-have in my book) than a cozy for your bog roll or a woolly jumper for your teapot? Gerard's messing with nature and knitting this sheep cosy (below) with alpaca, and Tom hasn't lost a fight with a very small Tommy Cooper impersonator, he's actually modelling the very latest in 'crocheted top hat toliet roll cozies'.

And, very finally, if you didn't think they were cute, you surely will this...a new pattern from Artesano's Hummingbird range this papoose is possibly the dinkiest, cutest and most adorable thing I have ever seen. Baby not included...

Lil' Louis' Liverpool mittens, and hedgehogs dressed as postmen...

It's been a very long week. Thanks to everyone who has sent messages to both of us this week, me with my trapped nerve (not getting any better I must say) and Gerard on his new uncledom. G went home to Liverpool at the weekend for his first avuncular cuddle and took with him a bounty of knitted goodies. I couldn't travel so stayed in London, watched films ate pizza and chocolate. Here's some pics of little Louis' first gifts...

The hat has been around for while just waiting for a baby to be honest, but it's so adorable and has three cute little pom-poms on the top that just top it off perfectly. It's in Rooster DK. The mittens are part of a double act along with a pair of similar striped bootees in Liverpool Footbal Club colours - these are in Artesano's Inca Cloud 100% alpaca and are just so soft,

Louis will be snuggling up in them right now! And the second set of bootees... well, how cute? I think G is already on his third set of bootees, and has just bought Zoe Mellor's 50 Bootees to Knit book...so another 49 will be heading up to new nephew in the coming months. I do believe Louis will be the most spoilt (knitting-wise) baby EVER!

Edit - the pattern is Saartje's Bootees, I got the link from Brooklyn Tweed's blog.

Meanwhile, back on home ground we have been enjoying the last (first) of the summer's sunshine. A brilliant knitting group on Wednesday night at the shop, more knitting out in the square a) because it was a balmy summer's eve and b) because there was no room inside. Once again, lots of new faces, lots of cider, lots of banter. And, if we may big ourselves up a bit, we even have a quote for the billboards outside - "This is the only knitting group worth travelling across London for!" - aw, thanks. Honestly, and I know how cheesy this sounds, but, the knitting group only works because of the people who come, and maybe we just get the coolest, friendliest knitters at IKL...who knows? Anyway, I know we love our Wednesday nights and will continue to do so!

Tonight was the film night (we showed the original Hairspray) and, again, it was great. We finally met with Justine too, who has been organising, via the omnipresent Ravelry, a book club for knitters, which we agreed tonight we would host at IKL. Funnily enough we thought of hosting a book group last year just after we opened, but couldn't decide if knitters had time to read (!), and then once all our evenings filled up the idea waned. We were also slightly reticent to take someone's idea away, so it's not an I Knit book club, although it'll be here once a month, and the name will be decided soon. I'm actually really looking forward to getting into it. I haven't read a book in almost two years - shameful. But what with running the shop, full-time job, knitting dos and now Facebook and Ravelry I just don't know when I've got time! So, basically having someone organise for me what I'll read and when is brilliant. The first book is Patricia Highsmith's The Cry of the Owl and the first meeting is on 25th September. Can't wait!

One other thing this week which opened my eyes was the response to the newsletter. Knitters are a funny lot and I try my best to put as much in there as I can without becoming too boring and rattling on (like now). But we've started to feature, each week, one of the most exciting things we've had delivered that week to the shop - honestly, sometimes we even fight over which of us gets to open the parcels! Last week I finally managed to get stock of Jean Greenhowe's knitted dolls/toys books. Well, call me old-fashioned but I think they are genius...and the reputation of IKL was at stake choosing them over, say Rowan Magazine 42 (yawn). But, thankyou to all those who have shared their JG love. We ain't high-end down here in Vauxhall...and how can you resist a hedgehog dressed up as a postman?