time out

We are very proud to be number 6 in the Time Out guide to the best free things to do in London. We've been in this list a few times. Everyone knows that there is lots to do in London but not all of it costs money and it takes just a little investigation to uncover a mountain of free stuff.

We love our knitting groups and we would just like to say thank you to everyone who makes it what it is. 

We are particularly looking forward to the Knit In Public Treasure Hunt this Saturday. I'm sure it's going to be brilliant.

The article mentioned Thursday night particularly so... Here are a couple of pics from last night.

Knitters from the Liberty's group join us a couple of Thursdays a month and they are very welcome. Seeing people knitting in the shop is a huge reward to us, it's the reason we moved to a bigger space, although we often run out of space but we never run out of wine or cider.

Gxx

p.s. I wish I could show you some of my knitting but for the past few months all I have been knitting for a book project. More news on that soon.

The Lesbians are revolting

"Is it fair that a Lesbian can't be called a Lesbian just in case somebody thinks they are...a lesbian" ;)

As we were away for the weekend (more of that in another post) news reached us, via the BBC Worldwide channel, of the Lesbian revolt of Lesbos, where one man's mission to reclaim the word has ended up in one of the best bits of telly we've seen in ages.

Watch the report here.

I love the bit when the old bloke says, "I am proud to be a Lesbian". Reporter: "But are you a Lesbian?". Huge sigh..., "A Lesbian from Lesbos, NOT a homosexual". The fact he's a bloke doesn't seem to have anything to do with it! But his sister is embarassed to be a Lesbian apparently.

We love Barbara though. She is priceless!

If the Lesbians think they have a problem they should feel sorry for the people who live here.

We are the champions...

One of favourite haunts for the last few years, and an oft-visited pub for the I Knit London knitting group nights, is the Retro Bar, just off the Strand, in what landlady Wendy jovially describes as 'piss alley'. Lovely. Anyway, Tuesday nights is pop quiz night, which we've been going to for years but recently had to give up as the Vauxhall shop closed at 9 and getting across town, even pedalling at the speed of sound, wasn't possible. Now we're in Waterloo it's just a short skip across Hungerford Bridge and we're there.

So, last night we WON! Hurray. With the combined brainage of Gerard, SueMoon, Retro Rob and myself we managed 19 and a half (how do you write that properly on a computer?) out of 20! Blimey. Our knowledge of Barry Manilow and 90s trip-hop saw us through in the end. It's another personal notch on my own quiz show league table (you're in the presence of The Weakest Link winner here folks, as well as Blankety-Blank - I'll show my chequebook and pen if you ask nicely!) Just don't mention the Eggheads...what was that, did someone just mention the Eggheads?

Craigx

Plastic fantastic

Knitted bag from plastic carrier bags,
originally uploaded by iknitlondon.

As well as selling stuff in our shop we also like to see what people have been making and we get lots of people bringing stuff in to show us. Now, we've seen knitting with plastic bags before (we've got a bit of our own in the window at the moment) but these bags, knitted by Emily Blades, are amazing. The details that's gone into the motifs are incredible - by saving up bags from certain supermarkets and batching them together in colours Emily has managed to make a functional but beautiful bit of knitting. The fish, butterfly, heart, apple motifs etc show that knitting with recycled can produce great results and it's just as versatile as more traditional yarns. Her second bag, below, is finished off with some smart handles and is strong enough to use everday, not just for show. Stop throwing those bags away and get knitting!

Sue over at Knittiotherapy is running a simple marvelous competition.

The prizes are brilliant and included some of Sue's bags which I covet. I particularly love the new glamorous and sexy PVC knitting bag!

PVC and pictures of boobs all on the same blog!

There is a very simple and question to answer. The reason for the competition is to raise money for the Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Sue is marvellous and recently did the Moonwalk. For ever £5 you donate you get a stab at the competition!

How easy could that be!

The IAs have it!

Every year we watch it. Every year we drink too much. Every year we think the UK have a chance. Every year there's an anti-climax. Every year the IAs win and we say we shouldn't enter ever again! Poor Andy, it wasn't the best song, but LAST!

Here are the top 3 results of the I Knit jury:

1. Bosnia & Herzegovina - maybe it was the knitting backing singers, but B&H got top marks from our selective panel on the night!

2. Armenia

3. Ukraine

Selling out

There's been a bit of a trend by advertisers recently to use knitting in their campaigns. We're all for it, even if they play up the 'kookiness' of craft or the traditional ideas of those who knit as opposed to the real situation. Yes, old people do knit, but it doesn't mean there aren't millions of other people of all ages taking it up and making stuff too! Some of these ads have been controversial amongst knitting circles for their subliminal images of knitters, who they are and what they represent, whilst others have taken them as a sign that the craft is growing ever more popular. Surley there aren't enough knitters for the ads to be aimed solely at that particular demographic! So, why use knitting in your ads - we have to assume it's still quirky enough that admen think it'll grab the attention. Considering some of the requests we get at IKL this is probably the case...sadly I don't think we ever quite live up to the image they expect of us. Below there's a few ads that have used knitting in the last few months alone....let us know what you think.

The latest to come our way is this brilliant poster from a French newspaper showing Jack Bauer knitting a gun - it's an ad for Tv on demand so the idea is that he won't have to wait any longer for 24...and for those who care, no, I don't think he is actually knitting, he's holding those needles all wrong!

The Shreddies ad, featuring the 'knitting nanas' caused a bit of a storm - we think it's sweet and funny, but aren't too keen on advertising Nestlé in the first place! You can watch the TV advert here.

Staples TV advert (2008)

Vodafone posters (2008)

Young at Heart film poster (2008)

Love - The Musical poster (2008)

If you see any more let us know, post them here in the comments.

knitting party at KOKO

hi all

The Bestival Team are putting on a party at KOKO in Camden tomorrow night - 24 May - and they would love to see some knitters there.

They have a tipi at the venue in the garden, I think, and they have invited us to be there for free a the, undoubtably, celeb packed party.

Is anyone interested in going?

We have a Eurovision party in the shop so will not be able to be there until about midnight but the are keen to welcome anyone who wants to get there earlier.

The party is to launch the festival season so I reckon there will be lots of lovely indie boys and every band you can name.

post here or send me a message and I will arrange the guest list. 
Gxx

the sadness of the loss

Dear Ireland

I'm really sorry about last night. But, in fairness, a turkey! What did you expect?

I'll miss you on Saturday.

Gxx

Congratulations to Cliff

As we count the days towards this year's I Knit London Eurovision party and the musical event of the year (what do you mean you disagree?!) let's reflect on the news that yet-to-be-Sir Cliff was cheated out of his 1967 win by the fascists in Spain. Don't believe it...read more.

I've always been a secret Cliff fan. His work during the 70s and early 80s is up there with the best. We must forgive him his excursion into Stock, Aitken and Waterman and all those bloody Christmas songs, and forget all about the Lord's Prayer one. Eek. But, perhaps if he'd been rightfully crowned Eurovision king in 1967 his career would've taken a different route altogether. Maybe Franco is responsible for the Millennium Prayer after all.

That's right, a year before Lulu boomed and bang-a-banged her way to Eurovision victory, and a year after Sandie Shaw barefoot Puppet on a String, Cliff made up the UK hat-trick of winners! Only Franco paid off the juries and secured a win for Massiel instead (below).

La La La indeed.

Cliff deserves to be declared our 2nd winner - how's about a performance of Congratulations on 24th May?

Craigxx

I'm not a monkey

I mean, I'm not Boris Johnson.

But if I was what I would probably do now is -

With reference to my blog post of 3 May entitled I Love London. I'm really very, very sorry for my comments and for offending anyone who was offended.

I deeply regret my actions and statements and I am now committed to rectifying my mistakes and making up for it by publicly apologising and retracting my statements.

However, I am not Boris Johnson.

I believe what I wrote and I am still devastated by the outcome. I do not take any of it back. The post has been edited as I am a little embarrassed that I could not control myself and censure myself. 

I do not usually use such language in public. I understand and accept that people are offended by that language but this my blog and I did not write it to provoke or offend. I wrote it because it is what I felt. I am glad that people read it. I feel sure that I will not use language like that again, though, for the following reason.

I am a little annoyed that I was a bit squiffy when I heard the result and this combined with my anger made me act too quickly and I produced a less than eloquent diatribe that does not adequately reflect my IQ nor my my understanding of UK political processes.

That said the post certainly did reflect what I was feeling. I am sorry if you were offended but I meant every word of it. 

Boris Johnson will make a terrible London Mayor and I am sure his actions will prove me right in the coming months and years.

Gxx

I am responding to a comment left on the post

Banksy in Leake Street

We popped around the corner this morning and queued with the hundreds of others to have a peak at Banksy's secret tunnel project, The Cans Festival. This closed down street underneath Waterloo Station has been transformed by Banksy and 29 other artists into a glorious underground exhibition space. Whilst I'm still not convinced that the two things (graffiti and organised exhibitions) go together there's no denying that there's a power to these pieces of artwork that I don't 'get' from many other works of art. For me, it's the stumbling upon them whilst walking around London that gives them an extra frisson of subordination.

What's very funny to me, and just a little ironic, is that I remember coming upon an original Banksy in the very same street a couple of years ago (a monkey with a detonator preparing to blow up a bunch of bananas)...it was unceremoniously painted over by Network Rail who said, "We don't want graffiti on our property and we will remove it," he said. "It's ugly, illegal and the public don't like it." Now, it would seem they've changed their minds!

Go see it, it's only there in full for three days (until 5th May), and best of all the tunnel comes out on Lower Marsh, and only a few yards from I Knit London!
Craig

I Love London

Oh My!

45% turned out to vote.

Shame on the 55% who didn't. Shame on you.

It seems that the country, led by London, has descended into ridiculousness.

I see no other course of action.

We must leave London.

Boris Johnson as mayor is not only a joke but an embarrassment and an insult.

The most cosmopolitan city in the world is chaired by a tory bleeder xxx xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxx, oh god the fucking words escape me I'm almost breathless.

The only way out of this is if a bendy bus knocks the life out of the inbred twat.

Forgive me for ranting but my whole world order has collapsed and I am struggling.

Shame on you those who didn't vote!

Wonderful Woolly Wales

It's been a long week and usually on our day off (Sunday) you'll find us avoiding all things knitty and spending quite some time in the pub...and writing the e-newsletter too (there's never a complete escape from IKL!). This weekend though we made a flying visit to Wonderwool Wales, the festival of fibre crafts held in Builth Wells, Powys. We left London last night (Saturday) and arrived back a couple of hours ago...

Neither of us had been to the show before so even with just the few hours ther we found loads to see and touch. It was especially nice to meet up with some friends who we haven't seen for a while; Eirwen at Knitwitches, Susan and Gavin from knitonthenet, Prudence Mapstone, the KCG, and the Garthenor boys amongst others! Plus, we made the most of the opportunity to meet some more independent yarnies, chat about I Knit Day and get some more inspiration for our own show - and we've got some exciting stuff lined up...

WW is held a vast barn-like construction and featured everything from wool to weaving. Today (Sunday) was much quieter than we expected but that gave us a better chance to look around and have a leisurely wander through the stalls. One of the most encouraging things about the show was the number of local businesses, farmers, spinners, dyers and yarn producers, proving that the industry is far from dying out. Amongst all of this there were some fragrant alpacas, sheep and angora rabbits. So what did we buy....?

Cider and cheese!

Gerard and friends.

Huge thanks to Sally, Justine and Steve who let us crash in their cottage for the night, the game of Kerplunk and the sheepy ale. Here they are first thing Sunday morning...knitting surgically attached to their hands! You can hear about their Wonderwool experince in the next episode of their Miss Flip Knits podcast.

You can see more pics from Wonderwool in our Flickr photostream

Animal alphabet...

It was another busy knitting group on Thursday night, with the usual stuff going on, including the consumption of cider and the sharing of a few tips and ideas....we also started our IKL Polaroid photo gallery which you can see adorning the walls of the shop very soon. You can be included too, all you need to do is come to one of our knit nights! Welcome back to Jon, too, who we haven't seen in a while, so busy is he with making more of gorgeous Easy Knits yarn. At the end of the night we all tried to work out the conundrum emblazoned on Justine's chest:

Leave your answers here! We're stuck on X, and N...?

{EDIT}...and for bonus points...which one is the odd one out, and why?

I met The King

last weekend we went to Liverpool for to see my dad becoming 65 years old and to go to my nephews baptism. I was god father for the third time which is great but the poor child even had god on his cake.

The Priest was amazing. He talked about Jesus loving you even if 'you ended up in jail or did something more stupid'! 

I guess he knows his audience. I must point out at this point that my newphew was not the only baby being baptised. The baby next to us was born to a mother with glamour model aspirations. Craig didn't know where to look and was genuinely concerned about her catching cold!

Louie and his family were the stars of the show. He refused to be wrapped in a shawl but his mother carried it all day. His middle name is Phillip, after his dad. The Amazing Priest was quite old and was delighted to be baptising a young buck named after a king of France, Louis Phillipe. For the entirety of the ceremony The Amazing Priest called Louis The King. Fantastic.

He is The King. He is Glorious. And the love and energy he has inspired is equally as amazing. He is The King and he is glorious and beautiful and so are his family.

[I'd like to show you some pictures but blogger will not let me at the moment]

Zimmermad

We've sold all of the Elizabeth Zimmermann books, actually the only last 2 and half days but I managed to keep a copy of The Opinionated Knitter for a little while. (there are lot more on the way, though, due for arrival by the weekend)


In the time I had the book I was able to make the 2 things, pictured below.
This hat was so so easy, it took about 3 hours, and only that long because I started the 3 spiral hat and did 20 rows before I changed my mind, ripped back, and started the 5 spiral instead. I used Cornish Organic chunky which was a delight to knit. It's so soft and easy to used and comes out really well and completely itchfree.
I love love love this pattern. This is my first surprise baby jacket and I know it will not be the last. It was also very easy. I made it for Louie but it came out so small. I think people back in EZ's day must have eaten a lot less! (Something I am going to try, one day).

I used Manos Silk on 4mm but I think I will use 5 or 5.5mm if I do this with the same yarn again. I used addi lace which might have made my gauge a lot tighter. I don't usually bother with the gauge and I don't mind that this is small as if it doesn't fit Louie, as I know it wont, it will fit my other sister's yet to be born baby.

Knit on the net...

...is out, I practically heard the sigh all the way down here.

It's another great issue! I love Miss Scarlet - I'm a sucker for a puff sleeve.

www.knitonthenet.com

Gxx

happy birthday Tom

Craig and I had a great time on Sunday in Wimbledon to celebrate Toms birthday. Wimbledon is like a little Village, the busiest village I had ever been to. They also have lots of babies and small children, none of whom are vegetarians!

Tom showed us a video nasty on his mobile phone. He had made the video on holiday in Ireland. There is a better version on his blog BLOG PARTY, I urge you all to click right now and watch the video.

Gxx

love for sale

thursday

Thursday night was business as usual at IKL. There were millions of us knitting and crocheting. We're producing lots of hyperbolic crochet reef, thanks again to Alex for the donation of such fab yarn and to Yvonne for never ending enthusiasm and energy to help anyone who asks.

London pride

Last Sunday we both walked across the windy, snowy Waterloo Bridge from where we saw the set up for the Olympic torch relay. Our disinterest in the occasion seemed to be shared by most other Londoners, with a flaccid crowd of spectators overrun by a well-organise bunch of protestors. We saw the approaching Coca-Cola advert (there was a bus hidden beneath) and the farcical deployment of our police service riding motorcycles and lining the route.

Some of those free 'news' papers have suggested the whole day was an embarassment to London - far from it. I'm proud that in this country it's possible to stand up and demonstrate and have your voice heard without fear of persecution. This was far from an embarassment but a moment to be proud of. The whole worldwide journey is a crass attempt to advertise China as modern, democratic country irrespective of it's appalling human rights record. What was really embarassing was the likes of Konnie Huq and Denise van Outen smiling inanely amongst the Chinese bodyguards and police - surely there are better ways to promote your 'career'?

summer festivals

I am only a little disappointed to say that I am not going to Glastonbury this year.

It's not because I'm too old it's because last year was a bit of a nightmare and by day 4 I couldn't wait to get home. The rain and the mud are not what made it a nightmare but the volume of punters. It was incredible. There must haved been about 3 million people. At least it felt like it.

The mud just got worse and worse because of the number of feet trudging through it. My legs were bionic by the end of the weekend. I was working back stage for WaterAid last year and I felt really let down by the number of hay bales that were delivered to the backstage bar to ensure people like Donnie Dickhead and Peaches and FiFi Trixythingy didn't get too much mud on their designer wellies while outside people were losing tents etc etc. Shocking.

Anyway, I should be telling you about the festival I am going to really. Camp Bestival in Dorset looks amazing. I really can't wait for this festival - Chubby Checker is one of the Headliners! - and I Knit London are hosting the festival's very first knitting tent!!!

Camp Bestival runs from 18th to the 20th July and so I'm packing shorts, deck chair and sun cream - oh and some yarn and needles.

We'll be teaching and using the knitbits to construct a glorious knitted sculpture. We'll need all the help we can get so if you are going to be at the festival come and say hello and do some knitting and maybe even a little piece for our sculpture.

crochet coral reef

excitement for the crochet coral reef is growing and the shop was packed on Thursday night. Not everyone was crocheting coral reef but those who were made some brilliant contributions.


Thursday nights at IKL are still being used to promote the coral reef project run by The Institute for Figuring. Don't think that the project is confined to Thursday's though, if you want to come down and contribute please please feel welcome any time.


Gxx

shawls

I've done 2 shawls recently. Clapotis, from knitty.com. 

This was for my mum for her birthday/mother's day. I used manos silk and I really enjoyed knitting this. The manos is brilliant; great to work with, soft and luxurious and very, very long! I only used 2 hanks for this project, I was amazed.

Shoulder shawl in Syrian pattern from Victorian Lace Today.

This was slightly less interesting to make but really easy. The pattern is just a 6 stitch repeat and only involves the knit stitch, yarn overs and simple knit 2 together decreases. I used 5 balls of Habu Silk Gima for this shawl. I only went up to 220ish stitches as this is a Christening shawl for my nephew, Louie. Consequently I thought it would be more stylish for a young man about town if it was without a lacy boarder.

The silk is brilliant to use and once worked it's gorgeously soft. It is a kind of 3/4 ply but they are not spun together they seem to be flattened/compressed and they separate in places when it's worked which really benefits the texture.

Things that make you go...AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

One of the great things about being in a relationship is that the person that you are with is not you...which means that together you make a better person that you do on your own. Gerard and I have very little in common, weirdly, and I don't understand some of his 'stuff' and he doesn't understand some of mine but one of the biggest differences between us is the ability to let all that stressful stuff about life just wash over us....I can't do it, but G can.

So, I know when a situation is bad when Gerard looks like he might explode! The last two weeks have, of course, been some of the most exciting times for us both, with the new shop opening and all the work that entails. It was hard work, but we've put in so much that it was all worth it....but the whole celebratory mood has been dampened by some of the most inefficient service we've ever encountered. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old fart...just how complicated can it be for British Telecom to install a phone line for us?

For two weeks now we have had no internet access and no telephone into the new shop...so, apologies if you are reading this and you've sent us an email, or booked something online, or tried to call us. We've been assured that it'll be sorted out, but we don't hold out much hope as we are still trying, and trying. We both feel like we've been taken for a ride - and then when we dared to suggest some sort of compensation for loss of business...? Not likely. It wouldn't be so bad if they told us it would be done on such-and-such a day and it was done on that day, but each time there's another problem...and then another...and then another 40 minutes on the mobile trying to get it sorted and having to start the whole sorry tale from the start again. When , finally, we had an engineer in yesterday we did get a phone (hurray) but the BT hub that they had sent two weeks ago now doesn't work, and we have to wait another 2-3 days for a new one....or they did suggest we go and buy one ourselves! It's hilarious - how is it that one of the country's biggest phone/internet providers can take three weeks to connect someone to the internet?

So BT, thanks for ruining one of the most exciting couple of weeks of our life.

And may I extend that thanks to car hire company Sixt (or Sixti, which apparently isn't the same, although the website is the same and the branches are the same...). That's a whole different story, but, seriously...

Why isn't anything ever easy?!

Thanks..

...to everyone who came along to yesterday's opening day for our new shop. We hope you all loved the new place and will make it a home away from home! We've added our photos to the Flickr group, and if you have your own then please feel free to share them with us there.

We must say a very special thanks to Lynsey, Tom, Tom, Claire, Celia, Graham and Alix who, at various times over the last week or so have lifted, painted, stocked and scrubbed various bits of I Knit London to get it ready!

One of the highlights of the day would be that it wasn't just our friends who came out to celebrate. We saw many old friends and made many new ones too. One person we would never have chosne to be without though, sadly, couldn't make it yesterday; we certainly would never have chosen to do this without Esther, who has been a longtime friend to IKL since she came to one of our pub knit nights way back in 2006. Esther, we missed you and we send our love and hope you'll be back with us soon.

This Wednesday's knitting group night will be opening party mark 2...see you then!

C&G

We love local...

It's ironic, after our last post, that we woke up to discover that one of our favourite local shops has closed down. It's very easy to say 'support your local shops' and all that but go to the supermarket every day instead. We live in a flat in Vauxhall and there's a huge Sainsbury's so it's not easy to support the local shops - we are pleased to say that we do try, including some of the local Portuguese delis in the area. But we did patronise the bakery on the corner regularly...so it was a shocker when I went past this morning to see it had closed down. Kaye's Of Lambeth was literally a family-run company in Lambeth for 70 years, started in the 1930s and sadly now swiftly and unexpectedly erased from the streets of Vauxhall. Gerard, especially, will miss their rye bread. It comes at a time when we find ourselves moving into a very local street, and only days after finding the We Love Local website. It's funny how things happen all together sometimes. It's also weird timing as we did go into Sainsbury's last night and partaking of a special offer on Rosé...what struck me was that the receipt said I'd saved £5.99. But, actually, I'd spent £18 I wouldn't have spent to get the saving...so I didn't save anything. It's obvious, but I still fall for the tricks of the supermarkets!

Craig

A house is not a home...

So we're now counting the days until Saturday's opening day at Waterloo. There seems to be so much still to do, which isn't helped by finger injuries and bad backs! One of the things you lucky knitters can look forward to is the new loo! For anyone's who's been along to the knitting nights at Bonnington Square you may have experienced the basement toilet, which is functional but memorable for all the wrong reasons. The new shop had a fairly grimy counterpart until I took a hammer to it. That wasn't my best idea, although it does mean we have a nice new one for everyone to sit on. Hurray. Pictures are proving impossible to load, but maybe that's a blessing!

The shop is taking shape. It's an empty shell with some of the previous fittings and fixtures in place. In an ideal world we'd start from scratch but time and money are against us on that one. We're of the opinion that IKL is more than just bricks and mortar though, and when it's filled with the sound of chattering knitters it could be a barn and it'd still be great. The best thing about the new space is that it's so much bigger...which means more room for yarn, more room for lounging around and more room for classes. As Hal David once wrote, "A room is a still a room, even when there's nothin' there but gloom. But a room is not a house and a house is not a home"...which, basically means I'm trying to say that it's what happens inside IKL that's the most important thing. Having said that, we have splashed out on some lovely new IKEA furniture to fill up with yarn and there's even a chance our new sign will be ready before we open, or perhaps not.

One of the things I'm looking forward to the most though is being part of Lower Marsh. Gerard and I both worked at the National Theatre (I still do!) so it's somewhere we're familiar with as it's so close to the South Bank. It's a really 'local' street, and there's been a market here for centuries. I'm always telling the story of how we stumbled upon the shop in Bonnington Square, and the same serendipity has landed us with the new address. Wandering past a few months ago I noticed the empty shop and thought we'd make the big decision to go for it. It was a clothes shop called The Closet (and all jokes about us both moving into the The Closet have already run dry!) There's a brilliant shop called Radio Days which has, in the past, been a destination for the ladies of the box office at Christmas Party time for a fancy frock or two. I like rooting through the fabulous vintage mags from the forties, and have picked up a few vintage knitting patterns in there too. Further up there's the retro What The Butler Wore for some 60s/70s fashions and next door to that one of the city's best kept secrets, the Scooterworks café. All this and a local bookshop, a couple of nice pubs, Iceland, Boots, sex shop and even the woodwind instrument shop! All it needs is a fabulous knitting shop and you've got a village in the centre of London! I fear that with Cubana at one end and The Walrus at the other we may see late nights at IKL go on til the wee small hours.

For a history of Lower Marsh and a view of some of the shops and cafés you'll find there check the Lower Marsh website.

London's newest knitting shop...

Sort of.

It's been just over two years since Gerard and I started I Knit London. Back then we were a regular knitting group, organising weekly meetings for knitters in London pubs. Every Wednesday we'd choose a pub, send out a newsletter and wait for people to arrive. So far, so easy. It's only ever worked because people came, what we did was really nothing at all. So we'd teach people how to do stuff, and sometimes they'd teach us and we all had a few drinks and got on like a house on fire, made new friends and made stuff. But there was more to do, there was a Sunday market stall at Spitalfields, a decision based on the fact Gerard couldn't buy any recylced sari silk in London, so thought he'd do it himself. Those very early Sunday mornings were very hard work and even if we didn't make back any of the stall rent, we met more knitters and we invited them along to our weekly pub meetings too. Our circle of friends got bigger and our plans did too. but, the last thing we wanted was a shop - why would we need another full-time job on top of the two we already had?

One of our local hang-outs was the Bonnington café, where I'd meet Gerard for lunch when it was my day off from the National Theatre, and he was working around the corner for WaterAid. I don't remember when it was that I first suggested asking about the corner shop, at that time looking pretty grim with the metal shutters down and a blight on the square to be honest. Gerard was working from 8am til 4pm so we thought we could run a shop for people after work, open from 4 to 9 and still give ourselves a little time to have a life. We'd close on Wednesdays so we could still go to the pubs and knit and all would be well. We knocked on a few doors, found the owner and decided to give it a go....and it's been an unexpected journey.

Shortly afterwards Gerard was promoted and had to stay on til 5pm. It's only an hour difference but somehow 5 to 9 each night didn't seem proper, so we got someone to sit there for afternoon, usually on their own, pretending to run a shop, only with no customers. This is when we decided to get our licence to sell alcohol and decided that we'd alternate our weekly knitting group between shop and pub, giving everyone a chance to come and discover IKL and to live up to the 'sanctuary' part of the name which we'd been adamant about from the start. And so it went on....

Recently I've been hearing that because we're a 'business' we're different to other knitting groups; somehow this makes us less worthy of praise, as if our 2 years of work is somehow reaping financial rewards. I only wish! True, Gerard did, finally give up his full-time job at the end of 2007, meaning he can now spend his time and energies on his first love, but it's also true that it means from two incomes we're down to only one! I'm glad the 14 hour working days are over, I'm ecstatic that we won't have to give up our flat and live in the shop again (well, not as far as we plan it anyway) but with only two of us running the shop and the knitting group, not to mention organising SnB Day last year and this year's I Knit Day, it's still a long way from time to relax and put our feet up.

So, the last thing we need right now is more stress and more sleepless nights - but we genuine love IKL so much that we're going to do that anyway...and we're moving. Bonnington Square has been good to us, it's been a beautiful place to rest our knitty heads and it will always be part of our IKL story...but there's always time to move on. Next week London has it's newest knitting shop, at 106 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, SE1. Open late, licenced bar, gorgeous yarns and still a place for knitters to drop-in, put their feet up and have a natter. We wouldn't miss it for the world and we hope knitters from London and those visiting the city think so too.

From a weekly pub knitting group to what we consider to be a very good local yarn store, it has been a long hard slog. We won't be retiring anytime soon and we'll continue to do our best to offer London's knitters what we think they want and need. To all those who think it's easy you are welcome to have a go, and for those who think we're in it for the money - well, I can only laugh! The one thing I will say is that I am never a do-er, I'm always a wannabe! Thanks to Gerard this has been the most interesting (most stressful, most exciting, most unpredictable, most fulfilling...) 2 years of my life. If you want to do something just do it...we are no businessmen, and I still feel like I'm making it up as I go along. The clever part is making it look, apparently, so easy.

I Knit London will open at Waterloo on Saturday 15th March....until then, there's lots of painting, scrubbing and shelf-building to get done!