all aboard

As Craig said in the previous blog post I went all the way to Spain and back last Tuesday just for the miniscule opportunity of getting on TV with my knitting.

I was filmed knitting but I've got no idea if they will use any of it. I sat next top Amy on the plane, she crochet and I knitted. It was the most surreal experience of my 

life and I was served an G&T by Mica Paris. 'would you like a double, darling?' 

'Of course, darling!'

The episode I may or may not be in is tomorrow night at 9pm on ITV2 and I shall certainly be watching, with a double G&T.

I found a picture not really of me, but with me in it. Well, I say 'me in it'; you would be perfectly within your rights to dispute that!

this is a link to the picture on www.itv.com. (there is a man in the aisle and Amy is next to him with her back to us talking to a man with dark hair. there is a small part of my head visible just underneath him!

Amy Lamé is gorgeous and I love her and I hope she wins!

below are some pics at the 5 Star resort we went to. We were there for about 2 hours. Believe it or not I managed to fit in 5 glasses of sangria. Obviously this is because it was very hot.

in th back ground you can see Benidorm.

7 days to Yarn Harlot...

If you're wondering where we've been for the last two weeks, well wonder no more for we are still here. With so much to do for next week's show the blogging just hasn't been a priority. But, very late Friday night and taking a break from proof-reading our programme and trying to please everyone who's coming to the show I thought I'd pop by the blog and post abou what's been happening since 14th August.

One thing's for sure...not much knitting. Personally my knitting output has ground to a halt, while Gerard still manages to find time to get a little action in. But I don't feel the loss too greatly, after all the day-to-day business of 18 hour days keeps my mind occupied. Since the last blog we made the decision (which has been coming for some time) that we'd discontinue our Wednesday knitting pub nights. Not that the knitting group is going anywhere soon, we'll still be hosting that every Wednesday and Thursday, but we'll be inviting people to join us at IKL instead. There's many reasons for this, including the strain it's been putting us under keeping up to the chedule for the last, almost, three years. but we're all very proud of IKL and it's now a great place for knitters to come together so we feel like we're not losing out by having the knitting group here permanently. It's now so easy to get to that meeting in a pub a short walk away seemed a pointless exercise. Plus, there are now so many groups across London who meet up in the pub, or café or wherever that those who do miss it can get a fix pretty much any night of the week. but we're not giving it up completely...as always when one idea ends another starts and we'll be certainly doing more of our one-off knit sessions, special events to keep us occupied.

The knitting group were on the telly too - last Friday, Channel 5 News! Big time! Talking of which, Gerard may well be spotted in the forthcoming CelebAir reality TV show which starts on ITV2 next week. He was on the inaugural flight which left Gatwick for Alicante last Tuesday. He was there for about three hours, then he flew back again. The life of jetsetting knitting celeb is all glamour. How many of us can say we went to Alicante with her from Steps, Andi Peters and Chico? I know...I'm jealous too. Still, we have to big up Miss Amy Lamé and wish her the best of luck with the Great British Public. If you're likely to be taking a CelebAir flight in the next few weeks give her a good rating on your feedback form!

So, only a week to go before I Knit Day. It comes around so fast. Stephanie will be arriving on Friday and we have the honour of taking her out for a meal (a nice break from setting up 60 market stalls)...then it's showtime. In the meanwhile I'm just going to get back to my list of things to do. I'm up to number 24...only another 53 to go.

see yous all next Saturday (nervous breakdown permitting)

Craig

I Knit Day looms...

To calm the nerves of knitters across the country we can categorically confirm that tickets for this year's I Knit Day have now been posted out! If you don't believe us here's a picture of Gerard with a box full of them, all stamped and ready to go.....

For those of you who haven't bought a ticket yet get yourself one now by clicking here and make sure you don't miss out on a brilliant day. I'll be updating the website tonight with more info about who you can see, meet, buy stuff from and have a drink with on the day. We've also launched our Knit Your Own Alien! Competition and we're working our way through the ranks of sci-fi celebs for a judge (to join Yarn Harlot and Mazzmatazz)...but it's not looking good. Sylvester McCoy anyone? But we need your entries anyway - your work will be shown on the day and you might even win our prize goodie bag, including tickets to see Dr Who maestro Russell T. Davies in conversation at the National Theatre.

Everything's happening so fast that we've hardly time to sleep, but we promise we'll hold off the nervous breakdowns until after 6th September. Until then, keep knitting and save your pennies for lots of loveliness at I Knit Day!

Craig

Visitors...from Uruguay, from New Jersey, from outer space...!

Having a knitting shop in central London means we get lots of visitors...from near, from far and from all over the place. I sometimes wish we'd started some sort of album to record everyone we meet, whether at the knitting group, the shop or out and about. I think it was Quentin Crisp who once said his ambition was to meet everyone on Earth before he died. Well, we're quite far off but we do get the chance to meet quite a few folk! And knitters are generally a pretty interesting bunch. A few weeks ago we had a visit from Tom and Sue from Artesano, along with Rodolfo, general manager at Manos del Uruguay. Rodolfo and his wife were visiting the UK from, well, Uruguay, and visited a few shops sticking their gorgeous yarns. Manos is a co-operative of over 800 women, producing and supplying hand spun, hand dyed yarns and wools. It's one of Gerard's favourites. Just last week we had a visit from Doris Jenne who runs her own yarn store in New Jersey, A Yarn For All Seasons. We get a lot of yarn shop folks passing through on holiday and checking out the UK versions. We like to do the same - we popped into Knitwits in Penzance whilst on our hols last week.


One of our most regular vistors though is Mia. We're sad that we won't be seeing her much anymore. She comes in regularly to get out of the heat and/or the rain and have a quiet kip in our basement. She belongs to Andrea, lovely Andrea who sells flowers from her market stall outside the shop. Sadly Andrea's decided to give it up for now - so no more Mia. We're sad, we'll miss them! The picture is of Mia fulfilling one of I Knit London's remits - relaxing!


A few months ago we started to make a 'rogue's gallery' of our visitors to the knitting group witha Polaroid of everyone to put up on our wall - now Polaroid have only gone and decided they're not making the iconic Polaroid film anymore. It's a travesty!



Very soon we'll be invaded by visitors of a different sort. Our new Knit Your Own Alien! Competition has just been launched for I Knit Day! Originally we'd had the idea of a Dr. Who knitting competition but we've decided to shelve that idea due to recent issues with the BBC...but, not ones to give up an idea easily we've decided that knitters are far too creative to just copy other people's aliens, so why not just create your own? The possibilities are endless! Anyone can enter, any age, from any planet - you just need to get them to us by Saturday 6th September....or bring them along to the show on the day. Mazzmatazz, now something of an expert on such matters ,will join with Yarn Harlot to judge the entries and there may even be a special guest judge too (if they don't keep saying they're busy!) A super-sooper prize will be given to the winning alien entry, which we still have to decide on. Follow the link above for full details and how to take part.

Craig

GA, IKL, BA(Hons), KCG....F.U.N.E.X?

We didn't really announce it properly, but a couple of weeks ago Gerard was voted in as the new Vice Chair of the Knitting and Crochet Guild (KCG). The guild is celebrating it's 30th year this year and is looking forward to another 30 and more. Set up in 1978 to preserve and nurture the skills of knitting and crochet and to conserve what is a major part of our cultural and craft heritage, they continue to devote time and energy to promoting knitting and crochet throughout the UK. The Guild has also been successful in mounting exhibitions and running courses and workshops as part of an expanding education programme; those who have attended any of the major knitting festivals in the UK will have come across their stands. It has been active in producing commercial publications, establishing a book and Pattern Search Service and HelpLine. The guild also produces a quarterly journal (SlipKnot) which includes news and interviews, reviews and information. They actively set up regional groups, providing displays and clinics at national yarn fairs, selling Heritage Kits and much more. You can be a member of the KCG too and join up via their website, or pick up an application form in the shop. Help them take knitting on into the 21st century whilst retaining an important link with tradition and knitting history.

I'm sure that Gerard will report here on the blog himself about his first KCG meeting in a few weeks' time. Meanwhile, when I heard he'd become GA of the KCG (which sounds a bit like a character in a Bond film) it reminded me of one of my favourite Two Ronnies sketches...F.U.N.E.X? It's a classic and any tenuous link to get a chance to share it is taken!

C, IKL!

Knitting SW and weekly round-up!

We've been away again! Breaks are like buses for us - we don't have one for ages then two come along at once. No sooner were we back from Camp Bestival than we headed back to Dorset for a weekend with Melody Rose. Melody is a mythical, legendary being - for it is she who taught Gerard how to knit. A very special person indeed I'm sure you'll agree. Please give up the love to Rosie on Ravelry (melodymolyneux)! We had a great time down SW, a weekend that involved sea walks, ice creams and trespassing in stately homes. Whilst in Worth Matravers (if you visit over the summer do pop in to see Rosie selling her ice creams in the village 'shop') we discovered the grave of Benjamin Jesty - ever wondered what else you could use your knitting needles for? Well, it's said that Mr Jesty, who discovered innoculation, did so by experimenting on his family, injecting them with cowpox using a knitting needle. Lovely. By the way, if you're visiting wareham don't bother looking for old knitting patterns in the charity shops because we cleared them all out. Some cracking ones to boot.



On Monday we headed further SW to Cornwall. Those who read the blog and come along to the knitting group or the shop may have met Tom Tillery, our knitting gent and sometime actor. Tom is appearing at the incredible Minack Theatre in(pictured) all this week in Curioser and Curioser, based on the stories of Alice by Lewis Carroll. Sadly, Cornwall seems to be the only part of the UK without sunshine - so we endured gale force winds and rain for the three days we were there - the theatre is carved into the cliffside overlooking the sea and that can get a bit choppy. Tuesdays performance was abandoned halfway through, but there was still a frisson of excitement sitting high up on the cliffs watching the show. We were camping at a nearby site and the lovely last night weather really cheered us up. Thought we were going to get blown away, tent and all, in the middle of the night. But, long walks during the daytime around some of the hidden coves and country lanes more than made up for the crap weather, along with some rather nice local cider.


Back to London and quickly back to normality on Wednesday for knitting at the Royal Festival Hall. We melted. Last night wasn't much better at the shop either, but things are looking up folks! Looks like it's not so sunny today. We were packed in last night and the new Brothers Pear and Strawberry cider was going down a treat. it was good to see an illicit Adipose pattern wafting around too - IKL, a den of smuggling and black market shenanigans!

Whilst we were away there was, of course, the excitement of the Guardian knitting supplement which, to all intents and purposes, did the job and went down a treat (mostly!). To see knitting in mainstream newspapers is always exciting, so to see a whole supplement was almost orgasmic, whether it includes Gerard or not. Congrats to Mazzmatazz (unmasked at last!) and those who put the thing together. On the flipside of that we also had the knitted Hitler debacle, which was whipped up by The Sun and The Telegraph to name two. Rachel Matthews' latest publicity stunt seems to have polarised opinion...but one thing that everyone seems to agree on is....Why? It now seems there isn't a book of knitting patterns for Pol Pot etc after all. Oh well, still got in the papers didn't it? We are a bit peprlexed by the whole thing. Oh, yeah, right we knitters are all cool, edgy, subversive blah, blah, blah.

Yesterday we went along the the Royal Horticultural Halls to do a recce ahead of next month's I Knit Day. We came away much encouraged by proceedings - we think it's going to be great (but we would, wouldn't we?) There's a good chance there'll be a small number of extra tickets available for the Yarn Harlot talk now that we've done the sums, counted the chairs and measured the space! We'll announce details of these, and standing room, in our weekly newsletter for those who wish to snap them up. but, tickets are still available right now for the show which gets bigger each week - just confirmed is Sasha Kagan!

Also confirmed for a bit later is Franklin Habit. Also known by his blog, The Panopticon. Franklin will be along to I Knit London on 13th November to launch his new book of knitting cartoons, It Itches, and talk about his blog and stuff. We're very thrilled indeed. We're looking at more of the same for IKL over the coming months, so look out for more special guests poppping up.


That's about it for a round up of this week's stuff. We'll get back to regular randomness now we are back in the swing of things.

I have photos to add, but as is usual with Blogger they don't load. I'll try again later.



Craig

Camp Bestival and In The Loop

We've been quite for a while, not because we disappeared and took it easy but because we've been travelling along the south coat - more specifically to the In The Loop conference in Winchester, followed by Camp Bestival, where we hosted the UK's first festival knitting tent. More of that later....

Our first port of call was Winchester for a really special three-day knitting conference. Speakers ranged from r Martin Polley discussing Sportsmen and their sweaters: Using knitting patterns as historical reference (a favourite with the crowd due to the use of a certain undies ad featuring Freddie Ljundberg), to Sabrina Gschwandtner, Jennie Atkinson, Jane Waller and Rachel Beth Egenhofer's knitting/technology work. We were treated to a splendid array of subjects, plus got to meet the speakers, recent graduate artists and other delegates. There were many familiar faces to Gerard and myself, and hopefully we made some new ones too. Some of the talks and presentations meant more to us than others, and we were disappointed with the preponderence of machine-knitting and mass market knitwear presentations, but on the whole it was a brillaint three days. Some work by a couple of recent graduates will be shown at our I Knit Day in September and we hope to be giving our own presentation next year! If you can make it to Winchester it is well worth stopping by to visit the knitting refernece library, and, in Southampton the Montse Stanley collection which partly inspired the conference in the first place. One of the highlights for me was when I skipped out at lunchtime and did my now traditional charity shop crawl - came away with a few choice books, including Patricia Roberts Knitting Book 2. Best of all though was a market stall with a huge box full of patterns - they weren't cheap but I got them anyway and have quite a few nice 1930s and 1940s ones mixed in amongst the other stuff. They can be seen at the shop, where we are still deciding exactly what to do with all of our old patterns. After a terrible night's camping (nice campsite, shame it was next to a dual carriageway!) we opted for the posh option and stayed in a hotel for the rest of the stay!

That wasn't an option for rest of the weekend though, as we drove along to Lulworth castle to set up our Camp Bestival knitting tent. When Rob called way back when to ask if we'd like to do it we jumped at the chance. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! But not everything we do is a success, and there were thoughts that perhaps this could be one of those forgettable times! I'm ever the pessimist! Gerard, on the other hand, just believes everything is brilliant (he's right, of course) so all he needs to look to the heavens for is more beer (pictured). Who wants to knit at a festival anyway? Well, by the looks of it, quite a few people. The knitting tent was packed all weekend and we pretty much covered our fabulous Great British Sheep in glorious knitting. This was a genuinely family-friendly festival and the kids got so into it that the sheep now has an amazing finger-knitted necklace. But it was incredibly reassuring to see so many young people, including some very tiny ones, who could already knit, and especially the number of boys who didn't shirk from getting involved. it's interesting that they haven't (yet) received any of the stereotypes or hang-ups that quite a few men seem to encounter when they come near a ball of yarn and some needles - that said, we must pay respect to all the blokes who got down and knitted with us too. We had a brilliant team of volunteers who worked their bloody socks of all weekend and we thank them.

This was a really different festival -such a great atmosphere all weekend, mainly helped by the number of young 'uns running around. As Wayne Coyne (Flmaing Lips) said during his Saturday night headline slot, "I can't believe how many kids are here! All you people under 10 years old I want you to remember this moment and when you're older, turn to your parents and thank them for being so fucking COOL for bringing you to a festival like this!" How right you are Mr Coyle. It was loveliness all the way, and we even met up with some friends from The Shellac Sisters and regulars at the shop and knitting group too.

One of our main reasons for creating The Great British Sheep and taking parts in events like Camp Bestival are to get people knitting. We don't care how 'cool' it is, how old the knitters are, how crap you are at it, just as long as you're making stuff it doesn't really matter. It was great to see so many people getting involved and we must've taught well over a hundred people their first casting on and off. We just hope they take something away from the knitting tent and keep it up. It was certainly a resounding success and we're looking forward to doing it all over again next year.

And, if you really must say knitting's cool, then....we did have Kate Nash (pictured) along for the afternoon on Sunday and she gave the knitting tent a mention on the main stage during her set too. OK, so knitting is cool after all.

We could write so much more about the weekend, but at our age our memories don't hold much info. instead, take a look at our pictures for more...

where's all the knitting gone?

I had a great birthday on Wednesday. I love being in the shop and so many people who came down came wished me a happy birthday and it was so nice - thank you all.

I got great presents! Lots of cake, obviously and lots of booze - perhaps most obviously. I love my spinning wheel. Craig is brilliant and it's the perfect gift. I was awake at 6.30am , although I was quite squiffy when I went to bed - and was spinning away for ages. Perhaps not spinning properly but I have some time available at Camp Bestival where the rather marvelous Alix will hopefully give me some tuition.

I wish that I could post more about knitting here but the only knitting I've done recently has been for this. So I can't show you any! I'm very excited about it, though.

I have other very special news. Last Saturday I was elected as Vice Chair of The Knitting and Crochet Guild. I am very excited about this new string to my bow and I can't wait to get to work! But before that you must all become members straight away.

Gxx

Happy birthday to Gerard

Yesterday it was Gerard's birthday. It's not the done thing to give a ladies age away so I won't (and he's younger than me so I don't want to give that game away either!). Here he is playing with his new spinning wheel which I bought from the Handweaver's Studio near Blackhorse Road. G almost bought on at Woolfest before I talked him out of it. By all accounts he had a good day, despite being 'at work' in the shop - when I arrived just before 6 I think a few quaffs of champers had already gone down,

and a few cakes to boot. As it was Wednesday it was also knitting group night and we had cake, cake and more cake. Thanks everyone!

Gerard got a very special pressie at the start of the week too...but I'm not allowed to tell! I'm sure you'll be hearing all about it very soon....

We're gearing up for Elefest on Saturday where we are helping out the ladies from the In-Spire craft group with a brilliant new project called Knit the Aylesbury. The infamous Aylesbury estate in south London has stood for over 40 years but is now due for demolition - local residents and the community craft group have decided to knit a scale model of the whole estate - all 2500 homes as a lasting reminder. It's a unique project and they need your help to make it happen. There are a number of workshops throughout the summer where you can get involved, the first is this Saturday, 12th July as the Elefest festival - in St Mary's Churchyard, newington Butts, there'll be free open air screenings of archive films plus a chance to get started on those 10,000 odd windows and numerous trees! It's this kind of social knitting project that we really crave and admire. Despite our status as a shop (which some people see as an automatic bar to being involved in any type of charity/social/community projects!) we spend much of our time promoting knitting in many other ways than just selling yarn. This, Knit a River, The Great British Sheep et al. are some of the things I'm most proud of when I think of I Knit London.

See our Knit the Aylesbury page for full details.

Craig

The Great British Sheep (and the great British summer)

Today we were on the South Bank, outside the National Theatre, to take part in their annual Watch This Space festival. It was the Alternative Village Fete and it was wonderful. Things didn't bode well, I must say, when I woke up and carried a huge sackful of wool around to the NT at 9.30 this a.m. when it was pouring with rain and I got soaked through. But the unpredictable British summer saw us through and it turned out to be a lovely day, perfect for knitting with wool!

Today we launched our latest project, The Great British Sheep, which we like to call a "celebration of British wool, knitting and sheep". With over 60 native breeds, more than any other country, you'd think we'd have British wool coming out of ears...but, really, can you go to your local yarn store and pick up a few balls of it? I'm often dismayed by the cravings for foreign brand yarns which don't come close to the quality and gorgeousness of their British counterparts, but which are snapped up by knitters who think it must be good because it's number one on Ravelry and everyone's knitting with it in the States. Sure, there are some very special yarns from all over the world, but why do we have such disdain for our own homegrown stuff? Honestly, whilst collecting yarn for this project I've been amazed by the range and quality (and the price) of some our British wool, most of which you wouldn't find unless you visited the farm from whence it came. It's this that made us want to start the project in the first place, and one of the reasons we are still very proud to be the only yarn shop in the capital with a regular stock of pure British wool, from Shetland, Wales and Wensleydale to name a few.

Rant over. What a brilliant day! The sun shone, the spinners spun, the knitters certainly did knit...a lot. We thought we'd see regular faces and knitting group folk, but, in fact, most of our friends stayed away and we met hundreds of people who have been hiding somewhere, all keen and excited to get their hands on the wool. Free wool! We thought we'd have every knitting group in the city down there getting some stitches in! As it was, during the course of the afternoon hundreds of knitters joined us and took part, and to them we say "thanks". Accompanied by entertainment of the distinctly weird and wonderful kind, surrounded by vegetable sculpture, cake decorating and WI stare-out challenges, as well as guinea pigs, rabbits and ducks from Vauxhall City Farm, we covered our sheep statue in loopy stitch and more.

But, it's not over yet....in two weeks we head for Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle in Dorset where we hope to finish our sheep's 'knitted fleece'...and we need more wool! You can see a list of the breeds we still need, plus links to all our generous suppliers so far on the Great British Sheep page - but, if you have ANY 100% British wool in your stash, please send it in to us at the shop address, whether we have that breed or not. We'll be teaching more people to knit and getting more folk involved and we need more yarn!

Our first batch of photos are now online here, and if you were there you can add your own to our I Knit photo group.

As a final note for now, we both want to personally thank Yvonne, who has so brilliantly captured our idea and designed and built our fabulous sheep. Thanks Yvonne.

Craig

"Are you the London Knitting Society...?"

...so said a fellow at The George Inn on Wednesday night when we convened for our weekly London knitting group! What's funny is that a few weeks ago he was accosted in the street by a knitter carrying a balloon and asking him if he could say "I Knit" in a foreign language. Oh yes, it's a small world indeed, and on 14th June he'd inadvertantly taken part in our Worldwide Knit in Public Day Treasure Hunt, where he'd helpfully told one of the teams how to say the phrase in Iranian. We told him that it was clearly fate and he should take it up - I used the fact that I was surrounded by a group of lovely ladies as a prime example of why men should knit more, but he turned us down and told us he was engaged. Not generally a bar to knitting, but there you are.

The George was a good place to meet, if a little busy. Whilst we didn't manage to grab any outside tables,after a bit of moving about we did settle into the far room with plenty of space, nachos and cider. We had a finished project too and it's always nice when that last stitch is completed at a knit night. If anything, is an excuse for another drink. Do we sound like alcoholics? Honest, it's not true, although we did have a comment from the lady on the next table who noted that, "There seems to be more drinking than knitting going on here. My knitting circle is never as lively as this!" We took it as a compliment.

In other news, I've been particularly enjoying being distracted by the new AussieBum adverts appearing at a bus stop near you anytime soon. Summer is definitely here and those pesky admen will do their level best to sell you the most unattainable stuff you'll never need. Believe me, these ads serve up the most unattainable stuff in so many ways! I suppose I could spend all summer in the gym...but then there'd be no need for fancy swimming trunks by the time winter comes around.

We're gearing up for our launch of The Great British Sheep tomorrow at the South Bank. I think we need a name for him/her though? Any ideas? It looks stunning I must say and I want to give credit to Yvonne who rose to the challenge and created a work of art. I've asked her to design our KNIFTA award now too!

Craig

Woolfest memories

Straight after Thursday's knitting group meeting Gerard and I travelled oop North for our first Woolfest. I'm a Cumbrian boy, born and bred, but we hadn't had the chance to get up to the show before. Ooh, the excitement was barely contained! After a stop off at a motel outside Preston (nice) we arrived on Friday morning and headed straight for the venue. It was a brilliant event - beneath the metal roof of a giant cowshed were yarns, fleece, sheep and alpacas, angora goats and rabbits, spinners, dyers and fibre fans from all over the place. We spent almost the whole day there, feeling up the fleeces. Gerard had a go with the world's biggest knitting needles (below) (you can have a go too, when Ingrid comes along for I Knit Day in September) and he gained a healthy obsession with the curly Wensleydale sheep and bought his first drop-spindle with a view to being a beginner spinner sometime soon. It was great to meet so many familiar faces and meet up with loads of people who we only know as Ravatars! We saw the sheep shearing and felt compelled to buy a fleece - no idea how we'll wash it, perhaps it'll be a 'gift' for someone...and we scrounged our way around the stands collecting for The Great British Sheep project with some success. Thank you to everyone who got so enthusiastic about it and watch out for our first photos from the fete this weekend. Personally I fell for the Herdwicks (pictured). I want one!

We stayed at a lovely hotel in Cockermouth, the Allerdale Court, and noted that it was pretty much full of knitters too...ProbablyJane's name we spotted in the signing in book, there were little knit sessions in the hallway outside our room, and in the evening knitting in the bar. Even at breakfast we saw the Freyalyn witch (sans hat as the ceilings were too low). We loved it so much we went back on Saturday for more! Our boot was stuffed by the end of it all and our pockets a bit lighter.

But this being my 'home country' there were friends to catch up with, family to visit and amazing views to be taken in, plus sampling some local beer here and there. On Sunday we headed off to the fantastic Kirkstile Inn in Loweswater for a post-Woolfest knitting group meeting. If anything it was worth it for the drive and the spectacular location, nestled at the foot of Mellbreak and with stunning views...and the sun even came out for us! A perfect end to the weekend, and thanks to those who made the journey there to join us. Heading back to the motorway we both felt like we were hoping for a reason to make us turn back.

You can see all of our Woolfest Weekend 2008 photos now in our Flickr gallery.

Crochet Jam!

Saturday's Crochet Jam at the Riyal Festival Hall was so much fun! The Jam was to encourage people to crochet and to contribute to the Hyperbolic Coral Reef at the same time!

We had a great team of teachers including Sue, Yvonne, Claire, Denise and Maria. Thank you to all for being brilliant.

We had the Shellac Sisters, Virginia and Ms Pip, to keep swaying all afternoon and the most amazing Kalki Le Hula spinning a different way. It was brilliant to see almost 100 open mouthed crocheters as Kalki worked her way through a stunning hula hoop twirling performance. She even crocheted while she was twirling!

Even though it was quite hot in the Clore Ballroom we produced a mighty bunch of hyperbolics which were ceremoniously pinned on to the coral mound and is now on display at the Festival Hall.

Amy Lamé was great, as usual as our host and I was marvelous as her not so glamorous assistant. I also got to be an independent adjudicator (for the second time!) when Amy did a quiz!

The exhibitions will be at the RFH and the Hayward Gallery until August. You can still contribute!!!

Gxx

I didn't take any pictures last night, sorry I forgot. But these are pictures from a Thursday a couple of weeks ago.

Last night was very relaxed, we talked about Dr Who, British Pensions Schemes, campaigning and influencing policy, the crochet jam, rhyming words with horsey and saucy, doing TV quizes, Camp Bestival, cider, Fentimen drinks, free online patterns, Heroes, Woolfest and hotel in Cumbria.

We also talked about the virtues of Knitpicks needles. We sell quite a range of the now, the options sets included!!!

I Knit London knitting group at Concrete Bar and Café

I Knit at Concrete Bar and Café, June 2008,
originally uploaded by iknitlondon.

Each Wednesday and Thursday we run the knitting group. We have done for over 2 years. We go to pubs, We sit in parks. We have our own knitting shop and sanctuary. We haven't done a regular blog until now - so each week we'll post a pic and a list of what he talked about....you never know who you'll meet, what you'll knit or where the conversation will lead!

Last night we enjoyed the bar's 'laughing hour' with buy one get one free on beer, wine and cocktails; amigurumi, Afghanistan, Ravelry, hyperblic crochet; Russian beer; champagne and peach schnapps; Kate Moss; tabloid news; The Great British Sheep; Woolfest; how to suck a vodka-soaked melon; Carlisle; gaydom; Matt Lucas' divorce; Dr Who; David Tennant in Hamlet....

The conversation continues tonight!

The World Wide Knit in Public Big London Knitty Treasure Hunt

Today, Saturday 14th June, was Worldwide Knit in Public Day 2008. All over the world knitting groups got together, large and small and knit together. Here at IKL we celebrated the day with the first ever London knitty treasure hunt featuring cryptic clues, celebrities, knitting around London's most famous landmarks, hunting knitty treasure and learning to knit and walk at the same time!



A massive thanks to everyone who came along to take part. We eventually had 20 teams and 63 entrants all of whom got well into the spirit of things and followed our clues from Waterloo, The Old Vic (below) along the South Bank, over Waterloo Bridge, into Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square (left) and home to the IKL shop via Big Ben and Banksy's Leake Street tunnel. Congratulations to the victors, team 4 Ply, a fabulous achievement especially as they produced the 2nd longest scarf! Late arrivals, team Unprepared who arrived about two hours after the first team had headed off and arrived back after the prize-giving ceremony with a whopping 117 points. They took home some prizes but due to their lateness they sadly didn't qualify but congratulations on a fabulous effort. Congratulations also to team A Tension Seeker for winning the WWKIP Day scarf challenge with a humungous 90+ inches long (beating the 4 Ply team into second with only 86")!

Along the way teams discovered bits of hidden London, they knitted on Routemaster buses, they knitted with policemen and street performers, pearly kings and queens and celebrities (congratulations to the teams who met and knit with Terry Pratchett and Una Stubbs!). We saw Laurence Olivier wearing a knitted hat, Field Marshall Monty with a legwarmer and Charlie Chaplin with a knitted scarf (all statues of course), and special mention to team Pop who, aptly, sabotaged the balloons of fellow treasure hunters in a display of ruthless competitiveness (which ultimately didn't do them any good!)

I hope a brilliant day was had by all. I popped over into town to search for teams mid-afternoon and got lost amidst the throngs at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, but well done for sheer tenacity in finishing the course. We've even learnt to say "I Knit" in 21 different languages, including Urdu and Kiribati!

Please post your pictures from the day's events to the free I Knit on Flickr group. If you haven't an account you can join up now or send us the photos by email to info@iknit.org.uk and we can put them up for you - show everyone how you got on, and we really want to see Una!

A few of the challenges included:

knitting on a Routemaster bus - yes, there are still Routemasters running in london and a few of our teams managed to get on and knit on this London icon

knitting with a celebrity - only a few teams scored points on this ne. Terry Pratchett was popular with three teams knitting his presence, but top marks to the team who knitted with Una Stubbs (who was also an answer to one of the questions!)

dressing up statues in knitting - from Laurence Olivier and Charlie Chaplin to Frank Dobson's 'London Pride' sculpture, London statues were kitted out in knittiness from armbands and woolly hats to legwarmers and scarves

knitting with the Old Bill - London's boys and girls in blue were (for the most part) only too happy to pose with knitters for WWKIP Day!

knit at landmarks beginning with P, U, R and L - Ok, so we gots lots of knitting in front of the London Eye and the River Thames, but what about a Urinal!?

knit with a Pearly king or Queen - ah, yes, those quintessentially Cockney characters. We Londoners see them all the time right..? Well, surprisingly three teams did manage to meet up and knit with some genuine Pearly Kings and Queens!

find a knitty street sign - how about The Strand? New Row? Obscuring the letters of Wootton Street was a more creative entry!

Once again, HUGE thanks to all knitters...let's do it all again next year...?

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!