thursday is for socks

We had another delivery today. Lots more sock. This time it's Lang, a fab German yarn that's come in so many colours and different blends that I was exhausted just looking at the shade card.

There is also lots of shades of self patterning which are fab, and they are all machine washable.

I managed to so a little of one of them, tiny, tiny, tiny sock!

Then all of these people turned up and now I'm in the corner while they are having a fab time knitting and chatting over a bottle of cider or a glass of wine. Thanks to karen for the gorgeous sample of organic spanish red. I had something called vino terrano (home brew) on new years eve while staying with craig's day in Spain. It was powerful stuff and I had heartburn for 3 weeks afterwards. This wine is not like that, it's lovely.

There was over 35 people in the shop tonight. It's marvelous. There is even someone granting wishes! It's a funny looking wand, though, so I'm not holding my breath!

This is Christine with another Victorian Lace Today product. Although you can't tell from the angle of this picture, Christine is just as happy with her shawl as the baby is!

I love Christine - she has become very interested in artesano alpaca. btw, I also love Denise, who is friends with Christine, thanks for the biscuits, Denise, you're a star!

Gxx

The Women

we went to see The Women the other day. I'm not a massive fan of Meg Ryan and I hadn't read any reviews or anything but I was looking forward to it.

I thought it was going to be some kind of indie style, philosophical, female driven depiction of female empowerment. It really wasn't. It was fun, though, and the performance were good but it centred around a man you never met. It was great that it was a film entirely populated by women but even this was a bit weird as it was a little overused. Women were everywhere - on street corners, stood in corridors, loitering everywhere. Seeing lesbians stood kissing each other in the aisles of a lesbian restaurant was rather marvelous, though Sitting down at your table and kissing is very boring, especially for a lesbian!

It was a great film, though. I haven't seen the original but I will soon. Joan Crawford was in the original and we all know how difficult she was. Joan is a famous knitter and would often knit on set. Apparently, she didn't like Norma Shearer too much so she would knit really loudly, clacking her needles together, while on set hoping to upset her co star! Director george Cukor once ordered her to leave her knitting off-set!

When Craig told me this it kind of summed up the whole film - new version at least - there was not an ounce of subtlety anywhere in the film.

here is a link to the trailer of the original film.

Gxx

books

I've been shopping. I've had lots of time since the 6 September - well, relatively as the shop is still very busy.

I went a little crazy on eBay. I got about 20 books in a week. All are great books, some better than others but I love them all. I think I might do some fair isle swatches and get them framed...

Practical Knitting Illustrated is brilliant and was published in 1930's I think - there is an inscription that says 1940.

this is most of my purchases!
this is Craig's only contribution! - not even if we had a dog!
I love this book. It has a section about designing sweaters and there are pages and pages of charts like the one below.

Does anyone want to manage a very busy knitting shop in central London? I have some knitting to do.

Gxx

knit and lace blocking kits

The most fabulous blocking kits arrived today. I'm a bit of a sucker for a gimmick - I know that you can use any old metal rods and pins but you can't beat a bit of kit that was specially made for the job.

They are by Take It Personally by Gifts By Tip and they are fab.

The kits consists of twelve 36" rigid wires, two 24" flex wires, twenty steel T pins, blocking instructions AND a yard stick. It all comes in a tube so storage is easy, too!

I love 'em, no excuses now!

here they are!

Gxx

we are the 'elite'

The Times listed us as one of the best things to do tonight. They called us London's elite!

Does this mean that we are the biggest and the most briliantest and the bestest knitting group in the whole wide world and the universe?

Nah, it just means that we're great! Being in the newspaper is great but it's not really validation we need, is it? I always knew you were the elite. I say this a lot, the knitting groups are only great because of the people who come. It's great to hear you all chattering away and showing off your knitting and getting excited about other people's knitting.

One of my favorite things about working in the shop is regulars to the group who come in looking for something they can't quite find and they ask for help - "there was a woman in here the other night night and she was knitting the most beautiful shawl out of sock yarn and I can't stop thinking about it so I want to make one."

Gxx

the largest tea cosy in the world

dream workshop?

the blog a day idea didn't last long!

We're busy planning for national knitting week. We have lots going on, with presentations and book signings -

Knitting and Crochet Guild presentation on Wednesday 15 Oct

Lise-Lotte Lystrup, author of Vintage knits will be with us on Thursday

Franklin is coming on 14 November!

We also have the launch of A Stitch in Time on 22 November.

AND, just as a little tease! we have the launch of the most brilliant tea cosy book sometime in the end of November!!!!

Before all that, though, Erika Knight will be with us on 4 October to launch her new book, Men's Knits, and auction the garments!

With all this in mind, plus, I am still dreaming about having met Jane Sowerby, Heléné Magnusson, and Erika Knight, and Sandra Polley, Sasha Kagan, Maggie Knits and everyone at I Knit Day, I am wondering about dream workshops. 

There are a few people people whose workshops I would love to attend. There are so many people with so many skills that I would love to learn that, I think, I could happily be a full time workshop participant. It's a tough questions, but...

Who would lead your dream workshop?

I'd love to have your ideas and opinions, please leave a comment.

Gxx

Knitters 0 Non-knitters 2

After last year's attempt to beat the Eggheads we were up for another challenge and a few months ago we entered BBC4's newest quiz show Only Connect. The Knitters teams was made up myself and Tom, reprising our roles from Eggheads, and new member Esther. The episode was broadcast on Monday night and you can still find it on BBC iPlayer if you're quick. Actually, it's funny how you misremember things - I wasn't looking forward to watching but it wasn't as bad as I thought. We did OK, and certainly have nothing to be too ashamed of...all I kept thinking though was how rough I looked and that I don't smile much ;( We take some comfort in the fact that we were beaten by a team of Quiz Professionals who run their own Quiz Show company! (Though not sure why they were the 'Lapsed Psychologists' and not the 'Quiz Quiz Quiz' team...?

The game itself was a good one. If you're into useless trivia it's perfect for you! What really got the nerves going was when we heard the string-heavy theme tune which made me think...oh dear, this sounds like it's going to be a bit too highbrow for my liking. Indeed, some of the questions in the rehearsal (and the show) went right over my head (I still have no idea what a quark is) but I am especialy proud that we managed to get the pilots of the Thunderbirds in the right order for one point, even if we didn't know any novels by Evelyn Waugh. But our winning streak still hasn't started! Two done, two lost....next time victory is ours.

In a nice twist, Gerard and I went off to our semi-regular pop quiz at our favourite London pub, the Retro Bar last night. With 19 out of 20 we won the bloody thing! hurray. Our prize....we didn't get the money but we did win the 2009 Cliff Richard calendar, which they give away every year in the quiz. Secretly I was quite pleased and I kept hold of mine. So he might be a homophobic hypocrite but he was a bit of a looker once and his tunes (pre-1981) aren't bad. Last time I mentioned Cliff on this blog we had a barrage of Cliff fans getting in touch and commenting to preserve his sainthood. This week they failed to get him to number one in what was a gimmick that actually just tarnishes what is an amazing pop career. It's a shame he had to try so hard with a crap song and a crap gimmick. Re-release some of his good stuff and he's more likely to to get to number one again. There's some kind of irony in Cliff, once a supporter of the hateful Festival of Light, that he's sandwiched between Sex on Fire, I Kissed A Girl and The Pussycat Dolls!

Craig

a blog a day...

...well, I'm going to try anyway. I doubt it will last long.



Here are a few pics as I have Craig's camera! (I've lost my camera and the cable that connects my phone to the computer!) I think we are moving the shop around tomorrow - that'll be the second time this week - so I might find them both!


this is a picture of my favorite knitting at the moment. It's going to be a glove with Icelandic heart pattern from Hélène Magnusson's Icelandic Knitting. I was thrilled that Hélène came to our show the other week and I fell in love with her as I had fell in love with the book. Hélène wrote a special message to me in my copy of her book. Also, I'm really glad to say we sell the yarn used in the book, Lodband Einband from Istex, pure Icelandic single ply lace.

we got lots of Malabrigo last week. This is the lace merino and omg it's gorgeous. We have very little left, actually!this is the sock yarn. it's really amazing and it's been flying out. It's a 3ply superwash merino, kettle dyed, loads of colours.

new in this week is Woolcraft with Wensleydale which was also at our show the other day. I love this stuff. It's amazing. The sheen is extraordinary. It's pricey, mind, but there are only a few of the sheep left, especially the dark colours.

Guess what my Mum's getting this Christmas. If she's lucky!

Gxx

did I say relax?

As if!

It's been so long since I blogged properly that Craig has started gently encouraging me to get back to it. The thing is, I'm always so tired and never have any knitting to put up because, actually, running a knitting shop prevents you from doing any knitting. Which, I suppose, is one of life's little ironies.

Not so little, of course.

I still don’t really understand my life. I never have, really – Stephanie Pearl McPhee said that knitters are incomprehensible and I laughed knowingly. I’ve always felt incomprehensible to the people that matter most to me, another irony. This meant I often felt uneasy. I don’t feel uneasy any more though. This feels like the most natural way of being. I love this life, the knitting, the knitters, the events, the cider, the authors and designers, the artists and of course, the wool – ohmygod the wool, we’ve just got some of the most extraordinary Wensleydale in lace and DK, it made my mouth water. I wonder if I’ll ever get to knit anything with it?

The I Knit Day was amazing. I know lots of people enjoyed themselves and I’m thrilled. We worked really hard on putting it together and reading the blogs has been brilliant. A few of them actually made me cry because it made me feel so proud that I didn’t really know how to deal with it. We did a good thing and I’m glad loads of you enjoyed it.

The run up to the show was probably the single most stressful time, ever! We vowed that we were not going to do it again. However, we started planning next year as we sat in an (almost) empty Lawrence Hall waiting for the AA to come and start our van. It was the last thing we wanted but secretly I was so glad to be able to sit down and relax and eat some of the weird stuff brought from Netherlands by Hilly and Carla. The stroopwafels were great but there was some weird liquorice.

There are so many people to thank. I’ve thanked them in person so I wont name-check anyone here, except my Mum and Dad and sisters and nephews who traveled from Liverpool to share it with Craig and I. It was really important to me that they were there.

So Knitting…erm, I’ve started lots of things – tea cosy, anyone? More on that soon. Another Elizabeth Zimmerman surprise baby jacket, another EZ conch hat to replace the one Lorraine fell in love with, booties and socks using Natural Dye studio Angel. It’s amazingly soft – baby alpaca, cashmere and silk. I would put up pictures but this shop has bee moved around so often I’m dizzy. It seems to have swallowed first my camera and now my mobile phone. (not that bothered about the latter to be honest).

AND – the book is out soon! I’ll probably have copies with 6 weeks.

We’re already working on the next book! We’re already working on the next show, too, so please don’t miss out, if you thought 2008 was great you will not believe what we’re trying to make happen for 2009.

On top of all that, Strictly Come Dancing has started again! Well, that’s just a small extra when because I’ve got Craig. With every day he gets more amazing.

Gxx

Gone (but not forgotten) with the wind...

One of my favourite pastimes is catching up on the recently deceased by way of newspaper obituaries. Now, I know how that sounds. But it isn't morbid fascination with the once famous, more a sign of respect. I think one of the highest honours you can have is to be, at some point in your life, deemed significant enough to warrant an obituary in The Times (I choose The Times simply because their scope and coverage is greater than that of most other daily newspapers when it comes to remembering the dead). What's respectful is that the choice of subject isn't dictated by any celebrity status, rather by significance. This means that those remembered are the famous, the infamous and the obscure, all of whom have contributed to their field - from science and sport, education and the environment to music and movies. I'll admit to being most fascinated by the passing of once celebrated film actors and actresses whose stars have either faded or ascended into legend.

Recently, whilst taking in my daily dose I spotted a sad trend...Fred Crane, not a household name but an actor who goes down in history as having the first line in Gone With the Wind, passed away only a month after Evelyn Keyes, who played Scarlett O'Hara's sister in the same film. With only the genetically-prosperous Olivia deHavilland still with us for the main adult cast (her sister Joan Fontaine still going strong too) it's another door closed with that link to "Hollywood's Golden Age" (ask me about my obsession with Luise Rainer next time you see me!). Gone With The Wind is glorious. I remember seeing it at a screening in Sydney to mark it's 60th anniversary, in the same cinema where it was screened back in 1938 and there was a real sense of occasion. A film with an interval! Imagine that these days with the attention span of most audiences. Yes, it's a soap opera, but it's top notch soap.

Whilst our blog isn't all about knitting, there's a good reason to bring it up here too! GWTW does contain a couple of great knitting scenes (and there's plenty to get excited about if your just into pretty frocks). Whilst Rhett and the gang are out raiding the shanty town there's a brilliantly tense scene of the ladies waiting back at home for their return. Quite a bit of knitting going on there and it drives the scene along, the women busying themselves as the menfolk are away. It's interesting that Scarlett, ever the black sheep, does a bit of cross stitch instead! There's also a very moving scene of what I call Unfinished Garment Syndrome. This is a device I've spotted employed in films and telly, using knitting, where someone embarks on a project for someone else. Generally this means either the knitter or the knittee isn't going to make it to the end of the film, the Unfinished Garment being a symbol of the character's untimely demise. It happens here when Mrs Meade clutches her Unfinished Pair of Gloves for her son, recently killed in the war. There's nothing more poignant than a project languishing on the needles, never to be worn by the intended. Watch out for the UGS - it'll having you weeping into your WiP.

Craig

Mikes, t-shirts...and the secret of good vinaigrette

Everything is learning. I always think if you don't take something away from every situation then you're doing yourself a disservice. Learning a useless bit of trivia, or learning something about yourself (or others) that makes you change your way of doing stuff. It's all the same to me. For me it's usually the trivial stuff I like to store and my collector's mentality means I'm always up or filling my vital brainspace with another piece of intriguing fluff. But, I'm also up for learning big stuff too.

After last Saturday's I Knit Day we've both found ourselves reading all the blogs and message boards with huge grins, happy that it went well and that people enjoyed themselves. But there's lots of stuff we learned too (after all this is really the second show of it's kind that we've ever done, and the first this big)...next year more sarnies, more presentations and separate rooms for our special guests. Through reading Yarn Harlot's blog I've also learned that I need to spend more time rediscovering London. When I moved here I walked for miles, usually looking up. Our life is taken up with so much work for IKL that sometimes I wonder if there's any point being in London as we never see much of it!

One of the least likely parts of Saturday's learning curve is the secret to great vinaigrette. Gerard made a new friend in Hélène Magnusson, who spoke about her Icelandic Knitting Using Rose Patterns and he's alreayd begun his first project. Her other book, which she presented to Gerard, signed, is The secret of good vinaigrette revealed to Icelanders which is one of those unexpected surprises you come across now and then (and a brilliant title). Learning how to make bilberry flavoured vinegar is the last thing I expected.

Craig

...

...and relax...

Gxx

I Knit Day 2008

It's been a whirlwind week. Back in February we confirmed that I Knit Day was happening, we'd chosen our birthday weekend and we'd heard from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee that she'd come over as our special guest. From that day to this it's been a bit hectic. Sometimes we've wondered why we're doing it, sometimes I wonder where the days have gone. With Gerard as I Knit's only full-time 'member of staff' sometimes I just wonder if we are completely bonkers. But on Saturday it all came together and I Knit Day came and went as quick as a flash. For about three weeks now I've been saying, usually at about 3 o'clock in the morning, "I'm NOT doing this again next year!" but I enjoyed Saturday so much that I might have changed my mind....we'll see what we can do!

But, for this year it was a culmination of sleepless nights, arguments, meetings, phonecalls, about a million emails and lots of persuasion, hard work and, well, money. We've been reading the blogs and the Ravelry forum with huge smiles on our faces and we're chuffed to bits that so many people enjoyed themselves. We're just ignoring the ones complaining about cups of tea and the rain. We know there were some problems which we'll sort our for next year but going around that fantastic hall on Saturday and seeing so many knitters with ridiculously large grins on their faces made it all worthwhile. Yes, of course, we're sorry the heavens opened precisely at the time hundreds of people were queueing for the Yarn Harlot (despite Gerard's likeness, he can't control such things!) and we're also a bit cheesed off about the sandwich situation - but nice to see knitters with initiative heading round the corner to the nearest café. But we hope everything else made up for it..and there was quite a lot of everything else!

For us, this started back in February, but the reality kicked in on Thursday morning when Stephanie touched down in the UK. Gerard swiftly headed off to her hotel with a fruit parcel and a bottle of bubbly in hand. Reading Stephanie's blog over the last few days has been entertaining and eye-opening and it's great to see the city from someone else's view, especially someone with such a way with words. I'm really pleased to see that Stephanie did what I advise all visitors to do; stay off the the Tube and walk. You see so much and the city just opens up before you; history, culture, community, London life. I've spent hours trawling the streets and there's always something new to see. Stephanie's jetlag meant we didn't get to meet her in person until Friday when we recce'ed the venue (see Steph's Friday blog - yes, she really did say "I'm not doing it!" We just laughed nervously.) Then it was off for lunch with Stephanie, Roz from Search Press, Claire Bowles (PR), Billy and Joanna from Melia Publishing and the two of us. After the meal, and a few beers, we were happy to find that Stephanie was well up for it. Phew!

The rest of Friday is a blur really. I think we probably spent most of the evening carrying heavy boxes of books, loading our van and driving to and fro. It's not all glamourous celebrity knitters you know? We do work too. A special part of the whole weekend was having Gerard's family together with us for the first time in London - his mum and dad, two sisters and two nephews all in tow to lend a hand, show some support and generally look all glowing and proud. We spent late Friday in the pub at their hotel and calmed down before the day ahead. We should mention here that, although this whole event has been planned and organised by Gerard and myself, we would not have got through the whole thing without the help of friends who volunteered to help out on the day. From the moment you stepped through those (fabulous) Art Deco doors you will have met a whole host of people who worked their socks off to keep the whole day running. They are old friends and new friends from the knitting group and at the risk of gushing, they are all brilliant and without them we'd have been lost. From ticket takers to queue movers, chaperones and booksellers they kept the whole thing going while Gerard and I ran about like headless chickens!

So, Saturday arrived. we were up at 5am to load more stuff, including the big sheep, and head off to the venue. Waiting outside at 8am with an expectant group of exhibitors was an interesting experience. This was it. When those doors opened we were the only two people who knew what was going to happen, we were (gulp)...responsible. Us? How did that happen? When the queue started to form outside the main entrance just before 11am the realisation that all these people had been brought to this place by us set in...and the realisation that if this all went t*** up we'd be surrounding by thousands of angry knitters (and we know what they're like!) with pointy sticks. The thought of escape crossed our minds a number of times. But, when it came to it, seeing those first few faces entering the hall to be met with a deluge of yarn and a big smile put my mind at rest. It was to be a good day.

The rest of the day is also a blur, but I remember a few things distinctly; I remember Jane Sowerby's table-ful of the most amazing lace shawls; I remember a glorious fashion show from Susan at knitonthenet and Jane Wallers' A Stitch in Time; I remember Gerard in Erika Knight's fashion show taking the easy way out with a hat then looking super in his chunky cabled cardi; I remember hundreds of eager knitters queueing in the rain to see the Yarn Harlot; I remember the rapturous welcome we gave her when she emerged from behind that curtain; I remember seeing Elly for the first time in ages and giving her a great big hug and feeling a bit emotional about it; I remember getting one chance (and one chance only!) to wander around the hall and check that everyone on the stalls was happy (they were); I remember introducing Mazzmatazz and feeling a frisson of excitement from the crowd; I remember saying "Erika Knight is here!"; I remember thinking, on more than one occasion, "is it me or is this just the most bonkers thing we've ever done?..."

By 7 o'clock it was all over. There are just too many things I've forgotten to mention, too many people to thank. But, to all of our special guests, to Stephanie, to everyone who booked a stand, to all the charity projects, to all the knitted aliens, to everyone who bought a ticket and to our sponsors at http://www.knitonthenet.com/ we just say "thanks and we'll see you again next year".

One final thing to say is that I'm devastated that we didn't get a single photograph of the show. With this in mind we make a plea that anyone with pics share them on the Flickr group. If you don't mind me taking a few to illustrate this blog please let me know and I will do so.

Craig

The final countdown.

Get your air guitars out! Diddle-der-der diddle-di-di-der! It's the final countdown....

We've been to-ing and fro-ing form the Horticultural Halls all day in our big van, loading, unloading and stopping off for a couple of hours for lunch with the Yarn Harlot. Stephanie, it was really very nice to finally get to meet you in the flesh and I hope you find your knitters tonight...or maybe you've snuggled up in the hotel away from the weather...?

Anyway, this is short and sweet as I'm being called to carry some more boxes and Gerard can't quite believe I'm writing a blog when there's so much work to do! I mean, honestly, after almost 9 months of work I think I can take a few minutes to say a few words....?

Up at 7am for an early start in the morning...then the fun really begins.

Craig

Pete Waterman, pop genius and train fan

It might not come as much of a surprise to learn that I, Craig, used to be a trainspotter. I had all the books and everything, wrote all the numbers in a little pad and got really excited when the APT stopped at Kingmoor Marshalling Yards in Carlisle (which was just over the field from the house where I grew up). This might not mean much to those uniniated in the whys and wherefores of the trainspotter but I still get excited when I think of seeing the APT. It probably won't surprise anyone to discover that I was also a bit of a fan of Stock, Aitken and Waterman - not just post-ironically either. I think they are under-rated musical geniuses. Honest.

Well, both of these come together when Pete Waterman (should be Sir Pete by now surely?) visits Lower Marsh today! He's signing copies of his new book A Train is for Life at the Ian Allan bookshop, just up the road from our knitting shop! I'm tempted to take in my original 12" of Kylie's The Locomotion to get signed.....

Craig

we're nearly there!

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