The sunflower yellow S-bahn arced its way around an elevated sweep of railway, like a welcoming smile on platform 15 of the Berlin Hauptbanhof. There’s a disarming low-key-ness to arriving in a new country by train – no passports, luggage collection or international arrivals paraphernalia – just a platform change for the metro to finish the journey. It was 7am… Read more →
What about Parts 1 & 2: you can’t just kick off with Part 3! Ha Hah! Just as I suspected. You’ve totally forgotten about the summer pattern round-ups we did last year. All part of my cunning plan to remind you that we have lots of round-ups available on the website for your easy reference including.. Knit Your Own Summer… Read more →
A knitter walks into a wool shop. They undo their jacket to reveal an astonishingly beautiful and complicatedly cabled cardigan which has the look of espaliered apple trees interlaced with roses. They take off their delightfully fairisled beret and unwrap a deliberately unevenly striped scarf and lay them on a chair. Both are patterned with complementary shades of left over… Read more →
Distracting sunny afternoons, limited space in your backpack and the joy of getting a project finished within days of starting it: the summer turns out to be a great time to make things for small people. Even if you don’t have your own tiddlers, chances are that you know someone else who does, or who will sometime soon. Knitting for… Read more →
‘When he saw I knew what I was talking about as a knitter, it helped me to create a bond.‘ Irene Waggener is an anthropologist, textile conservator and a knitter. She’s talking to me over Zoom from her home in Yerevan about her book, Keepers of the Sheep, an account of her time learning from the knitters in the High… Read more →
Perhaps when it’s a light weight top which isn’t about keeping you warm? Or when it’s got short sleeves? When it looks nice on its own, not worn over something else? When you want to wear it on a hot day! Now I know what you’re thinking – ‘Here she goes again – banging on about knitting for the summer,… Read more →
Lots of new faces and new knitters in the shop this week, also old knitters trying new things. It’s a good reminder that however familiar a technique becomes, it always starts life as a new way of doing things. And as the beginning is often the most exciting bit, it’s a total joy getting to join you for that bit… Read more →
Isn’t it supposed to be on Saturday? Whoa, slow down! We haven’t said what we’re talking about yet. You can’t just jump into the date issue without explaining what the event is. It’s just that I’m so excited – it only comes around once a year and I want to make sure I’m there on time. Ok, let’s take a… Read more →
By all accounts Sisyphus was a pretty crafty guy and not in a nice way: He plotted to kill his brother, seduced his niece and then twice managed to scheme his way out of dying and exiting through the underworld as he was supposed to. Not surprisingly this didn’t go down well with the gods which is how he got… Read more →
Cost of living, cozzie-livs, feeling the pinch, straightened times.. Whatever you want to call it, there’s a lot of us feeling it right now. It can be stressful, sometimes awkward, and all the things which we know knitting should be able to relieve – but if you’re priced out of the knitting, that doesn’t work so well. There are no… Read more →
