A baby sleeps under a corriedale moon as he dreams of Jumperweight sheep jumping over a knitting needle stile.. A yellow icord Circle Line frames a London Underground map of knitted tubes.. Knitting needle rain pours down over 2 bunnies sheltering under an umbrella swift… A yak-merino mouse potters about its diminutive cardboard box house.. 2 sweaters break all the… Read more →
‘My friend dyed this yarn for me and I need something to go with it’.. ‘I’m looking for a not-too-difficult but also not-too-boring cardigan pattern..’ ‘I accidentally created an extra stitch 4 rows back. Can you help me sort it out? ‘I want to make that wrap cardigan in the new Pom Pom which uses 4 colours but can’t decide… Read more →
“We welcome […] knitters who are above gauge, below gauge and never check their gauge’ I wrote that when I was working on the shop’s Welcome Page a couple of years ago. I’d become used to people telling me about their gauge in an apologetic almost confessional tone. And this line was my way of saying I don’t mind what your gauge… Read more →
Since it turned into my everyday workplace, the shifting colours of the shop’s wall of wool became my background, my ‘normal’ that I’ve come to regard in the passive way that we do the paperback spines on our shelves and nick-nacks on the mantle piece. And then every so often the arrival of a new yarn will make me look… Read more →
Last weekend I cast off a bright red Black Basalt cardigan that feels like it’s been an unfinished part of my life for so long I’m no longer sure when it began – just that it was a time when I really wanted that cardie. This is partly about the Lockdown’s disruption of the time-space continuum which makes the passing of days… Read more →
It’s become a feature of this period of lockdown that time can feel a bit stuck. The absence of stories and news that come from bumping into friends, chance encouters at the shops and family gatherings, have somehow put a break on the normal flow of time. And so by way of reassurance that the shop story hasn’t ground to… Read more →
February 2018 was when Cyclone Hartmut dubbed the Beast from the East, brought England and Wales to a virtual halt with unusually low temperatures and heavy snowfall. In spite of the sub-zero weather and slippery pavements, this knitter had other things on her mind. The second Wednesday of that February was the 14th meaning that our monthly knit night was… Read more →
For the parenting period of this knitter’s life, knitting never really became a family affair. By the time my kids were old enough to make their own choices about what to do with their time, they chose not to knit. I went from being disappointed, to ridiculously analytical (could rejection of knitting be a metaphor for rejecting your mother?). Eventually… Read more →
t’s a funny thing about the January new year (as distinct from my preferred September ‘knitty’ new year), that it often feels more like it’s about looking back than looking ahead. In my case, this is probably about running a small business and the looming tax return deadline. The first weeks of January play out like a discordant concert of… Read more →
It’s customary at this end-of-the-row time of year to abandon our usual story-telling and let the windows tell their tales of the year that’s passed: A yarnie potting shed of budding flowers, a mysterious bicycle that cycles wool and rainbows through the night, a shower of knitting needle rain, a banner of hope knitted by the mighty diaspora of East… Read more →
