I sat down on Sunday evening to complete my census form. This time it was online but in the past I’ve had paper forms to fill. I would choose a good pen, clear the table, find a pad to lean on, and write as neatly as I could. I’ve always loved filling in the form. Regardless of how small we… 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 →
I opened the shop on Monday morning to a smell that seemed to come from a time before this one. The source was in the back room – a not-washed-up preserving pan sticky with the dregs of mulled wine made to keep Saturday’s patiently queueing customers, warm. The smell was sweet, a bit orangey and slightly clovey. The last time… Read more →
The shop gets awfully noisy at this time of year. I had to ask a caller to speak up on the phone yesterday against a background din of the reciept printer that was churning out a mile-long scroll of customer orders. Meanwhile the tape dispenser was burping its mechanical grrtttt noise at regular intervals as Vicky wrapped up the parcels.… Read more →
