This week at Wild and Woolly, we have talked about.. ..the eruption of the volcano on St. Vincent and how people who lived in the route of the lava flow and have lost everything, still prefer to stay on the island which they’ve always called home. ..what parts of the knitted stitch you need to push the crochet hook through… Read more →
Knitting Stories
The knitting fixing shop
Last night we took the first step in over a year to revive Knit 15 – our series of niche talks for knitters – with a virtual talks night hosted by this year’s Unravel Festival of Knitting. We plan to get the talks up online for all of you to be able to listen to as soon as possible. In… Read more →
In praise of ordinary
There’s a video clip circulating on YouTube at the moment, from a US talkshow in which Michelle Obama is telling the host, Gayle King, about her newly acquired lockdown knitting habit. King feigns surprise at Obama taking up such an old lady pass-time. Let’s just park that hackneyed old lady knitting cliche for now. Whatever the case Michelle dismisses it with humour and good grace. And… Read more →
Let’s talk!
It was early January 2020. I’d had 10 days of holiday rest and it was time to go back to work. There was talk on the news about this virus in China but there was talk about a lot of stuff. My mind was on re-opening the shop and getting started on a new plan we had to run a series… Read more →
Reading windows, knitting stories
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 →
Unremarkable is the new remarkable
‘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 →
I Count Therefore I Am
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 →
Let’s talk about gauge baby
“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 →
Come on in, the water’s lovely
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 →
Cardigan Closure
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 →