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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
