‘This pattern should be impossibly frustrating,’ I wrote of a pattern I was knitting back in early 2020, ‘and yet it’s the most delightfully compulsive knitting… the littleness of the stitches and Odile’s diminutive form are just so inexplicably pleasing.’ The pattern was Bunny Odile, and making it marked the beginning of one of the most enchanting and kooky knitting… Read more →
In the English speaking knitting world, travelling to the Shetland islands, 130 miles north of the Scottish mainland, has become something of a Haj-like pilgrimage. Those who are lucky enough to make the journey, return with stories of mill trip adventures and fairisle masterclasses, photos of beautiful sheepy hillsides and coastline sunsets, and suitcases bursting with heathered shetland wool inspired… Read more →
It seems like last week’s list of cardigans has only partially satisfied the spring-time knitters’ appetite for knitwear they can undo and do up again. And so the newly formed Cardigan Corps at Wild and Woolly has un-buttoned 9 more patterns with our usual mix of familiar and unexpected. Here are 9 more for you to keep on your cardie… Read more →
Coming home from work in the daylight, daffodill buckets at the supermarket checkout, blosssom appearing on street corners, and leaving the house without long johns: spring is on the way and for me that means my knitting plans are opening up – or at least acquiring buttons so they can. Cardigans are the original 2-for-1 sweater. Wear them all the… Read more →
‘I’m making a baby blanket, so it’s got to be washable.‘ ‘It’s a sweater for my son. There’s no way he’ll wash it by hand. I need something that will go in the machine.‘ ‘Someone on Instagram said superwash wool is bad. Is that true? It sounds like it should be great.‘ We had to get here eventually.. It’s time… Read more →
It’s been cold, rainy and grey outside all week, but inside in the wool shop you’ve all been giving us plenty to smile about. Here are our edited highlights from this week… ‘the book just arrived – I knew it would be amazing, it’s more than just amazing – rest of day cancelled – fire stoked, coffee on, phone unplugged..‘ ‘I… Read more →
Waterloo station had never looked so woolly. It wasn’t a yarn bombing event, but ten minutes until the departure of the 10am train to Farnham, home of the Unravel Festival of Knitting. Right, left and centre on the grand station concourse, there were sweatered, beanied and shawl-wrapped knitters waiting for the platform announcement. I felt a pang of self consciousness… Read more →
The key ingredients for the perfect pudding, an old friend of mine explained, are something crunchy, something creamy and something fruity. He expanded this theory over a bowl of apple crumble and custard when we were housemates in a shared student house about 100 years ago. I reminded him of his old pudding formula when he presented me with some… Read more →
What kind of knitter are you? You’re 6 rows on from the row where you did a series of 2/2 right cross cable twists, and you notice that you forgot to twist one of those cables down there. Do you: A: Think that no one will notice and carry on merrily knitting, telling yourself homilies about Persian rug weavers and their… Read more →
One strand good, 2 strands better? Really? Will the addition of that super-skinny thread really make a difference? And if i’m not that great of a knitter will I be able to manage it? And oh my, it’s looking p r e t t y pricey now you’ve added in those extra balls of fluff, so what about we leave… Read more →
