What is it about the knitwear in Toast? I’ve lost track of the number of people who come by to the shop with a picture of a Toast sweater, asking me to recommend how they can make it themselves. Why don’t we get the same questions about sweaters from COS or Uniqulo? I know folks are spending time online looking… Read more →
Uncategorized
Bobble Trouble
For the most part, us knitters have plenty to feel good about – our pastime is good for our mental health, it keeps us and our friends warm, it supports sheep, shepherds and hillsides, and it’s spawned a creative scene that’s full of talented designers. But just in case we need reminding of the imperfect nature of the universe, we… Read more →
You *can* do the maths
A few days ago, this came in an email to the shop.. ‘I would love to make the Burgos with the João but I don’t want to use a second laceweight silk yarn, as I don’t do silk and want to keep that wonderful 419 green colour.In theory, would it work to just make it 2 or three sizes larger… Read more →
Overheard in the Wool Shop this Week
The stars, moon and hearts were all aligned this week to create a magical coincidence of St Valentine’s Day and the Late Night Knitty Lock-in. I’d like to say it was a night like no other, but in the event it was quite similar to most other second Wednesdays – which is probably just another way of saying that we… Read more →
Goldilocks and the 3 sweaters
I think it began with the Azor, a 4ply cardigan that I started last summer. I’d sped through the beautiful colourwork yoke in less than a week, but something about the on-and-on-and-on of those tiny same-same stitches in the body turned it into a sweater that trawled through treacle to get finished. So that got me to thinking that if… Read more →
3.. 2.. 1.. Sweaters!
Waking up when it’s still dark, gloomy afternoons and wind that always seems to be blowing in the wrong direction – the Danes may be able to find their cosy hygge spot in the middle of all that, but in Clapton? Not so much. Reasons to be cheerful can be rather thin on the puddlesome ground right now which is… Read more →
Wool Wanted!
The milk pan, the lasagne dish, the salad spinner, the scales and the irritatingly small espresso cups have all been taken. I don’t know who took them, or what smells will rise in the kitchens they’ve moved to, or what food will be prepared in them. But I do know that they will be great – or at least greater… Read more →
Looking back (through the windows)
Gift advice for what to buy the avid/newbie/lapsed uncles/sisters-in-law/nephews.. project-planning for surviving the week with family.. gigantic deliveries to restock our runaway yarns.. packing parcels to catch the post and filling up all those tins: The way that December has picked up speed and then crescendoed into its own woolly symphony, has turned these last few shop days of the… Read more →