Weird, curious and baffling but also brilliant and often beautiful: there’s a niche category of knits which Brontë and I reserve a special fondness for – the ones which take us in an unexpected direction on account of the designer’s imaginative construction genius. These are the patterns which get you there and do it marvellously but which veer away from… Read more →

There may be practical reasons for dividing the year into 4 separate seasons with beginning and end dates, but real world weather doesn’t always seem to get the schedule. No sooner had east London got its first dose of proper coat-free warmth this year, than it seemed to turn its back on spring, for another go at being winter again.… Read more →

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 →

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 →

Fairy lights in shop windows and forlorn looking pumpkins in wheely bins have appeared like signposts warning us that we’re nearly there. Halloween is over, fireworks are beginning to pop, and the gift-knitting deadline is almost in view. Now I know there are knitters out there that are well prepared for the year’s sprint finish: they came in for gift-knitting… Read more →

Deliveries, boxes and unpacking: The last weeks have sometimes felt like we are taking delivery of autumn itself – just in a woollen form. Parcels make their long way west across Europe and south from Scotland and the north of England. Our missing colourways are restocked and we finally get to welcome the 3 new yarns we’ve been working hard… Read more →

This final part of our KYOS series for 2023 is a travel edit, specially for weekend-awayers, back packers, cycle tourers, and last-minute-trippers. These are your Green Eggs and Ham knits – good on a train, good in the rain, good in a car and good in a tree. For these are the projects that will sqoodge down enough to fit… Read more →

What about Parts 1 & 2: you can’t just kick off with Part 3! Ha Hah! Just as I suspected. You’ve totally forgotten about the summer pattern round-ups we did last year. All part of my cunning plan to remind you that we have lots of round-ups available on the website for your easy reference including.. Knit Your Own Summer… Read more →

Distracting sunny afternoons, limited space in your backpack and the joy of getting a project finished within days of starting it: the summer turns out to be a great time to make things for small people. Even if you don’t have your own tiddlers, chances are that you know someone else who does, or who will sometime soon. Knitting for… Read more →

Summer, the meterolgical calendar tells us, is not far away. But given how the spring has (not) turned out in this corner of east London, we’ve decided it pays to plan for all eventualities, and not just the hot-hot-hot one. We’ve been investigating tops of the sort that are cool enough for when it’s too warm for wool and not… Read more →