Anna

What I'm thinking about when I'm knitting

A knitter walks into a wool shop

A knitter walks into a wool shop. They undo their jacket to reveal an astonishingly beautiful and complicatedly cabled cardigan which has the look of espaliered apple trees interlaced with roses. They take off their delightfully fairisled beret and unwrap a deliberately unevenly striped scarf and lay them on a chair. Both are patterned with …

Pattern round-ups

Knit your own summer mini series

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 …

Meet the maker

Knitting in high places

‘When he saw I knew what I was talking about as a knitter, it helped me to create a bond.‘ Irene Waggener is an anthropologist, textile conservator and a knitter. She’s talking to me over Zoom from her home in Yerevan about her book, Keepers of the Sheep, an account of her time learning from …

Knitsplaining

When is a sweater not a sweater?

Perhaps when it’s a light weight top which isn’t about keeping you warm? Or when it’s got short sleeves? When it looks nice on its own, not worn over something else? When you want to wear it on a hot day! Now I know what you’re thinking – ‘Here she goes again – banging on …

Life in the day of a wool shop

Overheard in the woolshop this week

Lots of new faces and new knitters in the shop this week, also old knitters trying new things. It’s a good reminder that however familiar a technique becomes, it always starts life as a new way of doing things. And as the beginning is often the most exciting bit, it’s a total joy getting to …

The shop

Isn’t it supposed to be on Saturday?

Isn’t it supposed to be on Saturday? Whoa, slow down! We haven’t said what we’re talking about yet. You can’t just jump into the date issue without explaining what the event is. It’s just that I’m so excited – it only comes around once a year and I want to make sure I’m there on …

What I'm thinking about when I'm knitting

If Sisyphus had been a knitter…

By all accounts Sisyphus was a pretty crafty guy and not in a nice way: He plotted to kill his brother, seduced his niece and then twice managed to scheme his way out of dying and exiting through the underworld as he was supposed to. Not surprisingly this didn’t go down well with the gods …

Product highlights

A Sweater for Less

Cost of living, cozzie-livs, feeling the pinch, straightened times.. Whatever you want to call it, there’s a lot of us feeling it right now. It can be stressful, sometimes awkward, and all the things which we know knitting should be able to relieve – but if you’re priced out of the knitting, that doesn’t work …

Knitsplaining

A Circular Argument

‘It’s a just a hat – why do I need 2 different sorts of needles?’ ‘Finally reached the sleeve decreases and now even my 40cm circular is too long. What’s the best way to get to the cuff?’ ‘I want to make my first pair of socks – is it better to use DPNs or …

Pattern round-ups

Sunny intervals

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 …