Anna

Meet the maker

Ovis What?

Julius is a cavernous minimalist restaurant that has the look of a place which other people eat at. But when I go in and take a seat there’s a comforting background hubub of indistinct voices that somehow disarms all the high ceilinged, mid-century blah blah. I’m in the Wedding district of Berlin, sitting at a …

Pattern round-ups

When is a WiP not a WiP?

We know that knitting monogamy is not for everyone. Unlike human partners, knitting which gets passed over for a while in favour of another project, doesn’t experience feelings of abandonment or jealousy (as far as I know). And far from slowing things down, plenty of knitters hold that working on several projects simultaneously means there’s …

Knitting Stories

Yes, it’s really a thing and we’re really doing it!

But isn’t it supposed to be on Saturday. Why are we doing our’s on a Sunday? 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 …

Pattern round-ups

And now for something completely different..

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 …

Life in the day of a wool shop

How to Open a Wool Shop Part II

..And then the shop opened. Knitters heard that there was a new yarn store in Hackney and the non-knitters also wanted to see what was going on in that place with the kooky things in the window. They pushed the door open and came in: shawled, scarved and some not wrapped up at all, fairisled, …

Life in the day of a wool shop

How to open a wool shop Part I

It was on a sunny Wednesday morning in the spring of 2014. There was a chill in the air, not that different from today. I wedged open the shop door with the fire extinguisher and the shop was finally open to everybody for the very first time. It had taken the best part of 3 …

Pattern round-ups

Somewhere in between

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 …

Knitsplaining

Block and Roll

In my knitting-as-a-story sense of a project, there’s a pleasing simplicity to the way that the beginning, middle and end, map so nicely onto swatching, knitting and blocking. 3 critical sections, each of which contributes to the whole, but the first 2 of which tend to get the most attention. So in the interest of …

Meet the maker

Activistas de la lana.

“Now I have to find more wool. There are many flocks, but they don’t all have the right wool. Some are more like goats with their long hair.” Elena Solier has sold out of her last batch of Xolla Wool and is uncompromising in selecting fleeces for the next spin. She lives in Catalonia, making …

Knitting Stories

Spring Clearout Sale!

It’s another Cats-Away weekend this Easter.. Brontë and I are abandoning the Clapton ship for a short break, leaving the online shop open for a Spring Clearout Sale: In an effort to make some space for all the wonderful new cottons, linens and silks which are on their way, we’ve got 20% off selected chunky …