The Great British Sheep (and the great British summer)

Today we were on the South Bank, outside the National Theatre, to take part in their annual Watch This Space festival. It was the Alternative Village Fete and it was wonderful. Things didn't bode well, I must say, when I woke up and carried a huge sackful of wool around to the NT at 9.30 this a.m. when it was pouring with rain and I got soaked through. But the unpredictable British summer saw us through and it turned out to be a lovely day, perfect for knitting with wool!

Today we launched our latest project, The Great British Sheep, which we like to call a "celebration of British wool, knitting and sheep". With over 60 native breeds, more than any other country, you'd think we'd have British wool coming out of ears...but, really, can you go to your local yarn store and pick up a few balls of it? I'm often dismayed by the cravings for foreign brand yarns which don't come close to the quality and gorgeousness of their British counterparts, but which are snapped up by knitters who think it must be good because it's number one on Ravelry and everyone's knitting with it in the States. Sure, there are some very special yarns from all over the world, but why do we have such disdain for our own homegrown stuff? Honestly, whilst collecting yarn for this project I've been amazed by the range and quality (and the price) of some our British wool, most of which you wouldn't find unless you visited the farm from whence it came. It's this that made us want to start the project in the first place, and one of the reasons we are still very proud to be the only yarn shop in the capital with a regular stock of pure British wool, from Shetland, Wales and Wensleydale to name a few.

Rant over. What a brilliant day! The sun shone, the spinners spun, the knitters certainly did knit...a lot. We thought we'd see regular faces and knitting group folk, but, in fact, most of our friends stayed away and we met hundreds of people who have been hiding somewhere, all keen and excited to get their hands on the wool. Free wool! We thought we'd have every knitting group in the city down there getting some stitches in! As it was, during the course of the afternoon hundreds of knitters joined us and took part, and to them we say "thanks". Accompanied by entertainment of the distinctly weird and wonderful kind, surrounded by vegetable sculpture, cake decorating and WI stare-out challenges, as well as guinea pigs, rabbits and ducks from Vauxhall City Farm, we covered our sheep statue in loopy stitch and more.

But, it's not over yet....in two weeks we head for Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle in Dorset where we hope to finish our sheep's 'knitted fleece'...and we need more wool! You can see a list of the breeds we still need, plus links to all our generous suppliers so far on the Great British Sheep page - but, if you have ANY 100% British wool in your stash, please send it in to us at the shop address, whether we have that breed or not. We'll be teaching more people to knit and getting more folk involved and we need more yarn!

Our first batch of photos are now online here, and if you were there you can add your own to our I Knit photo group.

As a final note for now, we both want to personally thank Yvonne, who has so brilliantly captured our idea and designed and built our fabulous sheep. Thanks Yvonne.

Craig

Things that make you go...AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

One of the great things about being in a relationship is that the person that you are with is not you...which means that together you make a better person that you do on your own. Gerard and I have very little in common, weirdly, and I don't understand some of his 'stuff' and he doesn't understand some of mine but one of the biggest differences between us is the ability to let all that stressful stuff about life just wash over us....I can't do it, but G can.

So, I know when a situation is bad when Gerard looks like he might explode! The last two weeks have, of course, been some of the most exciting times for us both, with the new shop opening and all the work that entails. It was hard work, but we've put in so much that it was all worth it....but the whole celebratory mood has been dampened by some of the most inefficient service we've ever encountered. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old fart...just how complicated can it be for British Telecom to install a phone line for us?

For two weeks now we have had no internet access and no telephone into the new shop...so, apologies if you are reading this and you've sent us an email, or booked something online, or tried to call us. We've been assured that it'll be sorted out, but we don't hold out much hope as we are still trying, and trying. We both feel like we've been taken for a ride - and then when we dared to suggest some sort of compensation for loss of business...? Not likely. It wouldn't be so bad if they told us it would be done on such-and-such a day and it was done on that day, but each time there's another problem...and then another...and then another 40 minutes on the mobile trying to get it sorted and having to start the whole sorry tale from the start again. When , finally, we had an engineer in yesterday we did get a phone (hurray) but the BT hub that they had sent two weeks ago now doesn't work, and we have to wait another 2-3 days for a new one....or they did suggest we go and buy one ourselves! It's hilarious - how is it that one of the country's biggest phone/internet providers can take three weeks to connect someone to the internet?

So BT, thanks for ruining one of the most exciting couple of weeks of our life.

And may I extend that thanks to car hire company Sixt (or Sixti, which apparently isn't the same, although the website is the same and the branches are the same...). That's a whole different story, but, seriously...

Why isn't anything ever easy?!