"Are you the London Knitting Society...?"

...so said a fellow at The George Inn on Wednesday night when we convened for our weekly London knitting group! What's funny is that a few weeks ago he was accosted in the street by a knitter carrying a balloon and asking him if he could say "I Knit" in a foreign language. Oh yes, it's a small world indeed, and on 14th June he'd inadvertantly taken part in our Worldwide Knit in Public Day Treasure Hunt, where he'd helpfully told one of the teams how to say the phrase in Iranian. We told him that it was clearly fate and he should take it up - I used the fact that I was surrounded by a group of lovely ladies as a prime example of why men should knit more, but he turned us down and told us he was engaged. Not generally a bar to knitting, but there you are.

The George was a good place to meet, if a little busy. Whilst we didn't manage to grab any outside tables,after a bit of moving about we did settle into the far room with plenty of space, nachos and cider. We had a finished project too and it's always nice when that last stitch is completed at a knit night. If anything, is an excuse for another drink. Do we sound like alcoholics? Honest, it's not true, although we did have a comment from the lady on the next table who noted that, "There seems to be more drinking than knitting going on here. My knitting circle is never as lively as this!" We took it as a compliment.

In other news, I've been particularly enjoying being distracted by the new AussieBum adverts appearing at a bus stop near you anytime soon. Summer is definitely here and those pesky admen will do their level best to sell you the most unattainable stuff you'll never need. Believe me, these ads serve up the most unattainable stuff in so many ways! I suppose I could spend all summer in the gym...but then there'd be no need for fancy swimming trunks by the time winter comes around.

We're gearing up for our launch of The Great British Sheep tomorrow at the South Bank. I think we need a name for him/her though? Any ideas? It looks stunning I must say and I want to give credit to Yvonne who rose to the challenge and created a work of art. I've asked her to design our KNIFTA award now too!

Craig

The KNIFTAs..(formerly the CREAK Awards!)

Never mind the bloomin' Oscars...there's a new award show in town (sort of). After our recent post about the dirge of bad knitting on the telly we've decided to create a forum where those who can manage to knit and act at the same time are rewarded for their efforts.


So, we give you the first ever KNIFTAs (Knitting in Film and Television Awards). We need your nominations as follows:

Worst knitting/crochet/craft scene

• the criteria covers everything from a so-called actor- type pretending to knit/crochet when clearly they have no idea what they are doing, to simply, bad knitwear on screen.

Best knitting/crochet/craft scene

• opposite of the above; this award will go to the turn who shows that knitting and acting are possible at the same time. Extra kudos will be given if the knitting is a symbolic metaphor for a deeply meaningful moment…

Best knitwear

• I think I know which film might win this one…but the title says it all. Nominate the film that contains a piece (or pieces) of knitwear you just couldn’t take your eyes off!

Oustanding Contribution award

• you can’t nominate for this, but we’ll be recognising the efforts of someone to keep knitting on our screens too…

It’s all a bit of a laugh and we’ll be announcing the winners later this year…you never know we might even have a ceremony at I Knit Day if we get enough votes!

Rules (sorry there has to be oneor two) - all nominated films must have played in UK/US cinemas, or been shown on UK/US television in the last year or two. We’ll watch all the nominees and our judging panel will rate them…

For movie inspiration you can check out our own ‘knitting in films’ page. Post your nominations here or on the Ravelry I knit group message board, where you also argue/discuss the other nominations. I hope we can make this a funny little awards ceremony!