I Knit Day 2008

It's been a whirlwind week. Back in February we confirmed that I Knit Day was happening, we'd chosen our birthday weekend and we'd heard from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee that she'd come over as our special guest. From that day to this it's been a bit hectic. Sometimes we've wondered why we're doing it, sometimes I wonder where the days have gone. With Gerard as I Knit's only full-time 'member of staff' sometimes I just wonder if we are completely bonkers. But on Saturday it all came together and I Knit Day came and went as quick as a flash. For about three weeks now I've been saying, usually at about 3 o'clock in the morning, "I'm NOT doing this again next year!" but I enjoyed Saturday so much that I might have changed my mind....we'll see what we can do!

But, for this year it was a culmination of sleepless nights, arguments, meetings, phonecalls, about a million emails and lots of persuasion, hard work and, well, money. We've been reading the blogs and the Ravelry forum with huge smiles on our faces and we're chuffed to bits that so many people enjoyed themselves. We're just ignoring the ones complaining about cups of tea and the rain. We know there were some problems which we'll sort our for next year but going around that fantastic hall on Saturday and seeing so many knitters with ridiculously large grins on their faces made it all worthwhile. Yes, of course, we're sorry the heavens opened precisely at the time hundreds of people were queueing for the Yarn Harlot (despite Gerard's likeness, he can't control such things!) and we're also a bit cheesed off about the sandwich situation - but nice to see knitters with initiative heading round the corner to the nearest café. But we hope everything else made up for it..and there was quite a lot of everything else!

For us, this started back in February, but the reality kicked in on Thursday morning when Stephanie touched down in the UK. Gerard swiftly headed off to her hotel with a fruit parcel and a bottle of bubbly in hand. Reading Stephanie's blog over the last few days has been entertaining and eye-opening and it's great to see the city from someone else's view, especially someone with such a way with words. I'm really pleased to see that Stephanie did what I advise all visitors to do; stay off the the Tube and walk. You see so much and the city just opens up before you; history, culture, community, London life. I've spent hours trawling the streets and there's always something new to see. Stephanie's jetlag meant we didn't get to meet her in person until Friday when we recce'ed the venue (see Steph's Friday blog - yes, she really did say "I'm not doing it!" We just laughed nervously.) Then it was off for lunch with Stephanie, Roz from Search Press, Claire Bowles (PR), Billy and Joanna from Melia Publishing and the two of us. After the meal, and a few beers, we were happy to find that Stephanie was well up for it. Phew!

The rest of Friday is a blur really. I think we probably spent most of the evening carrying heavy boxes of books, loading our van and driving to and fro. It's not all glamourous celebrity knitters you know? We do work too. A special part of the whole weekend was having Gerard's family together with us for the first time in London - his mum and dad, two sisters and two nephews all in tow to lend a hand, show some support and generally look all glowing and proud. We spent late Friday in the pub at their hotel and calmed down before the day ahead. We should mention here that, although this whole event has been planned and organised by Gerard and myself, we would not have got through the whole thing without the help of friends who volunteered to help out on the day. From the moment you stepped through those (fabulous) Art Deco doors you will have met a whole host of people who worked their socks off to keep the whole day running. They are old friends and new friends from the knitting group and at the risk of gushing, they are all brilliant and without them we'd have been lost. From ticket takers to queue movers, chaperones and booksellers they kept the whole thing going while Gerard and I ran about like headless chickens!

So, Saturday arrived. we were up at 5am to load more stuff, including the big sheep, and head off to the venue. Waiting outside at 8am with an expectant group of exhibitors was an interesting experience. This was it. When those doors opened we were the only two people who knew what was going to happen, we were (gulp)...responsible. Us? How did that happen? When the queue started to form outside the main entrance just before 11am the realisation that all these people had been brought to this place by us set in...and the realisation that if this all went t*** up we'd be surrounding by thousands of angry knitters (and we know what they're like!) with pointy sticks. The thought of escape crossed our minds a number of times. But, when it came to it, seeing those first few faces entering the hall to be met with a deluge of yarn and a big smile put my mind at rest. It was to be a good day.

The rest of the day is also a blur, but I remember a few things distinctly; I remember Jane Sowerby's table-ful of the most amazing lace shawls; I remember a glorious fashion show from Susan at knitonthenet and Jane Wallers' A Stitch in Time; I remember Gerard in Erika Knight's fashion show taking the easy way out with a hat then looking super in his chunky cabled cardi; I remember hundreds of eager knitters queueing in the rain to see the Yarn Harlot; I remember the rapturous welcome we gave her when she emerged from behind that curtain; I remember seeing Elly for the first time in ages and giving her a great big hug and feeling a bit emotional about it; I remember getting one chance (and one chance only!) to wander around the hall and check that everyone on the stalls was happy (they were); I remember introducing Mazzmatazz and feeling a frisson of excitement from the crowd; I remember saying "Erika Knight is here!"; I remember thinking, on more than one occasion, "is it me or is this just the most bonkers thing we've ever done?..."

By 7 o'clock it was all over. There are just too many things I've forgotten to mention, too many people to thank. But, to all of our special guests, to Stephanie, to everyone who booked a stand, to all the charity projects, to all the knitted aliens, to everyone who bought a ticket and to our sponsors at http://www.knitonthenet.com/ we just say "thanks and we'll see you again next year".

One final thing to say is that I'm devastated that we didn't get a single photograph of the show. With this in mind we make a plea that anyone with pics share them on the Flickr group. If you don't mind me taking a few to illustrate this blog please let me know and I will do so.

Craig

The final countdown.

Get your air guitars out! Diddle-der-der diddle-di-di-der! It's the final countdown....

We've been to-ing and fro-ing form the Horticultural Halls all day in our big van, loading, unloading and stopping off for a couple of hours for lunch with the Yarn Harlot. Stephanie, it was really very nice to finally get to meet you in the flesh and I hope you find your knitters tonight...or maybe you've snuggled up in the hotel away from the weather...?

Anyway, this is short and sweet as I'm being called to carry some more boxes and Gerard can't quite believe I'm writing a blog when there's so much work to do! I mean, honestly, after almost 9 months of work I think I can take a few minutes to say a few words....?

Up at 7am for an early start in the morning...then the fun really begins.

Craig

Pete Waterman, pop genius and train fan

It might not come as much of a surprise to learn that I, Craig, used to be a trainspotter. I had all the books and everything, wrote all the numbers in a little pad and got really excited when the APT stopped at Kingmoor Marshalling Yards in Carlisle (which was just over the field from the house where I grew up). This might not mean much to those uniniated in the whys and wherefores of the trainspotter but I still get excited when I think of seeing the APT. It probably won't surprise anyone to discover that I was also a bit of a fan of Stock, Aitken and Waterman - not just post-ironically either. I think they are under-rated musical geniuses. Honest.

Well, both of these come together when Pete Waterman (should be Sir Pete by now surely?) visits Lower Marsh today! He's signing copies of his new book A Train is for Life at the Ian Allan bookshop, just up the road from our knitting shop! I'm tempted to take in my original 12" of Kylie's The Locomotion to get signed.....

Craig

I Knit Day looms...

To calm the nerves of knitters across the country we can categorically confirm that tickets for this year's I Knit Day have now been posted out! If you don't believe us here's a picture of Gerard with a box full of them, all stamped and ready to go.....

For those of you who haven't bought a ticket yet get yourself one now by clicking here and make sure you don't miss out on a brilliant day. I'll be updating the website tonight with more info about who you can see, meet, buy stuff from and have a drink with on the day. We've also launched our Knit Your Own Alien! Competition and we're working our way through the ranks of sci-fi celebs for a judge (to join Yarn Harlot and Mazzmatazz)...but it's not looking good. Sylvester McCoy anyone? But we need your entries anyway - your work will be shown on the day and you might even win our prize goodie bag, including tickets to see Dr Who maestro Russell T. Davies in conversation at the National Theatre.

Everything's happening so fast that we've hardly time to sleep, but we promise we'll hold off the nervous breakdowns until after 6th September. Until then, keep knitting and save your pennies for lots of loveliness at I Knit Day!

Craig

We are the champions...

One of favourite haunts for the last few years, and an oft-visited pub for the I Knit London knitting group nights, is the Retro Bar, just off the Strand, in what landlady Wendy jovially describes as 'piss alley'. Lovely. Anyway, Tuesday nights is pop quiz night, which we've been going to for years but recently had to give up as the Vauxhall shop closed at 9 and getting across town, even pedalling at the speed of sound, wasn't possible. Now we're in Waterloo it's just a short skip across Hungerford Bridge and we're there.

So, last night we WON! Hurray. With the combined brainage of Gerard, SueMoon, Retro Rob and myself we managed 19 and a half (how do you write that properly on a computer?) out of 20! Blimey. Our knowledge of Barry Manilow and 90s trip-hop saw us through in the end. It's another personal notch on my own quiz show league table (you're in the presence of The Weakest Link winner here folks, as well as Blankety-Blank - I'll show my chequebook and pen if you ask nicely!) Just don't mention the Eggheads...what was that, did someone just mention the Eggheads?

Craigx

I Love London

Oh My!

45% turned out to vote.

Shame on the 55% who didn't. Shame on you.

It seems that the country, led by London, has descended into ridiculousness.

I see no other course of action.

We must leave London.

Boris Johnson as mayor is not only a joke but an embarrassment and an insult.

The most cosmopolitan city in the world is chaired by a tory bleeder xxx xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxx, oh god the fucking words escape me I'm almost breathless.

The only way out of this is if a bendy bus knocks the life out of the inbred twat.

Forgive me for ranting but my whole world order has collapsed and I am struggling.

Shame on you those who didn't vote!

Animal alphabet...

It was another busy knitting group on Thursday night, with the usual stuff going on, including the consumption of cider and the sharing of a few tips and ideas....we also started our IKL Polaroid photo gallery which you can see adorning the walls of the shop very soon. You can be included too, all you need to do is come to one of our knit nights! Welcome back to Jon, too, who we haven't seen in a while, so busy is he with making more of gorgeous Easy Knits yarn. At the end of the night we all tried to work out the conundrum emblazoned on Justine's chest:

Leave your answers here! We're stuck on X, and N...?

{EDIT}...and for bonus points...which one is the odd one out, and why?

We love local...

It's ironic, after our last post, that we woke up to discover that one of our favourite local shops has closed down. It's very easy to say 'support your local shops' and all that but go to the supermarket every day instead. We live in a flat in Vauxhall and there's a huge Sainsbury's so it's not easy to support the local shops - we are pleased to say that we do try, including some of the local Portuguese delis in the area. But we did patronise the bakery on the corner regularly...so it was a shocker when I went past this morning to see it had closed down. Kaye's Of Lambeth was literally a family-run company in Lambeth for 70 years, started in the 1930s and sadly now swiftly and unexpectedly erased from the streets of Vauxhall. Gerard, especially, will miss their rye bread. It comes at a time when we find ourselves moving into a very local street, and only days after finding the We Love Local website. It's funny how things happen all together sometimes. It's also weird timing as we did go into Sainsbury's last night and partaking of a special offer on Rosé...what struck me was that the receipt said I'd saved £5.99. But, actually, I'd spent £18 I wouldn't have spent to get the saving...so I didn't save anything. It's obvious, but I still fall for the tricks of the supermarkets!

Craig

A house is not a home...

So we're now counting the days until Saturday's opening day at Waterloo. There seems to be so much still to do, which isn't helped by finger injuries and bad backs! One of the things you lucky knitters can look forward to is the new loo! For anyone's who's been along to the knitting nights at Bonnington Square you may have experienced the basement toilet, which is functional but memorable for all the wrong reasons. The new shop had a fairly grimy counterpart until I took a hammer to it. That wasn't my best idea, although it does mean we have a nice new one for everyone to sit on. Hurray. Pictures are proving impossible to load, but maybe that's a blessing!

The shop is taking shape. It's an empty shell with some of the previous fittings and fixtures in place. In an ideal world we'd start from scratch but time and money are against us on that one. We're of the opinion that IKL is more than just bricks and mortar though, and when it's filled with the sound of chattering knitters it could be a barn and it'd still be great. The best thing about the new space is that it's so much bigger...which means more room for yarn, more room for lounging around and more room for classes. As Hal David once wrote, "A room is a still a room, even when there's nothin' there but gloom. But a room is not a house and a house is not a home"...which, basically means I'm trying to say that it's what happens inside IKL that's the most important thing. Having said that, we have splashed out on some lovely new IKEA furniture to fill up with yarn and there's even a chance our new sign will be ready before we open, or perhaps not.

One of the things I'm looking forward to the most though is being part of Lower Marsh. Gerard and I both worked at the National Theatre (I still do!) so it's somewhere we're familiar with as it's so close to the South Bank. It's a really 'local' street, and there's been a market here for centuries. I'm always telling the story of how we stumbled upon the shop in Bonnington Square, and the same serendipity has landed us with the new address. Wandering past a few months ago I noticed the empty shop and thought we'd make the big decision to go for it. It was a clothes shop called The Closet (and all jokes about us both moving into the The Closet have already run dry!) There's a brilliant shop called Radio Days which has, in the past, been a destination for the ladies of the box office at Christmas Party time for a fancy frock or two. I like rooting through the fabulous vintage mags from the forties, and have picked up a few vintage knitting patterns in there too. Further up there's the retro What The Butler Wore for some 60s/70s fashions and next door to that one of the city's best kept secrets, the Scooterworks café. All this and a local bookshop, a couple of nice pubs, Iceland, Boots, sex shop and even the woodwind instrument shop! All it needs is a fabulous knitting shop and you've got a village in the centre of London! I fear that with Cubana at one end and The Walrus at the other we may see late nights at IKL go on til the wee small hours.

For a history of Lower Marsh and a view of some of the shops and cafés you'll find there check the Lower Marsh website.

London's newest knitting shop...

Sort of.

It's been just over two years since Gerard and I started I Knit London. Back then we were a regular knitting group, organising weekly meetings for knitters in London pubs. Every Wednesday we'd choose a pub, send out a newsletter and wait for people to arrive. So far, so easy. It's only ever worked because people came, what we did was really nothing at all. So we'd teach people how to do stuff, and sometimes they'd teach us and we all had a few drinks and got on like a house on fire, made new friends and made stuff. But there was more to do, there was a Sunday market stall at Spitalfields, a decision based on the fact Gerard couldn't buy any recylced sari silk in London, so thought he'd do it himself. Those very early Sunday mornings were very hard work and even if we didn't make back any of the stall rent, we met more knitters and we invited them along to our weekly pub meetings too. Our circle of friends got bigger and our plans did too. but, the last thing we wanted was a shop - why would we need another full-time job on top of the two we already had?

One of our local hang-outs was the Bonnington café, where I'd meet Gerard for lunch when it was my day off from the National Theatre, and he was working around the corner for WaterAid. I don't remember when it was that I first suggested asking about the corner shop, at that time looking pretty grim with the metal shutters down and a blight on the square to be honest. Gerard was working from 8am til 4pm so we thought we could run a shop for people after work, open from 4 to 9 and still give ourselves a little time to have a life. We'd close on Wednesdays so we could still go to the pubs and knit and all would be well. We knocked on a few doors, found the owner and decided to give it a go....and it's been an unexpected journey.

Shortly afterwards Gerard was promoted and had to stay on til 5pm. It's only an hour difference but somehow 5 to 9 each night didn't seem proper, so we got someone to sit there for afternoon, usually on their own, pretending to run a shop, only with no customers. This is when we decided to get our licence to sell alcohol and decided that we'd alternate our weekly knitting group between shop and pub, giving everyone a chance to come and discover IKL and to live up to the 'sanctuary' part of the name which we'd been adamant about from the start. And so it went on....

Recently I've been hearing that because we're a 'business' we're different to other knitting groups; somehow this makes us less worthy of praise, as if our 2 years of work is somehow reaping financial rewards. I only wish! True, Gerard did, finally give up his full-time job at the end of 2007, meaning he can now spend his time and energies on his first love, but it's also true that it means from two incomes we're down to only one! I'm glad the 14 hour working days are over, I'm ecstatic that we won't have to give up our flat and live in the shop again (well, not as far as we plan it anyway) but with only two of us running the shop and the knitting group, not to mention organising SnB Day last year and this year's I Knit Day, it's still a long way from time to relax and put our feet up.

So, the last thing we need right now is more stress and more sleepless nights - but we genuine love IKL so much that we're going to do that anyway...and we're moving. Bonnington Square has been good to us, it's been a beautiful place to rest our knitty heads and it will always be part of our IKL story...but there's always time to move on. Next week London has it's newest knitting shop, at 106 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, SE1. Open late, licenced bar, gorgeous yarns and still a place for knitters to drop-in, put their feet up and have a natter. We wouldn't miss it for the world and we hope knitters from London and those visiting the city think so too.

From a weekly pub knitting group to what we consider to be a very good local yarn store, it has been a long hard slog. We won't be retiring anytime soon and we'll continue to do our best to offer London's knitters what we think they want and need. To all those who think it's easy you are welcome to have a go, and for those who think we're in it for the money - well, I can only laugh! The one thing I will say is that I am never a do-er, I'm always a wannabe! Thanks to Gerard this has been the most interesting (most stressful, most exciting, most unpredictable, most fulfilling...) 2 years of my life. If you want to do something just do it...we are no businessmen, and I still feel like I'm making it up as I go along. The clever part is making it look, apparently, so easy.

I Knit London will open at Waterloo on Saturday 15th March....until then, there's lots of painting, scrubbing and shelf-building to get done!

I Knit, in 2008, with...

..Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.
In our ongoing endeavours to bring the UK the best of everything knitty we are delighted to be able to announce that the Yarn Harlot will be with us at the I Knit Show on 6 September.

Stephanie will be with us for a talk and a booksigning. We're thrilled that Stephanie will join us at the show in what will be her first UK appearance. Her new book looks to be as great as, if not better than, her previous books!!!

The tickets will be on sale first to our mailing list members, early next week. Visit our website, http://www.iknit.org.uk/newsletter.html , to put yourself on the list!

Knitty negativity and the community spirit...

Living in London can sometimes be a joy, sometimes not, but I'm lucky in that my journey to work in the morning is just a short 20 minutes bus ride. Since we moved to south London four years ago we rarely take the Tube anywhere and it's very possible it's saved my sanity. I used to travel in from Leyton on the central line and may have exploded if I'd still been doing that. One of the things that makes commuting so much more bearable though is knitting for the journey. There's been a few posts on the Ravelry forums recently about public reaction to commuter knitting, and also reaction from other knitters.

I think it's fair to say that there's a small element of pride or even exhibitionism in most of us, and I know sometimes when I get my pins out on the bus I enjoy the staring. Other times, though, especially now I'm struggling with my first DPN project, I'm so in the zone that I barely notice anyone. Sometimes it's harder to concentrate than others - this morning I was sitting in front of two blonde girls, and I hate to perpetuate the stereotype but, blimey, could they talk - about everything, especially their boyfriends, one of whom, appropriately, was called Ken. I ain't kidding.

Anyways, there was a post on the Ravelry forum recently about a fellow knitter who spotted another knitter on their train and found a seat opposite. When they got their knitting out they expected some kind of reaction - but nothing, not even a little smile, or a Freemason-like secret sign that they were both crafting together on the packed train. It raised the question - just because we knit, does it mean we're going to like other knitters. At first I'd have said it does - since we started the knitting group hundreds of people have turned up in a central London pub, on their own, settled down and joined in. One of the things that makes the group so accessible is that (apart form being a friendly bunch in the first place!) you know that you'll have at least one thing in common with the others there. Going into a pub on your own is hard enough but knowing there'll be a common thread (no pun intended) is always a good start. But should we really expect everyone to get on?

I remember saying many times, I've never met a knitter who wasn't nice, but it's not true, sadly. People drawn to the same activities are very likely to have other things in common and get on with one another but I guess it shouldn't be taking for granted - we've had such great times and can now count the majority of our close friends as people we've met through I Knit London, but still, every now and then, we smack into a wall of negativity from someone who knits. Why? I suppose you can't get on with everyone, and despite what we do there's always the pessimists who don't believe in altruism or good-naturedness. On the whole the knitters we meet are all lovely, and long may it continue, but if you do find yourself in a situation where a fellow stitcher doesn't seem as excited don't be too disheartened - it's a big wide world and our differences are just as important as the things that bind us together. Gerard and I are in a number of interesting minority groups but it doesn't mean we like everyone else in those groups too (except the knitters, of course....we love you all!)

This year's I Knit Day....

So, the deliberating is finally over. Thank Gawd for that! For those in our Ravelry group you've probably seen the thread about this year's follow-up to our UK Stitch 'n Bitch Day last November. Should it be August or September? Should it be a Bank Holiday? Should we get someone really special to come and take part, or wing it with just Gerard? Should we get a big grand Victorian hall in central London or hold in a concrete 1970s hotel again? So many questions.....finally we have (some) of the answers!


You know, we've lost sleep over this for the past few weeks, but we've settled for Saturday 6th September. It's the week of our second anniversary as a little knitting shop and it's just after payday (hurray). We can't say anything about who'll be there yet, because we're still asking, grovelling and begging and we're still making contact with the great and the good of the knitting world, but we can guarantee a surprise or two. The 70s hotel thing?....nah, let's go grande and get the Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster! Why the heck not? Well, it's a bit pricey, but after last year's party it'll be worth it and every knitter in the land will want to be there! (If you don't know the halls, you know that BBC One trailer with the acrobats hanging from the ceiling wrapped in orange bits of cloth?, well, that's it. It's big and beautiful). And on 6th September it'll be full of yarn...and knitters...and no doubt some lounging around and some workshops and some other stuff, like DJs and maybe even dancing.


Anyway, I'm kinda rambling on now. But, basically, I'm excited and the best knitting show of the year is coming. Run by yarnoholics for yarnoholics. We've listened to the feedback from last year - so, yes, there will be a café, and there will be cake and there'll be even more stuff to spend your money on and even more exciting guest speakers....


We'll announce updates as we have them in our weekly newsletter, and here on the blog, and on Ravelry and everywhere else. You won't be able to miss it!


Now we just need to decide on a name...UK SnB Day never really suited us!

In praise of our local....

We'd like to take a moment to say a few words about our local. Not our local yarn store (although, of course, we would highly recommend supporting those too) but our local pub. Friends and fellow I Knitters will know by now that we have a penchant for a bevy or two. Our knitting group nights aren't the same if the wine/cider/beer (delete as appropriate) isn't flowing. It might sound like we're turning into alcoholics, but, really it's just a nice way to relax after work - a bunch of like-minded knitty folk, sharing some banter and a few drinks to wind down.

Anyway, back to our local. There are a few pubs around by the shop in Vauxhall - in fact the very first I Knit London meeting was held at The Beehive, just around the corner from where, at that stage, the shop wasn't but would be, if you see what I mean. There's a couple of poncy gastropubs too, and a nameless number of very local boozers that we still haven't visited for fear of our lives. But the one we'll miss the most (if we move...) is the Vauxhall Griffin. When we moved to the area four years ago this was a shadow of it's current self and we steered clear, but after last year's remodelling it's a genuine local pub that's serendipitously positioned between the shop and our flat. We don't end up in their as often as you might think (or as often as we should) but when we do it's always a nice end to the day. At weekends it manages to be a packed club night, yet on weeknights it's just right...and on Tuesdays the weirdest pub quiz you'll ever encounter - if only we closed early enough to go! We did manage on Tuesday gone (I sat there on my own for an hour, struggling) and came away with a prize! Gerard was very excited as he says he never wins anything. (It's a set of toy cars, in case you were wondering). One of the best bits is that one round of the quiz is creative - we used to always use our knittiness but I think Rob got wise to this and isn't impressed anymore - I can't say what we won this prize for except to say we had to draw our 'worst disease'. Some may be offended, although if you see Gerard one night please do ask him to share.

So, hurray for The Griffin. They even sell pear cider, and the jukebox is brilliant (about 90% of the time).

Craig