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

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.

Here we go round the Mulberry Bush...

I always find it difficult to get out of bed of a morning, especially on days like today. One of those gorgeous winter dawns where the sun is shining but the air is crispy and curling up under the duvet is like being back in the womb. Sadly, needs must and up we got.

I have a knitting hangover today, thanks to another great I Knit London knitting group night at the pub. Our alternate Wednesday pub nights continue apace with new knitters, old knitters and some crocheters too. Last night we met at The Mulberry Bush, a Youngs pub on the South Bank and were well met by a packed bar, Winter Warmer Ale and some smily knitting faces.
This was a new pub to the IKL club and it suited well. Good enough light, three choices of ale, plus the usual light pub grub. The evening was a little surreal as the venue is opposite the London Studios and The Graham Norton Show were filming 'ladies taking off their bras without removing their tops' at the front of the pub. I've been reliably informed that this is actually quite an easy thing to do, although none of the knitters felt the urge to get up and do it on the telly. I'm slightly bemused by this obsession gay men have with breasts - G, can you explain?
Another highlight of the evening was a FWIP moment (finished work-in-progress) - Alix held aloft her majestic lace shawl and it was a sight to behold. Still, after two years of doing all this pub knitting it's still surprising that our little gatherings are seen as so eccentric by some of the other drinkers. But, deep down, we love the attention!
More of the same in the shop tonight, and twice a week for the forseeable future!

Craigxx