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

7 days to Yarn Harlot...

If you're wondering where we've been for the last two weeks, well wonder no more for we are still here. With so much to do for next week's show the blogging just hasn't been a priority. But, very late Friday night and taking a break from proof-reading our programme and trying to please everyone who's coming to the show I thought I'd pop by the blog and post abou what's been happening since 14th August.

One thing's for sure...not much knitting. Personally my knitting output has ground to a halt, while Gerard still manages to find time to get a little action in. But I don't feel the loss too greatly, after all the day-to-day business of 18 hour days keeps my mind occupied. Since the last blog we made the decision (which has been coming for some time) that we'd discontinue our Wednesday knitting pub nights. Not that the knitting group is going anywhere soon, we'll still be hosting that every Wednesday and Thursday, but we'll be inviting people to join us at IKL instead. There's many reasons for this, including the strain it's been putting us under keeping up to the chedule for the last, almost, three years. but we're all very proud of IKL and it's now a great place for knitters to come together so we feel like we're not losing out by having the knitting group here permanently. It's now so easy to get to that meeting in a pub a short walk away seemed a pointless exercise. Plus, there are now so many groups across London who meet up in the pub, or café or wherever that those who do miss it can get a fix pretty much any night of the week. but we're not giving it up completely...as always when one idea ends another starts and we'll be certainly doing more of our one-off knit sessions, special events to keep us occupied.

The knitting group were on the telly too - last Friday, Channel 5 News! Big time! Talking of which, Gerard may well be spotted in the forthcoming CelebAir reality TV show which starts on ITV2 next week. He was on the inaugural flight which left Gatwick for Alicante last Tuesday. He was there for about three hours, then he flew back again. The life of jetsetting knitting celeb is all glamour. How many of us can say we went to Alicante with her from Steps, Andi Peters and Chico? I know...I'm jealous too. Still, we have to big up Miss Amy Lamé and wish her the best of luck with the Great British Public. If you're likely to be taking a CelebAir flight in the next few weeks give her a good rating on your feedback form!

So, only a week to go before I Knit Day. It comes around so fast. Stephanie will be arriving on Friday and we have the honour of taking her out for a meal (a nice break from setting up 60 market stalls)...then it's showtime. In the meanwhile I'm just going to get back to my list of things to do. I'm up to number 24...only another 53 to go.

see yous all next Saturday (nervous breakdown permitting)

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

Visitors...from Uruguay, from New Jersey, from outer space...!

Having a knitting shop in central London means we get lots of visitors...from near, from far and from all over the place. I sometimes wish we'd started some sort of album to record everyone we meet, whether at the knitting group, the shop or out and about. I think it was Quentin Crisp who once said his ambition was to meet everyone on Earth before he died. Well, we're quite far off but we do get the chance to meet quite a few folk! And knitters are generally a pretty interesting bunch. A few weeks ago we had a visit from Tom and Sue from Artesano, along with Rodolfo, general manager at Manos del Uruguay. Rodolfo and his wife were visiting the UK from, well, Uruguay, and visited a few shops sticking their gorgeous yarns. Manos is a co-operative of over 800 women, producing and supplying hand spun, hand dyed yarns and wools. It's one of Gerard's favourites. Just last week we had a visit from Doris Jenne who runs her own yarn store in New Jersey, A Yarn For All Seasons. We get a lot of yarn shop folks passing through on holiday and checking out the UK versions. We like to do the same - we popped into Knitwits in Penzance whilst on our hols last week.


One of our most regular vistors though is Mia. We're sad that we won't be seeing her much anymore. She comes in regularly to get out of the heat and/or the rain and have a quiet kip in our basement. She belongs to Andrea, lovely Andrea who sells flowers from her market stall outside the shop. Sadly Andrea's decided to give it up for now - so no more Mia. We're sad, we'll miss them! The picture is of Mia fulfilling one of I Knit London's remits - relaxing!


A few months ago we started to make a 'rogue's gallery' of our visitors to the knitting group witha Polaroid of everyone to put up on our wall - now Polaroid have only gone and decided they're not making the iconic Polaroid film anymore. It's a travesty!



Very soon we'll be invaded by visitors of a different sort. Our new Knit Your Own Alien! Competition has just been launched for I Knit Day! Originally we'd had the idea of a Dr. Who knitting competition but we've decided to shelve that idea due to recent issues with the BBC...but, not ones to give up an idea easily we've decided that knitters are far too creative to just copy other people's aliens, so why not just create your own? The possibilities are endless! Anyone can enter, any age, from any planet - you just need to get them to us by Saturday 6th September....or bring them along to the show on the day. Mazzmatazz, now something of an expert on such matters ,will join with Yarn Harlot to judge the entries and there may even be a special guest judge too (if they don't keep saying they're busy!) A super-sooper prize will be given to the winning alien entry, which we still have to decide on. Follow the link above for full details and how to take part.

Craig

Knitting SW and weekly round-up!

We've been away again! Breaks are like buses for us - we don't have one for ages then two come along at once. No sooner were we back from Camp Bestival than we headed back to Dorset for a weekend with Melody Rose. Melody is a mythical, legendary being - for it is she who taught Gerard how to knit. A very special person indeed I'm sure you'll agree. Please give up the love to Rosie on Ravelry (melodymolyneux)! We had a great time down SW, a weekend that involved sea walks, ice creams and trespassing in stately homes. Whilst in Worth Matravers (if you visit over the summer do pop in to see Rosie selling her ice creams in the village 'shop') we discovered the grave of Benjamin Jesty - ever wondered what else you could use your knitting needles for? Well, it's said that Mr Jesty, who discovered innoculation, did so by experimenting on his family, injecting them with cowpox using a knitting needle. Lovely. By the way, if you're visiting wareham don't bother looking for old knitting patterns in the charity shops because we cleared them all out. Some cracking ones to boot.



On Monday we headed further SW to Cornwall. Those who read the blog and come along to the knitting group or the shop may have met Tom Tillery, our knitting gent and sometime actor. Tom is appearing at the incredible Minack Theatre in(pictured) all this week in Curioser and Curioser, based on the stories of Alice by Lewis Carroll. Sadly, Cornwall seems to be the only part of the UK without sunshine - so we endured gale force winds and rain for the three days we were there - the theatre is carved into the cliffside overlooking the sea and that can get a bit choppy. Tuesdays performance was abandoned halfway through, but there was still a frisson of excitement sitting high up on the cliffs watching the show. We were camping at a nearby site and the lovely last night weather really cheered us up. Thought we were going to get blown away, tent and all, in the middle of the night. But, long walks during the daytime around some of the hidden coves and country lanes more than made up for the crap weather, along with some rather nice local cider.


Back to London and quickly back to normality on Wednesday for knitting at the Royal Festival Hall. We melted. Last night wasn't much better at the shop either, but things are looking up folks! Looks like it's not so sunny today. We were packed in last night and the new Brothers Pear and Strawberry cider was going down a treat. it was good to see an illicit Adipose pattern wafting around too - IKL, a den of smuggling and black market shenanigans!

Whilst we were away there was, of course, the excitement of the Guardian knitting supplement which, to all intents and purposes, did the job and went down a treat (mostly!). To see knitting in mainstream newspapers is always exciting, so to see a whole supplement was almost orgasmic, whether it includes Gerard or not. Congrats to Mazzmatazz (unmasked at last!) and those who put the thing together. On the flipside of that we also had the knitted Hitler debacle, which was whipped up by The Sun and The Telegraph to name two. Rachel Matthews' latest publicity stunt seems to have polarised opinion...but one thing that everyone seems to agree on is....Why? It now seems there isn't a book of knitting patterns for Pol Pot etc after all. Oh well, still got in the papers didn't it? We are a bit peprlexed by the whole thing. Oh, yeah, right we knitters are all cool, edgy, subversive blah, blah, blah.

Yesterday we went along the the Royal Horticultural Halls to do a recce ahead of next month's I Knit Day. We came away much encouraged by proceedings - we think it's going to be great (but we would, wouldn't we?) There's a good chance there'll be a small number of extra tickets available for the Yarn Harlot talk now that we've done the sums, counted the chairs and measured the space! We'll announce details of these, and standing room, in our weekly newsletter for those who wish to snap them up. but, tickets are still available right now for the show which gets bigger each week - just confirmed is Sasha Kagan!

Also confirmed for a bit later is Franklin Habit. Also known by his blog, The Panopticon. Franklin will be along to I Knit London on 13th November to launch his new book of knitting cartoons, It Itches, and talk about his blog and stuff. We're very thrilled indeed. We're looking at more of the same for IKL over the coming months, so look out for more special guests poppping up.


That's about it for a round up of this week's stuff. We'll get back to regular randomness now we are back in the swing of things.

I have photos to add, but as is usual with Blogger they don't load. I'll try again later.



Craig

Pearls of wisdom

As you can imagine it's been a bit hectic so far this week. Monday we put our tickets on sale for this year's I Knit Day and they were whipped up at a vast rate of knots - but don't panic knitters, there's plenty left! Sadly our current technology means it's a laborious process this end but we can live with that. Now it's planning the rest of the show that needs our attention. It's great to hear all the great comments about Yarn Harlot's first UK trip, so thanks for that. I'm feeling much as I did last year about the UK SnB Day - can't quite believe we're doing it and amazed it's happening only a couple of years after we started the knitting group. Things constantly surprise me, and this is one of them. I don't know where we've found the time, effort and energy over the past two years to go from knitting one night in the pub to having a knitting shop and running a new annual knitting show. I don't take any of the credit though - this is entirely down to two things. 1. Gerard 2. support from all the knitters. It still feels like we're blagging it, but at times like this I always remember sleeping on the shop floor for four months on an inflatable mattress, living literally out of a suitcase, showering in our local gym (not as often as I'd have liked to!) and spending 3 hours every Sunday in the launderette and realise...there's still loads more to do!

With all the hectic-ness it was a nice respite to get out and spend some time with the Kniterati book group last night. Kniterati was Justine's idea (nowadays always to be followed by the phrase 'CaveFelem on Ravelry'). Last night was an interesting one because we were being recorded for a university project which is looking into the phenomena of the book group and how each differs or what unites them. The research has taken in a number of different types of group so far, and our knitting 'angle' made it quirky enough for inclusion. But it gave us all a chance to not only talk about the book (The Pearl by John Steinbeck) but also discuss the group itself. It was fascinating. I've never been in a book group before and don't do a huge amount of reading (who has the time...!?) and I was conscious of being inadequately intellectual to take part. That's such a ridiculous notion though, having now experienced it, and the chats are informal and educational, and sometimes heated! One of the best bits though is when we veer off the book for a while and move onto the career of Alan Dale (he's from New Zealand NOT Australia) or how scary 28 Weeks later... is. Anyway, the next book was chosen and is The Road by Cormac McCarthy, quite topical after the Oscars for the adaptation of his No Country For Old Men. Amazingly, having read only about 10 books in my lifetime, I have read one of his before, and loved it, so looking forward to this one. In fact I am taking advantage of the morphine induced mobility to go into town and get myself a copy right after this.

Craig

Curfews and cute pressies...

I've no idea what was going on last night, but every Thursday we hold the knitting group meeting in the shop. It's usually a great way to relax after work, much more chilled out than our Wednesday pub meetings and a chance to wind down. I couldn't make it due to back issues, but Gerard was holding the fort...til 1am! Blimey, I know there's always some gossip but thats got to be the latest knitting get-together we've ever had. I might have to set up a curfew, or at least limit the amount of cider we sell, especially to Gerard, or from what I hear, to some of our regulars too. Anyway, I'm a bit sad I missed it, it sounds like it was a memorable evening...

Recently I posted here on the blog about some of the negativity we've had in the past, even from fellow knitters, who for some reason can't just be happy to have another lovely yarn shop in London. It grates, especially when you put so much work and so many sleepless nights into something, not for yourself but for others too. But you can't please everyone I guess. Anyway, I wanted to post about the nice things we get too. Whenever we see a post on Ravelry from someone we don't know, but who has been to the knitting club or the shop and enjoyed themselves it obviously makes us know it's worthwhile. I've worked in a theatre for many years and have never understood the role of critics, or more distinctly, I've never understood why people would base a decision to see a play on someone else's opinion, unless you read them all to get the bigger picture. So, it's great to get good comments, but when we're slagged off it's always sensible just to take a moment and be introspective - sometimes you can get too big for your boots! Most of the negativity we've encountered so far at IKL has been petty nonsense and jealousy so, for now, we're happy, but bad feedback is probably more important than good feedback!

One of the nice things that's happened over the past two years is that we've met some great new people, some who have become friends, and we've received some lovely pressies too! being ill always brings the charity out in people! This little fella, "Lamby" is from regular Lynsey. I've always been conscious of the knitting group becoming a clique where newbies won't feel welcome - but, although we do have a close group of friends, they are actually only our friends because of the knitting get-togethers in the first place. I think we do manage to keep our group open and friendly. Lynsey came to us early last year, and joined our beginner's knitting class. She has become an IKL mainstay, a regular at the meetings and has even graduated to shop girl on occasion. Lynsey is brilliant - the way she's taken the yarny challenge with so much enthusiasm is a bit inspirational actually. She's obsessed with it and has done about a billion more projects than I have. The fact that Lamby Lamb Lamb here is wearing his own bespoke IKL jumper, knitted especially for him by Lyns is, frankly, gorgeous! And those letters are knitted into the work not just sewn on top y'know. She also made me the little cat in the picture below to cheer me up while I've been off. Bless you Lynsey, you are marvellous. Another marvellous knitter is the much-missed Esther. She's away on the other side of the world right now but there's always a presence, especially in the shop as she has showered us with pressies and postcards since she first started coming along the meetings. There are some people you just like as soon as you meet them, and you always remember when and where that was. With Esther it was at the pub knit night, at The Wellington on the Strand. Not a great pub but it was summer of 2006 and we sat outside till it got dark. A great group that night, among them Esther. If you're lucky
enough to come to a shop meeting and Esther's there you can guarantee she'll bring some cakes and chocolate. Everytime. Recently she gave us this tea-towel (kitsch? how very dare you?). If you can't read it it's The Knitter's Song by Marjorie Carrier (I've copied it out below) I love it's retro cheesiness (and I mean that in a nice way, I do really love it). Weirdly it reminds me of a competition I entered at primary school - someone collected tea-towels and brought in about 50 of them. They were hung up on the wall of the assembly hall. We had to look at them for a minute then turn around and write down as many as we could remember. What a bizarre memory that has literally just come back after never bothering my little head for 28 years!

Talking of being cheesy - the best present has been kept til last though. When we got confirmation from Stephanie that she was coming to do our show in September. That made me nearly wet meself with excitement. When things like this happen, when you spend months trying to sort things out, when you have sleepless nights thinking it's all going to go arse up it's a big relief! Not that I've stopped worrying - no, this is just the start. I will be stressed out every day until 7th September now! Luckily, Gerard is much more philosophical and a little calmer than I.

Craig


The Knitter's Song by Marjorie Carrier

Clickety clack, clackerty clack,
The knitters at work - knit and purl back.
In two-ply or three-, mohair or double,
the knitting keeps growing, without any trouble.

Sometimes machine, often on pins,
the knitter is busy and has no sins!
The garments are splendid admired by all,
"Knit one for me" is everyone's call.

The colours are gorgeous, in all sorts of hues,
they cheer all those who suffer the blues.
"So keep on knitting", is everyone's cry,
"For we love knitting!" is our reply.

Marjorie Carrier, 1990, for The Button Lady

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!