Sunshine, sheep-shearing and SE1...

We've been a bit quiet of late here on the blog, mainly due to all the other stuff going on! Gerard has taken to Tweeting on Twitter and has been distracted by the new high-tech till in the shop (it does barcodes and everything don't you know?) and we're still working on getting the online shop up and running...it's coming soon, we promise.

Despite all of these distractions we've had time to hold the charity tea party last weekend which raised over £450 for Diabetes UK, from the sale of raffle tickets, cups of tea and cake! Thanks to everyone who popped in on the day and to all those who baked cake and donated prizes. It was a brilliant day all round and we're looking at hosting a regular tea party now and then as anything with cake involved seems to go really well.

We're looking forward to the summer now. It's been a scorchio weekend here in London. Yesterday we tottled over to Spitalfields City Farm in the East End for their annual Sheep and Wool Fayre. We love city farms. We urbanites should do all we can to make the most of such oasises, especially those of us who live in blocks of flats with no green space. Their herb and veg garden put our window boxes to shame! There was a bit of sheep-shearing (Sophie the Southdown looked massively relieved to get that jumper off), felting, spinning, knitting and cakes, of course. It was slightly devastating to see that a huge swathe of the farm had been commandeered by TFL for the East London line extension. I'm only ashamed to say we'd never been before.

With the temperature rising we can't wait for the festival season. We'll be off to the Lake District again this year for Woolfest at the end of June (as visitors only) then in July we're hosting Camp Bestival's knitting tent again. After the success of George, The Great British Sheep last year we're preparing for a deluge of activity. This year's line-up (as well as us!) inlcudes Kid Creole and the Coconuts and Chic. Discotastic! A knitting tent in the grounds of a castle by the sea in Dorset. What's not to love?

Visitors continue to arrive from far and wide to our little IKL. Holiday season in London brings a fresh influx of foreign fibre fans by land , sea and air. We love meeting so many knitters from far flung lands. Last Thursday's knit night was overflowing and we set up a couple of outside tables to cool off as the sun set. It's a peculiarly English thing to make the most of what you've got....we haven't got a paddling-pool yet but with a bit of knitting, a bottle of cider and a bowl of pear drops...well, just close your eyes and you could be a million miles away from SE1!

Finally, this weekend we ARE knitting London!

Yes, it might seem obvious but I Knit London have never actually knitted London before. That's all changing this weekend when we try to get the regulars at Duckie to knit up their favourite thing about London town. Tonight I finished off my Pet Shop Boy, which represents my escape from Shakin' Stevens with the release of the Disco album in 1986. before I heard that I'm afraid Shaky was my idol...listening to PSB really did change my life! The boys met on the Kings Road in 1981 and my little PSB doll will be pinpointed to that location on our map of London for this Saturday (and all subsequent Saturdays in July). Bring us your favourite thing about London and tell us why. You can read more about this here.

As well as knitting Neil it's been a Wednesday knit night, but I'm guessing all the knitters are away on hols. A quiet one, but no less relaxing than ever. Some good company here at the shop, and helped along by our recent discovery (at the weekend's festival) of Weston's Organic Cider. At 6.5% only one bottle is recommended whilst trying to knit a spiral cone hat. If it looks a bit rough then I blame the cider.