Knitting & Crochet Guild - UK

What will you be doing for World Wide Knit in Public Day tomorrow? The Woolly Weekend in Dilham has a great lineup of activities including sheep-shearing demos, crochet, knitting, spinning, weaving, felting, sewing, dyeing and other rural crafts. The North Norfolk Knitters Branch will be there, and Rita Taylor will be demonstrating how to knit a gansey. #WWKIP #WWKIPDay

Indulge in a day of knitting and crochet talks and workshops with the Bath branch of the Knitting & Crochet Guild! They’re delighted to be hosting their first Regional Day on Saturday 11 June to coincide with World Wide Knit in Public Day. The programme includes: - Knitwear designer Emma Vining @purlemma and researcher Alice-Marie Archer @beyondearthphd talking about edgings for shawl design and knitting soil-less cultivation systems respectively - A knitting surgery hosted by knitwear designer Mary Henderson @maryhendersonknitting - A group project, ‘Social Knitwork’, led by textile artist Lou Baker @loubakerartist - Knitting and crochet workshops with Clare Griffel and Armelle Lovegrove respectively - Learn to knit and/or crochet sessions for beginners, with hooks, needles and yarn to keep and take home - A raffle with wonderful prizes generously donated by @woolbath, @mooritmag, @purlemma and #betsancorkhill - All attendees will receive discount codes to use at @ayarnstory and @mooritmag ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The day runs 10am-4pm and is being held in central Bath. Book your ticket here >> https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/332368351687. Tickets £10 / £15, members and non-members of the Knitting & Crochet Guild welcome. Ticket sales close on Thursday 9 June at midday. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Image - one of Alice-Marie Archer’s knitted forms for use in hydroponics ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #textiles #knitting #crochet #WWKIP

So this is how to make knitting needles. This chart (blueprint) sets out all the various sizes of knitting needles. It is dated 1975 and is from the Abel Morrell factory in Redditch, England. Such a fascinating piece of knitting history #knittersofinstagram #makingtools #knittingneedles #makingintheuk #knittingneedlesizes

The Knitting & Crochet Guild is run entirely by volunteers. It's a massive task and truly a team effort, so THANK YOU to all our volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes. From our Patrons and Board, to the teams who produce ‘Slipknot’ and ‘Across the Needlebed’, the membership and IT teams, the Convention working group, the individuals who respond to enquiries, the Collection team, our Branch Coordinators, and social media moderators; we couldn’t do it without you. #volunteersweek

It’s Volunteers’ Week and we’re taking this opportunity to say thank you to the many, many volunteers who keep the Knitting & Crochet Guild running and to share a few volunteer profiles throughout the week. Stephen has recently started volunteering as our Board Secretary. His pronouns are he / him, is neurodiverse and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Stephen has been making across multiple crafts over 20 years, including crochet, knit, weave, cross-stitch, ceramics, and stained glass, to name a few. He’s attended crafting conventions for over 15 years although normally those around London. It was during one of these he saw a Guild stall in the ‘Marketplace’ and spoke to two ladies – after which the pandemic hit. He attended one or two online sessions with branches in London. Following this he joined the Guild and worked with one of the Board members regarding the EDI Policy. He later saw the advertisement for volunteers to help out and decided to put his name forward to help. If you’re interested in volunteering for the Guild, do check out the ‘volunteering for the Guild’ page on the website (link in bio). #volunteersweek

It’s Volunteers’ Week and we’re taking this opportunity to say thank you to the many, many volunteers who keep the Knitting & Crochet Guild running and to share a few volunteer profiles throughout the week. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Rita has been a member of the Guild for nearly 20 years now and has always enjoyed contributing in various ways, either through articles for ‘Slipknot’, being on the Board (even as Chair at one point), but the part she enjoys most is running a Branch. She originally joined a branch in Newcastle and later set up a new branch in Carlisle after moving there. Not long after she moved to Norfolk Rita started the North Norfolk Knitters, which is still flourishing in the second of its locations. The branch meets every second Tuesday morning in Holt. Rita loves helping people to extend their skills, enjoys seeing what they are all making and how they are becoming more adventurous, even designing their own items in some cases. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Rita is also very keen on preserving the traditional techniques and social history of knitting and crochet, which are a big part of the remit of the Guild. She is currently knitting another fisherman's gansey and recording those held by Sheringham Museum. Rita still writes for ‘Slipknot’ and edits the Book Reviews column. Thank you to our group of reviewers who do a great job of getting out more reviews than Rita could manage on her own, and please do get in touch if you would like to help! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Image 1: Rita Image 2: Fisherman’s gansey made by Rita ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #volunteersweek

It’s Volunteers’ Week and we’re taking this opportunity to say thank you to the many, many volunteers who keep the Knitting & Crochet Guild running and to share a few volunteer profiles throughout the week. Steve started knitting as a way to turn off from his work in IT. Over the years he has knit many items for his family and friends and loves openwork and stranded knitting. You can see him here knitting his first gansey while wearing a Fair Isle top he made recently. Steve now volunteers for the Knitting & Crochet Guild as the director responsible for all things IT. If you’re interested in volunteering for the Guild, do check out the ‘volunteering for the Guild’ page on the website >> https://kcguild.org.uk/membership/members-area/support-volunteer/ #volunteersweek #knitting #crochet

Just some of the many samples and swatches from the Gladys Jeskins sampler, the amazing length of knitting showing almost a thousand stitch patterns, mostly lace. The @kcguild looks after this for members and others to enjoy and marvel at. These are some of Gladys’s edgings, being mounted so they can be shown and shared #knittersofinstagram #kcguild #sampler

The joys of volunteering at the collection In a box labelled "Crochet Novelties" were these gems, made from "pinguin" fibre, along with postcards to "Dear Aunt May" from August 1916 describing a ride out in the auto 8 miles into the country. All from Mexico we think. Googling 'pinguin' got Penguins but Maria, one of our student placements, has found this information. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromelia_pinguin

Hard to keep up with the amazing things in the @kcguild collection. This piece is probably over 2 yds/ metres long (guessing, need to measure it). It’s wool, probably about 4 ply or fi*****ng. There are about 100 stitches and 100 rows knitted on needles that start fine ( 2mm?) and progress to perhaps about 8mm. It’s one of the most interesting and formative pieces of knitted fabric I have seen. It was knitted by the first donor to the collection, Audrie Stratford, a knitting researcher and collector. If you are not confident about the relationship between yarn weight and needle size why not explore it a little with a strip like this? No need for quite so many sts or rows though! 🤣Btw it’s been brought home for a little swish in some warm soapy water to perk it up. All part of what @kcguild collection volunteers do 🤣#knitersofinstagram #kcguild #handknitting #knitted #knittedfabric #tension #gauge #understandingknitting #volunteer #volunteering

Another fascinating find in the @kcguild collection. This tiny sample is a knitted spider complete with instructions.

Did you know the Guild has an events page on our website? If you’re looking for crafty goings on near you, tours, workshops, exhibitions and talks, do check it out. The page is regularly updated by our website team, and if you have something you’d like to list they can help with that too. https://kcguild.org.uk/events/