Knitting

When beginning this project I was pointed in the direction of Kate Fletcher, eco fashion and textile extraordinaire. On the 'PLAY' section of her website she promotes knitting.

Knitting is not just the preserve of 

our grannies!

It's cool, creative, empowering and so promotes values shared by sustainability. It can also be done with minimum of stuff, on the hoof or with your mates in the pub.

Send me pictures of your wooly creations or you and y

our friends knitting and purling!

(here)

So, I thought, why not? Having never knitted before, I saw it as a good opportunity to learn. I spoke to a couple of people before deciding to head to a local shop with a good reputation. The Wool Shop, in Armley has been running 58 years and recently taken over in June 2008 by a husband and wife duo. 

I walked from the bottom of Cardigan Road, Hyde Park to the shop, which took half an hour. Upon arriving I was met by the friendly owners and I explained I knew nothing about knitting. I was talked through what I was after and how to go about it. The shop can order in organic wool, or alternatively, stocked 'Chevy' Aran wool. The colour is dependent on the breed of sheep and when it was shorn, as the wool is not treated. I bought 3 x 50g balls at £1.50 each, some 5mm needles (I hadn't thought to recycle by getting them from a charity shop) and given a how-to knit card.

Off I went, excited to get knitting. However, I struggled trying to understand the card and resorted to a youtube tutorial from cyberseams. This video contained everything I needed:

• Casting On
• The basic knit (garter stitch)
• Binding Off

My first piece of knitting was interesting. I recommend counting how many stitches you cast on, and keep checking you have the same amount and that you haven't slipped a stitch, or in my case, split the yarn into two every now and then, and added stitches.

Here's the results of my first attempt.

But, practice makes perfect! I took my knitting back to the shop and was encouraged that apparently I had neat stitches, and bought 2 more balls of the same colour wool having decided to knit a skinny boy scarf.

Here are the results.

(garter stitch throughout, approximately 113g of wool, roughly £3.35)

From the hours spent knitting, I've gained a new skill and discovered lots of people are keen knitters which has led to evenings spent knitting together. So, it really is sociable!

Knitting a garment is quite laborious and this in itself has made me appreciate the work that goes in to making clothes. It made me think more about how and who by my clothes are made and of what materials. I definitely recommend knitting to anyone who can not yet, or who hasn't picked up the needles in a while.

Link to map for The Wool Shop.