In 2007 we Knit Crawled for Cancer Research, in 2008 we Knit Crawled for Breast Cancer Care, this year Worldwide Knit in Public Day looms once more. The Stitch and Bitch London Knit Crawl 2009 has a far manlier theme…

The Stitch and Bitch London Tashtastic Knit Crawl 2009 will take to the streets of lovely London Town on Saturday the 13th of June.

We’ll stomp our way across four iconic London sights:

Tower Bridge: get down with the ravens and explain to tourists they’re not at London Bridge

Tate Modern: knit it up all arty-like in the gargantuan turbine hall where passers-by will assume you are an art installation

London Eye: get your stitch on in Jubilee Gardens under the gaze of the all-seeing London Eye

Trafalgar Square: a Knit Crawl traditional. Say hi to the Lions and furiously blend in with whatever festival happens to be taking place there, while knitting like you mean it

This year we’re doing it bloke-flavoured, raising money for the Prostate UK Charity in a tashtastic manner. We’ll be knitting (and possibly wearing, for those with no shame) moustaches for that manly feel.

CLICK HERE for our S&B London Tashtastic Knit Crawl Moustache Patterns.

We’ll also be offering some knit-flavoured raffle prizes, free gifts, and the chance to wear a knitted moustache in public (optional).

And you may be able to buy this fine face fur for the price of a donation on the day.

The S&B Tashtastic London Knit Crawl Map

View Larger Map

Knit 1: Tower Bridge
Noon to 1pm

The Scoop outside City Hall
City Hall
The Queen’s Walk
London
SE1 2AA

Knit 2: Tate Modern
1.30 to 2.30pm

Tate Modern
Turbine Hall
Bankside
London
SE1 9TG

Knit 3: London Eye
3.15 to 4.15pm

Jubilee Gardens
In front of London Eye on the grass
Queen’s Walk
London

Knit 4: Trafalgar Square
4.30 to 5.30pm

Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 5DN

Knit Crawlers Wine, Beer and Cake: Walkers of Whitehall

5.30 till we can drink no more

Walkers of Whitehall
15 Craig’s Court
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2DD

Join us for the whole thing, join us for a small part, just make sure you get your knits out on the town for a good cause.

Huge thanks to:
Banyan Tree Yarns (the UK home of Lion Brand’s wonderful wool)
Soak (amazing stuff for washing your handknits without the horror)
Debonnaire Yarns (artistic yarns and all kinds of woolly goodness)

The S&B London Knit Crawl 2008

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. Slap on the sunscreen (we hope), grab your WIP (work in progress), put on your best submit-to-the-knit face, and get out there. Show London your knits for Worldwide Knit in Public Day!

SATURDAY 14th JUNE

MAP OF WHOLE KNIT CRAWL (click on each pin for venue details)

VENUE 1: WESTMINSTER ABBEY

Time: Noon to 1 pm
Venue: Westminster Abbey – on the grass outside the main abbey entrance
Westminster Abbey
London
SW1P 3PA
United Kingdom

Knit Crawl Map Venue Map Website
Nearest Tube: Westminster
VENUE 2: ST JAMES’ PARK

Time: 1.15 pm to 2.15 pm
Venue: St James’ Park –opposite Horse Guard’s Parade by Inn the Park cafe
St James’s Park
London
SW1A 2BJ

Knit Crawl Map Venue Map Website
Nearest Tube: Westminster, St James Park
VENUE 3: TRAFALGAR SQUARE

Time: 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm
Venue: Trafalgar Square – by Nelson’s Column and the Lions
Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 5DY

Knit Crawl Map Venue Map Website
Nearest Tube: Embankment, Charing Cross
VENUE 4: SOHO SQUARE

Time: 4 pm to 5 pm
Venue: Soho Square – on the grass in the square
Soho Square
London
W1

Knit Crawl Map Venue Map Website
Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road

GRAND FINALE: ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR

Join us at All the Fun of the Fair for the Breast Cancer Care Blanket Prize Draw, a hard-earned cup of tea and cake at the café below, and a pat on the back for showing your knits to the city.

Time: 5.30 pm
Venue: All the Fun of the Fair – top floor of Kingly Court
Unit 2.8 Kingly Court
London
W1B 5PW

Knit Crawl Map Venue Map Website
Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus

As International Knit in Public Day beckons on Saturday 14th June, S&B London prepares to embark upon it’s second annual London Knit Crawl. You are all invited to join us in bring knitting proudly to the streets of London. Check out last year’s Knit Crawl from our blog entries in June 2007 for a taster of what’s to come.

Details of this year’s crawl will be released soon – keep your eyes on the newsletter and this blog for them. But for now we would like to set you a challenge. We all had a fab time on last year’s crawl, but the day took it’s toll on our bums as they sat on London monuments, concreate and grass all day long. So this year, to keep you comfy we are asking you to knit along with us and create your own Sit-upon.

The pattern, designed by Steph Fairless of iloveknitting.net, is a carry-along cushion, one side knitted to your own design and the other made from any waterproof fabric. It cleverly doubles up as a bag for your project too.

Here’s how it works (expertly demonstrated by Purl Princess):

1) Turn up to the Knit crawl with your finished Sit-upon and look for a fine place to sit.

2) Once you’ve found your spot, don’t forget to take your project out of your bag first

3) Now plonk yourself down and enjoy a spot of well-earned knitting time. You bum with thoroughly enjoy the Sit-upon’s added comfort.

4) When it’s time for the Knit Crawl to move on simply grab your cushion and give the PVC waterproof underside a good brush down.

5) And you’re ready to continue on with the rest of S&B London, as we roll on to the next location to show London what we’re all about!

Once you’ve finished we’d love to see your take on the Sit-upon, so send us an email with some pictures of it or bring it along to the group and we’ll feature your design in our newsletter or on this blog.

We’d love you to join in and knit with us, so here’s the pattern:

STITCH AND BITCH LONDON SIT-UPON

This pattern is only to be used as a guide and inspiration to create your very own Sit-upon for the Stitch & Bitch Knit Crawl.

Be as creative as you like!

Send us a picture of your finished Sit-upon or bring it to the group, we will feature your design on our blog or in the newsletter.

Materials

• Yarn of choice
• Knitting needles to match gauge of yarn
• Cushion - buy one from Primark/cheap shop or fill your Sit-upon with soft cushion filling/stuffing. (Rough size = approximately 37cm x 37cm (15″ x 15″))
• PVC/ waterproof backing
• Plastic bag to cover cushion (optional)

1. Measure up your cushion (or choose a suitable size to sit on) so you know how big to make your knitted square, and for cutting the PVC fabric. (Rough size = approximately 37cm x 37cm (15″ x 15″))

2. Knit a square to the size you want your cushion.

If you are using a pre-made cushion:

• Make a tension square so you can work out how many stitches to the centimeter you need (unless you are a good guesser!).

3. Make a handle to your required length and width (rough size = approximately 60cm). The handle on the cushion shown is 41cm (16″) long and 4cm (1.5″ wide). Don’t make it too long as it will stretch. You can either do one handle or two.

4. Any extra embellishments to the cushion before sewing up. Add sequins, tassels, embroidery, buttons, or an appliqué, but remember that you’re going to be sitting on it, so nothing too pokey!

Making up

1. Cover your cushion with a plastic bag in case it gets wet (optional).

2. Pin and sew the handle to knitted square.

3. Put PVC and knitted fabrics right-side facing each other and sew round 3 edges.

4. Insert a zip if you wish to use the Sit-upon as a project bag also.

5. Turn inside out so correct sides are now facing outwards. Insert your cushion or stuffing.

6. Sew last edge (if you’re not using a zip).

Places to buy your materials

• John Lewis, they will have most of what you need and a good range of PVC fabrics.
• Your local haberdashery and fabric shop.
• EBay, find wonderful fabrics and yarns online.
• If you want to be extra special there is a double knit pure wool yarn which is Teflon treated to make it water and snow resistant. Dalegarn Hauk. It is available through www.dragonyarns.co.uk
• For super cool embellishments and trims, try www.josyrose.com

Happy Knitting!

Cushion featured designed by Laura ‘Purl Princess’ Parkinson

Our final destination of the day was Trafalgar Square, not full of pigeons today but full of freedom fighters! Protesters waved placards for Palestine, police milled about making sure all was well, the lions looked down on all the chaos (tipping us a cheeky wink for their scarves back in February, and we plonked ourselves down on the ancient concrete and started to stitch.

A policeman told us, as we sat and knit away, that we were the most sensible thing he had witnessed in the Square all day (sadly we had missed the naked bike ride that went by, though I bet they could have done with our knitted items!).

Photo-snapping tourists didn’t bother to hide their fascination and snapped away happily, jaws dropped when Craig from I Knit turned up with his giant needles (causing two Japanese girlies to squeal in delight and demand a photo of themselves with them), Joelle had a giant knit just to see if she could (and she really could but it looked like hard work), one of our more weary members fell asleep at the needles (it had been a long day), and all in all it was a marvellous end to the most fabulous London Knit Crawl in knitting history (or it felt like it).

We want to thank all those who came of the knitting closet to show the city what knitting is all about. It was a wonderful day and we couldn’t have made as many heads turn if it wasn’t for the sheer (shear…? Sorry) number of you who turned up with your sticks and string.

A few pints in the pub at the end of the day and the London Knit Crawl was officially over. We cannot wait for next year.

The South Bank in the shadow of the London Eye has a festival air of choas and all the fun of the fair. Jugglers, music, people selling filthy hot dogs, picnics and bongo drums.

London Eye tourists peered down from their glass pods to see a circle of knitters stitching and lunching in Jubilee Gardens below.

We relaxed in the sun, showing off our stitching and taking some time out for an icecream. Knitting lessons began for more than a few as newbies arrived with sticks and string and made their first stitches bravely right out in the open.

An hour or so later we were lamenting leaving the soft lawns and sunshine, but the Knit Crawl must crawl. And so a small army of knitters, now our numbers were even bigger, crossed the lazy Thames once more and headed for venue four…

Outside the sun was blasting down, but inside the Tate Modern it was cool and shady. A bit of a relief from the midday sun.

We settled at the top of the slope in the humongous Turbine Hall. Every time I looked up from my stitching a new knitter had arrived, from our youngest ever 14-year-old stitcher (and her lovely mum and their friend) to our first male knitter of the day to crocheters and people balling up fabulous colourful yarn.

The public were very curious and slightly bemused and somewhat amazed. Were we art? Or were we just having a stitch in public? We liked to think we were a bit of both.

By the time the hour was up we had more than doubled in knitty numbers. Leaving the cool shadows of the hall we made our way back onto the South Bank for venue three…

As the St Pauls clock struck noon three of Stitch and Bitch London’s Stitchettes made themselves comfortable on the steps of the grand cathedral, pulled out their sticks and string, and began the very first stitches of the official 2007 Stitch and Bitch London knit crawl.

We were lucky with the weather. The sun shone down, the bells rang and gradually more and more knitters began to arrive. We even had a couple of four-legged group members (or though they were more interested in the bitching rather than the stitching).

A vicar stopped by to comment on our cathedral-steps stitching , countless tourists snapped away with their cameras (whilst pretending to be taking a photo of their friends), even Queen Victoria (in statue form) has cheeky peek over her stone shoulder.

By the end of hour one of our Knit Crawl we had gone from three to ten knitters. The stitching on the steps was done.

With a quick wave to the gods we were off across the Thames to venue two…