Behold the UK S&B blanket!

We asked groups from around the country to contribute a square or two to our blanket to show the unity and unique nature of the many knitting groups around the UK. We got such a great response, so thank you to all who participated.

Here is some information on each of the groups and the square(s) they contributed:

Where: London

Group leader: Sarah Macleod

They say: I’m not part of an official S&B group, although I have converted three friends to the knit, and we meet often to discuss the ways of the yarn! 

Where: Leyland

Sent by: Gael Finch and Pauline Lowther

They say: We meet once a month in Leyland and all the ladies (well, we have had one gentleman come along once) get involved so would be unfair to name names!

Knitting triumphs: World Cup Blanket for local Children’s Hospice. 

Where: Warwick & Wellesbourne

They say: We meet in Wellesbourne and Warwick on alternate Tuesdays. We travel for miles for our Knit & Natter, as we are all Woolie Mad. Only our second attempt at crochet. Hope it fits the bill! 

Where: Bradfield College, Bradfield, Reading

Sent by: Bev Eldridge

They say: We meet every Monday in Bradfield. Our group is made up of sixth formers, and is a mixture of complete beginners and more experienced knitters. We are currently knitting a blanket for charity and hope to move onto other charity knits when this is finished.  

Where: Greenwich, London

Group Leader: Helena Russell

They say: We meet the first Sunday of each month at the top floor bar of the Greenwich Picturehouse Cinema from 5pm.And every third Sunday of each month at the Royal Albert pub on New Cross Road from 5pm.

Knitting triumphs: Knit at the Movies Champagne Bar (with S&B London) at Ally Pally 2007Greenwich Maritime Museum Stitch and Bitch 

Knitted by: Lisa H, Wheezy, Barui and Mara

They say: Sheffield Forum is an online community with about 50,000 members! In March 2006 the Special Interest Groups sections were set up with the Knitting Group being the first.We have an active online knitting group which has had over 12,000 posts in the time it has been running. We discuss all things knitting and crochet, and will help each other through difficulties! We have run several knitalongs – mostly successful – and it’s great to see the variations which are produced on a theme. The Knitting group now meets monthly on the last Wednesday of the month at our fabulous LYS ‘The Wool Baa’. We have also been having intermittent meets. It’s a great group to be involved with – we have about 25 regular contributors with varying ability (and lots of other less regulars), and are attracting new members all the time!  

Where: Belfast

Knitted by: Nicky Lynn, Nikki McCrudden, Ceive O’Donoghue, Caroline Fletcher, Inga Hamilton, Lasariona Curran, and Debi Schaibly

They say: We meet on Wednesdays in Café Vaudeville from 4:30 – 8:00ish.The White Patch has a famous landmark, the Harland and Wolff crane at the docks where Titanic was built. The other shows fish and coral as Northern Ireland/Ireland is surrounded by water. 

Where: Honiton, Devon

Knitted by: Two beginners, Sally and Jenny

They say: We knit our squares to represent the beautiful countryside and coastline of Devon. 

Where: Sutton Benger near Chippenham, Wiltshire

Knitted by: Edwina Kelly

Sent by: Nicola

They say: We meet fortnightly at the Wellesley ArmsK1 Sip1 started in July our members are Edwina, Nicola, Peter, Avril, Lorraine, Fiona and Laurinda, but we hoping to have recruited a few more. At the moment we are all madly knitting xmas presents including socks and bags.

Knitting triumphs: Hats for Innocent smoothies & future charity knits  

Group Leader: Georgia Reid (co-founder of S&B London)

Knitted by: Margaret Parkinson

They say: Our patches are a Scottish thistle and tartan. We meet once a week in different pubs and cafés around Glasgow. Although we are a small group, we are great friends, and have a brilliant time stitching together! There is often a lot more drinking than stitching. 

Where: Stocksbridge, Sheffield

They say: We came together for the first time on the 12th of May 2007 and from that date on, we’ve seen each other at least every two weeks. Our meeting place is upstairs in the Stocksbridge Library where the staff showed us their continual hospitality. Joining the group is free and everyone is welcome. If you would like to learn to knit or crochet, just come along with needles or a crochet hook and some yarn. As a rule we’ve said we would come together every 2nd and 4th Saturday, from 10am to 12am.  

Where: Shaldon, Devon

Sent by: Alison

They say: Inspiration for the square came from the seaside in summer: deckchairs, beach huts, the regatta in August. Our group meets on the first Tuesday of every month (although sometimes more!). We are currently seven, and our names are: Colin, Chris, Aly, Karen, Barbara, Denise and Alison. We meet at my house, but are hoping to relocate to a pub very soon! 

Group: ‘Cast Off Knitting Club for Boys and Girls’

Website: www.castoff.info

Group leader: Rachael Matthews

They say: Our square hosts a knitted Penis in Cable from my knitting kit ‘Penis in Cable’ made while the Clinton trial was on (but not because of Clinton I promise). I made it for a fashion porn mag called Pure. The original penis from the kit was stolen by Ricki Lake, who stuffed it down her cleavage on telly and never returned it. We formed in 2000 on the Circle Line, and have never knitted in the same place twice. We have knitted in London, around UK, Paris, Dublin, New York, and Lithuania. We are knitting activists, and our meetings are ‘events’ or ‘performances’ held in galleries and other public spaces. 

Shop: ‘Prick Your Finger’

260 Globe RdLondon

E2 0JD

Tel: 0208 981 2560

We are a Punk Haberdashery Gallery. We sell ribbons, buttons, embroidery patterns, but specialize in organic and hand-spun and hand-dyed knitting yarns from the UK.  We write books and knitting patterns, and show work by artists who use textiles, and hold classes, and talks.  

Group: The London Crochet Meetup

Where: London

Group leader: Helda Panagary

They say: We meet in London venues and all meetup details are given by email. Our group is a place for crocheters and knitters (we don’t discriminate) to meet share patterns, books, ideas, and purchases. There isn’t much we can’t do or solve. Members range from the newbies to those who can’t remember a moment without a hook/knitting needles. You learn so much more with others. We also eat loads of cakes and drink loads of tea and coffee.

Members can join through this http://knitting.meetup.com/1271/?a=mu_rbld3tviii or email heldap@hotmail.co.uk  

Group: Stitch n Bitch Liverpool 

Group founder: Angie Dalton 

They say:The group started in February 2005 with just two knitters and has gradually grown over time and now has around 30 – 40 knitters who attend semi-regularly. There are usually 10 – 20 knitters at each weekly meeting. We meet at the White Room on Smithdown Rd in Liverpool every Tuesday evening. We are knitters of all ages and experience from teenagers to octagenarians and very beginners to respected designers. 

Knitting triumphs:Two knitting at the cinemas events. Knitted a black and red stripy sweater for our coffee shop waiter as a gift for when he started Uni. We all knitted a bit of the sweater, a sleeve, a back, etc…. Knitted a secret baby shower for Jo, our first SnB mum-to-be (very soon). She’ll have the best dressed baby in Merseyside.

Group: Stitch and Bitch London

Where: Central London

Website: www.stitchandbitchlondon.co.uk

Group Leaders: Lauren O’Farrell, Laura Parkinson, Joelle Finck, Candice Lamb, and Laura Delaat (collectively The Stitchettes)

Group motto: SUBMIT TO THE KNIT

We say: S&B London are a feisty but friendly radioactive Godzilla of a knitting group. We meet every single week in different venues, on different nights around central London.

Anyone and everyone is welcome (crochet too!).

We teach beginners and more advanced skills for free (always have and always will).

Our patch represents the variety of our group members from all ages and all walks of life.

Knitting triumphs:

The London Lion Scarf – Over 160 knitted metres and £3000 for Cancer Research

Won Biggest UK Knitting Group 2007

The London Knit Crawl – Knitting in public at four major London tourist sites

Knit at the Movies Champagne Bar (with Meantime Knitters) Ally Pally 2007

Over 1500 members and growing

The lovely yarn-flavoured folks at Simply Knitting have given us and our fabulous SnB blanket a mention on their blog!

Hurrah for them for spreading the blankety word. Hopefully it should tempt even more of you in.

This thing may get too big for us to carry to the event! Good thing the Stitchettes are used to carrying huge amounts of knitting into Central London. That Lion Scarf was excellent training!

As you may or may not know S&B London are currently running a project to knit a huge and fabulous UK SnB Blanket to show the world how many knitting group the UK is home to, and to show off at UK SnB Day in November.

The S&B London Stitchettes have been hard at work planning and designing and have come up with a plan.

What we need from your knitting group are:

• 2x knitted or crocheted squares (or a bit of both) measuring 20cm each side
• A list of the names of anyone who helped to create it
• Your official group name and where you meet (city or town)
• A little bit about your group if you have time

Instructions for the squares:
1. You don’t have to do two squares. If you don’t have time one is fine.
2. Squares must be 20cm by 20cm (though a couple of mm either side is ok)
3. Go wild with your design! There are no rules here.

But here are some ideas to help. You could:

• Put on your group name
• Intarsia or embroider something to represent your area
• Put on your group logo (if you have one)
• Knit items to stick on
• Knit words of group wisdom onto it

All squares need to be returned by the 8th of November 2007 at the very latest.

Send them to:

Stitch and Bitch London
105B Tranmere Road
Earlsfield
London
SW18 3QP

Please feel free to contact us at stitchandb.london@googlemail.com if you have even the tiniest question, or to let us know you want to take part. We are here to help.

Good luck and happy knitting!

The S&B London Stitchettes x

There is still room in the fabulous UK Stitch n Bitch Blanket for knitting groups to join in.

Groups all over the UK are emailing us at stitchandb.london@googlemail.com to help us knit possibly the most fabulous national blanket that has ever had the pleasure of being stitched by many.

You don’t have to be a Stitch and Bitch group to be a part of it. The only requirement is that you are a group who meet for the love of the knit.

So whether you are a few knitters stitching in a sitting room, a dozen knitters nattering down your local, or hundreds knitters taking over a stadium we want to hear from you.

Get in contact, get knitting and show the world your little corner of the knitting universe through your blanket squares.

Email us at stitchandb.london@googlemail.com with the subject “I want to be a part of the fabulous SnB UK blanket” and we’ll send you details.

Join us! Join us!

Or don’t come crying to us when your corner of our fair isle is not represented in the big bad blanket.

Closing date for entries is November 2007.