Episode 24: Woolly Wovember

Yarn in the City

It's November folks, and that means it's time to celebrate ALL THINGS WOOL! In this episode we update you on events for the rest of the year, reveal details about the Bath Christmas Craft Crawl, make a brief foray into the realm of holiday knitting, and have a chat with Rachel Atkinson of My Life in Knitwear about shepherds, the UK wool industry and being informed consumers.

News and Events:

1st - 30th November - Wovember, a celebration of wool spearheaded by Felicity Ford, Tom of Holland and Kate Davies.

5th November - the kickoff of Curious Handmade's Knitvent 2015! YITC listeners can get a 15% discount on the collection by using the code "YITCknitvent15", which is good until 30th November - signups will open on 3rd November. Thank you Helen!

10th/17th November - Anna Maltz, aka Sweaterspotter, is teaching a lace and colourwork class for her popular Solja sweater at Wild & Woolly.

14th November - A Yarn Story's One Year Anniversary Party.

14th November - We will be at the Porpoise Fur booth at Festiwool, at North Hertforshire College in Hitchin. Also exhibiting are a number of vendors from the Pop Up Marketplace (Travelknitter, we're looking for you!), and our Knit Night compatriot Third Vault Yarns.

15th November - Clare Devine, of Yarn and Pointy Sticks, is teaching "2 at a time anything" at Knit with Attitude.

15th/22nd November - Brioche Stitch Basics with Renée Callahan of East London Knit at Loop.

28th November - the Bath Christmas Craft Crawl! Now with all the details on the Event Page.

What we're working on:

Allison has a bunch of projects on the go: she's finished the first sleeve of Grettir by Jared Flood, and should have the second done this week. She's also been working on her Quaking Aspen Shawl in The Fibre Co Acadia, and has started Hamlet the Cheetah from Edward's Menagerie. Also on the list of WIPs is the hoodie for a small boy in Canada that needs to be finished ASAP. On the spinning front, she's spun up her Alpha, Beta, Gamma Finn from the Lab Goddess Fibre club into singles and is going to ply them soon.

Rachel has finished a Lush cardigan for her new niece, and some fingerless mitts from some handspun Suffolk in the "Flamingo" colourway. She is now onto the front of her Angostura vest by Ysolda Teague, in Blacker Yarns Cornish Tin. On the spinning front, she has been spinning like a possessed thing trying to get enough yarn to weave a bunch of scarves for Festiwool, and has spun up 8 oz of Corriedale, 4 oz of BFL and 4 oz of Fibre Club in the past couple of weeks.

Woolly Wovember:

Rachel Atkinson published a post on her blog recently titled "Fleeced" in which she talked about a side of the UK wool industry of which many wool-using crafters may be unaware. We got a chance to talk to Rachel about her story, and discuss where the project is going and what we, as consumers, can do to help.

Many thanks to Rachel for taking the time to speak with us, and we will be following along with her project with great interest!

Off the air, you can find us on Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Please leave a review for us on iTunes or listen to us on Stitcher Radio, and don't hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback with us. We are always out and about, so come say hi at any of the events we're attending if you get a chance! Everyone is also more then welcome to come join our Wednesday night knit group from 7-9 pm (or longer) upstairs at The Goat on the Rise, Clapham SW11 1EQ.

Music credits (all available on NoiseTrade)Morning Light - The Dirty Guv'nahsLoneliness & Alcohol - Jars of ClayHands & Hearts - Katrina Stone