Review Of Knitting Magazine's Made In Britain Edition

Image courtesy of Knitting magazine

As this blog celebrates modern British knitting it goes without saying that I was delighted to discover that June 2017's Knitting magazine is a special Made in Britain issue, featuring 23 British knits and lots of information about boutique UK yarn brands.

The magazine costs £5.99 in newsagents, or £6.99 if bought directly from the publisher, and comes with a sock workshop booklet aimed at those new to sock knitting.

At first glance the patterns in the magazine are quite conservative and there's only one - the jumper on the cover - that I'd like to knit. Where the magazine does shine is in its content, with features on and profiles of small niche British wool brands along with interviews with home-grown cutting edge knitting entrepreneurs such as Louisa Harding and Isobel Davies.

I've long found that Knitting and The Knitter magazines have more editorial to get your teeth into than the newbie-knitter orientated titles such as Simply Knitting and Let's Knit. Two monthly features I particularly like in Knitting are the 'Style File' section where a few of the patterns are shown in different colours along with fashion advice on what to where them with, and the review section of latest yarns.

Features-wise this Made in Britain issue contains a guest column from podcaster and blogger Louise Scollay of KnitBritish fame, and a fabulous map of the UK showing businesses that create brilliant British yarns.

One huge fact I learned from the interview with Louisa Harding is that she no longer has anything to do with the yarn and pattern business that bears her name. She now runs Yarntelier, producing lace cashmere yarns and designs to support them.

Back to the patterns - is June really the time to publish cowl, mitts and scarf patterns? There's a cosy-looking Shetland Snuggle Blanket pattern knitted in super chunky yarn that caught my eye until I looked up the price of the yarn and discovered it to be £185. Amongst other patterns are a man's jumper, a tea cosy, and a few women's sweater patterns including one called Seawrack, which to me looks like first-time knitting that's gone wrong, though obviously that's my personal taste and perhaps I'm not very fashion forward!

All in all it's an issue worth buying for anyone who wants to know more about British yarns and it's great to see magazines supporting the British wool industry. One slight bugbear about the plastic sealed packaging of the magazine is that when browsing the newsagents' shelves the potential customer cannot flick through to see if they like the patterns or not before buying. All magazines that provide free gifts tend to do this - can they not print an overview of the magazine's contents on the back page to help the consumer?

Baa Baa Brighouse's Crowdfunding Campaign

Following the success of other knitters' crowdfunding campaigns such as Susan Crawford and Karie Westermann's to publish their next pattern books and Izzy Lane's quest to produce her own cruelty-free wool range, Elaine Jinks-Turner, founder of online yarn shop Baa Baa Brighouse, has started her own. Her dream is to transform the front room of her house into a shop to give Baa Baa Brighouse a bricks and mortar base in West Yorkshire, England.

There's history here - around 60 years ago Junks-Turner's house was a yarn shop and, she says, she still gets people knocking on her front door asking where the wool shop is!

Since founding Baa Baa Brighouse online three years ago Jinks-Turner hasn't taken a salary and has ploughed profits back into building the business. The yarns she sells are different from the usual baby and cheap acrylic offerings that abound lots of yarn shops' shelves: she stocks mainly British brands such as Herdy, West Yorkshire Spinners and Susan Crawford, alongside big names Rowan and Erika Knight and her own hand-dyed range Baa Baa Brew.

Rewards on offer for pledging up to certain amounts include skeins of Baa Baa Brew yarn and the company's Ganny Lock Shawl Knit Kit.

Visit Baa Baa Brighouse's crowdfunding page to see all the rewards on offer.

Image courtesy of Baa Baa Brighouse

In May Baa Baa Brighouse is selling a Shakespeare-themed yarn box for £24 plus P&P containing 100g of DK hand-dyed Baa Baa Brew yarn, a contrasting colour 25g mini DK skein, plus some Shakespeare goodies.

I'm very tempted myself, having missed out on a previous Jane Austen box!

Each month the company produces a themed yarn box inspired by popular culture. Personally I like to see what I'm going to get before I buy but knitters who like a surprise will enjoy the big reveal when the postie delivers their yarn parcel.

Yarn Shop Day 2017 Celebrations

Image courtesy of Let's Knit magazine

Today (May 6th) is Yarn Shop Day in the UK. Organised by Let's Knit magazine, its aim is to promote local yarn and haberdashery stores, encouraging customers both old and new to go through their doors.

Highlights of this year include:

• Free Debbie Bliss Primavera blanket pattern given away in participating stores
• Rowan offering 10 per cent discount off a year's subscription when making a purchase in store
• Leeds yarn store Baa Ram Ewe releasing one-off Titus Goddess Viking shade
• In Manchester, Countess Ablaze holding a special event with Brityarn, Whistlebare and The Little Grey Girl
• West Yorkshire Spinners producing a one-off Signature Yarn Shop Day 4 ply sock yarn

Did your local yarn shop do anything to celebrate? Mine didn't! I do hope though that the day encouraged knitters to buy from bricks and mortar shops rather than the internet - shops can only know what customers want to buy if you tell them and there's nothing like a good squish and feel of a yarn before buying!