Click here for NATIONAL KNITTING WEEK Website

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Click here for Events In Your Area

10 to 16 OCTOBER 2005

We need your help to make National Knitting Week a real turning point for knitting in Britain! If each of you teaches someone else how to start knitting and encourages friends to return to it after a gap, then this craft will really take off. Just pick a venue, date and time then use the press to invite knitters to turn up and knit! 

London

We have planned National Knitting Week to coincide with the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London, working closely with exhibition organisers Creative Exhibitions and the British Hand Knitters’ Confederation. The show runs from 13-16 October and will be the focus of many activities. You will be able to learn to knit, or pass your skills on to others at the Relax and Knit area run by the British Hand Knitters’ Confederation, enjoy the free fashion show by Elle yarns, see free demonstrations and attend workshops. We will be displaying the finalists’ work in The National Knitted Student Textile Awards, too, run by the BHKC and sponsored by Knitting magazine and Creative Exhibitions. Speed knitting and crocheting championships will be taking place against the clock. The Crafts Council’s Knit 2 Together show will also make an appearance at the show. The Knitting magazine team will be there, along with American knitting author Nicky Epstein signing her latest book, Knitting Over The Edge on the GMC Publications Ltd stand, where you can also buy Knitting and Vogue Knitting magazines.

The Knitting and Stitching Show then travels to Dublin for 3-6 November and Harrogate for 24-27 November. For all venues the times are 10am – 5.30pm (5pm on Sunday) and the ticket hotline is 01473 320 407. Information line: 0208 692 2299. www.twistedthread.com

Elsewhere in London, there will be a high profilelaunch of National Knitting Week and some spontaneous events designed to challenge the old perception of the craft as merely a dull money-saving exercise, and something reserved exclusively for their long since departed dear old grannies! It’s not their fault – nobody’s told them that there is a creative revolution going on!

In your area

Not everyone can get to London, though, so we would like you to organise an event in your area. Persuade your local shopping centre to let you have a free space to set up some tables and chairs to teach people to knit. Appeal for volunteers give everyone a small task. Make something eye-catching and tip off the local paper so that they will print a photo.

Do it for charity

Hold a sponsored knit for charity, or ask people to enter small knitted items into a local competition, which can then be sold by a local charity shop. Help the Aged is keen to welcome knitters in all its shops around the country, creating small items to sell for the charity, so why not ask your local manager about what is possible, when, and for how many people? Other charity shops may also like the idea.

‘Knit out’ tour

Trisha Malcolm, Editor of the American magazine Vogue Knitting is bringing top knitters from the US to do a 'knit out' tour of the UK, including London’s Alexandra Palace. Meanwhile our Ask Jean columnist and renowned knitwear designer Jean Moss is planning to put on a concert with her knitting folk band The Pearly Kings.

Other people might just decide to hold a knitting party, with wine and snacks: the perfect prelude to forming new knitting clubs and groups.

If you capture people’s imaginations you will have done your bit to make our craft take off in your area. So many towns have lost their local yarn shops, but all this excitement around the craft is sure to boost the remaining shops and might just encourage someone to open a shop in an area without one.

Organise an event

Teaching people how to knit, crochet or craft with yarn and providing a place for people to come together is the essential mission of the event. Informal and friendly is the atmosphere you want. Keep it simple and aim to have fun!

• First recruit volunteers to help you. Your success depends on a core group of dedicated crocheting and knitting enthusiasts, who are willing to volunteer their time and share their knowledge with others. It’s an ideal project for a local craft guild or club because it raises awareness of knitting and crocheting and of a group’s activities.
• Write a timetable leading up to the event
• Choose 1 person to take charge of each of the three most important aspects of the event:
1. Finding a site and organising setting up.
2. Scheduling events and organising volunteers before, during and after the event.
3. Promoting the event.

• Print copies of a layout of where events and volunteers will be located. You’ll need tables and chairs, plus space for walkways. Display knitted items or put on a fashion show (don’t forget a changing area for models).
• Designate deputies, making the most of talent. For instance, if someone has fashion flair, ask them to organise a fashion show; if another is a teacher, ask her to organise a children’s learn to knit area.
• Ask volunteers to help with the setting up as well as tidying up afterwards.
• Ask everyone to bring an item of food or drink so nobody runs out of energy!
• Above all, enjoy yourselves.

What do I do now?

Visit the new website www.nationalknittingweek.com from mid-May and you can:

• Register your national knitting week event , so that we can put it in the magazine and on the website
• Request an event organiser kit with NKW badges, yarns, needles and posters
• Check the latest additions to our diary of knitting events in each region
• Download fact sheets  with:
• Ideas for knitting events
• How to start knitting step by step feature
• Free patterns to get you started
• How to generate publicity for your event
• Contact details for yarn manufacturers
•  Links to other knitting groups and manufacturers

We will print a pull-out poster in the September issue of Knitting magazine, with space to fill in the details of your event. Please photocopy it as much as you like!