Welcome to our 'Help Us To Promoting Knitting' Page
Increasingly we are being asked by the media for contacts to enable them to create a TV programme/write an article or conduct radio interviews. We aim to supply details of knitting shops, people willing to be details of interviewed on any aspect of knitting/crochet, knitting designers and artists, knitting groups and clubs etc. and we would welcome your help.
Click here if you would be willing to be a knitting ambassador for your area
Click here if you would like your shop included when quoting current trends
Click here if you have any information that would help us to promote knitting
Groups
If you need to talk to a group of knitters in your area there is a comprehensive list of Knitting Groups on our Groups page
Click here to visit 'Groups' page
Knitting Artists
If you need to talk to a Knitting Artist, we have a dedicated page featuring the amazing work of the UK's most prominant Designer Knitters
Click here to visit the 'Knitting Artists' page
Shops - London
Click here for a comprehensive list of wool shops in London
Museums
The Victoria and Albert Museum home to many hand knitted items. It also has a section on it's website devoted to hand knitting
Click here to visit website
Knitting as Therapy
Betsan Corkhill is currently involved with the research taking place at Cardiff University in connection with Knitting as Therapy.
Click here to contact Betsan
Click here for Knitting as Therapy page
Knitting for Quitting
Aneeta Patel is a professional knitting teacher with classes in various locations in London. She is currently involved with a group 'Knitting for Quitting' in relation to smoking.
Click here to contact Aneeta
Click here for Knitting for Quitting
Ambassadors Of Knitting By Area:
Any of the knitters listed below would be happy to answer any questions about knitting and be quoted in your article:
Knitting In Bedford
Frances Bell loves knitting and is very keen to start a knitting group in Luton.
Click here to contact Frances
Knitting In Bristol
Emma Rowlstone lives in Bristol and has been involved in seting up a Stitch'n'Bitch' group in her area. She's very keen to bring lapsed and non knitters together and hopes to set up a charity focus knitting group too.
Click here to contact Emma
Knitting In Buckinghamshire
Ana Sánchez-Forner grew up in Spain, but now lives in Milton Keynes: "I learnt to knit as a child. My mother knits, my granny did too. Traditionally we've knitted jumpers, scarves, socks, cardigans... that sort of thing. During my late teens I used to design and knit for a boutique in Valencia (my home town). Recently I'm getting a bit more adventurous and knitting for 'knit's' sake and at the moment I'm involved in a project of knitting a sofa cover (shaped to the sofa, not a blanket type). I often dream about knitted garnments, and sometimes I even remember them and get to draw them. I'm studying textiles at the moment and very interested in hand-dyeing my own yarn, both with natural dyes and acid ones. I don't usually follow patterns, I tend to make up my own. I love combining colours, creating unusual shapes, decorating with beads, fabrics etc. I would be happy to be interviewed about knitting."
Click here to contact Ana
Knitting In Cambridgeshire
Sharon Dexter is now (December 2009) the Design Consultant for Rowan at John Lewis in Peterborough and will be there every Thursday and Saturday. She runs a Knit and natter group in the John Lewis 'The Place to Eat' restaurant on the second Thursday of every month from 10.15am to 12.00pm. Sharon also attends a knitting group on the last Tuesday of every month at The Lady Annes Hotel in Stamford which runs from 10.00am to 12.00am. She is also a member of Ravelry.
Click here to contact Sharon
Knitting In Cheshire/Manchester
Debbie Tomkies lives in Sale, is a long-time knitter, crocheter and designer, and has just had her first book published
Click here to contact Debbie
Knitting In Cornwall
Lynne Cornell has a shop in Porthleven in Cornwall and runs a knitting group there on a Wednesday evening
Click here to contact Lynne
Knitting In Cumbria
Dawn Pickles lives in Eskdale and at 52, says she's been knitting obsessively since she was six. She's a retired civil servant and spends a lot of her time either knitting, or searching the internet for all the new ideas and techniques – she's particularly excited by the number of young knitters who are taking the craft to new heights.
Click here to contact Dawn
Knitting In Derbyshire
Pauline Fitzpatrick has designed for Knitting Magazine and is an expert on 'Scumbles' (Free-Form Crochet)
Click here to contact Pauline
Knitting In Devon
Joyce Mason has always been passionate about yarns especially wool, angora fleece and alpaca. She's been spinning for 10 years and has her own sheep and angora goats. Her shop opened in July 2006 and since then has gone from strength to strength with people travelling from all over the country to attend workshops.
Click here to contact Joyce
Knitting In Devon
Alison Sambells is a life long knitting enthusiast who lives in Shaldon, Devon, where she runs lots of varied knitting workshops and two knitting groups
Click here to contact Alison
Click here for website
Knitting in Dorset
Tamsyn Spooner lives in Upton, near Poole and has taught herself to knit during the last two years. Last year she helped promote National Knitting Week locally by being quoted in her local paper.
Click here to contact Tamsyn
Knitting in Essex
Becky Poynter has been knitting for more than 30 years and running an on-line yarn store (yarnsmith.co.uk) for the past two. She is passionate about knitting and believes the world would be a much more peaceful place if we all learn't to knit! She is a member of the mid-essex Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers and has demonstrated at Guild events as well as open days at a local alpaca farm.
Click here to contact Becky
Knitting in Essex
Kerrie Allman from Great Dunmow, has turned her love of knitting into a successful business. Not content with being an expert knitter with a thriving blog, Kerrie created a cottage online business selling hand painted yarns for knitting and crochet. She has also written a book and launched a successful online knitting magazine.
Click here to contact Kerrie
Click here for Kerrie's blog
Knitting in Glamorgan
Jane has been knitting for 50 years, and currently runs a knitting class which is being closed by the council at Christmas. She aims to be a knitting ambassador extraordinaire, and knit happily on buses, in libraries, in waiting rooms, cafes etc. Her claim to fame is that she knitted a birthday cake for Prince Charles three years ago, and presented it to him when he visited an enterprise day she was exhibiting at.
Click here to contact Jane
Knitting in Gloucestershire
I am a qualified teacher and am currently setting up a small business running courses for children to learn to knit and an online wool shop. I love knitting as I can't stand sitting doing nothing and knitting always keeps you busy. I also find it a great outlet for my creativity! I have also started to learn to crochet which has been great learning a new skill and has totally reignited my passion for knitting and crochet. I love working with 100% wool as the opportunities for creating great things out of felt are endless. I want to try and promote knitting to a younger generation as there is so much enjoyment to be had from this pasttime and for children it can really help develop maths skills, art, design and the movements of knitting are said to promote haptic learning. I am also hoping to set up a knitting/crochet group for adults in the new year.
Click here to contact Dominique
Knitting in Gloucestershire
Kirsty Thomson has her own Knitting Studio where she runs workshops and a knitting group.
Click here to contact Kirsty
Click here for website
Knitting in Hampshire
Sally Brett lives in Portsmouth Hampshire and belongs to a group which meets fortnightly and knits for charity. She was taught to knit by her mother and grandmother. Sally has an absolutely love of knitting and believes it has an enormous part to play in people's lives as a stress buster and a means to promote well being.
Click here to contact Sally
Knitting in Herefordshire
Ann Shoring organises Hereford Stitch and Bitch and runs a gallery where she activily promotes knitting whenever she can. Ann has recently had experience of doing some broadcasts for hereford and Worcester.
Click here to contact Ann
Knitting in Lancashire
Pauline Lowther, with the help of a colleague, set up a knitting group two years ago (2006). The group now boasts more than 40 knitters and is heavily involved in many knitting for charity projects.
Click here to contact Pauline
Knitting in Lancashire
Dorret Conway lives in Preston and is the founder of Stitch'n'Bitch website, a directory of knitting groups and online forums. She has recently launched her own CD ROM knitting tutorial for beginners and has made several television appearances and live interviews on radio in connection with her love of knitting.
Click here to contact Dorret
Knitting in Lincolnshire
Annette Watkinson lives in Brigg, Lincolnshire and loves knitting. She has recently set up a knitting club for like minded knitters.
Click here to contact Annette
Knitting in London
Kate Buchanan regularly designs for Simply Knitting Magazine and helps run the London Westender Stitch'n'Bitch group. She also has her own Knitting Accessories Business including the first UK kit to feature a CD-ROM with video clips.
Click here to contact Kate
Knitting in London
Rachael Matthews was the founder member of Cast Off and is involved in various knitting activities and writing books
Click here to contact Rachael
Knitting in London
Pauline Wall runs the Knitchicks website and helps to promote many of the London knitting groups
Click here to contact Pauline
Knitting in Merseyside
Val Buhagiar has been a fan of knitting for the past forty years. She lives in Wallasey, runs a shop called 'Made' and has her own knitting group. We have 3 knitting groups per week and are starting a fourth on Thursday mornings 11am-1.00pm. We have couches in our shop and people are welcome to drop in at anytime during opening hours with knitting problems, non-members can also attend our groups. We also have a group on Ravelry.com called ‘Made’ the knitting group use this quite a bit and we do put announcements on the message board. We also contribute to various charity projects from time to time. I also want to help to get knitting into schools. I have noticed an increase in youngsters wanting to learn to knit in our area.
Click here to contact Val
Click here for 'Made' group on Ravelry
Knitting in Northumberland
Karen and Paul run an online knitting boutique and live in Alnwick. Already featured in many magazines, visitors are welcome and workshops planned. Contact Karen and Paul to find out what the knitting trends are in the North East.
Click here to contact Karen and Paul
Knitting in Northumberland
Dawn McMullen has owned a wool shop in Alnwick for the past 10 years. She and her team are all experienced knitters and happy to help out with knitting problems.
Click here to contact Dawn
Knitting In Nottinghamshire
Janet Baker is an avid knitter who enjoys fine lace knitting. She attends her local knitting group and also volunteers on the UKHKA 'Learn To Knit Stand at both Alexandra Palace and Olympia.
Click here to contact Janet
Knitting In Nottinghamshire
Diane McCarroll has a wool shop in Southwell and runs a Knit and Natter group there once a month - workshops are regularly held with Rowan Design Consultants.
Click here to contact Diane
Knitting In Somerset
Joanne Mulholland loves making things and especially knitting.
Click here to contact Joanne
Knitting In Staffordshire
Caroline Hemmings has recently openeing her own craft and knitting shop in Leek and is hoping to run a knitting group and workshops shortly (August 2008)
Click here to contact Caroline
Knitting In Suffolk
Samantha Morphew is a self confessed knitaholic who specialises in knitted handbags and is keen to bring Suffolk up to date with what's new and wacky in knitting
Click here to contact Samantha
Knitting In Surrey/Sussex
Jill Kirby has been knitting since she was a child and loves every aspect of the craft.
Click here to contact Jill
Knitting In East Sussex
Kirsty Vine describes herself as being very passionate about knitting and has just opened her own wool shop in Eastbourne, East Sussex. (April 2009)
Click here to contact Kirsty
Knitting In Sussex
Sian Brown is one of our Knitting Artists. She would be happy to give information to people writing articles on knitting, or to be interviewed. Sian comes from a commercial knitwear background as opposed to always being interested in knitting. She has experience of current trends and new yarns.
Click here to contact Sian
Knitting In West Midlands
Lesley Cullen has been knitting since I she was four, 45 years ago now! "I recently found out that my mum used to undo my knitting when I was little and redo it for me and I thought all the work was my own." Lesley worked for a while as a knitwear designer and manufacturer (this was on knitting machines rather than by hand) before moving house and having a family, although she has always had some knitting on the go. She loves colour ( many people are quite fearful of colour), texture, stitch manipulation and pattern creation that is available to knitters.
Click here to contact Lesley
Knitting In Wiltshire
Faye Matthewman runs a knitting yarn shop in Chippenham Wiltshire and along with one of her regular customers is setting up a local social knitting group. Their first meeting will be on Monday 12th January 2009.
Click here for Faye's website
Knitting In Worcester
Rosemary Threadgood is an enthusiastic and experienced knitter who now has more time to get involved with all aspects of the craft.
Click here to contact Rosemary
Knitting In Scotland
Lauraine Wishart runs her own knitting business delivering wool to local people who are housebound or elderly in the Buckie area of Moray Firth
Click here to contact Lauraine
Knitting In Scotland
Kirsty Duncan lives in Angus in Perthshire.
She works as the Arts Development manager for Perth and
Kinross Council and has contacts with
many creative groups in the area.
Click here to contact Kirsty
Knitting In Scotland
Jeanette Sloan runs a shop with the help of Carol Meldrum, who like Jeanette is a designer and writer of knitting books. Jeanette is very keen to spread the word on all aspects of knitting.
Click here to contact Jeanette
Knitting In Scotland
Linda Jaap lives in Fife and runs a charity knitting group called Loving Hands. She keeps a blog to let everyone know about the different charities you can knit for and is planning to set up more knitting groups in the Kelty. Kirkcaldy and Dumfermline areas.
Click here to contact Linda
Click here for Linda's blog
Knitting In Scotland
Katharine owns a shop in Glasgow. Knitting courses and a knitting club are important features of this shop.
Click here to contact Katharine if you want to know what's hip and what's not in the Scottish knitting scene
Knitting In Scotland
Laura and Peter run a Fibre Craft Studio in Newburgh near Perth, which offers supplies, equipment, workshops and classes in hand spinning, knitting, weaving, natural dyeing, felt making and much more.
Click here to contact Laura and Peter for their thoughts on knitting and Scottish knitters
Knitting In Scotland
Amber lives in New Galloway and is a mixed media artist who loves to knit
Click here to contact Amber
Knitting In Wales
Jan Price lives near Caernarfon, Gwynedd and has recently finished an HND in Design Craft, specialising in hand knitting. She is very keen to encourage young people to learn this craft.
Click here to contact Jan
Europe
Knitting In France
Elaine Tower moved to Brittany, France 5 years ago and is a member of a local craft group, which includes knitting
Click here to contact Elaine
Knitting In Germany
Jutta Vetter lives in Waldshut in Germany and has many years of knitting experience
Click here to contact Jutta
Knitting In Germany
Anne-Claire Holland-Jakobi lives in St. Wendel, near Saarbrücken. Anne-Claire, originally from the UK, is planning to open a shop selling and promoting British yarns.
Click here to contact Anne-Claire