The crafting scene in London is more vibrant than ever, with groups and projects popping up all over the city to cater to the crafters desire for fun events be they over cakes or cocktails. We caught up with one of the "feisty but friendly" Stitch & Bitch ladies to find out about what they're up to.
If you had to describe your blog in less than 15 words how would you do it?
A radioactive woolly Godzilla of a blog crushing non-knitters while stitching and stomping across London.
Why did you start blogging?
Stitch and Bitch London had far too much to say about the yarn-covered underside of London. It had to get out there and roam free where fibre-lacking Londoner's could see it.
What about London inspires your blog?
Everything about London inspires us. It's crafty armies getting their knits out in public places, its caves of wool-selling wonder, its cafes of cake and crochet, its stories of stitchers through the ages, its occasional explosions of graffiti knitting in unexpected places.
What's your favourite Stitch & Bitch moment to date that you've blogged about?
Our London Lion Scarf. We wrapped the four Trafalgar Square Lion in 550 feet of handknitted loveliness in 2006. They were rather appreciative, and they looked fabulous. It was quite possibly the cosiest those beasts have ever been. Normally they just get tourists climbing all over them. Or more recently the Tashtastic London Knit Crawl 2009. 100 knitters in knitted moustaches in public at four iconic London venues. Oh yes.
How would you advise people to get into the craft scene in London?
Well you could just join Stitch and Bitch London. We're the gateway to all kinds of craftiness. Once you're in you can never escape. But there are all kinds of crafty caves once you start looking. If you keep your eyes open you'll spy craft going on all over the place. The internet is a good place to start too, most of London craft giants are savvy enough to have a website.
Would you feel less connected to London or missed out on things without your blog?
Our blog is often the first place people stumble across when they're looking for crafty London. If it wasn't for our blog we'd have missed out on adding their thread to our giant ball of knitting world domination.
How has your blog connected you to another community of bloggers in London? The world?
Once you have a blog you get caught in the web of all those other London blogs, like a giant blog-bloated fly on the woolly web of a hungry London spider. Learning about London blogwise can often eat you whole if you're not careful. You may never re-emerge there is so much fascinating blogness to read. This carries over to the rest of the world too. We get to wave frantically at other knitty city bloggers who waves back just as frantically.
Tell us about some other London bloggers you like.
Where to begin? Knit the City's graffiti London knitting, obviously. We're also a bit in love with The London Word, The Greenwich Phantom, The Bookseller Crow and The Woodgreen Bookshop (a little London bookshop), The London Dossier, and Going Underground.
And for some general London chat...Where do you live and why do you love it?
We live all over London from Hackney to Greenwich to Woodgreen to just somewhere near enough a tube station to count as London. We love it because it's London. What's not to love?
What's your favourite place in London?
Stitch and Bitch London live on the South Bank as the majority of our meetings end up being held there. We love it because the South Bank is a flurry of unexpected art, music, excellent cake, riverview, outdoor bookstalls and the occasional person dressed as a giant banana giving away free fruit.
What do you know about London noone else does?
That there is a glorious black goldfish in the pond at Postman's Park if you stand there long enough to see it and are very quiet. If it's black does that mean it isn't a goldfish? I have no idea.
Have you ever been sick on the tube?
No. But I have been sick into a handy carrier bag on the platform at London Bridge. Those were the days.
Anything else we should know?
A bit of advice. When knitting and commuting don't drop your yarn on the platform accidentally and then get onto the tube. You will never quite get over the site of watching it slowly unravel as the tube pulls away...
Oh and a plug. Stitch and Bitch London meet every week in central London. It's free to join and we teach for free. Join us!
