One of the most exciting new places to open up in Stokey over the last few years is Knit With Attitude, run by the lovely Maya. In its first incarnation, it was a tiny shop tucked away on Northwold Road, drawing me in with its delectable all-natural yarns. I didn’t knit when it opened. I must have lasted about two weeks before I caved and announced my decision to Learn Properly. I spent most of the next few weeks poring over online video-tutorials*, lurching wildly between tears of frustration and extreme satisfaction.
It remains my all-time favourite yarn shop. Some yarn shops I walk in and – nothing – no inspiration. And some, within seconds I’m planning the next hundred projects (and struggling to stick to my ‘no buying yarn more than one project in advance’ rule designed to help with stash control). And Knit With Attitude is the resolutely the latter.
I simultaneously blame and thank it for my yarn snobbery (no acrylic thanks very much) and steadfast loyalty to Japanese Clover ‘Takumi’ bamboo needles. And the start of a major new hobby which is showing no signs of going anywhere fast.
Happily, the shop has moved to larger premises on the High Street, and has a knitting group every second Thursday of the month, the key elements of which are chat, nibbles, wine and your work-in-progress. So what better way to say farewell and toast my time in this corner of the city than with a glass of red, DPNs in hand.
For fun, and because I do love a list, here are my top three yarns from Knit With Attitude (all of which you can buy online):
This was the yarn that got me when the shop first opened. I never realised yarn could be that soft, and instantly saw countless projects in its subdued but classy hues of cream, dark grey and brown. Hampered as I was by my total lack of skillz, I made a moss-stitch scarf but eventually progressed on to a stripy tea cosy. I’m pleased to see the shop is stocking more colours now but the original muted tones remain my faves.
This yarn is all about the colours for me. It’s pure wool, so not as soft as others, but I do love a comfortingly straightforward wool yarn for some projects. I found that I couldn’t live without spice, sugar and sunflower in my life, so I promptly bought them all. I’m yet to make the stripy pink/orange ‘sugar and spice’ hottie cover which is their ultimate destiny.
Aha, now this yarn has bitter-sweet memories for me, but it’s not the yarn’s fault. This is the perfect match between stroke-worthy alpaca and bang-on colours. I’ve spent a long time dreaming up gorgeous combos. I still have the grey and pink logged for future reference. It had the misfortune to be used for my first project knitting in the round with DPNs (cue tears, needles sticking out everywhere and several hundred froggings). That project was my first and only grudge-knit (it will get finished, or else I will die trying) but all credit to the yarn.
A special mention must go to Scrumptious DK/Worsted by Fyberspates, a luxurious mix of merino and silk, which has been set aside for a top secret project which will be revealed in due course.
So farewell Stokey and Knit With Attitude, but I’ll certainly be back.
* As recommended by Maya, www.knittinghelp.com is all you need, should you be in the market for free video tutorials. Their videos are brilliant and very clear, and the voice-over isn’t annoying (not a given).
genevieve - print and pattern 