Getting our stitch fix
Last month we headed to The Stitch Festival, the creative haven of for woolly workshops, inspiring talks, and yarn galore.
With a new decade came a rebranding of the muchloved Spring Knitting and Stitching Show. This was the festival’s first foray as
The Stitch Festival and 16,000 craft enthusiasts braved the cold and descended on London’s Business Design Centre across the four-day event .
As ever, the show was jam-packed with workshops, exhibitions, demonstrations, and stalls to stock up on all your supplies. With 150 of these it’s stash-accumulationbeyond-life-expectancy just waiting to happen.
GET A HANDLE ON IT
One of the workshops we popped along to was Hannah Johnson’s of Han Made It who was teaching people how to make Fimo crochet hook handles. Makers could choose from a range of bright and pastel colours and were taught some different design techniques. Besides creating a completely unique hook that looks fab on display – some even wonderfully imprinted with the maker’s fingerprint – these ergonomic hook handles are particularly beneficial for crocheters with arthritis as you can mould the handle to give you support wherever you most need it.
It was great to see people’s personality and taste emerging in their designs: rainbow handles to match a colourful crochet style; bright marbled handles to bring a splash of fun; and simple spots in dusky pinks and mustard yellows to complement an interior design. For those who fancy making one of these at home, you can also get glow-in-thedark and glittered Fimo… these could definitely get addictive.
FUN AT THE FETE
The TOFT stall was impossible to miss with an impressive display of amigurumi from Edward’s Menagerie hanging from the walls – a whole jungle of adorable lions, birds, monkeys, and lizards to be admired. TOFT also ran the ‘Make and Take Fete’ with a hugely popular workshop for people to crochet their own goldfish. The lovely TOFT ladies were on hand to help people with their technique, and it was the perfect beginner project for those new to amigurumi. And even better, the freshwater friends were made using 100% compostable material!
CREATIVE CURATION
A few stalls down was the Curated by Mollie Makes stand where Katie Jones, the Sewyeah Social Club, and the Fibre Lounge were surrounded by all things fluffy and bright and running a drop-in crochet clinic. Katie Jones’ display was a fantastic celebration of colour and texture, and we spotted the blanket and jumper from our very own Carnaby CAL. Also on display was the crocheted living room of dreams by Fibre Lounge’s Louisa Sheward. Lampshades, picture frames, wall clocks, plant hangers, if you can name it, she crocheted it; the perfect inspiration for anyone who needed their crojo reignited.
The show has been running since 1995, and the inaugural Stitch Festival was a testament to the fact that there is still no better time spent than with fellow creatives. As always with these events, there was that lovely sense of community when people from all walks of life come together, united by a passion for crafts. We’re already counting down to next year!
Written by Emily Freer