ZOE'S LOVELY SCARF.

Zoe came back today! She comes all the way from Sussex to visit her son, and us!
This time she has made a cross-over scarf in Sari Yarn £5 / 50g.
We like the little flower to cover the crossover hole.

JULIA'S LOVELY JUMPER.

Check out Julia's beautiful alpacca jumper made from an old Ralph Lauren pattern.
We felt so joyous when she came in wearing it this morning.
There are people walking dogs under her armpits and everything.
Julia said she is happy to be retired, knitting and growing vegetables, just as she did when she was a child.
Marvelous.

KID MOHAIR AVIATORS.

I'm rather pleased with these Mohair aviators. They were rather a fiddle to make but easier than the last pair, so when I've perfected it, I'll write a demonstration article.

ANASTASIA'S BOYFRIEND'S BIRTHDAY.

What does one give the boyfriend who doesn't want anything?
This question had been bugging Anastasia for a while.
The boy in question has good taste in knitwear, but she couldn't buy him new pieces because he loved the old ones so much.
Clever Anastasia found her way to PYF, wearing her boyfriend's favourite guernsey, and booked herself a darning lesson. The jersey was seriously holey. Both cuffs had major gashes, the neck was unraveling and there were smaller holes all over the place. We had a very simular 5ply yarn in stock and we got to work, discussing the best ways to tackle the problems, speed weaving the little holes and tackling the big ones. Anastasia took the jumper home and finished the job.
She wrapped the jersey up neatly for the birthday boy, who on opening it, looked very disappointed and said "Did you buy me a new jersey?"
....and then he realised it was his old one and was delighted.
Well done Anastasia.

POM POM MONSTER IS COMING.

Thank you to Zarah Savage for this amazing news flash.
Zarah will be our next artist in the window. Her show 'Horror at the Haberdashery' opens with a party on 5th November. More details to follow.

OUR TRIP TO THE BARTLETT.

This is Frosso, the head of first year at the Bartlett school of Architecture where we have just spent the morning, explaining the architectual qualities of Prick Your Finger.
We explained our fascination with sourcing materials, how we study skills so we can make things in all dimentions, and how textiles is a place where you can live work and breathe. Our slide show was basically this blog, and all the posts seemed to turn into parts of a village, with all you villagers busy going about your knitted business.
And here are the students leaving after we have fried their heads. Thank you Frosso we had a lovely time.

HURRY WHILE STOCKS LAST!

Stop loosing pennies through holes in your pockets with the Milton - ready for fitting! Hurry while stocks last!

TED'S TIP.

Ted came to visit this week, and brought us some Halloween cake.
He also said we must go and see the Louise Bourgeois show at Hauser and Wirth on Saville Row.

http://www.hauserwirth.com/exhibitions/743/louise-bourgeois-the-fabric-works/list-of-works/2/

WHILE CROME HOOF ROCKED, PEOPLE POSED WITH POM POMS

For the full story about Supersonic pom pom making, see blog post below. This isn't actually a video of Chrome Hoof playing this weekend, but it was the best Chrome Hoof footage I could find - thanks to Ubiquios Rind.

SUPERSONIC POM POM ACTION.

We hadn't realised how much we needed thumping beats and ear bleeding feedback, until we arrived at the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham this weekend. We were invited there by Craftspace Collective.
The Custard Factory was full off friendly rockers, eager to have a good time. This gentleman found the crowds a bit intense at times, so got busy making pom poms to decorate his hat. By the end of the day he had also made a necklace.
Charlotte's pom pom necklace blended beautifully with her dress. She used all acrylics because she is a vegan.
Our room was next to the stage, so the music was loud enough to kick off a working party atmosphere.
Carrie made a poodle. She didn't know it was going to be a poodle at first, but they bonded straight away.
This picture was taken during the tidying up at the end. You can see all the up turned stools for pom pom making and Louise rocking a pom pom look.
Some pom pom makers had acute colour sense and managed to enhance their already spectacular outfits.
As well as up turned stools, we made pom poms on oak niddy noddies which my Dad made, and are on sale at PYF for £30.
The sun shone for most of the day, and then the rain came down with the rock.
Posing with pom poms is easy. Louise loved posing in her Chrome Hoof inspired coat. When the Chrome Hoof girls came to visit us, they were suprised, because Louise had basically created the new Chrome Hoof uniform for herself with out realising.

R.I.P ARI UP.

We are very sad that Ari Up died this week. I am lost as what to write.
We know every frame of this video, so lets watch it again.
We were very fortunate to have grown up with her influence.
She was only 48.
There was a lovely tribute by Vivien Goldman on Woman's Hour this morning.
Listen at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vcqw5/Womans_Hour_22_10_2010/
(about 3/4 of the way through the program)

POM PON RISING.

Please come and join us at the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham this Sunday! We will be making and throwing pom pons at all our favourite Halloween rock bands. Louise will be wearing this pom pon dress as pictured above, which she made last weekend.

Your local yarn shop is listed up there with Napalm Death, Ruins, Chrome Hoof, Blue Sabbath Black fijji, Melt Banana, and many other rockin' acts.
Louise has filled out a health and safety document about Pom Pon making especially for this event, and we are pleased to tell you, we have the go ahead to be as wild as we like and come to no harm. See you there, and for directions please follow the link below.http://www.supersonicfestival.com

OUTSIDE - IN - WITH CELIA PYM.

OUTSIDE -IN

Outside-In

Art Space G, Aichi Arts Center, Nagoya, Japan

06-31 October 2010

Claudia Djabbari

James Parkin

Celia Pym

Sebastian Stumpf

Richard Wentworth

If any of you are near Nagoya, we strongly recommend going to see the work of our dear Celia Pym, pictured above.

SPINNING IN GREECE.

Thank you to Gill Bower who has sent us this lovely postcard of lumpy spinning in Greece. It might actually be spinning in the grease because the fleece might not have been processed!
We love the pink walls with yellow chairs.

JEREMY'S BRILLIANT POSTER.

If we had a heap of Jeremy Deller's posters to protest against threats to cut funding for the arts, then we would stay up all night, pasting them high and low.

'PURLS OF WISDOM' BY JENNY LORD.

If you are learning or re-learning to knit this winter, 'Purls of Wisdom' is the book for you.
Jenny Lord is a kind knitting tutor. Her instructions and illustrations are clear, the projects charming, the styling cool, the graphics subtle, and even the paper has a lovely smell. Here she is signing books at Prick Your Finger.

Jenny's introduction takes you through the history of knitting, and at the end of the book she explains how you start at knitting circle, and where to find shops and on-line communities. What sets this book apart is that it explains why you are becoming a knitter, as well as how to live as one.
Jenny has worked as a book editor with penguin for years. Her team wanted to make a book about knitting and Jenny an enthusiastic knitter, started flowing with ideas about who could write it and what it should have in it. "We think you should write the book' her team replied, and so she did!
Well done Jenny!

NEGATIVE CREEPY TUESDAYS.

Last Tuesday, a lady walked into Tatty Devine, the first and last Raw jewelry shop, and said,
"That's wierd, I just went to Prick Your Finger and they were playing the same song."

Nivana- Negative Creep - Bleach album 1990.

SUSAN CRAWFORD SIGNS 'VINTAGE GIFTS TO KNIT'.

Susan Crawford, has written a fantastic book, "Vintage Gifts to Knit" with full instructions inside. Signed copies are on sale here now.
It is beautifully illustrated with quick projects, easy to complete for Christmas.
Susan and her husband Gavin have poured their hearts into this edition and packed it full of nostalgic graphics, with a fresh and modern feel.
Here is Susan signing books last night in our favourite Soho restaurant 'Lorelli' which has a mural of a mermaid waving goodbye. Susan had the Lorelli special pizza with extra anchovies, Gavin had the prawn and ham pizza and Louise and I had our usual Sicilliana pizza, all followed by ice cream and coffee.
You can catch our favourite Vintage knitters on the last day of the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace, tomorrow. The patterns are truly glamorous - a rare thing these days!

ROCKY'S POSTCARD.

Thank you Rocky for the home made post card of a Spanish Shepherd, feeding his lambs from the bottle, fag in mouth. Rocky's Dad lives on a farm in Spain and leads a similar sort of life.
What a lovely image.

WOOL ON THE BONE.

Finest handspun wool on Herdwick bone.
For stone age knitters and carnivores.
£3.50 -£10

SUE'S CARDIGAN.

Congratulations Sue on whipping up a beautiful cardigan in J.C. Renee DK, before any of us could blink. Sue likes Public Image Limited and so do we.

ZARAH'S TRIP TO BIRMINGHAM.

Here is Zarah's report on her trip to Birmingham with London's Knitted Bench for Trevor Pitt's Knitted Bench Salon. Zarah did a little talk about the project, but the wine didn't agree with her. She talked coherently and held together a dizzy spell from Birmingham New Street all the way back to her home in Surbiton, where she made it to the bathroom and threw up quite badly for the rest of the night. Well done Zarah.

KEITH'S KRAUT ROCK PHASE.

Thank you to Keith for sending us a picture of a jumper he knitted during his 80's Kraut rock phase, using Patricia Robert's mohair with a tension of 20 sts 28 rows, 10cm on 4mm. It was in the same colours and stripes of his favourite record at the time.
We met Keith at the Craftism show in Shiply art gallery, and sadly he had his arm in plaster and couldn't knit. All he can use his needles for at the moment is scratching under the cast.
We hope your arm gets better soon Keith and lovely to meet you.

RACHAEL AND DIANA STITCH THROUGH FENERBACHE'S 3-0 WIN AGAINST GENCLERBIRLIGI.

I have been on holiday to Istambul with my family. My brother Monty speaks Turkish and is a fantastic tour guide. He suggested that the way to see how the locals behave is to go to a football match.
My mother Diana, doesn't really like football and wasn't sure if she wanted to go. I asked her why and she said,
"It becomes a bit nurdish, who's been transfered to who and for how much money. There's better ways to spend money quite frankly, like having nice gardens or not eating junk food".

Diana agreed watching football wouldn't be a waste of time if she did her sewing and I did my knitting. Diana was stitching acorns from Phillipa Turnbull's 'Tree of Life' in crewel work.
We loved the men's singing, and the man pictured here with the designer stubble told his friends not to block our vision of the game, because we wanted to sit down and all the men were standing in front of us. Monty and Dad David found the 3-0 win very exciting.
The next day we were in the Turkish barbers, watching Monty have a shave with a cut throat razor, when David found our picture in the newspaper 'Banko'. Monty translated the captions which read,
"The fans of Fenerbahce didn't let their team alone despite of the rain at the stadium." and
"Supporters who came as family to support yellow-navy blue set out different sight at Saracoglu" (the name of the place)
We were very excited and the barber took pictures of us with the newspaper and our stitches.
Later I asked David why he liked football so much and he said,
"It never goes quite the way you expect."

CEILIDH'S POM POM SHOOT.

Keilidh is from Wales, came to do work experience with us. She is a very creative lady and is just starting her fashion BA at University of the Arts. In her spare time she makes amazing looks with pom pons and styles them with her friends.
What a colour full life she has!