SNAKES AND LADDERS.

We are delighted to launch our Snakes and Ladders board project, for a picnic with the Welcome Collection on 26th June.
Each square of aida canvas, is waiting for an embroiderer's embellishment. The squares are aprox 29cm square, tie dyed and printed with microscopic patterns of food nutrients and bacterias, and of course numbers. The prints are very subtle on the canvas, to give you the freedom to design around the idea. On one square you might be sewing around the microscopic structure of bread,
and your friend might be stitching around calcium.You could stitch the dredded E- Coli or the structure that makes you feel funny when you've drunk too much beer.
Embroidery threads will compliment the colours of the squares, and stitchers are asked to let rip, and embroider free style on their square.
Our inspiration comes from a snakes and ladder's board found in the Welcome Collection, which is also known as the Heaven and Hell game. Based on the Hindu - Vaishnava faith, each square has a definition, such as the six internal foes: egotism, anger, greed, desire, jelousy, and pride
the three most auspicious rivers of India: the Gangees, Yamuna, and Sarasvati
elements of nature: sky, space, air, light, earth, ocean, fire,
The three ualities of nature: truth/ light, action / passion, inert/darkness.
Hopefully all these qualities will come out in the stitches we make!

If you would like to stitch, please let us know, by ringing the shop. The squares need to be handed back to us by 19th June, so we can stitch them altogether and stitch on the snakes and ladders. And put the picnic date in your diary, and come and play the game!

TOM'S SANQUHAR GLOVES.

We can't believe how fast Tom finished his Sanqhar Gloves in Shetland Spindrift. They are beautiful and have little gussets between the fingers and everything. He is one serious knitter!

THE RAINCOATS.

Girls and Boys, it's normal to cry when you see the Raincoats play live.
We love you Raincoats x
(The Raincoats have re-released their first album, and made beautiful hand knitted Merchandise. Buy all of it asap if you haven't already)

KNIT ONE, PURL ONE, TOUCHSTONES ROCHDALE.

There's a knitting show at the Touchstones gallery in Rochdale.
You can see my Relics of an Awesome Picnic, knitted graffiti by Sophie Horton, instillation by Shane Waltner, and lots of other wonderful knitted things.

EDDIE'S MANLY HERDWICK.

Eddie bounced into the shop a couple of weeks ago, with a craving to knit a jumper. He hadn't knitted for a while but knew he could do it.
The manliest yarn in the shop is the dark Herdwick, and Eddie grabbed it straight away.
We quickly found him a pattern and off he went.
About a week later, Eddie bounced back through the door, looking like he'd worn this jumper for years.
How cool!
Well done Eddie!

THE WELCOME COLLECTION PICNIC.

We have been knitting a picnic for a poster for the Welcome Collection Picnic. We are making an embroidery project for the picnic day, but I'll tell you more about that later, but for now, lets talk about the food.Jamiesons Shetland spindrift Mooskit/white bread at £2.80/25g, with JC Rennie 4ply marl crusts coming soon at £4.50/50g, stuffed with PYF handspun cotton cottage cheese £2.00/10g.
Prawn cocktail Jamiesons Shetland Spindrift Dog Rose £2.80/25g, Lettuce PYF handspun £2/10g, bread PYF bargin bin £1 /100g.

Bread Shetland Mooskit £2.80/25g with JC Rennie crusts, lettuce green chenielle PYF bargin bin 50p while stocks last, cheese Shetland Spindrift Daffodil £2.80/ 25g, tomato Shetland DK scarlet £2.80/25g.
Strawberries Shetland Spindrift Scarlet £2.80/25g with tops JC Rennie 4ply, with embroidery thread seeds 60p per skein.
Tarts, Pastry carpet yarn 40p/10g, icing PYF handspun £2/10g, cherry Shetland Spindrift Dk Cherry £2.80/25g.

FEATHERS.

Suddenly, people started asking for coloured feathers, so we got them in.
Hurry while stocks last! At 10p each, they are flying out the door.

TIA HEADS TO THE SHOPS.

We are all finding the weather a bit disappointing. We don't want to put our winter coats back on.
Tia has come up with a solution! One ball of last season's Tate and Style from our bargin bin, makes a cosy spring time fascinator for nipping down the shops to buy milk and fags.

ODD PINS.

We have no idea why we have so many odd knitting pins. We don't know who puts them there.
Our Zarah's tackled the box. It took her most of the day and she found loads of pairs, and all the odd ones will be saved for fixing things and holding up seedlings.

ELEN CASTING OFF.

Our Elen, has made some lovely knitting instruction videos for the Crafts Council. Here is the Casting Off chapter, for all of you who's scarves are getting too long!

OUR VIEW ON ELECTION RESULTS.

Quoting Gandhi.

CRAFT NET. MAC. BIRMINGHAM.

Yesterday, I had the joy of taking a train ride to Birmingham to talk to the Craft Net Conference about Prick Your Finger's nature of curating. The event was organized by Craft Space and the Crafts Council, at the newly refurbished MAC. I was delighted to learn that we are Creative Producer Models . (Turn to the left!)
Because our engagement with our audience is not institutional, and I was asked to show how our plans to push frontiers of programming with our Spark Plugs project. I won't go into all that now, but it was brilliant to be asked these questions. We never planned to be curators, it crept up on us. Thinking about the origins of our programming, we realized it came from ideas we had when we were kids.
In my talk I pointed to three influences, which have helped form the curating program at PYF.
1. Fugazi. Straight edge, DIY, punk was our number one structure for thinking. If you wanted to do something, you didn't wait for permission, you got on and did it yourself. Making a little difference could make a massive difference, and it didn't matter what was selling, it was what you were buying that mattered. All their albums were good and Guy was very sexy and would scream on the floor with his shirt off.
2. John Lennon walked into Yoko Ono's 'Half a Wind' show at the Indica Gallery in 1966, and climbed her step ladder, at the top of which was a magnifying glass through which to read some very small letters saying 'Yes'. John and Yoko struck up a conversation about it. The interaction of the piece sparked a whole new chapter in their lives.
I was studying textiles but wished I could make something interactive, to make things 'happen'. Fluxus gave clear, short, precise instructions to the viewer, who became free to answer.



3. We were too young to have been to Sex on the Kings Rd. We imagined that if you went there, something unplanned would have happened. Malcolm taught us about the Situationists' "Be reasonable, demand the impossible", and how to take traditional culture, re package it and use it to cause trouble. Vivienne showed us that conformity is brilliant because you can question why it has to be there. There were a lot more slides in my talk but I don't want to bore you. 4. This is a traditional English white carrot which I grew on my roof over the winter.
I gave a bunch to my friend Jason and he served them with a blob of potato and a lump of venison as a joke for a lunch party. All this dish has to do with the rest of the blog post, is that I thought about what to do with carrots throughout the conference.
Thank you to Miako for the carrot picture.

VOTE PCP!

VOTE SOPHIE NATHAN!

The Post-Capitalist Party: We're not ready for it
A new political party for Hackney - No members, or manifestos, only participants and ideas.
Standing as the Post Capitalist Party, as their one and only councillor, she doesn't stand a chance...
Imagine: power, wealth and skills shared equally.
Re-think: the idea that consumption makes you happy.
Re-Structure: Collective ownership of business and shorter hours.
Personalise: work out how politics affects you, and the changes you want to happen.

Vote Sophie! The only party that provides bike maintenance, swap- shop etc.

SAVE THE SKILLS!

We all need to put our heads together on this one... Please read....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7114588.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084

MISSING OUR ROSEMARY.

Bon Voyage dear Rosemary!
Roamy Rosemary, after nearly three years of keeping us in order, has flown our nest and found a proper big job, up in town, with a bigger pay packet. We are very proud of her, and also sad to see her go. Her neat stitches, fine spinning, incredible memory of stock numbers, calm customer service, groovy playlists, and fantastic legs will be much missed.
So much so, that we aren't actually letting her go - she said she'd help out on some Saturdays.
Thank you to Jean who sent us this photo yesterday of Rosemary knitting her banana yarn cardigan in the afternoon sun.
Come back soon Rosemary! x

TIE-DYE JESUS

THE BUCKLEY SISTER'S STILL LIFE.

This is the wonderful Christine, as she says, 'tweaking to her hearts content' in the midst of her glorious still life of spring optimism, put together with help from her sisters, Jackie and Laura. Christine is a painter at heart, but she creates whole scenes in fabric, wool, paper, wood and wire. This instillation was made specially for Prick Your finger, and it is a joy to live with. Doves fly around with up lifting messages on their wings...
"And then my heart,
with pleasure fills,
and dances with the daffodils"
While a pale lady with a parasol gazes through the flowers.
It's all like a big breath of fresh air.
Christine and her creative family grew up in this area, frequenting car boot sales, and developing a sharp eye for materials. Watching the instillation of this piece, we were swept up in a whirlwind of romanticism, which felt so down to earth.
For some reason I can't get the duplicate photo to delete from blogger, but it is such a lovely picture I don't think it matters.
Pieces of the Buckley Sister's instillation will be for sale, please ask for details.

ROXY MUSIC - IF THERE IS SOMETHING?

It's the first of May today. We are preparing to Dosey Doe under showers of cherry blossom, and spinning "If there is something" as a tribute to Roxy Music.
'If there is something' delivers 3 verses of romance, which will come in three different colour ways, but to begin we made,

'Reveal my secrets,
more than enough for me to share,
I would put roses round our door,
sit in the garden,
growing potatoes by the score'

The Romney greys are a crumbly country cottage with a thatched roof, and there's flecks of leaves and roses, white fluffy cashmere clouds and trickles of deep red silk for the passion.
(It's a bit greener than in the photo, there's dusty green alpacca merged with the greys.)
Next time we will climb a mountain and swim all the oceans blue.
Hand spun £2 per 10g.

NEW TATE AND STYLE IN NOW!

Yes! We have all been waiting for the new Tate and Style colours to brighten up our lives, and here they are!
Still £8 for 100g, the colours are a lot brighter. There's custard, a Kermit, Egyptian blue and a Fuschia so bright you got to wear shades to knit with it.

TOM'S SANQUHAR GLOVES.

This is Tom van Deijnen, a brilliant glove knitter. Here he is with one glove, knitted to try out the pattern, with some yarn he bought from Lidl. The pattern is a Sanquhar glove from the Future Museum, which you can down load from the internet.Tom chose blue and grouse Shetland Spindrift to knit the real pair, and stayed up very late last night knitting this beautiful sample. The blue makes the red flecks in the grouse jump out, and it looks so handsome, that we look forward to congratulating him by shaking his glove, when he's finished.