What better way to spend a summer Saturday than among fellow knitters (whom you may or may not actually know) in a cool café in the middle of London, knitting squares for a worthy charity? The MillaMia team thought that there wasn't really anything they would like to do more and so Katarina, Helena and I hopped along last Saturday to join Loveknitting and Knit For Peace at Flat Planet in Great Marlborough Street as part of Worldwide Knit In Public Day.
Launched in 2005 by Danielle Landes, WKIP is the biggest knitter run event in the world. It has gathered momentum over the past few years seeing organised events now run through an entire week, and with global reach. It has become an excellent opportunity among the knitting community to not only show off their knitting prowess in public, but to participate in some charitable endeavours for lots of worthwhile causes.
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| Our colourful group spilled out onto the street and attracted lots of interested glances from passers-by |
The team at Loveknitting are no exception and decided that offering free knitting classes as well as knitting up some blanket squares to support the Knit For Peace charity, would be the perfect way to mark the day. They chose a trendy venue, invited some knitting celebrities and provided plenty of delicious café fare to help motivate and fuel the knitters.
Debbie Bliss provided help and advice in her Knitting999 Surgery and happily contributed a couple of very beautiful squares to the effort. The ladies that I ended up sitting next to were busy knitting their own squares as I arrived and I overheard them talking about how lovely Debbie is - they were very slightly starstruck at meeting such a well-respected and well-known knitting celebrity!
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| Edward from Loveknitting and Debbie Bliss |
Katarina and Helena arrived shortly after me and we were all soon knitting and chatting and tucking into some wholly delicious food. Flat Planet were incredibly accommodating of us crafters spreading out across the entire downstairs and up on the street, and fed us with delectable organic English spelt flatbreads topped with all manner of delights.
It was warm and busy up on the street . . .
. . . cool and productive downstairs in the basement!
The generous endeavours of the knitters produced a very creditable 50 squares on the day which will all end up as part of a blanket. Of course, the charity needs LOTS more squares and Knit For Peace are very happy to accept any squares you'd like to donate. Send your squares (10cm x 10cm - any yarn, colour, pattern!) to:
Knit For Peace
Radius Works
Back Lane
London
NW3 1HL
The pictures actually tell the best story - lots of knitters enjoying a bit of crafting on a splendid summers day, and some curious passers-by stopping to have a go. As I said at the beginning - what better way to spend a Saturday than meeting new knitting folk, creating something for a great cause and eating!!
(posted by Max)
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