Get festive.....

It's time to start getting excited about christmas...so I picked my favourite christmas song ever... being covered by one of my top all grrrl bands, enjoy...



p.s. whoever put this video together, hottt photoshop skillz!!!

5 days in Harrogate...and a whole lotta knitting!

So,

If you've been here recently, you will know that I took my knits to The Knittting and Stitching show in Harrogate last week. The show opened on Thursday, but with 3 walls, a whopping 4 square metres and many crowds to wow...I needed some time to set it all up so we went over on Wednesday. The day was spent measuring, deliberating, screwing cup hooks into walls and eating...and this was the result...

I treated my assisstant to some tasty thai food then we went our separate ways. I checked in to my new home for the next 4 nights, a lovely bed n breakfast 5 minutes walk from the International centre (where the knitting and stitiching show was held).

Thursday morning was...eventful. The set up on Wednesday was so successful and I didnt forget anything, it was going so well, then...the shower was broken, hmmm maybe its me, i'm probably pressing the wrong thing, 20 minutes of switching it on and off and still cold water! Got to shower in nextdoor's room. La la la, all clean, ready to get dressed and put my....oh no, where's my make-up?!? In Chesterfield. I then managed to order a breakfast with bacon in it (no good for this vegetarian) but managed to tell the lady in time so I didnt get pig on my plate!

The next two days were a blur of giant breakfasts featuring egg and home made yogurt, young and old people oooh-ing and aaahhh-ing at my knits (and a good deal of getting told I'm clever by old ladies, he hee) ,seeing people I know from a variety of past knit related events, wandering around harrogate, bit of Gok Wan, explaining to people why my company is called 'Knit and Destroy' and sleeping.
The weekend saw the arrival of my new assistants/sales people, in the form of my Mum and sister. They both did a great job of looking after my stand for me, such a good job in fact 2 ladies asked if they could take my Mum home with them!

This meant that I could go and look round at the rest of the show and see other crafty things. The highlights were the Knitted Textile Student awards, as always this showed what the most innovative students are doing with knit at the moment, the 3D cross stitch stall with little houses and boxes all made of cross stitch and the knitted christmas display.

As you all know, it has been snowing here recently, and Harrogate was no exception. The show closed early on Sunday so that people could get packed up and 'beat the weather' but it wasnt quite early enough. By the time we got out the roads were covered with snow and traffic, we only just got up the hill from the car park with 2 helpful local men pushing and my Mum revving like she's never revved before! But we weren't getting any further, so we rang the B&B I had been staying in and booked an extra night! This meant that we could go to Betty's as planned, hooray...we trudged through the snow and sat by the open fire with hot carrot soup followed by cakes (caramel slice, chocolate torte and some christmas concoction) and felt like we had gone back in time!

All in all I had a great time at The Knitting and Stitching show, it was really good to see hardcore knitters who have been making stuff for years impressed by my work! The 3D knits went down a treat, especially with the teens, but the firm favourite was the friendly foxxx fur scarf, i think there will be a few ladies getting their needles out and knitting themselves (or their grandkids) a fox scarf this winter!

That's all, go on about all the lovely people I met and detailed every awesome thing I'd seen but I do have knitting to do!

More soon, Kandy x

Knitting and Stitching Show..NEXT WEEK!!!

Hiya,

So I haven't written on here for a while because I have been busy knitting, for the biggest craft fair that Knit and Destroy has ever been to, the Knitting and Stitching Show!!! Described as, wait for it..."The best textiles exhibition in Europe"...and it definitly will be this year.



How come you are doing this, I hear you cry...isn't it really expensive n that?! Well, here's the thing, I won the stall. Thanks to the lovely ladies at Craft Guerilla for running the competition where stalls at each knitting and stitching show (London, Birmingham and Harrogate) were up for grabs for new designers who wanted the opportunity to bring their products to a bigger market and make that 'next step'.

I got the good news that I would be having a stand at the Knitting and Stitching Show way back in July and cannot believe just how quickly the time has gone and it's next week! I have plenty of last minute making to do, this is my anthem for it:

Just to be clear...I unfortunately won't be making the world's largest gem sweater...but I will be making lots of fancy knitted goods for people to look at and buy, wooop. Come and see me and all the other ace crafters and suppliers in Harrogate next week then go home and knit yo-self a gem sweater yeah!

Kandy x

New knits, straight outta the MOVIES!!!

So...my exhibition opening has been and gone, thanks to everyone who came along, it was a great night! I gave you all a sneak peek at a few of the products before the opening, but for those of you who can't make it to Manchester, here's some more!

Hollywood cushion

Admit One - ticket roll scarves and Celluloid scarf

Some of my main pieces, errrr behind me!!! I will go back and get proper snaps of these, they are both red and green pieces, best viewed through 3D glasses, oh yeah!
Also, the majority of the exhibition pieces will be available in my online shop SOON, I will let you know when I get them in there.

Exhibition continues at Purl City Yarns until 28th November.

Kandy x

Exhibition.....

Hello again,

I have been bursting to tell everyone about this for a while and the time has finally come to shout about it...I am having a solo exhibition!!!

This exhibition showcases the new 2010 Autumn/Winter collection from Knit and Destroy.
The collection is inspired by classic movie making and the cinematic experience; and ranges from a celluloid scarf to a 3D glasses case with usherettes, Godzillas, Hollywood and popcorn in between! The short film featured in the exhibition is an ode to the silent movie and demonstrates the scarf making process.

All the info you need is on the flyer, you should be able to click on it to make it bigger. I am so excited for this now, can't believe it's only a week away, but here is a sneak preview of 2 of the pieces the will be in the exhibition.

Hope you like it..and that you can come and see the exhibition!

Kandy x
p.s. artwork on flyer and advert by the lovely benjamin cooney

National Wool Week!

Today marks the first day of the first National Wool Week...what is this?! I hear you cry...well, it's part of a new initiative launched in January of this year called The Campaign For Wool. It's all about raising awareness of the awesomeness of the fibre that is WOOL. More people need to think about what fibres they are using to make their goods or what the things they are buying off the rack are made of. By choosing wool rather than man-made fibres you help to care for the planet and support sheep farmers.

When I first read about National Wool Week it was supposed to be happening in line with London Fashion Week in September, I got excited about the idea of wool in fashion and promptly designed and made the below scarf...

It will be available to buy in my shop as of today, and of course...it's made of wool!

If you want to get involved in national wool week there are events going on up and down the country this week, most extreme of all is the turfing of and introduction of sheep to saville row! Check out your local knitting club for events or organise something yourself.

The way I see it is...the sheep need their fleeces trimming when it gets warm, we need fabrics to wear, using wool is the solution!

People of Edinburgh....

...get down to Candlemaker's row for some handmade delights!

I first came accross Hannah Zakari many years ago, and met the lovely Rachel at the fist ever (and best yet) UK BUST Christmas Craftacular in 2008. We had talked about her stocking my knits but it never quite happened, until now! They recently opend an 'in real life' shop in Edinburgh, and I recently got myself organised and made a proper catalogue...the result of which is this...

My knits in her lovely shop! There are also Knit and Destroy bow scarves to buy as well as lots of other great handmade things by other talented crafters.

2 of my favourite things...

Knitting...and tattoos! When they come together it can be a beautiful thing!

I love this knuckle tattoo...way better than love hate anyday! The lady in the photo is Punk Rawk Purl an awesome all round crafter, click the photo to read more about her amazing tattoos on her lovely blog!

This sweet specimin is by one of my favourites sunny buick, you can get a better look at this tattoo on her website, she also has lots of loverly pictures she's done on there, check it out!

High Street Horrors !!!

So...I have been designing and making scarves for 4 years now and until now I have only had one previous run in with 'design theft'...I count myself lucky as most independent designers experience being ripped off/copied at least a few times in their career. That incident was harsh because it not only involved a company that I had been producing scarves for...but it involved them developing an idea we had discussed and going into scarf production themselves (cough...mass produced in china..cough). I had some good advice from a fellow knitter (who has had one of her designs ripped off by NEXT..among others) who told me 'being copied is the highest flattery' which makes sense and made me feel better!
Anyway...I'm dragging on, this post is about one particular scarf of mine...the pencil scarf (see below image) first designed and made by me in 2007. All my designs are special to me but this is a favourite, and I have made many more of these than any other scarf!

So... on Sunday I got this photo of my partner in craft Seleena with this H&M version of a knitted pencil scarf, and I was pretty horrified. Initially I was angry, then laughed it off (cos that's what I do) but it put me in a real mood, mostly because I feel that this design being on the high street somewhat de-values my product. I have spent hours designing and days making these scarves for someone else to find something on google images and send a sketch off to a factory somewhere to get thousands made(said H&M designer could have had this idea off the top of their head and if so, I apologise for de-valuing their creative thinking)! I know it's not identical and mine is MUCH hiogher quality...designer-made...lambswool..but, grrrrr all the same...oh, and the facial expression below is wrong...she should be looking angry, but I wanted to post this asap, no time for a re-shoot...
I know that dirty deeds such as this go on all the time in the 'industry' as I had a stint in the world of commercial fashion knitwear design during my University course. It was the blatant copying and lack of creative input that I experienced in that job that put me off going back to work in it and set up my own business. It seemes that setting up my own label was one of the few ways I could really be creative and work with knitted textiles. Having worked in t'industry means that I also know the 'how to copy stuff without getting into trouble' rules...'change 5 things and yr off the hook' apparently. I am angry about this design stealin' but even if I did have fat stacks 'o cash to try to sue H&M....they would have that up their sleeves!
On returning from the knitting conference in Shetland I was already feeling very anti mass production having learnt about the hand knitters that still work in Shetland and on Fair Isle and generally being surrounded by people who knit a high percentage of their own wardrobe. I had told myself I would be more considered about what I buy and make an effort to make clothes where time and skill allow it....but now I feel like never buying anything from a high st shop ever again! It hasn't put me off doing what I do though,if anything spurred me on...
If you are still reading, that means you probably share some of my views voiced here, if not and you just stumbled upon this and it held your attention, I hope it has made you think about/given an insight into the world of commercial design. If you want a simple,well designed, conscientiously produced winter cardi go here.

Happy Designing, Making and SELECTIVE Shopping!

Kandy x

Like....adventuring!!!

I've been away from Knit and Destroy HQ these past 2 weeks on 2 very different but equally fulfilling adventures.

Part 1 was a trip to Shetland to attend a knitting conference. A lot of firsts in this one...first time...visiting Shetland...going to a conference...staying on my own for a week...and I was suitably apprehensive but the trip had many treats up its sleeve.

Bed and Breakfast decor in Edinburgh..on the way downstairs to my basement room, to brighten things up like!!!

Beautiful weather and a sweet view at lunchtime! There was also some beautiful countryside and loads of wildlife including seals saying hello from the sea. Not to mention all the knitting and talk of knitting...far too much for a blog...zine to follow.

Oh, and the Shetland film festival was on, which meant Jason Issacs was there and did a signing which meant Icould get my photo with him, SCORE...he totally took Lucius Malfoy to a whole 'nother level for me!!!

From Shetland to Sud-France, camping, beaches, pizza n ice-cream!

And this...amazing lady (the one sat up with black hair) knitting on the beach...

Now I'm back and ready to get my knit on for the winter. I leave you with this song by one of my fave bands...

CAT - a - LOG

My birthday week o fun was ace...now it's back to 'work' here at Knit and Destroy HQ...we had a fun day yesterday taking photos for the new catalogue which will be available soooon. Here are some 'in progress' snaps.

Wandering in the woods looking for a good place to take some photos...

Just some of the MANY mushrooms we saw in the woods, there were some purple ones too and some shaped like eggs! No red n white ones though...maybe next time!

Cushion line-up on my favourite chairs. Looking at these now it looks like a waiting room, which reminded me that these chairs originally came from my Grandad's surgery waiting room.

Some old Knit n Destroy classics re-worked in lambswool, look out for these in the shop very soon.

At work...and play...and birthdaaaay

WORK

PLAY

BIRTHDAY

Kandy x

Last weekend....this weekend...

So...last weekend was Craft Candy in Sheffield in the lovely millenium gallery. It was a good day out, and my summer fete themed stall went down a treat...

The hamper is a lucky-dip and in the middle, a tombola which was favoured by the older generation! Also, a guess how many sweets in the jar competition! As well as the fun and games there were actual real life products to buy..

And a pair of real life people bahind the stall. I had a stall next to the lovely Helen from hello memo, she was there with the fine city friends stall, which has a great collection of work from awesome crafters (who share the same views on modern craft...more of that another time). When it came to the end of the day all the helium balloons were getting popped but I nabbed some seen as we swere heading dtraight over to Donny for an awesome lady's birthday sleepover!

Baloons plus hamper equals twee, plus, the ballon colours co-ordinated to seleena's hair/eye-make-up combo...magic!
THIS WEEKEND...we will be hosting a craft session at the (almost as twee as a hamper with ballons tied to it) Indie tracks festival, so come down to the craft tent for a bit of summat to make and do.

Kandy

Knit and Destroy's left-hand man!

So...you all know that I do the knitting here at Knit and Destroy HQ, but there are lots of other things that I don't do like drawings, website creation, photographs etc. For all these jobs there is my left-hand man (like right-hand man but he's a left hander and proud of it) Ben.
He works hard to make Knit and Destroy the hand-crafted presence that it is! With the recent re-work of the website etc, he has been putting in the hours so I thought it was about time I gave him a big up shout out so here it is...

First up this awesome summer fete themed advert for NUDE magazine: my products + his drawings = lovely stuff!


Secondly, the new website...he made all the paper-bits I wanted, the catalogue and knit and destroy past collections pamplets are real-life little booklets he designed and made. Oh, and he designed the whole website and made it work, snaps for that!

The last example for today is this video, we made it because we thought you might like to see how the products are made and the different stages involved (also directed and edited by Ben). As well as doing all these things for Knit and Destroy, he does...skateboard graphics, illustrations, and is currently working on a comic! To see more, check out his website .

Kandy x

p.s. don't forget, if you are anywhere near Sheffield this weekend you MUST come to the candy floss summer craft fair. My stall is summer fete themed and there will be lots of fun bits as well as ace knitted stuff to buy!

Jammin' July...

Hello there,

I just had a 'half way through the year' realisation today...seriously, where did that go?! I have done lots of fun things so far, and July is set to be a cracker of a month (hence the post title). So far we have had website relaunch...Eclipse movie preview...

(totally not biased towards Jasper or owt, ahem)

Then last night the Younger Lovers gig in Manchester where funnn VERY SWEATY times were had by all...in particular the front man of the band Brontez, there aint no party like a Brontez party! My friend Nickie was lucky enough to get a photo shoot with the man himself, cannot wait to see her pics, here's a stock brontez photo for now....

Still to come in Jammin July, next weekend we have craft candy in sheffield at the millenium gallery, I did this fair last year and it was one of my favourites ever!

As well as Knit and Destroy, the awesome Sugar Paper Zine will have a stall there with more crafty goodness than ever before along with a ton of other great stalls! Before the month is out, a festival...more about that nearer the time.

More soon

Kandy

New Website is UP!!

Finally...

After lots of thinking and making and thinking and making, here it is, the new look Knit and Destroy website. I hope you all like it! This is my favourite part of it at the moment:

I love how nearly a whole room is in one photo, simple things...!

There are also new s/s 10 bits in the shop, and there will be lots more knits popping up on the shop over the next few weeks so keep checking back.

K x

Making the website...

Hi there,

The new Website will be (finally) up and running this week. We have been having lots of fun setting things up, here is a photo of me putting together the new home page.

More soon

Kandy

Me and You and Everyone We Sew

Hello,
This week I have mostly been working on bits for the new website which is due to go online next week, no more getting distracted by good weather and ice cream for me, I am knuckling down!
Another little project that both me and Seleena did was to 'Stitch ourselves'. This involved stitching a mini version of us. I chose knit (obvs) and Seleena stitched herself in felt. Here is me:

And to put my efforts to shame Seleena used her awesome hand sewing skillz and went all out on the detail, check out the shoelaces...

And the tattoos...

We have both sent our little stitched selves down to stitch London, and they are going to be exhibited at the Science Museum along with a whole load of other little stitched people!

In other news, I have been watching Miss Marple tonight, sure beats watching football or men who have already been playing tennis for 8 hours! I noticed the other week that the super sleuth is also a super stitcher but she has surpassed herself in this episode, I have seen Miss Marple with her knitting out about 10 times now, and she seems to be working on 3 different projects, what a whizz!

More soon

Kandy

Commission n 'Camping'

Hello there,
Well, isn't it a lovely day, I hope it's as nice where you are as it is here! So lovely in fact I have brought the 'office' outside, I say office not studio because bringing the knitting machines outside would be a BIG job and I would probably get sunstroke! This is the view from my new tent office.

This outside office was inspired by 1.The weather and 2. A conversation with my sugar paper partner in craft Seleena. We are going to be doing a workshop at indietracks festival, just down the road from me in Derbyshire and were discussing logistics and both decided it would be FUNNN to camp, so I am trying out the 2 man tent that was hidden away under the stairs and isn't mouldy, hooray! It does smell like a tent though, but I love the smell it reminds me of summers from my childhood!

In other news, I did a LOAD of knitting last week for a commission, this is what it looked like before I posted it off. More snaps and info when it is in situ.

p.s. I am working on things for the new website in here, not long now!!!

Kandy

The time has come...to knit in public!!!

Tomorrow marks the official start of this year's WORLDWIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC days.

There will be events running all over the world, check out the website to find an event near you.

I will be in Leeds at the event below tomorrow, hosted by Leeds based knitters baaramewe.

So come down to Leeds waterfront if you're in the area and get yr knit ON!

In other news, my mum is awesome at making cakes/putting on a spread, check this out:

2 meringue things, 1 cheesecake, 1 coffee cake, 1 fruit salad , 1 coffeem whisky souffle, 1 birthday cake, 1 layer rum truffles, 1 layer profiteroles. All home made!

Kandy.

The woods...

I wish I could start every day with a walk in the sun in these woods. They are in Chesterfield where I live, but not near enough for every morning!

Also The Woods by Sleater Kinney - holds many great songs including this one...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOM107PIxV8