Knit & Destroy

This was 2011...

2012-01-02T02:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

But let's not rush into the new year wothout thinking about all the awesome things that happened in 2011. There were ups and downs but I'm all about the positives! So here are my 2011 highlights!

YSP trips
Trip to Roller Derby tournament where I fell in love with New Skids on the block
Met and got tattooed by the lovely and awesomely talented Sunny Buick
Visited portmeirion and had an all round awesome adventure in Wales
Public Roller Derby debut
Harry Potter premiere with Holly Horcrux
Knitted Nancies
Wrote a knitting pattern for a book
Roller Skated a Marathon
Sugar papers 7 & 8
Filey seaside and rock factory trip
Belgium - waffles, chocolate and my first festival experience

I'm sure there are lots of things I'm missing off, but looking back at this, there were some pretty good parts to 2011, bring on 2012!!!

Work, Wheels and Wool!

2011-12-31T02:48:00.000-08:00

Hello there, what was that? Where have I been hiding all these months?!

Well, there has been work which has been greedily taking up my monday-friday,

One wall of my office there, with some ace 70s knitted fabrics we found when clearing out in the Summer, that place is full of old treasures!!!

Then roller derby, that's the wheels which I just can't get enough of....this is me jamming at the Sheffield Steel Rollergirls' Crucibelles bout against Rainy City's B team, tough but FUN!!!

....and of course in amongst that, whenever I get a chance, there is Knit and Destroy, which of course is the wool!!! On this front I have mostly been fulfilling customer orders, and this fella is always popular in the winter months...
That was possibly the briefest round up of 3 months in the history of ever!!! And that's all from me for now,

See you next year! KD x x x

French knitters...

2011-09-14T05:13:00.000-07:00

I like france and knitting, and you know what I really like...French knitters!!! Also known as knitting nancies, spool knitters, tricotins and many more names worldwide. These simple wooden dolls that allow you to knit a continuous tube strike a chord in many people's childhood memories. I really like them and when an exhibition opportunity came up with the brief of 'tradition and technology' I knew I wanted to do something with these knitting nancies.

Armed with lots of images of various knitting nancies, a knitting machine, some wool and some (techno) thermoform yarn I began on my 'knitted nancies', there was a lot of trial and error but I finally got the art of machine knitting with wool along with and very springy plasticy yarn down to a T. Heat setting the yarns around objects to give them the shape you see below was also a challenge, and I am happy with the end result!

Another knitting nancy related project that I am super-happy with is the tattoo I got from the lovely Sunny Buick. Here I am post tattoo in Sunny's studio in Paris!

This is my only knitting related tattoo (so far, he hee) and I am really happy with it. The word underneath is 'tricote' french for knit.

If you like knitting nancies and could look at pictures of them all day, check out this blog, dedicated too spool knitting, it's great!

State of Craft

2011-09-13T01:41:00.000-07:00

Hello there,

It has been a while, but I have some exciting news...Knit and Destroy is going to be featured in an awesome new craft book! At the beginning of the year, the lovely Victoria Woodcock (the lady behind Making Stuff and the UK BUST craftaculars) contacted me about contributing to a new craft book her and her friend Ziggy were putting together. This would involve me creating a hand-knit pattern for them..only the exact thing that I had at the top of my to-do list this year, and this gave me the kick up the bum I needed to do it. Lots of maths, lots of knitting and a bit of writing later I had the pattern finished! You can see the paintbrush scarf on the front of the book here...

This book is full of lots of great projects from today's hottest crafters, not least Seleena Laverne Daye, artist and co-writer of Sugar Paper Zine, this lady can do some amazing things with felt...watch this space!!!

The book is out in October, you can pre-order it here. The perfect christmas gift for any crafter!

Yorkshire Sculpture Park...

2011-05-31T00:07:00.000-07:00

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a lovely place for a day out, there's so much to see and beautiful grounds to just have a walk around in if you've looked at art for a bit too long! I went last week and despite the pouring rain and gale force winds had a lovely time as always...

There were some good exhibitions on but the things that caught my eye were in the gift shop, typical I know but it just re-inforces my theory that 'the gift shop is a major highlight of any day-trip' .

The first things that I gravitated towards were these lovely framed heads by Victoria Whincup, a mixture of cute girl and deer... drwaing and textiles...I'm instantly in love!

Click the photo to see more of Victoria's work in her shop!

Wandering aimlessly round the shop, past the mounds of Rob Ryan stuff, some yellow and pink caught my eye...upon closer inspection it's a beautifully detailed image with mushrooms, woodland and a fantastic creature. I instantly thought 'wonderland' and picked it up, the image is by NY based illustrator and artist Aya Kakeda. She not only draws but also does some really sweet work with a needle and thread, click the picture to check out her website.

Hope you like these ladies' work as much as I do, if you get a chance to go to YSP I highly recoomend it...but you might want to wait 'til October as there will be an exhibiton by Manchester based artist Rachel Goodyear whose work is amazing and like nothing else out there!

Kitten...Karavaning...Krafting...not so much Knitting!!!

2011-05-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Things I've been up to while I've not been doing any blogging..

KRAFTING...we finished another amaazing (I know, I would say that, but it is a particularly excellent issue) issue of the craftastic Sugar Paper Zine. There's lots of summery-type things to make and do including making cordial, sewing yourself a pair of shorts and 'fun with trees'...

Click the cover (pained by our artist pal Alison Forde) to go to the Sugar Paper shop where you can buy it!!!

KARAVANING...it was my best pal's birthday at the beginning of May and we thought it would be good to get all our best pals together and go away somewhere to celebrate! We settled on Wales and after much searching and failing to find a holiday cottage that would take a group...I stumbled upon a caravan park which turned out to be a real gem. From this idyllic woodland setting we ventured on a steam train to the Beautiful Portmeirion.

KITTEN...on my return from this weekend away, our friends brought round a beautiful 8 week old black kitten, now known as Sirius Black. Anyone who has ever had a kitten can appreciate how very difficult it is to do anything with such a cute, cheeky new friend in the house!

He is now curled up asleep on my lap allowing me to write this fantastically delayed blog post!

Saturday..what a day...

2011-03-29T02:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday saw another excellent Craft Candy fair in Sheffield, and for those of you who couldn't make it, here's what it was like... This was the first time I had done one of their spring fairs and I wasn't sure what to expect....but as always, the Craft Candy team had done a great job of promoting the fair, there was a great turnout and it was a lovely day. After being lightly told off by Sarah for 'panicing her' by getting there about 20 minutes before the fair was due to start (sorry Sarah!)...we set up in a flash like the seasoned craft fair pros that we are; me with my stall...

And Seleena representing Sugar Paper Zine as well as her awesome crafy wares.

As we were snapping away at each others stall's with Seleena's little blue camera, the lovely Elodie appeared as if by magic! Elodie is a lovely and very talented lady, not only is she 50% of the band Plouf! she also makes lovely crafty stuff that is right up our street.

If you like what you see click on the picture to go to Elodie's little online shop!

And if you like what you saw in general...the next Craft Candy will be on 16th July, we might be there again (fingers crossed), but I will warn you now, I may be in a Harry Potter film enduced trance!

KD x

CRAFT CANDY !!!

2011-03-24T02:26:00.000-07:00

Second stall of the year and it has come round oh so quickly..... this weekend Knit and Destroy will be setting up in the Millenium galleries in Sheffield for this sure to be awesome craft fair...

The Craft Candy fairs are always good fun and full of fantastic stalls!

Click on the poster to find out more about the Craft Candy Collective and see photos of previous fairs!

If you are anywhere near Sheffield you should come down and have a gander!

See you there.

KD x

New CAT on the block!!!

2011-03-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

Hello there!

Have you heard...there's a new cat on the block?! BANDIT...She's a rebel cat with a cause. The newest member of the cat gang, and she's the leader. Here she is hanging out in the corner of knit and destroy HQ.

Bandit is a tough fun lovin' little kitty, she's always causing some sort of mishchief either on her own or with the gang! BANDIT is now available in the shop.

On the theme of cats and gangs, here is one of my favourite gangs of girls with an awesome song about cats, here are Mika Miko in...business cats!

Do you HEART knitting too?!

2011-03-01T03:59:00.000-08:00

Hi there,

As you might know (or have guessed) by now...I love knitting, and until now I have stuck to knitting all my products. Today sees the launch of the new Knit and Destroy logo brooch - available in the online shop now!

I decided that the original 'knit and destroy' logo was too good to not do something with...as it no longer features on the website I thought i would make a brooch with it on so that you can show your love of knitting in all situations by sporting this awesome printed acrylic brooch!

Each brooch comes on a square of knitted fabric, here they are getting pinned on ready to be sent out to my lovely customers!

More soon, KD x

....because I haven't got a cat....

2011-02-02T11:43:00.000-08:00

...I make lots of cat related things to fill that furry cat shaped hole in my life. This week has been very cat-centred with a big order for 'smoky' cushions' from Made in the Shade in Glasgow. I took them all downstairs to pack them, and look what they got up to when my back was turned....only a cat pyramid!!!

And I think they might just have been egged on by that cheeky masked cat atop the pyramid, she is a new cat on the block and there will be more about her soon, for now, the tale of Smoky...

Smoky is a friendly boy cat, one of those cats that always seems to be outside.

He belonged to our nextdoor neighbours at my old house and I think he spent more time roaming the back yards and basking on our flat bathroom roof than anywhere else, he just couldn't resist that warm sunny spot.

I would feed him (he was skinny) and we used to give him catnip for a treat and he loved it! This is what his face looked like when basking in that particular place....smoky the contented cat.

More tales of knitting (and possibly of cats too) soon.

KD x

All the....small things....

2011-01-30T04:59:00.001-08:00

This month at Knit and Destroy HQ it's been the small things that have been making me happy and making the day-to-day more enjoyable...

Having an order to work to. Big thank you to Hannah Zakari for keeping me busy making things through January. All this lot is now on sale in their lovely shop in Edinburgh.

Home made coconut flapjack, anyone who knows me will know that tea breaks are a very important part of any day for me. For those teas to be accompanied by deeelicious home made flapjack is heaven!

And when I'm not having a tea break, I'm knitting...these knitting machines are fairly noisy things, and I usually amuse myself with music or audio books while I work. These stylin' stereo headphones I got for x-mas drown out the metallic whooshings of the machines leaving me with pure Stephen Fry's voice reading The Deathly Hallows...heaven!!!

Things for 10p...yes that'r right not 25p or 50p...10p! I picked up this awesome knitting pattern from Save The Children in Chestrerfield, it has already assisted in unearthing an amazing 'my mum knitted me a white bikini when I was 14' story from the lovely cynthia who I used to work with at Help The Aged.

Hope you have some 'small things' too

KD x

First stall of 2011....and some roller skating!

2011-01-27T08:15:00.000-08:00

THIS WEEKEND...I am venturing out of the studio and taking a small selection of knits to a stall at Pond's Forge in Sheffield.

But this aint yr average craft fair, oh no...there will be other stalls full af awesome stuff to buy but, first and foremost, what's going down at Ponds Forge this Saturday is a Roller Derby Bout, wooooop!

Click the poster to take you to Sheffield Steel Rollergirls website for more information on the event.

So please do come along, buy some crafts and cupcakes and watch some very talented ladies (and men) do their Roller Derby thang!!!

Be there or I'll set the rollergrrls on you.

KD x

2010...my year in knit (and other things)...

2011-01-02T07:56:00.000-08:00

There were a lot of firsts for me and Knit and Destroy last year, here are some of the highlights from 2010...

Making a new website, all real stuff like...

And making the catalogue

First ever festival, and first go at hand-screen printed tote-bags, first Sugar Paper craft event at a festival.

First trip to Shetland, which involved my first ever knitting conference, solo holiday and meeting of one of my favourite Harry Potter actors.

Proper camping holiday...just 2 layers of fabric between us and the elements!

Visited a Ye olde Theme Park on the top of a hill in Barcelona accessed by funicular railway!!!

First Solo Exhibition

First stand at the big ass Knitting and Stitching show.

And to top all of that I met John Waters!!!

I hope you all had a good 2010, and have an even better 2011.

KD x

Get festive.....

2010-12-17T04:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2010-11-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2010-11-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

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.....

2010-10-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

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....

2010-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

...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...

2010-09-24T09:05:00.001-07:00

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 !!!

2010-09-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-09-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

WORK

PLAY

BIRTHDAY

Kandy x

Last weekend....this weekend...

2010-07-20T03:07:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-07-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-07-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

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!!

2010-07-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

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'

2010-06-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-06-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-05-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

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

spicy vegetables n sweet delicacies!

2010-05-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

Introducing...the first edible vegetable from our little patch, yes, it is the one that says on the seed packet 'perfect for kids' and 'certain to get results' - so I won't get too pleased with myself, but it is exciting. Other veg isn't doing so well, but these are great and I love how they are so brightly coloured to say they grow underground, amazing!

To grow your own raddishes you will need: A packet of seeds, a few pots depending on how many you want to grow and some good soil to plant them in. I haven't got any amazing tips, just follow the instructions on the packet, and in a month you will have some lovely little raddishes to add to your salad!

As masterchef presenters would say, from raddish to macaroons, now these you can't just plant a seed and watch them grow, imagine, a chocolate mamcaroon tree!!! They are pretty simple to make and if you like chocolate you will LOVE these french treats. To make 12 - you will need:

For the macaroons
125g / 4oz icing sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
165g/ 6oz ground almonds
3 egg whites
55g/ 2oz caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extact

For the ganache
100g/ 3 1/2 oz plain chocolate in small pieces
100ml double cream

Heat the oven to 150 c/300f/gas mark 2 and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl, and whisk in the almonds ( i think whisking them in seems faffy but it helps to give them a smoother finish).
In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy, then gradually whisk in the sugar until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
Now, stir half the almond mixture you made before into the egg white mix, then add the rest with the vanilla essence and fold in until just combined.
The macaroon mixture is ready, now you just need to spoon out 12 circles of mix onto each sheet, I just dolloped it on and smoothed it down with the top of the spoon. Try to get them all the same size so they sandwich together easily.
Time to pop these into the oven until they are slightly firm, about 15 minutes.

To make the ganache, put the chocolate in a bowl. Warm the cream in a small saucepan until just lightly simmering, now pour the cream over the chocolate and leave it to stand for a few minutes, then stir until the mix is smooth and cool.

When you get the macaroons out the oven, move the whole sheet of macaroon filled baking paper onto the cooling rack. When they are cooled, spread some ganache onto one of the bases then sandwich it together with another one. ENJOY!

Kandy

Knit vs Crochet

2010-04-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

Eh up,

As you know, I knit, that's what I do, mostly machine knitting but some hand knitting too. I love knitting but I love alot of other craftz too. If you've ever read the awesome craft zine SugarPaper that I do with my super crafty pal Seleena you will know there are lots of other crafts i heart too!

One of those is crochet, in some ways i prefer crocheting to hand knitting. It's quicker and great for 3D shapes, one word...amigurumi!

Wanting more crochet info, I purchased an old crochet book from a charity shop today. It is a great find with loads of different techniques and ideas. This picture is my favourite bit in the whole book:

This DUDE is James Walters, the co-author of 'The Crochet Workbook', I love the multitude of colous in this one outfit, and of course, the fact it is 100% crocheted, amazing! If you want to find out more about Mr Walters and about freeform crochet, click the photo for his ace website!

From crochet...to knitting..I also wanted to show you another colourful bit of yarn-craft, the beginnings of my contribution to the 'knit a year' project being run my the UK based knitted Beth Barlow.

This project 'does what it says on the tin', it is a group of people who are all knitting for a year! The idea is to knit a few rows a day for 365 days, I started about 30 days ago and am enjoying it and more impressively, keeping up with it for now! This project is a great chance for me to practice different knitting techniques and an excuse to keep a diary which I haven't done for years! For now... back to the knitting machine.

Crepes, cakes, cats n car boots!

2010-04-02T01:46:00.001-07:00

Hello there,

Here is what I've been up to the past few weeks, in pictures...first up, cakes, lemon butterfly buns,yum!

Cats...these are some new products in progress.

Car boot, there is a big car boot every sunday in Chesterfield, I hadn't been for ages and it was a Sunny Sunday so we headed down and got all these treats and more! The 'rainbow' dominoes are my favourite, the more 2 player games in the house the better!

Crepes...a little trip to Paris, I ate lots of delicious food...not 'michelin star french cuisine' I'm not that fancy. Delicious like crepes, brioche, hot chocolatem macaroons, croissants and goats cheese baguettes, c'etait tout delicieux!

Now I'm back home, all inspiro'd from the Sonia Rykiel shops I went to. I was dissapointed by the H&M collection (mostly cos it wasn't designed for anyone with curves,hmph) but that didn't effect my love for the lady's awesome knit skillz. Seeing all her amazing knits has given me the motivation I needed to get my designs going, and to try something new !

Kandy x

I think I'm turning....

2010-03-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

....Japanese!!! Last weekend saw lots of making. We did Mothers' day on Saturday so that was spent with Mother and siblings crafting. We needed to do something that my teenage brother would hang around for, he suggested origami, and here's what we made...I really like the little boat, that's the pink thing the bunny is in, we made 2 but my bro decided to see if his would float, it did for about 10 seconds then got water-logged and sank.

I liked the rabbits so much I wanted to make more animals so had a go at the elephant, it's not quite right but I think it resembles an elephant, right?!

Continuing the Japanese theme, on Sunday I decided to make vegetarian sushi with cucumber, asparagus and avocado.

These maki were rolled using baking parchment because the supermarket, (despite being the size of a ferry) has no Japanese section, so no rolling mat for me! But they did have cheap rice crackers so I put these out as an accompaniment along with my attempt at an asparagus and mushroom dish we get at our favourite Japanese restaurant.

And it was all really tasty, any more veggie sudhi filling suggestions are more than welcome! Now time for me to go and find a good lemon cheesecake recipe, again, if you have one, let me know. In other (related) news, one of my students was talking about how he had made a really nice cheesecake, this presence of culinary skill and enthusiasm among 1st year University students is reassuring...they're not ALL living off rustler burgers, phew! The best bit was when his friend asked which cookbook he got it from and he said..'oh, it's off me mam, one of her recipes'!

Kandy x

What I'm up to...

2010-03-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

Hi there,
As you can see from my letter...the website is having a little makeover at the moment! Today I have designed (and am halfway through making) a new cushion as part of my 'new stuff' , I also took some photos of things I am excited about. Firstly my new yarns... and my lovely knitting bag complete with kittens! I am excited about these yarns because

a) they're natural not Acrylic

b) they're a bit finer than the other yarn so easier to knit with

c) the colours are lovely

The next thing I am excited about is my sewing corner. I had a move round of my 'Studio' in January and decided I would like to be able to sit by my window when I'm sewing. One 'toy box' type chest, 3 large cushions and a rather 70s bedspread (re-worked into curtains and cushion covers) later and I have a lovely window seat.

In the foreground is the sewing table with my overlocker and sewing machine on! I really like my little sewing corner, it helps that the 'window seat' is also storage for some of my vast amount of STUFF! The best thing of all is that I get to look out the window...

Knitted tree inside the window, real tree outside the window! That's all for today, I am going to finish off my products and take some more photos now.

Kandy

Lolapops' secret crush....

2010-02-26T03:23:00.000-08:00

This is a 'shout out' blog to a lovely lady called Kelly who makes jewellery in her spare time. I met Kelly many years ago when she was studying at Nottingham in the same class as my sister at their fashion show, we shared a train journey, then didn't see her until last year at the ace Craft Candy 'Candy floss summer fair' there she was with a stall full of supercool jewellery that made me really excited!

Her designs are gorgeous and very reasonable, like this awesome cat mask brooch, a must for any fans of Ghost World's Enid!

This can be found at her big cartel shop (click on the picture above) along with lots of other ace jewellery, but it doesn't stop there! At the Summer craft fair Kelly and I discovered we had a mutual love for the Twilight Saga...she admitted wanting to make twilight themed jewellery but wasn't sure, I obviously told her she should go for it! Skip to December, post New Moon film release, we see Kelly at Craft Candy's Christmas fair...still no Twilight themed jewellery, I'm all tuts and head shaking! Skip to the end of December, a few days before christmas and I get some post from lolapop..'I haven't ordered anything..this is odd!' Then I open it and a deafening screech ensues, it's only a TEAM JASPER bedge complete with cutout fangs!

Here I am enjoying the brooch at a twilight board game evening, compelete with open fire and candles...and the soundtrack, hardcore! Keep reading, I am getting to the good bit,promise... lolapop's secret stash of Twilight jewellery. WARNING, only for team Edward at the moment, but it's good stuff!

And these are on her etsy shop, a sneaky little side shop with these amazing Vampire goodies! So go and check out her goods, and if you tell enough of your friends, then maybe one day Kelly will get to make jewellery all of the time!

Left to my own devices....

2010-02-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

...home alone tonight, I decided it was time to sew all these knitted pieces (that never quite became the finished piece) together!

Another little blanket to add to the big blanket I have been piecing together over the past few years of Knit and Destroy. Here are big blanket and little blanket together on the sofa!

Now it's time for me to get under it and get warm, mmmmm.

SALE! SALE! SALE!

2010-02-22T04:35:00.000-08:00

Hello there,

Knit and Destroy is about to have a HUGE makeover, oh yeah! But before I leave you for a while to beaver away at the new look K&D I am giving you all a chance to bag yourself a bargain.

Click on the banner above to ckeck out the online shop where there are some awesome knits at even awesomer prices!!!

More soon, Kandy x

Inspiro 09 - The Ladies part 2

2010-02-12T08:49:00.001-08:00

Hello again,

I have just finished knitting up some pieces on the machines here at work to show my 1st year students next week in an attempt to get them excited about knitting, yeah!!! Next job is to tidy the colour co-ordinated yarns, but before I do that I wanted to re-visit my inspiro-09 blog from January. So, Angelique was amazing to meet and that was in March in Amsterdam...now back to the UK, Manchester to be precise and another awesome lady!

My second lovely lady of 2009 was Tara McPherson, amaaazing artiste, I first saw her work in the form of this sleater-kinney poster...

I got her first book (Lonely Heart) a few years ago and promptly colour copied my fave posters, framed them and put them up in my house, classy, I know but I couldn't afford the real thing! As well as loads of amazing posters, Tara makes beautiful pictures of ladies, creatures and outer space all in a colour palette that makes my heart melt. Tara's new book 'Lost Constellations' came out in '09 and she did a signing of it right here in Manchester! I missed the last signing that my friends went to in London and was super-excited to hear she was coming to Manchester! The signing was at the Richard goodall gallery, and when we got there they only had a few books left to buy (said they underestimated the popularity...idiots!!) anyways, 2 out of the 3 of us got books, I think Seleena had her polaroid of her dressed as a Tara McPherson painting (see below) to get signed so it was all ok! I can't remember much detail but we queued for a bit, maybe had a free bottle of vitamin water from the fridge?! Got over-excited about cushions with Tara's pictures on them (I bought one, it goes perfectly in my new front room!) then it was our turn to meet her....

Yes, she loooks this effortlessly badass in real life! We presented her with books to put her personal mark in and she drew us a little picture each on the inside cover, sweeet! She really liked the photo of Selena 'awesome'...i think she might have written that on it actually. I think we all muttered thanks and we love you a litle bit then all too soon it was over! She was smily and friendly and it was great to finally meet her. Thank you Tara McPherson for making pictures that make me happy! And making me want to make things that make people smile like you do. x x x

X-treme knitting...

2010-01-26T04:04:00.000-08:00

I got these AMAAAAZING large knitting needles from The Knitting and Stitching show in November, and finally got round to using them in the Christmas holidays. Part of the Knit and Destroy makeover that is happening is changing the yarns I use, and this giant knitting is great for using up my acrylic yarn.

The 4 steps of knitting a stitch as taught to me by my mum...

OVER

THROUGH
OFF
This giant piece of knitting is now beign very useful as a rug in our dining room, for more information on where to get hold of these giant needles and what you can do with them, check out Rachel John's fab website.

Inspiro 09 - the ladies - part 1

2010-01-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

Eh up,
I think I mentioned, some changes are going on here, and I was having a think about all the people who had inspired me to do Knit and Destroy in the first place, then those who had inspired me to move it forward. I was walking along and daydreaming about these great women who had inspired me, then I realised...2009 was a pretty inspirational year for me! I met 3 ladies who I had admired from afar for years,...first up was Angelique Houtkamp, tatooist and artiste extraordinaire.

I met the lovely Angelique in Admiral tattoo studio in Amsterdam. It was a spur of the moment trip, and a lucky tattoo appointment, she just happened to have a cancellation the weekend we wanted to go, hooray! She was really friendly and chatted to us before and after tattoo time, even reccomended a steak house we could go to for tea, but we are veggie so didn't take her up on that. I got a polaroid of me and her, she was excited cos it was polaroid, ace! Most importantly she gave us the most awesome tattoos which I will have on my wrist forever. You can check out her art at this website http://www.salonserpent.com/Home.html ....YEAH!!! She inspired me to make my work more a part of me, I love what I do, and want to keep it that way!

More about the ladies of 2009 coming soon. x x x

Ch-ch-chaaaaanging!

2010-01-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

Ok,
So I made a 'Happy New Year' sweater...the first thing I have knitted in the new decade, this has to be a good sign! I made it to tell you that here at Knit and Destroy some changes are going on, nothing drastic, I will still be making some awesome knitted accessories but I am planning to branch out into more adventurous knits too, excited? I know I am!
More soon.
Kandy x

I love knitting needles.. But 'ARE YOU OLD ENOUGH....'

2010-01-06T03:36:00.000-08:00

Yes,

Another Blog already, I know, right! This is more of a rant really, here goes...

Whilst browsing the haberdashery section of a local interiors shop the other day I was admiring their wide range of reasonably priced knitting needles (ooooh, tis a good craft section innit). Wandered off round the small well stocked craft section admiring other bits n bobs, and gravitated back to the needles, which was when I noticed they all had a sticker on the packaging...the same sticker that read..ARE YOU OLD ENOUGH - 25. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat has this country come to?! So if I was a keen crafting teen wanting to pick up some knitting needles from me local shoppe, I would have to:

a) go with someone over 25 - probs a parent, don't wanna do that, I'm out shopping with my crafty pals!

b) go in disguise, those glasses- moustasche - nose combos can make anyone look over 25 for sure!

c) craft yourself a wonderfully home-made fake ID!

d) get your knitting needles from a charity shop - YES, that is what I do, they don't ask if you're over 25 and they're usually 50p a pair, and it's for chaaarity.

So, there you are, the 25 thing has gone a bit far when they are stickering up small plastic knitting needles! I understand needles,especially metal ones, can make a good weapon, the strange coincidence of this story is that the night before this craft shop visit, I saw a 'death by knitting needle' scene in the film - 'Don't Say a Word' on tv!!! I tried to get the clip on here but I am not that techno-advanced.While searching for said clip I realised there have been other films where knitting needles have been used as moider weapons...the photo below is from a 1963 film called the old dark house.

In this film the lady ends up with the needles through her neck aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!! So, if you have a collection of knitting needles or you are just starting one, then please, don't go stabbing anyone with them as you will only prove me wrong. A suggestion as to what you could do with surplus knitting needles...accessorise! They make great hair accessories for those of you with longer hair...

Or, if you don't want to use them to knit with and they happen to be plastic, you can make them into bangles...
Click on this Knitting needle bangle link to find out how to turn your needles into accessories!

In conclusion - buy knitting needles from charity shops, don't stab people with them and if you end up with to many you can always turn them into acessorneedles!

Kandy x

P.S. Knit and Destroy is undergoing some changes at the mo, hence the v.small anount of stuff in the shop, check blog for updates and info.

Festive funs...

2010-01-04T01:58:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy New Year,

Here is a quick round up of my festive fun-times before we launch into the new year for Knit and Destroy. First, snow fun, yes, I reached the top of the mountain!!!

Christmas Day at home.

My Mum's awesome baking skillz produced this not only amazing looking but also really tasty chocolate cake candy house. The Curly Wurly fence is my favourite touch!

Now pressies, I got some awesome crafty pressies this year and I decided they were too good to keep to myself. Firstly, this knitting nancy all painted up to look like ME, amaaazing.

Now for this cross stitched work of art of the awesome Rosie Riveter...

Yes, it is cross stitched, check out the close-up photo! And if you fancy x-stitching this ace pic, you can get the pattern in Sugar Paper zine issue 4 (which is available at http://sugarpaper.bigcartel.com/)

That's all for now, more soon.

Kandy x

Knit and Destroy goes...BUST again!!!

2009-12-11T03:43:00.000-08:00

Hello hello,

What are you up to this weekend? Christmas shopping you say, well, why not come down to the BUST Christmas Craftacular where you will find LOADS of crafty christmas gifts, and maybe even a little something for yourself!

I will be there, selling my knitted wares as well as Sugar Paper selling awesome craft zines and actual craft kits for you to take home and make, and lots of other awesome crafty folk selling their handmade wares, woooop!!! We heart Craft, and if you do, BUST craftacular is the only place to be this weekend!

Not only is there shopping to be done, but a pop up christmas party so you can get some tea n cake, as well as crafty happenings throughout the day including Knit and Destroy's giant knitted christmas decoration...it's 4 feet long so far, come along, knit a bit and help us make it into a super giant knitted chain!

For more info click the BUST picture above.

See you there! Kandy x

Tis the season....

2009-12-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

To go to craft fairs fa la la la la la la la laaaa!!!

Knit and Destroy will be at 2 of the contry's hottest craft fairs this month, starting with We Make London this saturday... and here is your invitation!!!
I will be there with my Knitted wares along with lots of other great crafters..here's a peek at what sort of thing I will be selling...

These snaps are from my 1st festive fair of the year, Craft Candy which was in Sheffield last weekend and was muchos fun.

Hope to see you there!!! Kandy x

Exhibition adventure...

2009-11-03T07:09:00.000-08:00

Hello,
Hope you all had a spooktastic Halloween, on the day itself I was up in Falkirk at the opening of the Winter Warmth exhibition! It's the first time my regular products have featured in an exhibition like this and I was super-excited. I decided to dress up for the occasion with it being halloween n all, I decided it was time for me to knit my first ever garment! I have had the machine and software for a while now I just needed the reason to make something and here it was. With some help from my sister on the garment construction side of things and a lot of hours on the computer designing it I got there. Here is me wearing the dress at the exhibiton..

There was a foxxx scarf there but it sold straight away!!! There was loads of other great handmade textilesy stuff there too, a lot of it very affordable so if you want to do a bit of fancy christmas shopping or just go and look at a load of lovely stuff then visit it.

Winter warmth exhibition - at - The Park Gallery and Callendar House

Callendar Park, Falkirk FK1 1YR

From 31st October 09 - 31st December 09

see website for more info.

Po-knit-ical - blanket of ideas

2009-10-24T04:23:00.001-07:00

Having followed the ‘little red blog of revolutionary knitting’ for a while, I was super-excited to hear that the lady behind it all, Lisa Anne Auerbach, was coming to Nottingham, as was an exhibition of her work. Auerbach is probably best known for her slogan sweaters which she has knitted with topics from elections, to abortion and now Nottingham!
This exhibition was accompanied by a totally inspirational talk by the artist, which was where I found out about the ‘blanket of ideas’ project. The project involved bringing along patterns and short political texts to discuss while knitting up political squares that will then be stitched together into Nottingham Contemporary’s very own Blanket of Ideas.
In her talk, Lisa mentioned that she doesn’t attend knitting groups at home due to the dull topics of conversation ranging from television shows to television shows. This inspired her to set up her own one-off knitting circle where those attending were asked to bring political texts to inspire their knitting and encourage more interesting conversation.
I left the talk excited by the prospect of the knitting event on Saturday and deep in thought about what my knitted square could represent. I decided on using the ‘Jigsaw youth’ song by Bikini Kill as my inspiration, the lyrics highlight the fact that you don’t have to fit into society’s pre-conceived roles if you don’t want to, you can make your own way! My design was a red square containing a black jigsaw piece. With my pattern plotted out and my Mum now coming along with me, we set off for a day of knitting. The event was held at ‘The art organisation’ in Nottingham, and this is what welcomed us on our arrival, a group of knitters deep in conversation and concentration in equal parts!

We pulled up our chairs and got our knit...and chat on! The lady next to me was freestylin’ her knit, the design of which took the form of a burning cross (some anger at the catholic church there)the finished piece was amazing! Her friend was knitting a very simple piece about equal pay and another design was a dove stitched onto a plain background. These 3 pieces alone spurred plenty of interesting conversation! Lisa Auerbach was a great leader for this project, always chatting to newcomers in the group and really interested in what everyone was doing as well as having an interesting stories behind her own squares.

The square Lisa was creating on the day was a lace knit design inspired by a story about a woman who was saved from an awful fate by her spider friends. This story came from a book of feminist fairytales by Barbara Wilson, an author who is best known for her great knitting books written in the 80s!

It was a great event and I really enjoyed the company, the conversation and the knitting, although I might have managed more knitting if I wasn’t chatting so much! As the pile of very varied finished squares grew you could see that the finished blanket was going to be a really interesting piece. Starting on November 14th The Blanket of Ideas will be displayed at Nottingham Contemporary, and I can’t wait to see it!

All Photographs by Alan Fletcher; Courtesy of Nottingham Contemporary

Hand knitting...for the knitted poem

2009-10-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

Now i'm back online there's no stopping me! Here is a little write up of another crafty project I did while on my 'hiatus', and I know it's totally old news to most of you, but I'm too proud of myself not to tell everyone.

It started a few months ago when I read about the poetry society's knit a poem project, I applied then eagerly awaited my pattern....hoping it wouldn't be too tricky! It arrived via e-mail, a letter N that I chose to knit in green on pink. This was my first ever piece of hand knit intarsia (hence me being proud of mesen) and it wasn't without its complications.

First, I was knitting away happily, on the train about 1/3 of the way through my letter when I looked at my work and realised the N was coming out backwards. I blamed the fact I was knitting on public transport and the ticket checker for making me put my work down mid-row, that must have been why it was backwards! Actually, it was because I had started my patterning on a knit row instead of a purl row, and that made it all backwards, booo!!!!

The next attempt there was a lot more concentration, and despite discovering the train and ticket checker had nothing to do with the mistake, the second attempt didn't travel with me, I wanted it to be perfect.

What's that? I look pleased with myself?! Well I was, very! This is where most of the knitting took place, on my sofa accompanied by my other hand knitted creations behind me, they got me through the intarsia! And here is my finished letter, hooray!

And here is a photo of some of the poem in all its' finished glory. I think I can see my letter N near the top in the 'and trade of' piece of the poem!!! I think this was a great project, and a great poem (Dylan Thomas - In My Craft or Sullen Art) , Icertainly had fun knitting my square, giant knitted stuff is always a winner in my books! More of my adventures in hand knit soon. Kandy x

House moving hiatus...

2009-10-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

Since I last wrote I have moved house, still sorting little bits out but most importantly we've (finally) got the internet back so I can blog again, hooraaaay!!! As well as moving house I have been knitting and crafting my socks off at several craft markets.

For starters...Never smile at a crocodile! I made this as a custom order for a 'little sister's birthday' I hope she liked it as much as I had fun making it...

Plenty of teeth in that croc's mouth...maybe a few too many?!

Knit and Destroy went BUST...

2009-09-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

Eh up,
I know it's been a while, and this BUST craftacular write up is a bit late, but it's here... So, last time I did the BUST thing I went on my own which was OK, but this time I had company which was ACE. Seleena (my partner in craft) got a stall for Sugar Paper zine too selling zines, craft kits, bags n all sorts of other crafty stuffs! So, we took the train from Chesterfield and it was an early start, 7.45am train equals muchos giddiness, tea and top trumps!

Early morning cup of tea, with those dairystix, as long as you don't sniff the tea, it's not so bad!
Vampire hi-jinx, can you guess which Twilight saga vamp I am here?! Extra points for getting which scene it's from!
After the journey, that went quite quickly we arrived in the big smoke, got money on our Oyster cards like proper city folk then hot-footed it to the venue with our heavy bags o stuff. There were already people hanging outside when we got there, man, they really wanted those goodie bags! We had just over an hour to set up, and were informed just before the doors opened that there were HUNDREDS of people waiting outside, aaaaaaahhhhh. This is my stall before the doors opened, Seleena's stall is right over the other side of the room, that bit o turquoise between the 2 people sat down.

The next few hours were a bit of a blur. People came and bought stuff and chatted and oohed and ahhhed at my knits which was great! Friends came to visit bearing birthday presents and donuts for me, hooray! It quitened down later on, less people like, but the music was banging ALL DAY, I was right opposite a speaker which meant lots of shouting, which coped with. All in all it was a fun-tastic day, I was shocked when I woke u/p the next morning with a bad headache feeling ropey, what's going on, am I ill?! I was confused, until Seleena pointed out that the last cup of tea I had had was on the train the previous morning, aaaaahhhhh. A few cups of tea later and all was well, I didn't realise how addicted I was!!!

Production, procrastination, prototypes...

2009-08-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

I am super-excited for the BUST summer craftacular coming up in just over a week. The Christmas craftacular saw BUST's first ever UK craftacular event and it was the best craft fair I have ever done so I have been working hard to get prepared for the next one. The excited frenzy has created new products along with some classics from the first pages of my knit and destroy days. Here is what is going on at Knit and Destroy HQ right now...That mess on the floor isn't just piles of yarn, that is a load of exciting knitted stuff mid-production! As well as all this making for BUST, there are new knits being made for the latest colabbo with Lady Luck so watch this space!

And for info about the craftacular follow this link...

http://www.bust.com/Craftacular/BUST-London-Summer-Craftacular-2009.html

see you there x

Musee d'enfance et sac d'owl !

2009-08-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

When I go to London, I like to go to museums. They are free to get in, full of exciting stuff i.e.dinosaurs, olden days clothes/stuff, gift shops... And in my books beat Oxford St any day!
I had heard rumor of a museum full of toys in London and finally went to the Museum of Childhood last weekend. Here are some snaps of my favourite bits.

I think I will have to go back next time I'm there. It's official, museums rule! http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/index.html

Kandy x

Not just Cool, Cooler!!!

2009-07-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

It is an exciting time for me this week because my first ever written magazine article has been published, hoooray! When I say article, I mean a step by step guide to making a knitted sunglasses case. Readers of the awesome craft-zine Sugar Paper (written by Seleena and me) might recognise the project! This is the magazine all here, a surf n skateboarding magazine for ladies.

This is the craft project here, I like the background they made for it, mmmm sprinkles!

And this just makes it even more exciting that Katy from the Vivian girls has an interview in here too cos I heart Viv girls lots! x Kandy x

HOLIDAY!!

2009-07-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

Ciao Bonjourno Gelato,

Knit and Destroy have been on our hols, thought i would share a bit of Sardinia with y'all, here goes...

Home for the week!

Second home for the week, under that shade brolly! There or in the sea. It was so hot, max 38 degrees.

Ye olde clock we made on the beach, I think it was about half an hour out, not bad!

Now this made me excited, a snack and a drink in one. Nutella snack n drink, if you like choc dips and iced tea you'll love this,YUM!

Local speciality bread, yep, getting all cultured trying the local food, but we're not forgetting our roots - see wilkos bag in the background!

This is what the sun looks like in Sardinia, cos it's so hot like. I had far too much fun with these biscuits.

Candy Floss rules!!!

2009-07-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

And I don't just mean the edible type of Candy Floss cos that does rule, I mean the amaaazing craft fair hosted by the Sheffield based craft group 'Craft Candy'. The market was on today at the millenium galleries in Sheffield, the best craft market venue I have ever been to. Here is how the day went down... After a slightly rushed start to the day, I arrived on time and set up the stall, woo! Me, at my stall, all happy cos I was having a lovely day involving 2 proper screeching twilight conversations, one with real life swooning teenage girls (one had a necklace with a mini bottle with a piece of paper that said twilight on it)!!!

These are some animal illustrations by Katy Holmes (no, not the one married to that Tom Cruise), they all had sleepy looking eyes and were v.cute.http://www.katykatyholmes.blogspot.com/

This stall was pretty and the lady looked like she should be in dee-lite, Amaaaazing. http://charleydreams.blogspot.com/

This was the stall next to me, this lady had made a book about how to make resin jewellery, and she gives money to Greyhounds, ACE! www.pennydog.com

And this is the things I bought, mmmmm, stuff! Pictures from Katy Holmes, Knitting bag from plain jane textiles http://www.plain-jane-textiles.co.uk/ and badges from Ms Moll and Lola pop http://www.lolapop.co.uk/.
The next craft candy fair isn't due until November but if today is anything to go by it'll be a good 'un.

Kandy x

Candy floss!

2009-07-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

Calling all people of Sheffield (and anyone who can get to sheffield this Saturday) there is going to be an amaaaazing craft fair this weekend hosted by Sheffield's top craft group 'Craft Candy', here's the details on this lovely poster...

I will be selling my knits here, it's free entry and it's attached to the 'winter garden' which is like a giant greenhouse that houses some pretty awesome trees and flowers, so come down and say hi!
For more info including a list of all the vendors go to their website: www.craft-candy.org

New skillz...

2009-07-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have learnt a new craft skill...basket weaving!
When my Mum first asked me to go and do basket weaving with her and my sister in Grindleford I wasn't sure. I soon came to my senses and realised any new crafting skillz is a good thing! We had a fun day of it, the lady who took us was ace, she has already woven her own coffin, she said "it's a bit lopsided though so they'll have to put my shoulders in at a bit of an angle, but it doesn't matter cos I'll be dead" she was awesome!
Here is the day of basket weaving in pictures...

Family - excited about the day of craft ahead!

Half way to being a basket!

Concentration! This bit was well tricky!

Mum, pleased with herself and her basketry skillz

Nearly there now!

The finished basket, hooray!!!!

Hogwarts..(down south)

2009-07-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

So, I told you all about the up-north M'boro adventures, now for the down south leg of the journey.
Along with Seleena, the other half of Sugar Paper zine, we took the crafting to the Hogwarts Jamboree in Londin in the form of felt owl and pygmy-puff making and it went down a treat with all the Harry Potter fans. Here are some happy new owners of thier very own handmade pygmy-puffs (aka pompoms with eyes and feet, woo)

This girl had never made a pom-pom before!!! But she was well crafty (see hand stitched felt snitch hairclip) and made a lovely little fella.
This little 'Luna Lovegood' (sporting a home-made 'buterbeer cork' necklace) got hooked on the pompoms and made herself two! The second one is in progress on the floor there. Unfortunately we haven't got any pics of the felt owls, but they were amazing too. Thanks to Holly Horcrux for putting on the event and inviting us down.

Our friend Nick also made a pom-pom (toy) for his new kitten, hours of fun were then had, here is the photographic evidence that, craft + cats = good!!!

More sooon, Kandy x

Middlesborough...(up north)

2009-07-06T03:46:00.000-07:00

Well, what a weekend that was, let's start with the trip up North.

After a very early start we got to Middlesborough with time to spare, so we stopped off at a tiny roadside cafe called 'Lynne's pantry' for a cuppa and home made scone before arriving at the town hall crypt for a fun filled market day!

Mr foxy having a sleep curled around the tree there in the very green 'nature' section of the stall!

And here's the 'crafty' corner with knitted paintbrush and pencil brooches as well as Sugar Paper zine and other crafty bits!

There were plenty of lovely things on offer to buy at the designers marketplace, my favourite were 'showpony' who had come down from Glasgow, they had a range of screen-printed goodies, my favourite was this tea towel.

It all wound up at about 4 so we packed up and headed home. Feeling sleepy on the drive home, we stopped at Wetherby services, a coffee and biscuit later we returned to the car feeling refreshed and ready to go. Unfortunatly Wanda (my car) wasn't feeling the same, she just didn't want to start! She wouldn't even get going when a friendly passer-by tried shaking her then pushing her round the car park, eeeeek, time to call the breakdown people and start panicking about getting to Hogwarts tomorrow! Fortunately, a breakdown dude came and fixed Wanda up with a shiny new battery, that was all she needed! It was a long and eventful day, but we had fun and taught a very enthusiastic lady what a 'zine' is...so I'm happy!

More soon, Kandy x

This weekend...

2009-06-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hello there,
This weekend is gonna be a busy one for me. After no craft fairs for months and months I am dusting off my tablecloth and knitting my heart out in preparation for 2 very exciting events THIS WEEKEND.
Starting with saturday and the Designers Marketplace in Middlesborough, this lovely poster tells you all about it.

And in case you can't quite read the small print, entry is FREE, so if you are anywhere near Middlesborough on Saturday and fancy buying, or just looking at some lovely handmade goodies then come on down, I think that will be literally down as it is in a Crypt, oooooohhh!!!

Then from up north to down south for me for the London based, Harry Potter themed fundraising day : Hogwarts Jamboree !!!

"Hogwarts Jamboree is a magical all day Harry Potter themed event with wizard rock bands, film screenings, raffles, cakes, zines, prizes, quizzes, and craft stalls."

Myself and Seleena will be in charge of Harry Potter themed crafts on the day, so come along, watch some bands, make some stuff, drink some pumpkin juice, and rock out to some wizard bands!

Kandy x

Marzipaknit...

2009-05-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

I am speechless...

just stumbled on these amaaazing marzipan knit decorated cakes, thought i'd share..

go here :

http://veganyumyum.com/2007/06/knit-night-cupcakes/

for more pictures and a video of them being made on the Martha Stewart show in America. Mmmmmm cakes! x

I heart charity shops!

2009-05-18T01:45:00.000-07:00

"I'll just pop to town, see if I can get some good pencils with rubbers on the end.."

3 hours and 8 Charity shops later (there's 11 in Chesterfield town centre but 3 were shut, Saturday afternoon)...I returned home with this lot!
I think the wooden knitting needle box is my favourite, plus, I got loads of needles including giant ones and my favourites...coloured needles, and all sorts of stitch holders from years gone by!
It was the funnest shopping day I've had in a long time, I didn't get the pencils I wanted, but I didn't let that dampen my extremely high bargain bonanza spirits!

Knitted odd-bods...

2009-05-18T01:32:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to get good at hand knitting for a while now, but I've never had a hand knit project exciting enough to keep me going. You can only imagine how excited I was when I found a knitting book by Donna Wilson filled with patterns to make your own creatures, wooo

A few weeks and alot of learning later, my first complete, fully shaped hand knitted friend, sleepy pom...

I heart him, he's all squishy and feels lovely. I would encourage anyone looking for fun knitting projects to check out Donna's 'odd bod bunch' book. I have just made a start on my next one, it is bigger than this one, wish me luck!

Casting off,

Kandy x

Spring has sprung....

2009-04-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the buzzzzz? There's some springalicious new knits in the knit and destroy shop now. I have gone outside to the sun-and daisy filled gardens of my childhood for this little collection, hope you like it!

Head on over to the shop to see the rest, there are also a few more bits coming soon so watch this space!

This is how we do it....

2009-03-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hello again,
I often get questions about how I make my knits and how comes i'm so hott at intarsia. You know the answer...it's all machine knitted, but that doesn't mean I push a button and the knit just happens, there's much more to it than that.
I heart my workspace and my knitting machines, I took some snaps of me at work (I had just found the 3x self timer function on my camera) and thought i'd share them!

Knitting, concentration 100%...

some essential knob twiddling...

Thinking, or just showing off my shiny hair and pinboard...

I have been making too, currently working on s/s 09 bits, to be revealed in April in the shop, also to be featured in my advert in the next issue of NUDE magazine (buy it, it's a great magazine). I have also been crocheting things for me, check them out on the sugarpaper blog : http://sugarpapergang.blogspot.com/

Casting off

Kandy

Lady Luck

2009-01-30T01:22:00.000-08:00

Knitted flowers are go!!! Check out these lovely pics of my knitted flowers....this first one is a brooch, how dandy it would look on your favourite waistcoat.

And this one is a ring, my only styling suggestion here is, errrrmmm, put it on your finger!

These are both available now at http://www.ladyluckrulesok.com/ along with lots of other fun valentines treats from lady luck herself!

Hearts n flowers...

2009-01-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

I do love a heart shaped accessory, and with valentines round the corner.....what a great excuse to do some heart shaped knitting and finally attempt some knitted flowers! I know what you're thinking, knitted flowers = mumtastic. Well, see for yourselves what i created.

These plus a few more valentiknits are in the shop now, woo!

BUST craftaculaaaaarrr

2009-01-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

Woweeeeee, that BUST christmas craftacular has to be up there with the most fun days in 2008, it was ACE!!! Lots of great vendors with fabulous stuff for sale and tons of eager customers, I really hope they do it again next year... here's some pics

My knits...all here..

Me selling my wares..possibly mid sentence?!

And yes, the lovely Amy Lame was there with her fabulous 'pompom international' stand, see what she's doing with pompoms at : http://www.pompominternational.com/

That's just one of the FUN things i did in december, i'll tell you more in a minute.

Miaowww...Roarrrr..what noise does a fox make?

2008-11-18T02:40:00.000-08:00

Hi again,
it's been a while, I've been busy creating some new novelty scarves for this winter.
I decided that the black cat needed some playmates so here they are, a friendly fox and a little baby snow leopard. So far they're all getting along nicely.

I also heard that they make great scarves.They're available now in the shop, woo!
Kandy

Purly Queen

2008-06-23T01:46:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Check out this awesome pressness, first up, Knit and Destroy was featured in the exposure section of the coolest counterculturemagazine around NUDE...

ooooh, the writing is a bit small there but they say nice things, they're the best!!!

And, the knitted name necklaces were in the london paper, wooo...

look, it's the one in the middle there !!!
That's all for now but i'll be back with news of new knits very soooon.
Casting off

Kandy x

Say it with knit...

2008-03-31T05:49:00.000-07:00

Woooo, the first ever fully custom made knit and destroy products are here...in the form of knitted necklaces... this is mine...

cos i heart cake!! You can have up to 7 letters in a range of lovely colours saying anything you like. There's also single capital letters on sale for people who really like one letter of the alphabet.
They're in the shop now, go check em out!

Kandy x

love knit..love this....

2008-02-11T02:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there,
it's that time of year already....Valentine's day is looming again and I have teamed up with lady luck and made some extra special knitted jewellery. Now you don't have to settle for a cheap teddy bear holding a heart declaring its love for you.... you can treat your loved one, or preferably yourself to a fancy bow or lovely necklace!

If you like the love necklace then watch this space cos i'm working on a new line of knits that you might have some love for.
Kandy x

Fun stuff, it's a whole lotta fun....

2008-01-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

Hi again!

New fun stuff up and running. It's a superfuncrafttastic paper doll, she's called Carrie and she loves craft and cats. As well as a couple of ace outfits she's got some great crafty accessories.

You can print her out, colour her in cut her out then have fun.

till next time

Kandy x

Calling all Italians....

2008-01-23T02:07:00.000-08:00

..my knits are in your country! Knit and Destroy goodies are now available in a cute little shop called Little Black Dress in Caserta in Italy. If you're anywhere near there you should go check it out, now! I think they're also holding knitting evenings there, they rule!

Here's the window display featuring my knits...

This was my first wholesale order from outside the UK, really exciting for me, and hopefully the first of many.

Kandy x

Happy new year!!

2008-01-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hello 2008,
and have we got some exciting things coming your way.
Firstly, there's the free stuff, oh yes, you heard me, free stuff! That's 1 free knitted hair bow, voila..

with ANY purchase until the end of January..

Also, get your mitts on these custom design pencil scarves from Lazy Oaf...

..i just finished a batch yesterday,so thought i;d shout about them, I also just figured out how to out pictures in here!

There will be more of my knits at Lady Luck in the form of a valentines collection, more on that sooon.

And as the weather gets warmer new brooches, hairbands, bags etc will be coming your way.

But for now it's still freeeezing, for at least another few months so treat yourself to a scarf, go on, you'll get a hair bow (they suit girls and boys).
till next time

Kandy x

it's Chrrriiiiiiiiiiiisssssssstmaaaaaassssssss!!! (well nearly)

2007-12-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

aye, Christmas is nearly here...hooray!
...and to celebrate, the homepage has had a Christmas makeover!

there're lotsa of new goodies in the shop...mainly in the jewellery section...and also a fancy new hot water bottle n cover in the housewares department...

if you are thinking of ordering anything from me to give as a pressie to someone for Christmas, then the last date that you want to be ordering is the 17thDecember...

have fun

Kandy x

new Scarves for '07!!!

2007-11-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

seeing as the cold snap is almost here...why not wrap one of my fab knitted scarves around yr-fab-selves!

this winter there are loads of new designs available...including the 'cat-scarf', which features a detachable head which can be worn as a brooch!

all available scarves, and all my other knitted goodies can be seen in the 'gallery' section...go look!

in other news...i've also been quite busy doing exclusive designs for Lazy Oaf and Lady Luck down in Londontown these past few weeks...

I-pod Cases / New Look "Home" Page!!!

2007-10-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

hello!!!

just a quick "blog" to say that there are now knitted ipod nano cases available in the shop...
there are 4 different designs to choose from!

...and to celebrate their release, my "home" page has taken on a new look!

from now on, the "home" page on the site will be used to inform all you lovely people of my newest knitted creations...so keep checking back!!!

kandy x

The Gallery is now OPEN!!!

2007-10-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!

I'm pleased to announce that after much hard work by all involved the Knit & Destroy gallery is now officially open!
Many thanx to the wonderful models and my fantastic p.a./illustrator/web designer for all their hard work and enthusiasm!!!
I think i did do SOME work along the way somewhere...

We (me an my p.a.) just had a blast here at K&D HQ for the official opening...tea and Hob Nobs all round!!!

So go take a look and have a good nosey round!
You might find something you like...

Kandy x

New Scarves!!!

2007-09-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hello again,
I have had my holiday now and have been busy updating the shop and working towards getting the gallery set up (with help from some friends who aren't afraid of the camera)..that will be up and running very soon!
For now, you can go and check out all the brand new products in the shop, there are new scarves, brooches, bags and cushions so go have a look.
For those of you that read the best womens' magazine ever made..BUST keep your eyes peeled for my little advert!
That's all for now
Keep checking back, details of an exhibition with my work in coming soon!
Kandy

Up and running!

2007-08-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the brand spanking new Knit and Destroy website...lovingly illustrated, designed and constructed by Ben at Can't Decide (website coming soon... b.cooney@hotmail.co.uk for now).
I'm off on my hols for a few weeks soon (lucky me) but i have been knitting up a storm so can expect a lovely gallery full of pictures and more new products than you can shake a stick at in early september, so keep checking back!
I need a cup of tea now...all this excitement of having a website is too much.
Kandy x