Ten years ago, in January 2010, I dragged with me what I could carry onto three buses across London, off to set up Knit with attitude on it’s very first day as a market trader at Greenwich Market. Having just moved with my family from Norway to London, coming from a background as a sub-culture film maker, I can honestly say I had no idea what I was getting myself into. However the incentive behind the Knit with attitude adventure was the same for me personally as it has always been, to move the world towards a little bit better place by telling stories encouraging attitudes – and in Knit with attitude’s case this has always been and will always boil down to telling the stories about consumption and production. You can read more about my motivations and why the name Knit with attitude in this blog post I did a few years back.

Back on the first day I remember thinking about Knit with attitude as an experiment – I was absolutely convinced that one could run a shop based on ethical and environmentally friendly business principles and prove to be financially sustainable at the same time. After 10 years in business, under the current political climate and the environmental challenges we’re facing I’m less convinced, but I am still trying to make the world a little bit better one stitch at the time – and HEY! We’re still standing and that is definitely worth celebrating!!! Imagine that, 10 years as Knit with attitude – what a ride it has been!!! 

Today Knit with attitude is an independent and contemporary shop on a London high street, specialising in ethical and sustainably produced yarns for mainly hand knitting. As a small independent yarn shop we wanted to create something to celebrate our 10 years in business, something that not only represents Knit with attitude, our ethos and history, but also what it is that grounds us in our communities, both in the World Wide Web of online relations but also very important to us, in our local community here in Hackney, East London. More than a pattern collection, we wanted to celebrate this wonderful and extremely versatile world of yarn enthusiasts that we have been so lucky to get to know throughout the years, and we wanted to include as many as possible when coming up with our anniversary, a monumental collaborative project – the Knit with attitude anniversary book!

Our social media platforms, Instagram and Facebook, are already filled with teasers and previews from what we have planned, and I’m going to spend some time here on the blog in the next days telling you all about how we are planning to capture all of this between the firm covers of a book – but on that note it is important to me to make a point. Several of you have already asked why we are not planning an additional e-book publication at a lower cost. In celebration of Knit with attitude and everything we are, we wanted to create and bring to you a physical object – a skilfully crafted and beautifully tactile piece of Knit with attitude to hold. For this publication we have gathered our best friends and partners in the knitting world, aiming to create something truly unique and beautiful for anniversary book. We want to evoke the same emotions when opening your book as when opening the door and stepping into our small corner of the knitting universe.

We do need some help, and for the next few days we are crowdfunding to complete our ambitious anniversary publication.  Even the smallest donation will make a huge difference, we are forever grateful for all support!!! Please pop over to our Kickstarter Campaign to find out more about the Knitting with attitude project, complete with a cringeworthy video and all, whatever we can do to tickle your curiosity and keep you entertained really …