Every term we will invite a well-known maker or celebrity crafter to select their favourite Craft Club image from the gallery. Each winning snap will feature on our website for the duration of the half-term, next to a Q and A with the maker about their choice.
Lauren O’Farrell, a.k.a Deadly Knitshade is an Author, traveller, artist, graffiti knitting pioneer, photographer and giant squid wrestler and we are delighted to have her as our next celebrity maker judge!
Beginning her plans for world domination through a weaving of words and wool during a rather nasty three-year battle with cancer (Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to be exact, an evil cancer of the lymph system), Lauren emerged from treatment victorious, slightly radioactive and unsettlingly ambitious.
She is the founder of the UK’s largest craft community - Stitch London (formerly Stitch and Bitch London) - a free, friendly yet feisty stitching group based in London, and the UK’s largest knitting group with over 10,000 members in over 50 countries globally. She is also a pioneer in the world of graffiti knitting, and a published author.
Read more about Lauren and her projects here:
Stitch London www.stitchLDN.com
Lauren's website www.whodunnknit.com
Knit the City www.knitthecity.com
This is an example of one of the fantastic prizes your club could win if you upload images of your craft club online.
One of our previous winners said, "So amazing the effect an exciting box of goodies has in getting everyones imaginations going!" Helen Pillot de Chenecey
December
This term we have produced knitted letters for the word HAPPY. They have been installed on the Autism Resource Base Playground fence at St Nicholas Primary School in Oxford
Donna Wilson
Donna Wilson
These days everything seems so mass-produced, so small wonder Donna Wilson’s enjoying sweet success by going the opposite direction with her business. Nearly all of her designs are not only made in the UK, but made with 100% natural fibres too (a favourite is lambswool, which is both durable and environmentally friendly). While keeping things local isn’t always easy, Donna likes the idea of helping keep the UK manufacturing industry alive, and it hasn’t stopped her from making fans around the globe, either! With stockists in 25 countries, her range includes ceramics, furnishings, fashion accessories and various knitted creatures. It was actually these odd-looking but colourful animals that started it all for Donna! As a student at the Royal College of Arts, she took a handful of her creatures to a London design shop, where they proved so popular that sales paid her rent for college. After graduating in 2003 she set up her London studio, where she continues to work with her small team.
Donna is happiest spending time in the Scottish countryside where she grew up and has a lot of admiration for her grandma, who first taught her how to knit and crochet.
Her favourite project to date has been the Knitted Wedding, organised by fellow celebrity crafter Rachael Matthews. Donna’s role as bridesmaid involved knitting the 30m long train, for which she was very grateful for her knitting machine!
Donna was named British Designer of the Year at this year’s Elle Decoration Design Awards.
Check out the previous winners of the Craft Club competition
Ribston Hall High School
Chosen by Amy Twigger-Holroyd
Term 4 Knitting Graffiti
Chosen by Donna Wilson
Felted Landscape
Chosen by Kaffe Fassett
Scargill School Craft Club
Chosen by Rachael Matthews
Spring 2010
Chosen by Erika Knight
Lindens Primary (Launch) Album 3
Chosen by Celia Pym
