“Keep calm and carry yarn”

Question: What do pirate mice, dreams of becoming an author and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma have in common? Answer: Lauren O’ Farrell. Arriving at The Wonky Women’s Institute meeting in St Leonard’s all blue haired and sparky you would never guess that this force of nature had ever been shy or so unwell. She vowed that once recovered she ‘wanted to do everything’.  Who knew this would include knitting world domination? HOT’s Beth Davies finds out more…

As the promoter of graffiti knitting she invites guerrilla crafters to leave their woolly creations in unexpected locations, notably Trafalgar Square. There was also the infamous London telephone box cosy!

Today Lauren is the spearhead of the nomadic group Stitch London. The group offers knitting teaching for free amongst friendly company. It’s difficult to imagine that this global phenomenon started in a pub with a couple of Lauren’s friends and has now grown to over 11,000 members worldwide and held together by the newsletter which Lauren also finds time to write.

This woman is an inspiration, even the most ham-fisted of folk (me) would be hard pushed after half an hour in her presence not to be inclined to pick up some yarn and have a bash. In fact I shall be trying my hand at knitting one or two of her pirate mice.

Here in Hastings and St Leonard’s we have a slight obsession with pirates and our annual Pirate Day is almost as famous as our historical 1066 battle! This year, however there will be a few extra visitors, woolly ones. The Wonky WI will be attempting to break the world record for the highest number of knitted pirate mice ever assembled in one place. The pattern for Lauren’s creation ‘Captain Cat Battler” is available on the Wonky website so get knitting and come along to be a part of this record-breaking event in July.

The shy little girl who dreamt of one day writing her own stories now has three books under her knitted belt and can finally call herself an author, a very good one.

Lauren is now in remission.

More information:
www.stitchldn.com
www.wonkywi.com
www.chasinghertale.blogspot.com

Also in: Arts News