February 2011 Newsletter - Rowan

HookYarn&Tinker
Jane Crowfoot is one of
the UK's leading knitting
experts, who works as a
mobile Design Consultant
for Rowan, teaching
workshops and lectures
throughout the UK. She is
also an author and her
books include ‘Finishing
Techniques for Hand Knitters’ and ‘Two
Stitch Knits’.
Rowan’s team of Design Consultants was set up in
1995 when Kate Buller recognised the need for a
team of expert knitters to work within stores to help
demonstrate and teach, and of course ultimately
sell, all the wonderful yarns that Rowan had to
offer. Kate realised that a premium brand such as
Rowan needed to have an in store ‘face’ and point
of contact for the many knitters who would find
themselves in need of expert help. Kate’s team of
consultants grew quickly over the course of a few
years as knitting became more popular, and it was
around this time that the media began to talk of the
knitting revival.
So here we are, 15 years later, a few more wrinkles
and grey hairs along our paths of life, still hearing
through different sources that knitting is the new
yoga and bang on trend, that it is still big news and
a great lifestyle choice. Every few months the
Sunday newspaper supplements will run an article
on this ‘new’ trend and suggest that soon ‘everyone’
will be busy knitting! Statistics support the growth
of interest in the field, indeed a survey in 2005
found that over 6% of the female population of the
UK and 36% of the female population in the US
frequently knitted or crocheted, whilst a more
recent survey has shown that the percentage of
women under the age of 45 who know how to knit
and crochet has doubled in the past six years. I
don’t know about you – but this hard statistical
proof goes a long way to making me feel a little less
of an abnormality amongst my peers and; whilst I
don’t imagine that one day I will hop on the bus
and discover every single person getting busy with
a pair of knitting needles in their hands; I do accept
that chancing upon a person sitting knitting in
public or discovering that someone I know is a
knitter is far more common place than it once was.
At times of economic down turn it is common to
see an upsurge in people looking to the craft market
for ways of filling their spare time and learning new
hobbies. We have all seen a massive trend towards
the whole ethos of the ‘make do and mend’ era,
with traditional crafts making a speedy come back
and the vogue for all things vintage being
abundantly reflected in current interior design,
fashion and lifestyle choices. Sewing has been one
of the success stories in this new trend, with many
Soft - Magazine 49
6 February 2011 Newsletter