Susan’s purls of wisdom

Nov 13 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Knitting expert Susan Crawford _220

Emma Johnson discovers knitting is back in vogue as more people pick up their needles

WITH a mother, grandmother and an aunt for whom knit one purl one was a daily mantra, the click clack of knitting needles was as much the soundtrack to my childhood as nursery rhymes were.

Baby blankets, confirmation outfits, numerous Christmas presents and even my Barbie’s clothes were all of the hand-knitted variety. My Ken was the only one at school with his own made-to-measure cricket jumper.

The craft was so pervasive in our family that I even tried it myself briefly, managing one cardigan and a couple of scarves.

As with many things though, in my teenage years I lost enthusiasm for it as homemade clothing became something of a faux pas.

But Southport author and knitting expert Susan Crawford reckons there has never been a better time to pick up the needles once more.

Hollywood stars like Sarah Jessica Parker and Julia Roberts, getting their yarns out on set, have already made knitting cool, but she argues with the credit crunch biting, the skill is now not just fashionable but prudent.

“I grew up thinking that if you wanted something you made it for yourself and that is what I have always done,” says Susan, 40, who was taught by her Nan so young that she can’t remember a time she couldn’t do it.

“Then in the 1970s and 1980s there was a belief that you didn’t make things yourself. If you did they wouldn’t be as good as if you went out and bought them.

“But I think that trend has swung around now and people are coming to the conclusion that they need to be able to look after themselves and make their own things.

“Just like people are growing their own vegetables people want to get to grips with making things themselves again and producing things they can be proud of, which they can hold up and say they made from start to finish.”

The proof of knitting’s return to popularity is evident in Susan’s online magazine knitonthenet.com. She launched it two years ago and it now averages around 80,000 hits a day, with the most recent issue attracting an incredible 242,000 fans.

“There is a huge online knitting population,” explains Susan who studied fashion and textiles at Southport College of Art, where she also lectured for a time. “We have readers from America, Japan, mainland Europe, all over the place.”

Naturally Susan has passed her own knitting skills on to her 16-year-old daughter Charlotte.

“We have a little group called TLC – teens love craft – and all of her friends knit and sew and have really got into making things for themselves,” she explains.

Tonight Susan will be at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall for the launch of her first knitting book A Stitch in Time produced with co-author Jane Waller.