Feature
| inside sTudio
Lo u’s
idden away in a quiet side street in Lou’s constant companion is her ever-faithful
H
the picturesque town of Bradford- dog, Davey (actually female!), who rarely ever
on-Avon, there’s a plain wooden leaves her side.
door that leads you up a flight of Lou was, effectively, born into the crafting
stairs and into another world. This simple yet world – her mum ran a yarn shop in Cornwall and
stylish studio space is the creative home of Lou quickly absorbed her mum’s love of crochet,
Louise Butt, crochet and knit designer, and one knitting, sewing and beautiful yarns. Lou has been
half of KAL Media Ltd publishing. designing crocheted and knitted items from a young
Lou’s studio is a treasure-trove of delights – age, with designs published in various magazines
shelves are filled with books and magazines, some and books, including Knitted Sock Sensations and
of which Lou has been a big part of; yarns of all Weekend Knitting (UK title).
different colours, shapes and sizes have a home In 2007, Lou teamed up with Kerrie Allman to
inside tubs and gorgeous glass jars; rails are filled form KAL Media Ltd, publishing knitting magazine
with fabulous finished projects; needles of all Yarn Forward and sewing magazine, Sew Hip. With
lengths, sizes and materials are close at hand; and this year’s launch of Inside Crochet, Lou has been
mannequins are dressed up ready for the next photo able to return to one of her first loves. “My mum
shoot here. taught me to crochet before knitting so I’ve always
Being surrounded by all of this offers plenty of had a soft spot for it. I love the way crocheted items
inspiration for Lou, while the room itself has a calm grow so fast, and the flexibility of crochet means it’s
and peaceful atmosphere. Lou loves sitting in this just as easy to create a lovely, lacy shrug as it is to
bright, light space, with its high ceilings and huge make a solid, dense handbag.”
windows, planning out her next projects for Inside Lou’s shrug design in this issue (page 54) sums
Crochet and Yarn Forward. up everything she loves about crochet – it’s a simple,
The studio also has a wonderful homely, family lacy design that grows quickly and is easy to make
feel – Lou’s two children like to hang out here after up. Turn the page for a sneak peek behind the scenes
school, drawing or playing on the computer. But of her studio and this issue’s Inside Crochet… »
58 | INSIDE Crochet
IC2.feat.studio.FINAL.indd 58 13/5/09 12:04:19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100