Hobbies
A stitch in time ...
Shiona’s love of knitting has become a full-time job after she quit book- keeping in favour of balls of wool. Dawn Kingsford unravels her story…
up children, the 49-year-old has picked up her needles for profit and last year wound her way through 75,000gms of wool … and, for the record, sold 1,500 of her signature seagulls! The former boarding school girl from
Ashford said: “I always wanted to go to art college, but I was encouraged to get a ‘proper job’ and after a year larking about, picked up a job in accountancy at the Jobcentre. The problem is, I’m not very organised, and when my mother, boss and a good friend died when I was 43, it seemed the ideal time to do something just for me.” She now trades from a craft stall in
“ I
should have married a doctor or a dentist,” smiles Shiona Rogers when we meet. At least, that’s what her mum Anita would
have liked. But today Shiona has turned her long-held passion for crafts and her hobby of knitting and crochet into a business. She muses: “I don’t think mum would
have been best pleased. She’s probably looking down at me now, saying ‘so you’re earning a living selling knitted seagulls from a stall in Whitstable?’, then.” Turning her back on a divorce and a
lengthy career in payroll, she moved to Kent from Salisbury five years ago - and has never been happier. She recalls: “I had 86 clients with the same pay day. I was so anxious, the lines on my palms disappeared under a layer of stress- induced eczema that disappeared within two weeks of moving here.” Now, v e r y
It’s the most
relaxing pastime; it allows you to totally switch off
much at home in Newnham, near Faversham, wi th her two dogs and the support of her two grown-
44 Mid Kent Living
Whitstable, has her own website, and teaches knitting and crochet for Kent Adult Education at Canterbury, Sittingbourne and in Maidstone. Indeed, she knits, designs and teaches the art from the time she rises in the morning until she casts off for bed, clocking up around 100 hours a week. She said: “It’s the most relaxing pastime;
it allows you to totally switch off and once you’ve learned to knit it’s very much like riding a bike, you never forget, the memory is ingrained in your muscles.” Self-taught but helped with the basics by
her mum, grandma and Saturday “mending classes” at school, she completed her first scarf at the age of four. She said: “I’m not the most competent,
but extremely passionate and I love to teach. Anyone can learn, with my students aged 10 to 80 and I encourage anyone to have a go.”
At a glance
• Knitting is based on just two stitches: plain and purl, from which everything else is created.
•
Specialist variations include ladder, ribbed, garter, cable, stocking and Intarsia stitches.
• The latest craze, proving popular with Shiona’s customers is arm knitting. Yes, arm knitting. Fortunately it can be completed in 30 minutes and in Shiona’s case is being used to create beautiful coloured throws in cruelty- free Merino wool.
For details visit
www.thelittlesongbird.co.uk Knitting in history
Kniting has been around for centuries, with the oldest knited object thought to be a pair of socks from Egypt, possibly dating back as far as the 3rd century. Whether there was any Roman influence on the discovery has not been established. William Lee (1563–1614) was an English
inventor who created the first kniting machine in 1589, the only one used for centuries. It still remains in use today and is mostly used to make stockings. In Scotland, knitting was considered
very important during the 17th and 18th centuries. Entire families got involved in creating things like socks, stockings, sweaters and various accessories. Sweaters were important garments for the
fishermen because the natural oils in the wool protected them against the harsh winter weather. Over the years, kniting has gone through
phases of popularity, depending on the fashion of the day. A big decline was seen during the 1980s, and kniting was seen as “old-fashioned.” By the late 1990s, a lot of the individual
kniting shops had closed down or merged with bigger chains. During World War One, knitting had a
bigger purpose, as the conditions in trenches caused a shortage of socks and other items for the armed forces. Tis lead to the government encouraging women at home to reuse old knited items to make uniforms for the soldiers as wool was in very short supply. Luckily, during the 21st century with the
introduction of the internet, kniting has once again been revived as many craſters can share their advice and thoughts with similar-minded people over the internet.
Research: Jade Schopman
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