As a long time lover of all things woolly, one of my New year's resolutions was to finally learn to knit. I diligently signed up for a knitting class but, wowsers, I've found it so hard to get my head around all its intricacies, like where the yarn should go and when. I should probably be practising for tonight's class now, rather than messing around on the internet. In all, I suspect it might be a good long time before people start getting those hand-crafted birthday mittens and scarves I planned on gifting.
Enter stage left Grannies Inc, my new favourite website, which allows you to design your own knitwear and get it hand-knitted by a gran of your choosing. How it works is that the site provides you with a basic template for things like scarves, wrist warmers and beanies which you then click onto to customise with your own choice of colours, size and even stitch. There's also a whole host of extras such as bows, pom poms and tassels which you can add onto your design. It's very, very simple to do, even for us who struggle with the whole knitting process.
Pricing depends on what kind of thing you want. I spent a considerable amount of time using the template and picking out the colours for the scarf of my dreams which would apparently set me back £44. There are readymade examples on the website too if you are feeling slightly too overwhelmed - this Moss scarf would cost £64, while the headband with bow shown at the top of the post would cost £34.
This hand-knitted beanie meanwhile would set you back £43. Quite pricey compared to the high street but then it's unique and it's lovingly made by a gran (and therefore it must be practical and warm and worth every penny).
Once you've picked out your design you get to the best bit of the whole process:
deciding on one of the grannies to knit it for you. I don't like to play favourites but if Granny Eileen's knitting skills are good enough for Noel Edmonds then they are surely good enough for me.
I'm planning on returning to my needles in the hope that one day I can get somewhere near the skills employed by Grannie Inc. In the meantime, my winter wardrobe will definitely be customised courtesy of these lovely ladies.
It's also important when looking at the price of hand knitted items to consider how long they take to make - people seem shocked that it would take me a good few weeks to make a scarf, combined with my usual job. As if I could knock it up in 40 minutes!
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. I think you would be waiting years for anything to come out of my hands so I think these grannies deserve a fair price for their labour.
ReplyDeleteOh this is adorable! But how can you choose a granny? What if one granny gets no work? :-(
ReplyDeleteGreat idea but for them to really succeed lowering the prices a little would be better. I appreciate they spend a fair bit of time knitting these things but I'm not sure how many poeple would really pay out.
ReplyDeleteWell they're already pretty successful. I've seen more expensive knitted items in high street shops.
ReplyDeleteI think Granny Holly is my favourite. Granny Eileen doesn't even have any grandchildren! Only real grannies will do for me.
ReplyDeleteI can knit, but I hate sewing bits f knitting together. If I could do the knitting part then send it to Granny Holly to finish off my life would be complete.
You'd be surprised at how useful YouTube is on learning how to knit. I taught myself and then went to a couple of group knitter meetings for free tips as well. Once you figure out the basics you pickup a new tricks and before you know you'll be one of the crew!
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