MARKET REPORT

Carry a Big Stick

Or two—really big sticks, hand-carved by British fiber artist Rachel John, who knits gorgeous rugs on enormous needles with as many as a mindboggling 1,000 strands of yarn at one time, letting the colors mix in the stitching. Not one to shy away from boldness, John has plied atop a balcony, with hundreds of strings descending like Rapunzel's hair down to the cones from which they unfurled at street level.

Now John's huge hardwood needles—essentially a U.S. size 50 (25mm) with extended handle lengths of 400mm, 600mm and, for the dauntless, 1,000mm—are available stateside, distributed by the Ohio-based accessories company The BagSmith. "They're just wonderful to work with, but they're heavy," says BagSmith owner Becca Smith of the needles. She and John plan to explore "alternative ways of doing it for people who can't bear the weight."

Using these behemoths takes some getting used to and gives the stitcher, Smith laughingly says, a good upper-body workout. "The best way to do it is sit in an armchair, put one of the needles down next to you and work the other needle as you go," she explains. For synergy's sake, Smith keeps her multiple strands (between 10 and 25 for the moment) untangled by separating several skeins apiece into five or six of BagSmith's collapsible Yarn Catchers as she works on designs for appropriately gauged pattern support-a skirt, John's signature rugs and, of course, handbags. John tends to use very thin yarn when she creates her "extreme textiles," but Smith is experimenting with various weights and finding the process yields results that are different but just as striking.

In these days of dainty lace and sock knitting, Smith is excited to represent "the opposite end of the spectrum, toward the immediate-gratification side. On size 50 needles, once you get the hang of it and working in short spurts, these things knit up pretty fast. "With pretty being the operative word. John will be demonstrating how to knit with her needles and showcasing her rugs at BagSmith's TNNA booth, shared with Fiesta Yarns and Kollage Yarns, both of which will provide John with raw material.

Meet Kate Jacobs

Here is the entirety of our interview with Friday Night Knitting Club author Kate Jacobs.

YMN: There are so many venues and forums that bring women together. How did you hit upon a yarn shop as the setting for the book?
KJ: I see the book as a story about relationships; knitting serves as a metaphor for life and the shop as a conduit to bring together a disparate group of characters. It's a story about the impact of small kindnesses, the challenges and rewards of friendship and love. Of course, knitting is just so popular these days. Part of it is the whole granny-chic-as-irony stuff, and that's one reason why it's captivating young women and college kids and teens. Another part of it is that we live in the kind of world that makes us long for some kind of good old days and kicks our nesting instinct into overdrive. So there's the whole comfort aspect of knitting as well.

People are always looking for connection, I think, and knitting is an old way to foster community that's been freshened by young enthusiasts and the influence of the Internet. It's in the zeitgeist. That's why we're seeing so many cool how-to and pattern books, and we're also seeing a mini-boom in knitting fiction. So The Friday Night Knitting Club is in great company. Knitting is in the mainstream, and a yarn shop certainly seems a logical, natural venue for a group of women knitters to meet in! Personally, I find knitters to be very kind people, starting with my grandmothers, who were great knitters and superb people to boot.

YMN: Did you base Walker and Daughter on any real yarn shops?
KJ: Walker and Daughter is quite a wonderful place, and I think it's the people who make it that way—Georgia and Anita and so on. Because I had such a sense of the book as being character-driven, I didn't feel the need to use any one specific yarn shop as a model. Plus, I think most knitting stores—out of necessity—have only so many ways they can showcase their yarns, needles, etc. You know you're in a yarn shop when you step through the door! Each is unique, but similar. That said, I did stop by several shops when I was working on the book, from popping into shops as I traveled around the south of Scotland to a quick visit to an Upper West Side store to shopping at Bev's Yarn Shop in my hometown of Hope, British Columbia. I tend to overbuy when I go into a yarn shop anyway—our suitcases were overflowing when my husband and I flew back from the U.K. So I wasn't always looking at places with an eye for the book; sometimes I just wanted some yarn!

YMN: Did you spend time working at any shop with the owner to get a first-hand feel for what it's like to run an LYS?
KJ: That's an excellent idea—but no, I didn't do the type of shadow research in which I spent an entire day at a shop. Again, it goes back to my belief that I didn't want to copy any one store. So of course I chat with owners when I am in a store, but I don't do interviews or take notes or that kind of thing. Instead, I actually focused upon my memory of the interviews I had done with small-business owners while at Working Woman magazine. I learned a great deal about business and entrepreneurial women while working there. Running a small business is hard work! Then I also sprinkled in the example of smart, successful women I know, and that all helped me to imagine this world. I did, however, research Scotland and made it a point to talk to experts as I worked on the medical aspects of the story.

YMN: Similarly, did you attend Stitch 'n Bitches or knitting circles to pick up on the knitters' interplay?
KJ: Can you believe that I've never attended a Stitch 'n Bitch? Actually, none of my friends are surprised. Personally, I'm a bit on the quiet side and tend not to seek out groups. And since this was a work of fiction, I really wanted—and needed—to stay within my imagination as I wrote and developed the characters and their experiences.

Still, a knitting circle is about sharing common ground, and that is really the dynamic of friendship. And that is something I do understand well: I have been truly blessed in my own life to have some great friendships. Some of those friends are knitters. And even though we're all in different cities around the U.S. and Canada, we e-mail or fax patterns to each other or have phone chats where we talk knitting. And we talk about everything else, too, believe me! It's my own version of a knitting group: I just rarely get a chance to hang out face-to-face with any of them.

I remember when I was back in NYC from our home in California and staying with my friend Megan; we both pulled out our knitting and watched the TV and it was just a lot of fun. It's the same thing when I return to Canada to see my relatives. My sister and sister-in-law knit and so we can just sit around and make our stuff; my mom used to knit and crochet, so she's a good person to ask if you're in a muddle. My friend Christine is a great one for knitting up a little something and sending it in the mail. I love that!

Because the book, for me, is so clearly about the relationships, I really did reflect on my own life. On my knitting friends. And on my non-knitting friends, who are also such an important part of my life. You know, I am still very close with the same group of girls I met in first grade. We talk all the time. And I have a super group of pals from my first job in publishing, at Redbook magazine; back in the day we would get together every week to just talk (a.k.a. "bitch") about anything and everything. We're closing in on ten years of friendship even though now we're all over the country. But we're still connected. My point? That while the characters do engage in lots of knitting talk, they also relate to each other just as people. So I used all these aspects to create the dialogue and interplay.

YMN: When you were naming your fictional shop, did you play around with knitting/yarn puns? Walker and Daughter is an interesting name for an LYS, given that it doesn't reveal what kind of establishment it is right away.
KJ: Great question! I did briefly—very briefly—consider trying to come up with a punny name. But all of the good ones are taken-some of them many times over! I settled very quickly on Walker and Daughter not just because I like Walker shortbread cookies, which I do, and not just because I wanted Georgia to have a Scottish background because I had been to Scotland and have some Scottish ancestry myself. No, I chose the store name because there's an aspect of the story that is about a woman being proud of her accomplishments and wanting to be a strong role model for her child. The two of them are going to make it together. And sometimes when you write, a little thing can become great inspiration. From the moment I typed the words "Walker and Daughter," I could begin to see the shop taking shape, could imagine those lavender paper bags being filled with the customers' purchases, began to envision the crowded back office. The name just felt right.

YMN: What have you learned about owning a yarn shop through writing this book?
KJ: I think running any small business is a delicate push-pull of cash flow. Do your sales cover your expenses? How do you cope with unexpected bills? But, as with any type of work, it can be easier to slog through the hard times when you have a passion for what you are doing. And I think Georgia embodies that: Work isn't always fun, but there can always be fun in your work. Plus, there is something deeply satisfying about being in charge! There's also extra pressure. And we all have days when we'd rather go to the park (or the yarn store) instead of opening our business or, in your case or mine, sitting at the computer to write. The challenge is just to do the job anyway. Because a bad day can often be followed by a good day, you know? It's life. The tough moments make the other times that much sweeter.

YMN: In the press kit, you say you like to knit quick and fun projects. What's your favorite thing to knit and your favorite yarn to use?
KJ: I went through this brief phase where I wanted to knit delicate little things on tiny needles. Many of my friends were having babies and I had this plan that I was going to knit all sorts of gifts. What was I thinking? Knitting went from being something fun and stress-relieving to suddenly being something I had to do in order to get the gifts sent on time. (I had visions that I was going to be like my sister, who is still working on a quilt for my wedding gift. I got married five years ago!) So I took a step back and stopped myself from turning my hobby into something I would put on a to-do list. I ordered some great organic-cotton baby outfits for my friends' newborns and went back to knitting fun stuff. Give me some big needles—I prefer bamboo but I do use metal sometimes—and some soft chunky yarn, and let me go to town! Knitting up something quickly, like a bookmark or a little iPod sock, is a lot more relaxing for me. Personally, that's when knitting is great, when it just centers me and lets me forget my stresses. Lately, I've wanted to do some flower pins, and a friend of my father-in-law's just showed me a very cool purse she is making with Tutu yarn. So that's where my mind is going next.

YMN: Any designers you particularly favor?
KJ: Everyone who has left their pattern on the Internet for free! I love that aspect of  "we're all knitters together" on the Web. I like Debbie Bliss and I enjoy Kris Percival's straightforward approach. I can't wait to try some things from her latest book, Speed Knitting. That's me: all about the quick stuff. You know, some knitters look for the "next big challenge" when they knit. Not me! Seriously, I am not some supercrafty Martha Stewart-type person. I don't see an old magazine lying around and think about finding an old hat box to découpage. You won't find me doing faux painting on the walls of my home. But knitting makes sense to my fingers. So I feel damn good when I knit, like a clumsy kid who's got the hang of riding a two-wheeler, and at the end of every project I feel a great sense of accomplishment. That's pretty awesome.

YMN: How long have you been knitting and who taught you?
KJ: I come from a long line of knitting women, and both my grandmothers were very skilled. But the funny thing is that I had a deep suspicion of all domestic arts when I was younger—never wanted to learn how to cook, for example. I worried that practical skills would somehow conflict with my feminist principles and my career goals. So while my older sister was busy learning all of the secret knitting tips from my grandmother, I was watching them with suspicion. But, at the same time, watching my grandmother knit is a strong memory, and even as a girl I loved the sweaters she made for me. I admired the product if not the process.

Fast-forward many years: I'm in New York City, busy with a career, married. And out of the blue my hippest, most fashionable friends are talking about knitting. Proud, intelligent, independent women whom I admired. It seemed time to rethink my ideas, so I turned to books and Web sites and my friends and family who are knitters. These are the feelings that I poured into [the character of] Darwin, this highly principled woman who doesn't know what to think about the resurgence of an old-fashioned craft. Who is so consumed with not being forced into living someone else's expectations that it takes her some time to appreciate other women's experiences and to reassess what knitting can be about: community, a celebration of skill, an honoring of tradition and of women. And, as she says, it can just be fun. Simply fun.

YMN: What was the genesis of WalkerandDaughter.com? Were the characters so real to you this was a tangible way to keep their  "lives" going after you'd finished writing?
KJ: You know, the idea started to grow when I was writing in Chapter 2 about the character of Peri taking Web-site classes for her handbag-design business. And I laughingly said to my husband that Georgia should hire Peri to design the Web site. I do that a lot with him, just talk about the characters as if they are people we know. I do that so often it seems perfectly normal. And my husband, who is a tech guy and computer consultant, just looked at me and said,  "Absolutely." And even though it was early on in the writing we ended up with discussing this idea of an alternate reality Web site. It's something I even wrote into the proposal that was sent to editors. When the time finally came to design the site, I took it very seriously, working with a dear friend who is a graphic designer. And the questions I asked myself were the following: What would Georgia Walker choose? How strong are Peri's skills? How much time and money did they have to put the site together? I wanted it to look welcoming and to convey the feeling of the shop, but not be too flashy. Because that wouldn't be Georgia. And I put a little bit of myself into it too, knitting the stitches we used for the background image. Of course, my stitches aren't as perfect as if Georgia was truly making them herself, but then she's an expert and I'm a writer who knits.

YMN: Are the characters from the book going to be interacting with the users at WalkerandDaughter.com?
KJ: No, that was never really my intention. Though it is a fascinating idea! My goal, however, was to create a continuation of the book and a place where readers and knitters who enjoyed the world of Walker and Daughter and The Friday Night Knitting Club could come together and share in each others' real lives. Because that is what the characters do, they come together as strangers to build friendships. And our lives are so busy that we can't all run out of the house and go to a knitting club; I wanted to bring a knitting club to all the women who don't belong to one or don't have time to get to a meeting. My hope is that WalkerandDaughter.com becomes its own community.

YMN: Had you been participating in the massive cyber-knitting world prior to this?
KJ: Well, let me tell you, this was my first novel, and it took such a tremendous amount of time, energy and creativity that I feel as though several months went by and I didn't participate in much of anything at all. Anywhere. On the Internet or in the real world. I just wrote and wrote and wrote. But as I mentioned previously, I do like to find and try patterns online. I love the attitude and aesthetic at knitty.com in particular. In general, I'm a big fan of the Internet, just the convenience of being able to find anything you want, whether it is some exotic yarn or just some reassurance that you are not the only person who is having trouble with buttonholes!

YMN: OK, Julia Roberts—congratulations, this can't get much bigger. How are you feeling and what are your hopes for the movie?
KJ: The movie news has certainly brought attention to the book. I think what could be great about a movie is that it can put a spotlight on knitting and it can put a spotlight on the richness of women's relationships with each other. I love ensemble casts where the driving force is women's stories.

YMN: Will you be involved in the screenwriting?
KJ: It's my understanding that the project would be matched up with a professional screenwriter.

YMN: Now that Julia's attached, who else would you like to see on board?
KJ: There are so many talented actors out there! I expect an excellent team would be brought together and then they would put their own stamp on things.

YMN: Any contact with Julia since the announcement was made?
KJ: No, though of course I'm tickled that she read and enjoyed the book. I feel that way whenever any person is enthusiastic about The Friday Night Knitting Club!

YMN: Finally, this is huge news for the knitting community, given that celebrity knitters are credited with a lot of the craft's latest resurgence. Did you realize when you were writing the boost to the industry Knitting Club could have? Are you looking forward to getting out there and talking to retailers and knitters about it all?
KJ: I am completely excited about getting out to knitting shops and bookstores and talking with all sorts of women—knitters and non-knitters—just like me and my friends. I want to hear their stories and I hope they want to spend some time with the characters in the novel and at WalkerandDaughter.com. Knitting is at a tipping point, I think, just flooding the mainstream. Part of that is because it's a wonderful, multi-generational activity. So I don't think the knitting world needs a boost from me! But of course I have high hopes for the book's success. And I would be thrilled if FNKC encouraged some folks new to knitting to give it a try: I have always believed that a rising tide raises all boats, and it would be wonderful to give back to the knitting community.

Visit the fictional world of Jacobs's LYS at www.walkeranddaughter.com.

The Fickle Finger of Fame

OK, we admit we got a little carried away with the November announcement that Julia Roberts would star in and produce the film adaptation of Kate Jacobs's debut novel The Friday Knitting Club (see January's Market Report and Smart Media column if you don't believe us). Another Roberts announcement, a holiday surprise, may put those plans into limbo: The 39-year-old Oscar-winning superstar and husband Danny Moder are expecting their third child, due this summer. While there has been no word how Roberts's pregnancy will affect Knitting Club's production schedule (it bears mentioning that directing and screenwriting deals have yet to be inked), she did take significant time off before and after her 2-year-old twins Hazel and Finn were born.

We love Julia to pieces, so we're thrilled at her happy news. Here's hoping that knitting lots of little baby things will act as impetus for her to return to Knitting Club as soon as she's up for it. We'll keep you posted.

MEDIA SWATCH

Tube Tops

There's a small-screen knitting revolution. Popular shows were heavy on the sticks during the fall season. Over in Stars Hollow, The Gilmore Girls enjoyed a town knitathon, complete with massive yarny banner, crowds of stitchers and Lorelei's long-sleeved "Knit or Go Home" tee. NBC's sit-coms can't knit enough: On My Name Is Earl, Joy's "happy pills" mellowed her out and purled her up, while a cat-loving girlfriend of Randy's (played by should-be knitter Amy Sedaris) domestic-blissed her way to some hammy faux stitching. Over at The Office, Phyllis killed time knitting with her feet on her desk and—more important, plotwise—Jim's vying paramours Pam and Karen talked about the sweater Pam's mom knit for her. And on 30 Rock's premiere, Alec Baldwin's character dressed down Tina Fey's by pegging her as the kind of gal who takes up knitting every few years but gives up after a week. Knitting wasn't only funny business: It was featured on Jericho, Criminal Minds and The Closer, too. All begging the question: Are you going to knit while you watch TV or watch knitting on TV?

Mag Trade

By now you've seen the new-and-improved large-format knit.1. It's grown not only in size, but also in advertisers: The mag has opened up half its book to new advertisers; Lion Brand remains the sponsor of the other half. Which means there's a whole lot more to love about the Love Issue. Kerrie Allman, editor of Magknits, is on her second issue of her new print quarterly, Yarn Forward. A year's subscription outside the U.K. is about $22; further info can be found at yarnforwardmagazine.co.uk.

Printed Purls

A pre-holiday glut of articles about charity knitting kicked off on November 2 in the Christian Science Monitor's "Charity Knitters Stitch Up the World." The most interesting of the dozens of others: The Salt Lake Tribune's November 27 "Inmates Knit to Help Children Worldwide," about the Cache County Jail prisoners who partake in a Church of Latter Day Saints program to send hats and warmies to kids who need them. A December 5 Financial Times piece focused on the good works Cari Clements' Rwanda Knits is doing. On November 25, the Associated Press offered a few paragraphs on why  "Knitting Is the New Graffiti," with photos of the Knitta crew tagging away just weeks after the wire service talked about how fiber arts play a huge role in the charter-school movement. L.A. Weekly gave a double dose on November 15, reviewing Ashley Paige's Sexy Little Knits and yarn crawling to Knit Café, Wildfiber, That Yarn Store and Suss. Deborah Smith, the coordinator of the Sherborn Fiber/Art Festival, shared a profile with the llamas, rabbits and angora goats she raises in the November 9 Boston Globe. Staying in Boston, on December 3 The Herald seemed surprised to see knitters of both genders at a National Organization for Men Against Sexism stitch-out (they must not listen to Guido). And though the Charlotte Observer couldn't fathom "Knitting in Vogue, But Why" on December 1, the answer was sitting there in a Minneapolis/St. Paul Star-Tribune story from two days earlier: "Digital Age Fuels Radical Crafts Revival." Time's November 27 issue noted that sewing is the latest craft to make a comeback. And The New York Times' Styles section devoted a December 17 column to the daring duo of knit books, Naughty Needles and Domiknitrix.