We’ve done such a lot since we started in 1978.
Back in the late 1970s, knitting and crochet were only just starting to emerge as fashion-related crafts after the make-do-and-mend ethos of the war and post war years. So launching a craft organisation then was a bold idea and it wasn’t until 1990 that the Guild gained charitable status. Since then, due to the work of enthusiastic volunteers, we have gained leading designer Patrons, run numerous workshops, attended many of the UK’s major yarn shows and grown our Collection.
In more recent times, we’ve attracted the interest of international knitting tours, the interest of the BBC and other film-makers and have received significant donations including the entire Patons archive in 2014.
Here’s a few of our highlights:
- 1978 – Knitting & crochet Guild established. Quarterly journal, Slipknot, launched
- 1979 – First regional branch established in Lancashire
- 1983 – Guild library set up
- 1988 – Super Slipknot was published to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Guild and included a contribution from Elizabeth Zimmerman
- 1990 – Guild gained charitable status and the Collection was established following an exhibition during the Bradford Textiles Festival
- 1993 – The Pattern Search Service started for the general public
- 1997 – First weekend Convention and AGM for Guild members
- 1998 – Kaffe Fassett became one of the Guild’s Patrons
- 1999 – The Guild purchased the archive of the Knitting Craft Group which had been run by Alec Dalglish. Alec employed a number of designers to do teaching workshops and create teaching material for the Group and to represent it at exhibitions and shows. Jan Messent was perhaps the most significant and highly respected of these.
- 2005 – Guild became a Company limited by guarantee
- 2008 – Guild members attended In the Loop for the first time
- 2014 – Ann Kingstone created the first KCG knitting pattern for sale on Ravelry
- 2018 – We celebrated our 40th Anniversary
- 2019 – We were joined by members from the Guild of Machine Knitters. You can read more about their history in the Preserving area of our website.
We’d love to hear from members about any other milestone they can recall about the Guild’s History. Do contact our Guild secretary with your updates and recollections.
Members can watch a short video representing key events in our history and of the Collection.
