Wool And The Blog - in English

Wool and the Gang takes on Hong Kong

Thibault — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:34:00 +0100

It's official, the gang is global! From the London, to New York, to Paris, to Tokyo and now Hong Kong, everyone's getting in on the knitting action!

March 5th saw Wool and the Gang's launch at Kapok in Hong Kong. Men and women alike flocked to the store to check out our kits and have a go at knitting with our Crazy Sexy Wool. A great time was had by all and everyone was knitting and chatting away late into the evening.

Kapok is a super cool store showcasing brands that combine craftsmanship and creativity. They focus on showing products by young small companies, whose work is not available in Hong Kong. We love Kapoks ethos and are very happy to be part of their store.

Thanks to Kapok for such a warm welcome and to everyone who came down and joined in the fun!

Headbands, headbands, headbands!

Thibault — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:55:00 +0100

Check out these gorgeous knit headbands at the Prada AW10 show.

Perhaps Miuccia Prada shares our love of the TV show Mad Men... because this collection definitely has a touch of the seductive secretary about it .......

Fashion report n°001 — Over my shoulder

Thibault — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:45:00 +0100

Wool and the Gang + 5Preview + Inven.tory = Fashion Week fun!

Thibault — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:30:00 +0100

Last Monday night we combined our three favorite past times. Knitting, shopping and dancing the night away.

We set up a special customizing table where everyone was busy making Nina Rich bracelets and headbands and adorning them with ribbons and studs. Shoppers also got to browse through pieces from both the 5Preview and Wool and the Gang collections. We loved how the bold black and white 5Preview t-shirts looked against our Crazy Sexy Wool. The 5Preview girls were also launching there new magazine that night so there was a lot for partygoers to be getting excited about.

And if that wasn't enough, the night was topped off by some great live music from The Bowery Riots and The Growlers, who had the whole place going crazy.

Thanks so much to Inven.tory for being such gracious hosts.

City Bakery / Hot Chocolate Festival / Knitting Night

Thibault — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:35:00 +0100

Amidst the craziness of New York Fashion Week, and hot on the heels of their Inventory event, the Wool and the Gang New York team headed to the City Bakery last Thursday for their Hot Chocolate Festival. A relaxing evening of hot chocolate and knitting, or so they thought! Who knew so many people shared our combined love of hot chocolate and knitting? The atmosphere was great and the City Bakery was heaving to the seams with excited knitters of all ages. There was even a queue to the end of the block when the girls arrived 30 minutes before it started!

The event brought together all the different yarn stores from around the city, each one giving different workshops and demonstrations. Throughout the evening, as well as learning some new knitting tricks, guests feasted on some truly yummy delights from the genius chefs at City Bakery (their cookies alone are worth a flight to New York). Not to mention the numerous flavors of hot chocolate that were free flowing. There were special prizes to be won throughout the night and on top of that everyone went home with a goody bag full of treats from both City Bakery and each of the knitting stores that took part.

Wool and the Gang were holding a beginners knitting workshop and the girls had so much fun meeting everyone and helping them get to grips with their new hobby. They've also had several of their new found friends come and visit them at the studio/shop since the event, all of whom confess to now being officially hooked on knitting!

From NYC to Pitti Filati

Thibault — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:13:00 +0100

Every year at the end of January, the knitwear elite and fashion enthusiasts alike descend on Florence for the Pitti Filati trade show. It is hear that designer get to see all the exciting new things that the yarn manufacturers have to offer. New trends, new techniques and new philosophies. For our designers at Wool and the Gang it is one of the highlights of the year. Like kids in a candy store, they explored the fair and came back laden with goodies to show us.

Here our designers give a quick recap of their favorite trend themes from this years trade show.....

No washing machine…… I’ll do it by hand

— Hand in hand with our hand crafted ethos
— Delicate pieces designed to be treasured and cared for.
— Cleansing rituals associated with act of laundry, more intimate approach.
— Symphony of colours, temperatures, aromas and movements.

No Email ........write me a letter.

— Return to tactile and sensitive gestures
— Romantic element and historical value of the letter.
— Like body language, handwriting conveys emotion and personality in a way that digital mediums cannot.

No Car… lets go for a walk.

— Reconnecting with our surroundings.
— Encouraging us to explore, get lost and discover new things.
— Not bound by roads and traffic and the cellular surroundings of the car.

Nastassja Kinski "Paris, Texas"

Thibault — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:08:00 +0100

A style crush from one of our founders, Lisa Sabrier. She fell in love with this red angora sweater she saw on Nastassja Kinski in Win Wenders movie "Paris, Texas". So chic and sexy at the same time. An inspiration from the very beginning of WATG for Lisa.

Shauna and the crochetdermy

Thibault — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:40:00 +0100

Taxidermy has been making its rounds in the 'cool' sphere for a few years now, as have many other traditional crafts (including knitting and crochet). Artist Shauna Richardson has managed to combine these trends in a unique way with her 'Crochetdermy' works. Pairing the whimsical nature of the knitted creatures with the more sinister associations that come with traditional taxidermy poses and mounts, Richardson creates work that she hopes will 'educate and inspire a new generation of practitioners and introduce a new audience to art.'

Join the gang — Grace "can't wait for summer!"

Thibault — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:56:00 +0100

Grace is from Southampton in the UK. She wears the Tala Tank Top in Magic Mint.

She customised her own Nina Rich bracelets.

Grace wears the Halona Scarf in Cinder black, Eagle Grey and Magic Mint.

"She's the bomb!"

Thibault — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:40:00 +0100

Clare Tough is officially the latest style crush of our designers Jade and Aurelie. "She's the bomb. We love her!"

While knitwear still comprises a large part of her Spring/Summer 2010 collection, this season Tough delicately experiments with different textures and materials including lots of transparent fabrics, draping and embroidery. Although huge fans of her previous work, we love this new ultra feminine direction she's taking.

Ryan McGinley x Rodarte x US Olympic Team

Thibault — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:09:00 +0100

As the Winter Olympic Games just started last week, Ryan Mcginley was asked to create a serie of photos for the New York Times in collaboration with Rodarte for the costumes and it's truly spectacular. When we first saw them they literally took our breath away. They then made us realise how ungraceful we had been trudging through the snow and slush in New York this week.

..... If only we could all negotiate the winter weather with such ease and grace as displayed here by the US Olympic Team.

Meet our new friends!

Thibault — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:19:00 +0100

We had a visit from the girls behind 5Preview yesterday. The masterminds behind the brands simple white tees with bold graphic prints, came by to give us a preview of their new 5 piece paper magazine. We loved the girls so much we've decided to throw a party next monday with them and the coolest shop in NYC Inventory! (more info below)

"The first issue of 5-piece-paper has the theme "5 photographers". The photographers Camille Quancard, Mark "The Cobrasnake" Hunter, Francesco Ercolini, Sanna Berger & Fredrik Ottosson all got a box of 5preview T-shirts and then they interpreted those shirts in 5 pictures each. The result is stunning! All of these talanted photographers has their own style and all the pictures turned out really different from each other.

It's a bag. Inside there are 5 pieces of paper. Each paper contains an interview with the photographer (made by journalists we found here on the blog), 4 small pictures and on the back a big poster. The posters are printed on high quality Maxioffset 120g ecologic paper.

The design of this particular magazine is made in collaboration with a Stockholm-based graphic-design duo Lovisa & Linnea under the name Studio Ove.”

.

Sunday brunch

Thibault — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:36:00 +0100

Last sunday it was the first Brunch Bazar in Paris, launched by our Style director Nadège Winter. A monthly, family, friendly, green, funny, cosy time and place where you can just chill out, eat something good, listen to music, read a book, learn new skills,… It was the ideal time for Wool And The Gang to share our knowledge and passion for knitting, with the wonderful help of Gaëlle from KnitSpirit. Thanks to all of you who came, even guys who had never touch a single pair of needles and became big addicts to knitting. Welcome to The Gang!

The workshop theme was to create wool jewels like our NINA RICH headband or our CHEERHEADER and HOT STUFF free patterns and customize them with ribbons.

Some of our participants just relaxed after their intense parisian week, others discovered the happiness of knitting with easy, quick and sexy patterns.

The Brunch Bazar will be back the first sunday of every month, the next one is the 7th of March, SPREAD THE WOOL!

BRUNCH BAZAR .
T. +33 (0)1 44 88 20 45 
80, quai de Jemmapes 75010 Paris 
Métro : République 
Vélib : 68 quai de Jemmapes

Thanks to Karl Hab for all the cool photos!

Alyssa A. Wood

Thibault — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:30:00 +0100

Having studied knitwear at FIT in New York, Polimoda in Italy and Central St. Martins in London, Korean born Alyssa Wood has been steadily building a reputation for herself as an Artist in the Fashion world. This coral cotton macramé throw from her graduate collection immediately caught our eye.

We also adore these pretty crocheted headbands she did for ThreeASFOUR.

Apartment crush

Thibault — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:01:00 +0100

Whilst browsing through one of our favorite magazines, Apartamento, we came a cross these photos of Chloe Sevigny's pad. A serious apartment crush ensued......

... We also have to admit we've become slightly addicted to 'Big Love'.

Gareth's stitches

Thibault — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:11:00 +0100

Today we've been reveling in our love for Gareth Pugh's SS10 Collection. The unruly stitches and loose strands against the statuesque feather headdress give a surprisingly serene overall look.

Join the Thompson Street gang!

Thibault — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:01:00 +0100

We've only been open two months and already we've built up a strong community of Wool And The Gang regulars at our Thompson Street location. Here are just some of the people who've caught the knitting bug with us.

Get in on the action yourself and drop into one of our 'knitting surgeries' on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 5 - 7pm, where the Studio/Shop team will be happy to help you get started with one of our kits, trade tips or even just give you someone to chat to while you knit -- they look forward to meeting you!

Knitting tour around the globe

Thibault — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:30:00 +0100

We are so proud to get new recruits coming everyday from all around the world! After our launch last year in Paris, the word was spread little by little in knitting cities all around. Here's a little tour of the gansta shops now welcoming kits in their selection:

— BlackBlock (Paris)
13 avenue du Président Wilson
75116 Paris
+33 (0)1 47 23 37 04

Photos by Karl Hab

— D&Me (London)
309 Brompton Road
London SW3 2DY
+44 (0)20 7589 2684

— New High (M)Art
1720 N. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, Ca 90027

— Barneys
575 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10017
+1 (212) 883-7604

— Noa Shop (Geneva)
10 bis rue du Vieux-College
1204 Geneva
+41 21 312 47 04

— Bon Genie Grieder (Geneva, Zurich and Lausanne)
www.bongenie-grieder.ch

— Wunderschön (Lausanne)
16 rue Mercerie
1003 Lausanne
+41 21 312 47 04

— Frl. Schumacher (Hamburg)
Hegestrasse 17
20251 Hamburg

— Tomorrowland (Japan)
www.tomorrowland.jp/tomorrowland

Join the gang — From Jess to Cian

Thibault — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:32:00 +0100

Jess is one of our friend and addict to the New York Studio/Shop has just left New York to go back to England. Before she went away she picked up two kits with a personal color choice (something that we propose at the Studio/Shop only...) and knitted for her boyfriend Cian a really nice Striped Jolly Pocket scarf in Midnight Blue/Tweed Grey - and a Toque & Roll hat in Tweed Grey only. We love the combination! Just what he needed to fight all the snow outside!

Happy New Year / Happy New Scarf

Thibault — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:17:00 +0100

2010 HERE WE GO! The GANG wishes you an happy crazy wooly sexy knitting year! Lots of exciting things are coming up this year — starting with this little surprise to celebrate 2010, A NEW CRAZY SEXY WOOL KIT!

Today we are introducing the HOODY SCARF, a multifonctional, warm, cosy and clever scarf that won't just heat up your neck but make your head and ears warm too! The newyorkers are served first as you can already buy the ready-to-knit kit and ready-to-wear in our Studio/Shop on Thompson Street, but no worries the scarf will be available ONLINE January 11th for everyone!