Cookie A and I have teamed up to create Knit Nation, a summer knitting expo that will take place at Imperial College in London, UK on the 29-31 July 2010.

So what exactly is Knit Nation? It’s a place to learn, explore, and, yes, shop. We wanted to create a place of excellence with leading teachers, a bubbling pot of creativity and networking for yarnies, yarn shop owners, businesses and designers that transcends borders, with all of us drawn together in our love of the craft. And of course, we also want everyone to have a rollicking good time in the country of Shakespeare, Vivienne Westwood, the knights of the round table, and Stonehenge!

Knit Nation will have 3 days of classes, and 2 days of shopping with some trade only time to network. Besides Cookie, we have a lot of great teachers lined up (including spinning classes as well as knitting):

Lexi Boeger of Pluckyfluff fame.
JC Briar, seasoned instructor and tech editor extraordinaire.
Nancy Bush, the Estonian knitting authority.
Chrissy Gardiner, an emerging design phenomenon.
Anne Hanson of KnitSpot.
Wendy Johnson whose sock pattern Cookie used for her first ever sock.
Janel Laidman, author of the new hit sock book The Enchanted Sole.
Judith Mackenzie McCuin, author and spinner extraordinaire.
Clara Parkes of Knitters Review.
Beth Brown Reinsel, an amazing teacher.
Merike Saarnit, also Estonian.
Anna Zilboorg, author of the most inspirational books.

Jess & Casey will give a talk about the incredible site and community that is Ravelry, and there will be a Ravelry party with none other than Mama Ravelry & Papa Ravelry Jess & Casey and hopefully their band of merry knitters  Mary-Heather and Sarah will be able to come as well.

Seriously, this has been a dream come true. We have a great team behind Knit Nation, without whom we would be lost. First and foremost there is Cookie A, who is our Fearless Leader in the US (I’m Alice of Socktopus, and FL-UK).

John Ramskill created our logo (I wanted pugs instead of sheep, but alas Cookie would have none of it) and all our ads which you may have seen on Ravelry, in Knitting Magazine, Interweave and Twist Collective. Emilie Ramskill keeps us on the straight and narrow. Dee Desai-Tagg set up our website which will be going live later this month with more info.

We’ll be blogging here in the run up to Knit Nation, so stay tuned. Keep an eye out for the class schedule in a couple weeks’ time. Class sign ups will be open on the 1st December. You can get the latest info here:

www.knitnation.co.uk
Ravelry: Knit Nation Summer Expo 2010 Group
Twitter: KnitNation

You can also sign up to be notified when the class schedule and sign ups go live:

You can read more on Cookie blog & Alice’s blog. In the meanwhile, remember:

Knit love = Knit Community = Knit Nation. Bring it on!