IRENE AND I had a lovely chat at Spill! in Caversham on a crisp September afternoon. Irene was wearing a special jumper she has recently created using wool she sourced nearby, which she had spun, then dyed herself and knitted. “Knitting ‘sheep to sweater’ is something I had wanted to do for more than 20 years and had finally accomplished!” she enthused.
Irene has had a lifelong love of wool and knitting – “Since the age of six,” she confirmed. “And knitting is reflected in my social life. All my friends knit – we get together and knit! And when I knit, socialising is easy,” she added.
Born in the Netherlands, Irene studied biochemistry at university when she met her British husband, Neil. They worked in Belgium and the Netherlands but came to Britain when their girls were at school. “We met in Henley, so this area always seemed a magical place for us. Our girls went to Queen Anne’s School, so we moved to be near to the school in Caversham.”
Irene has run a business as a translator for 20 years. “However, I have been ‘AI’d’,” she explained – AI has removed many linguists’ jobs. Loving maths, Irene started tutoring, helping pupils who struggled with the subject, and realised how much she loved teaching others. This year, she has decided to harness her ability to teaching knitting: “It’s very similar to maths tutoring – helping people find their confidence and feel that they can do it despite initially thinking they couldn’t!”
Her new business, Woolly Wol (wol is Dutch for wool), started in May this year. “One of my first pupils was a grandmother who told me she was cack-handed, and that she’d never manage to knit. At my beginners’ classes everyone starts by knitting squares. By the time you have finished the Woolly Wol blanket, you will know all the basic knitting stitches and effects. I provide the first ball of wool and the knitting needles. And I teach what to do if you drop a stitch – how to fix things when they go wrong!
“The grandmother was struggling and she just didn’t get it. During her second lesson I changed how I explained it to her – and suddenly she was off! Her knitting quickly looked almost professional, and it
gave me the goosebumps! I was hopping and skipping for her, I love it when this happens!”
Irene teaches at the Baptist Church and at Queen Anne’s School in Caversham, and the Leander Club in Henley. Knitters can book one-to-one tuition, join her threepart beginners’ class, sign up to knit an Icelandic-style sweater, or join Knit-A-Longs for advanced knitters who love to knit in company.
“For the sweater course, we all knit the same design. I have chosen a beginner friendly pattern, using big needles. There is nothing worse than knitting with small needles, when progress seems so slow! “With this style, people can choose their own colours for the patterns, so every sweater appears unique. I have selected the wool – there is a choice of Icelandic and Norwegian wool – I love both. I also buy wool from other suppliers, as I want to support artisanal businesses.”
Irene is keen to ensure her classes are social events (tea and coffee provided!), with no mobile phones. She is creating her own manuals, and Neil (not a knitter!) is on hand to test that her written instructions work. “He couldn’t cast on. I left him with my booklet when I went out. By the time I’d returned he’d cast on and knitted several rows!”
Irene was recently treated by an old friend to a spinning course, which inspired her to create the Icelandic sweater she was wearing when we met. “I was at the Farmer’s Market in Henley and spotted a local farmer selling lamb and realised she must also have fleece available. I managed to find the farm
in Hambleden, and she showed me her barn full of fleece. I bought some lamb and was invited to choose a white fleece. I now have a spinning wheel, so I was able to spin the wool to make yarn.
“I also bought some natural black wool from Black Welsh Mountain sheep. But I next had to dye some of my white wool to make some contrasting colours. I decided to create a blue and was following the instructions, which specified ‘don’t allow to boil’. But someone rang the doorbell, so I left the pan with the dye – and it boiled in the few minutes I was away.
“In the end I had a batch which was pale blue and a batch which was much darker. However, I decided that the two colours looked great together. I’m really excited, and I have now spun enough wool to start making my third ‘sheep to sweater’!”
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