The Knitting and Crochet Guild

A crocheted wrap from 'Vogue Knitting' magazine, dated circ. 1950's

As part of our trip to Stylecraft with the Blogstars, I wanted to tell you about the opportunity we had to visit The Knitting and Crochet Guild in Holmfirth.

They asked us if we'd be interested in going there and without knowing quite what to expect, but thinking that it sounded promising, I was happy to agree.

Housed in an unassuming and tucked away location in the hills of Holmfirth, in all honesty the Guild doesn't show much to get excited about on the outside.  Indeed, once we started to venture into the depths of the place, passing shelves and shelves of cardboard boxes with little of interest to see, I was still feeling a little mystified as to why we'd all come.

We were led into another room, again packed with shelves of boxes and books to listen to a little information about the Guild and what they do.  And then this hidden gem started to shine!  We found, as we sat in that room, that we had come to a treasure trove of knitting and crocheting archives and a wonderful collection of beautifully made pieces going back through history.

The Guild houses an impressive collection of magazines, books, garments, bedspreads and examples of both everyday and extraordinary knitting, crochet and Irish crochet which spans decades.  Many of it donated by the friends and family of avid crafters through the ages.  It has a larger collection than the Victoria and Albert museum (which focuses on garments) and has pattern books and magazines dated back to the turn of the last century.

Run by a group of passionate and knowledgeable ladies, the pieces they showed us were brought alive by their knowledge and the stories they have collected about each one.

Let me share a little with you here...

A swinging 60's openwork crocheted dress, check out the pattern price - 8p!

Sirdar knew how to channel the 70's with this colourful little number

Woman's Weekly magazine collections from the early 1900's 

A close-up of the Vogue Knitting crochet wrap above, could that be Join As You Go?

A stunning and exquisite 30's bedspread made with incredibly fine crochet thread, the stitches were barely visible.

Resembling lace, the even more intricate Irish Crochet featuring motifs that were often made by children

A beautiful thread holder, probably dating from the Edwardian period

Circular needles, not as new fangled as we thought!

It really is a fascinating place and I'm so glad we got the chance to glimpse a little of the collection.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of these pieces as much as I did and if you'd be interested in seeing for yourself, the Guild can arrange visits for both branch members, but also for other interested groups too.  They also make regular trips to exhibit and share the collection at trunk shows and yarn festivals and if you get a chance to see some of this beautiful work in person then I'd highly recommend taking the opportunity.

Membership is inexpensive and very easy to complete through their site.  They also have branches across the country as well as plenty of places to get in touch online to find out more:


Useful Links:

The Knitting and Crochet Guild

Guild Branches

Guild Facebook Group

Guild Ravelry Group



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