The home knit is having a moment this winter as the “Tom Daley effect” sees more young men and women picking up knitting needles to create “slow” fashion.
Figures show that about 1 million people have taken up the hobby since the start of the pandemic, and the Olympic gold medal-winner turned supercrafter has launched a new range that could encourage yet more to take it up.
Since being seen knitting at the Tokyo Games, Daley has become a craft influencer whose dedicated Instagram page attracts 1.4m followers. He now has a collection of high-end knitting kits for sale on the website LoveCrafts.
The kits, aimed at beginners, include a £90 pullover with on-trend Varsity stripes and a £125 unisex jumper with a flamingo on the front. The hefty price tags in part reflect the cost of the thick merino wool, which, it says, is “ethically sourced” in the UK.
In 2020, newly locked-down Britons filled time at home baking banana bread and sourdough. But by 2021, with the realisation that they were in it for the long haul, the focus shifted to crafting as many sought to…
