Campfire KAL Knitting Kit

You’ve no doubt heard us time and time again, but we bloody love our shopkeeper's friend. Created by Meg a couple of years back, this hot water bottle cover knitting pattern was designed as a cost-effective solution to the bitter winter chill in the real-life shop. The Shopkeeper’s friend really is a friend - and a bloody, lovely warm and cosy one at that. These little gems sit comfortably in the back of your trousers, keeping you toasty all. day. long. 

It’s a great stashbuster project, and we love it for using up bits of surplus 4-ply we have lying around from previous knitting projects, but the OG hot water bottle cover was written to use up some of Meg’s leftover skein of Woolmatters sock yarn. So when the idea of a cheeky collab with Alice (aka Woolmatters) came up in conversation one lunchtime, the answer was an immediate and enthusiastic YES!

The result is this, a special edition hot water bottle cover knitting kit that’s beautiful and practical to boot. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, you’ll have enough yarn leftover from your hottie cover to knit up another - cracker!

What's included in the knitting kit?

Our special edition knitting kit contains all the essentials you need to start knitting your own Shopkeeper’s Friend in one convenient package. You will get:

• Your choice of 50g cake of Woolmatters yarn in 1 of 5 specially dyed colourways (that’s enough yarn to make 2 hot water bottle covers!)

• A matching mini 500ml Hot Water Bottle to pop inside your knitted cover

• A printed postcard with a QR code that takes you to The Shopkeeper’s Friend Knitting Pattern on the No Frills Knitting blog.

• A card with the WhatsApp QR code so you can join our KAL group (and share your knitting progress and support your fellow knitters as they work on theirs).

• KnitPro Basix 2.5mm 80cm Circular Knitting Needles. 

You may also want 2x different clip-on stitch markers (one for the beginning of the round, one for the halfway point) if you are relatively new to working in magic loop.  Our stitch markers come in a mixed-colour tin, perfect for this.

About the yarn

We have a whole selection of Woolmatters hand-dyed skeins in the shop, but Alice has created these delicious, mini 50g (200m) cakes in 5 Bristol-inspired colourways especially for us. Consisting of 20% Grey Exmoor Blueface and 80% Romney, this yarn is sourced and spun in Devon, then hand-dyed in small batches by Alice from her home in Somerset. It doesn’t get much more local than that!

Colourways include:

Harbourside
St Werbughs
The Downs
Bedminster
Redland

Please note: because of the nature of hand dyed yarn, no two skeins will ever be exactly the same, even if they are from the same dye lot.

Each skein has also been pre wound into a neat little cake so you can get knitting straight away.

About the knitting pattern

The Shopkeeper’s Friend is designed for knitters with experience knitting in the round or those ready to take on a new challenge. The knitting pattern includes several techniques such as:

• Magic Loop in the round (small circumference knitting, in the round, on a long cable)

• Judy's Magic Cast On

• Directional increases

• Directional decreases

• I-cord bind off

Some of these knitting techniques may be new to you, but fear not! We’ve included helpful video tutorials for each step, ensuring you have all the knitting knowledge you need to complete your project. As always, we recommend reading through the entire pattern before casting on to avoid any surprises.