I’m Jacki, and I’m the Bristol-based knitter and designer behind The Woolly Badger.
The Woolly Badger started life back in 2018 as an Etsy shop selling ready made knitwear. But it’s taken a bit of a turn recently (in a good way), and now I’m designing and publishing knitting patterns. It’s far easier to be creative on a great big scale when you don’t have to churn out 10 of whatever it is you’re knitting to go up on sale.
I love colour, and texture, and mucking about and seeing what happens. I used to be a scared knitter; I followed patterns religiously, and never strayed from the suggested yarn. Then 3.5 years of intense sleep deprivation at the hands of my two adorable but entirely sleep-averse sons got to me, and I decided to just try stuff out.
After all, knitting is meant to make you feel good; not scared of messing up. I’m a huge believer in the healing power of crafting. Knitting has got me through a couple of nasty bouts of depression, including a recent – and fairly brutal – chunk of postnatal depression following the birth of my second son.
I donate 10% of everything I make to Bristol-based postnatal depression charity Bluebell Care. You can find out more about why on my blog.
Still, in case you came here to find out the facts about me, here they are: I live in Bristol with my husband, my two sons, and our two old lady cats. I do a lot of my knitting on the playroom floor while the boys play. I’m from London originally (by way of Houston and Melbourne and Birmingham and Brighton), and I have degrees in English and American literature. When I was a kid I wanted to be Kylie Minogue. Now i just want to be well-rested.
I’ve been knitting since late 2011. Unless you count a brief period in 1993 when my babysitter taught me to knit a scarf that ended up with more stitches dropped than actually knitted. Look, Maureen! I worked it out in the end!