Meet The Maker: Yetton

Who are you, where are you from and what do you make

My name’s Rachel, I’m from East Grinstead in West Sussex and I make knitwear.

What inspires you?

I’m inspired mostly by tradition and the way things were done before things lost their human touch. It doesn’t have to be textile related, anything from hand-rolled pasta to glassblowing. Roaming around an arts and crafts house usually relieves any creative blockage.

What is your workshop luxury?

My super fluffy sheepskin slippers. Standing at my knitting machine used to give me leg and back pain, not anymore.

Your favourite studio lunch?

Paratha flatbread, runny omelettie egg, spring onion, sriracha. Chef kiss!

Best spot in the British Isles?

I think I’d have to say the Gower Peninsular in South Wales. It’s a place I’m always wanting to revisit again and again. Whiteford beach and Weobley castle are two standout places. 

What do you find challenging about being a creative?

Self comparison to other designers. Left unchecked it can be quite the beast that can crush my drive. The antidote for me is to just knit something – it may be good, it may not be, but worse is to stagnate. 

What would you like to learn next?

I’d love to learn tufting. It looks so satisfying. I’d end up tufting everything including the shower curtain, no doubt. 

How do you let your hair down?

A few pints of Guinness with my good mates in a cosy pub. The Pineapple in Kentish Town, London is my favourite.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I’m revisiting a lot of music I loved a while back. Foxygen’s album ‘We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic’ hits the same way it always did. 

What makes you feel well chuffed?

Seeing my baby, Wren, growing into an actual person! Well chuffed I’ve met her.

Non emosh answer would be: washing up straight after dinner and making tea, rather than leaving it till morning.. it’s the small things.