We've Had a face lift!

Hello!
You may have noticed recently that we look a little different, and have changed our website address to megancrook.com
When I started the business 10 years ago as a rather rudimentary hand knitter I did not have the foresight that I would be making such a wide variety of clothing in the future. With our Liberty fleece products starting to dominate the clothing line, I felt it was time to reduce the focus on knitwear and bring attention to myself as a designer. Looking back to my work from several years ago, it wasn't optimised for my targeted markets; either too funky and body conscious for many, or too expensive to produce for festival goer budgets. Fret not! Knitwear will still be produced, but the creation of 3 dedicated brands for my designs has really helped me create better products for each specific demographic.

We now have three new logos to help signify the separation between each line:

Crooked Knitwear emphasises hand made - the brand you're all familiar with. Get Crooked is fun and playful - if you've seen us at festivals you won't have failed to notice this!
The Megan Crook (MC) line is clean, design led and iconic. This represents our latest venture, officially having launched online earlier this week. This high end range was created with boutique buyers in mind, and I would love to see my work in shops again. However with selling direct to public for so many years through Crooked Knitwear, the work I produced was not priced according the retail market. We live in a factory produced, high street society and I'm fearful of pricing myself out of Crooked Knitwear's target audience. To explain, if garments were priced to cover all material costs, a fair wage for the skilled labour involved and a margin for overheads and profit  then everything sold through Crooked Knitwear would need to be at least 20-30% more expensive. With this in mind the Megan Crook range is about making a fresh start and using all the skills and knowledge I've acquired over the last 10 years to create my strongest work yet. This collection champions the highest quality materials, top notch photography and impeccable attention to detail. I've taken fairisle in a new direction following recent collaboration with shoe designer Caterina Belluardo and gone back to my roots with some beautiful hand knit jumpers in Rowan yarn. The textures of the hand knits resemble the geometric shapes of the fairisle pattern and both coordinate effortlessly with colours of the coveted Liberty Art Fabrics used throughout. Many pieces of this collection have taken an excess of 60 hours to produce and the proof is in the pudding. Enjoy!

Glastonbury...You rocked my Crooked world!

We really pulled it outta the bag this year! 6 weeks ago I was convinced I was barking mad to take on the festival season whilst preparing to launch a new label...but wet flipping did it and we did it well! 
This year the Get Crooked stall was twice the size and had all new canvas covers made especially. With twice the space we had had twice the amount of stock to prepare (insert bulging eye emoji here)
I also had some awesome new clothes rail made from reclaimed bikes which were much admired by festival goers big and small.
Footfall was excellent and couldn't have asked for a better pitch location. We were right in the thick of it in the Circus Field just next to the Big Top.

It was wonderfully surprising to feel so well prepared despite so many obstacles and couldn't have done it without such terrific help. Together we made over 250 pieces for the Get Crooked range in the few weeks leading up to take off. Foil Lycra bike shorts and bralettes, lace palazzo trousers, one-off leather bumbags and co-ord sets galore just to name a few.

Some customer favourites were the fairisle lace up halter top (left) and the neon floral dungarees http://www.crooked-knitwear.com/collections/get-crooked/products/neon-dungarees
and skater dress (above)
http://www.crooked-knitwear.com/collections/get-crooked/products/cut-away-skater-dress-2 
I was even interviewed my the Guardian for a feature on Glastonbury 2015 #exciting 

 I love the sense of freedom I feel at festivals. Everyone expresses joy, its wonderful to be immersed with so many smiling faces. Its as if the outside world doesn't exist. Every outfit can be a costume, the brighter the better!
 On more than one occasion I felt like a technicoloured Wonder Woman with enough outfit changes to battle Beyonce!

 Just last night I was recalling some of Glasto's highlights with a dear friend of mine. Aside from the incredible atmosphere my top moment was the Florence and the Machine performance on Friday night. We all closed together, grabbed some booze and raced off to the Pyramid stage to see our girl Flo. I've always been a fan but since seeing her perform live I have a new level of respect for the sensational, ethereal songstress. We all felt quite emotional after to say the least! Then we headed over to the Big Top a watched a terrific burlesque show. It was perfect end to a perfect evening!

As if my festival experience couldn't be any more special... 

On Sunday more I had the honour and privilege of singing 'Happy Birthday' to his holiness, the Dalai Lama, and hearing him speak at the Stone Circle. 

“Brothers and sisters,” His Holiness began, “I can see you’re enjoying this Festival, on my way here, I noticed that everyone seems to be full of joy. I’m happy to have been invited to this Festival of people. As I always say, the purpose of life is to be happy. Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but we live in hope. Without hope our lives have no direction. The 7 billion human beings like us alive today all have a right to be happy. And it’s sad to note that while you are here enjoying yourselves, in other parts of the world like Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, people are killing each other. Therefore, we need to promote a greater awareness that we are all human brothers and sisters, that we belong to one human family.”

A beautiful message from a leader of peace. 
After I had a massage in the Healing Field and was so relaxed I practically walked back to the stall horizontal. 
 Everything fell into place this year and couldn't be more grateful!
I can't help but wish life were a little more like it is on the field.
And so I wish each and everyone of us a little more serenity and laughter in our lives.Be BRIGHT!
xxx