I started my knitting as art journey when I started Queer Yarn at my local queer bookstore.

I was already at the bookstore at least once a week for Thursday night Write Club. One night, I asked the owner, Ren, if he would be interested in my starting a knitting club at the store. His face lit up, and he said, “I have been trying to bully my friend Courtney into doing that! Here’s her contact information!”

So I met up with Courtney, and Queer Yarn was born on 18 November 2023. We have met every other Saturday since then, more or less, first at the shop's old location and now at their new location in Belfast City Centre.

A big part of the beginning of Queer Yarn was to create protest scarves. You see, in most countries, the police can remove signs but cannot remove clothing. So we made scarves that said things. Things like ‘Trans Lives Matter’ and ‘End Bi Erasure’.

Not long after we started Queer Yarn, I started at the School of Stitched Textiles doing their Stage Three Knitting Course. And as I got stuck into that, I started to think about what I wanted to do with my knitting. And I realised I wanted to continue with the protest scarf idea, but as banners/wall art.

And so here I am!