Guerilla Knitting: A Business is Born

In North West Sutherland, BT, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, High Life Highland, and Citizens Online are working together to deliver the Get IT Together Programme, a community development approach to digital inclusion, helping people across the area to benefit from gaining on line skills.

Citizens Online is currently a partner in the exciting project Our Digital Zone, a multi-agency roadshow travelling the Highlands and Islands to highlight the benefits of digital participation, helping people to get online for the first time, as well as supporting local communities to make the most of the internet.

As part of Our Digital Zone the team offered a session at Kinmylies Church in Inverness called ‘Guerilla Knitting’, hoping to draw in people with a passion for crafting and teach them about websites such as Ravelry and Etsy.

To this end, Project Coordinator Irene Warner-Mackintosh took a call from Lorna, who, when booking her place, stated that she hated the internet and computers, but knew she had to give it a go because she loved knitting. This was her reason for going online for the first time and she was interested to see what the internet had to offer. 

Lorna arrived at the session with a bag of beautiful knitted items- felted bags, gorgeous gloves and glamorous hats. She was partnered with digital champion Lizi Sutherland who showed her how to get online and use the internet effectively.  Lorna was very interested as she wants to start a business to sell her handmade products online. 

By the end of the session Lorna was enthused. To find out more about setting up her business she will be visiting the HIE Digital Team for social media support, and Business Gateway for business advice. Everyone is excited to see what happens next. 

Get IT Together in North West Sutherland is supported by BT’s Connected Society programme, BT’s commitment to help people right around the world gain the skills and confidence they need to join the online community and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and High Life Highland. 

Blog post by Irene Warner-Mackintosh