Name Twin and Slither of Snakes

Hello all,


A very delayed Happy New Year. I hope you are all well and knitting away. I have been poorly for a while so unable to blog bbbbboooo!!!! Hopefully I'm on the mend and can get back to knitting!!!!


I can see there is a new knitting event Wool@j13. I am hoping to attend as this is not too far from me !!!!! Of course I will be with my knitting buddy Becky. The event is on 13th-14th May and looks fab. For more information check out their website http://wool-j13.uk/


I was amazed to see I have a name twin (plus or minus a letter) who also crochets!!! Sarah Read creates really sweet patterns (check out the unicorn!!!! it very pretty). She knits, crochets and sews. Sarah Read goes under Stitch Witch Creations so check her out and support my name twin!!!! Her facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/stitchwitchcreations


I am going to join a knitting and crochet world record attempt. On Facebook there is a group called Slither of Snakes and they want your Knitting snakes before 9th April!!!!! The intention is to attempt to break a World Record by having the longest line is knitting/crocheted snakes. After this the snakes will go on sale to raise money for Alzheimer's research UK. This looks like a lot of fun....and a great way to use up your yarn stash!!!!! Check out the Facebook page to request a pattern (https://www.facebook.com/Slitherofsnakes/) !!!!!!


Well thanks my knitting news for now


Until next time


Happy Crafting

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Christmas is around the corner

Hello all,

I seem to have lost the month of November due to my rapid Christmas knitting for family. I love having a skill which means that I can provide truly unique gifts for my family members. I often look to Ravelry for knitspiration and find projects that suits everyone perfectly. Last year I was able to find a pattern for a toy Starship Enterprise and made that up for my dad as he was a Star Trek fan. He loved it and it is proudly hung on the Christmas tree.

You'll be happy to know that I have almost completed all of the required items and I can start focusing on designing and knitting for myself again :) I am really into cable knitting at the moment. I love the effects that can be achieved using this technique and I am hoping to be the proud owner of some new fingerless mittens soon as mine are pretty done for.

I will be displaying my handmade Christmas bunting in my home in preparation for the big day. Inspiration came in the middle of summer (bit odd but there we go). I started to thing about my holiday projects and dreaming about advent calendars. I thought about how I would love to have bigger chocolates each day as opposed to the tiny ones found in the shop brought ones and the only way around this would be to make my own advent calender. I didn't have a stocking as a child and I felt to make it up to myself I would make 24 mini ones as a bunting. 

I found the gorgeous Milla Mia yarn and a beautiful bunting was born. The pattern was in last months Inside Crochet and I really like this piece. I will be putting it up very soon........I don't want to wait for 12 days before Christmas 

I hope all of your festive projects are going well. I will be going to TOFT's open day on the 20th December with the family. It looks great as there are many demonstrations and also the opportunity to halter walk alpaca's (how exciting). The Cornflower Cafe is also amazing and well worth a visit too. I am hoping to be there with a lovely cream tea or a salted caramel cake..............perhaps by that point I wont care and I'll have both. 

Right...back to these mittens!!!!!!!

Until next time

Happy crafting

Sarah

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Edward's Menagerie

Hello all, 

I don't know about you but I love it when a new great crochet or knitting book is released. Not so long ago Toft Alpaca released their amigurumi book full of adorable animals. If you are unfamiliar with the term it basically means a crocheted toy. They are great as you can get patterns of anything from zebras to Minions.........I know as I have made many. Some of my original amigurumi patterns can be seen in my Ravelry shop. 

I love the story behind the creation of 'Edward's Menagerie' and all of the patterns in the book itself. The designs originated from when Kerry Lord was pregnant with her son (Edward) and this is when she first picked up a crochet hook. From this point she made up the patterns of the lovely animals and they have finally been published in this adorable book. I have been really looking forward to this and was fortunate enough to attend the magnificent book launch....which included a piñata full of knitting goodies :) 

I love this book as it provides clear instructions for all the techniques needed to make the animals from the book. The patterns are also divided into varying levels of difficulty which is great for beginners and more advance crocheters. I love the shapes of the animals and they are sooo hug-able. Another special touch is that all of the animals have their own names and a back story. If you have never picked up a hook before or have been crocheting for years I would recommend this book! 

The one animal I had to make from this book was an alpaca called Seamus. The pattern was easy to follow and I loved that the book also includes sewing up instructions as these are often left out or extremely vague. I quickly made him up and I am chuffed with the results. If you love Seamus as much as I do and you would like a copy of the book, check out Toft's website. 

If you need additional guidance on how to crochet or would like some tuition onto how to make the animals, Toft runs many workshops to provide brilliant hints and tips. These are well worth attending.

I have a few more animals that I would like to make from this book and I will post the results when I have completed them.

I am back from my holidays and I happy to say that I was in much need of my holiday socks as in the evenings it was freezing!!!!!! However, I have a seen a lot of knitspiration and I will hopefully be working on more of my own original patterns soon. 

Until next time

Happy crafting. 

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Benjamin's Bunting

Hello all,

I hope you are all well. I have been knitting and crocheting like mad lately. I am proud to announce that Inside Crochet have once again published one of my patterns.

This piece is called Benjamin's bunting. The idea came about as my sister was pregnant with my nephew and said that she hoped her child would love dinosaurs. I am unsure if she wanted her child to turn out like Ross from friends but I thought it would be an interesting hobby for him to pursue. I didn't know what to make her for so I offered to make a baby blanket. She found a knitted design that she liked and I decided that I would like to create one that was crocheted. I found it quicker to create patches and I had to create the dinosaurs to add to the piece. Once I had completed the blanket my sister was thrilled.

I then thought that since I had the crochet dinosaurs, I would be able to adapt the design to make a bunting. The original idea for the bunting was that it was blue, yellow and red. I contacted Claire from Inside Crochet who loved the creation and suggested to use greens instead. I felt that this was a great idea as it was more soothing. 

To get the yarn required I visited the lovely Guthrie and Ghani in Birmingham where there was all the colours I needed in the Rico yarn. This shop is great for inspiration and I would recommend anyone to visit and also do any workshops there. 

One issue I had with the design was that the dinosaurs tended to curl. I contacted Claire for advice and she suggested doing a slip stitch to reduce this. This was the best advice that I had and found this to solve the issue. 

I completed the design and it was around this time that my nephew was born and his name is Benjamin. The ironic thing was the day I sent off the project to the magazine was the day that Benjamin arrived safely into the world. I wanted to dedicate this project to him so hence the name. The biggest challenge was keeping the project a secret from my sister as I wanted it to be a surprise. Now the magazine is released, and available in all good shops, I was able to show her and she was honored. The photo for this blog has been kindly provided by Inside Crochet

To this day, this is my favorite published piece and I hope it can bring much joy to others. 

Until next time

Happy crafting. 

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The Creation of Lamb Chop and Designing a Lace Shawl workshop

Hello all,

My dad has recently got into antiques which means some of my weekends are spend going around the fairs. I did not realise until this point that this is actually a good place to go and find retro knitting and crochet patterns. I found items such as the lovely knitwear to make an Action Man and super vintage cardigans. However, on one occasion, I found one epic find....... this was none other than the one and only Lamb Chop puppet.

I always remembered Lamb Chop being on the TV and I was a huge fan.....much to my dad's amazement. He assumed I had no idea who this was. This was the purchase of the day and I went to work on this project immediately. In order to begin, I thought I would look at photos of the original puppet online. I didn't really think this through and just typed 'Lamb Chop' into a search engine. Of course over 100 images of a Sunday dinner came up instead. This is not how I 
wanted my end product to look like. 

The pattern was interesting to make as it involved a technique in knitting that I had not come across before.You needed to create loops to give the woolly fleece effect. This involved winding the yarn around the needle 3 times and then knitting. This did make the piece fiddly to make. The pattern also required felt to be used to form the ears and hands. Felt and I do not get on well. I have a tendency to keep hacking at it until there is nothing left. I decided it would be better to create a knitted version of these parts instead. 

After many hours and my husband modelling the puppet on his hands many times, I finally had my very own Lamb Chop. I think it's turned out well and it will be well loved. 

I also attended a great workshop on designing your own knitted lace shawl. This took place at a sweet shop in Sutton Coldfield called 'Sitting Knitting'. This is a shop in the Four Oaks area which has an excellent range of yarn. There was lovely items such as natural fibre yarns, Knit Pro needles and more. Rachel (the shop owner) was really friendly and easy to chat to. The workshop was ran Anniken Allis. She has been featured in numerous magazine with her gorgeous lace designs and also is currently working on a book. she was extremely knowledgeable and I feel happier to try to do lace knitting. I have something sketched out and if this works I will post it up at a later point. This was a great workshop and a lovely shop and I would recommend them both. 

At this moment in time I am working on a lace scarf and I have other ideas in my head which when I have time, I will create :)

Until next time

Happy crafting

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Benjamin's Bunny

Hello all,

I am an Auntie :). The lovely Benjamin arrived into the world in April and he is gorgeous. Babies are brilliant  to knit for as the projects are small, quick to make and often adorable. I asked my sister if there was anything in particular that she wanted for Ben. Instead of the usual booties or hat, she asked for a bunny. Not just any old bunny but one similar to what we had as children. 

One of the first knitted items that my sister and I had as a children were a rabbits. One of our rabbits had red dungarees and the other had peach ones. The rabbits did not quite look right but we loved them very much. I can remember they were mainly made in garter stitch and the dungarees were formed in stocking stitch. 

This would normally not be a problem to make.....if you had the original pattern....or the original toy to refer. However, I had neither of these :s meaning I had to rely on my memory. To reduce the amount of sewing needed I knitted the toy on double pointed needles but to achieve the effect of a garter stitch, I had to use a purl stitch.

My poor husband had to endure confusing questions such as 'can you tell it's a rabbit but it doesn't quite look like one?' He decide to help by bringing me a lot of tea and reading quietly in the corner. 

I thought to make this item more specialized and gave the rabbit blue dungarees. I finally completed the project after a week and hand delivered the item to beautiful baby Ben. He seems happy with the end  product (well as happy as a 1 month old could be). 

More news is that I have finally opened a pattern shop on Ravelry. I haven't managed to post all of my designs yet but there is a good sample which can be seen on this link (http://www.ravelry.com/designers/sarah-coad).

Summer is on the way so I will soon be writing about some of my summer patterns :) 

Until next time

Happy Crafting

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Mother's Day

Hello to you all,

I hope you had a great mother's day, I know I did. the rabbit and cat were kind enough to send a card to their mother......my husband. I had a meal with my mum and nanny, which was lovely. 

As a knitter I will try and make my own gifts for special occasions.  Do not assume that any gift is impossible as I have knitted gifts from hats to a mini starship enterprise for my dad. As it was Mother's Day, I wanted to stay on the more sane end of the spectrum. 

My mum has always liked frilly scarves and this is something that you are able to knit. You can by a special yarn where the texture is similar to netting. It is straight forward to work with as you purely need to knit rows to get the desired affect. It is fiddly as you have to twist the yarn as you go. This got to be quite frustrating and I had to give my work a good telling off on a couple of occasions. 

Of course when you are making a scarf you need to ensure it is long enough. This is where you need a live model to wear it to determine how much length is required. At present there are no other females in my house, apart from my cat and rabbit, so the only option I had was for my husband to try it out for me. I think he looked great and I may consider knitting him one up for his birthday.......however, he did not seem to agree :s

Once I had made a scarf my Mum, I made one for my Nanny. Both scarves were greatly received and I would recommend anyone to make these up as quick gifts.

I am proud to announce that my latest pattern has been printed by Inside Crochet. The inspiration for the mug cosy came about at the Toft Knit Night that I regularly attend. There was a lady who crocheted in the front and back of a treble post and I loved the affect this gave. This creates a rib type affect and this made me think that this was a great idea for creating stems for flowers. From here my pattern was created! This goes to show that going to a knit night can give you inspiration :) The latest issue of Inside Crochet is out in the shops now. 

Next time I will share my sockccess story :)



Until next time

Happy Crafting

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Catching Up.......again

Hello all,

I am currently undertaking my spring cleaning in the form of finishing off my left over projects. 

I stepped away from knitting and put my quilting hat back on. I started a Christmas decoration about 2 years ago and I have only just had the courage to finish this. I had to make a lot of strips of material and sew it all together. I am at the point where I cannot go any further without any assistance. This means I will be making a lovely trip over the the Quilters Den in Warwick. If you ever want to take up quilting I would stringky recommend that you go there. Anita (the owner) has the patience of a saint. She is a great teacher and I do know how she manages to split her time equally between all of her students. She runs a sewing group on Wednesday evenings and this is where I will be taking my project. I also would like to complete the quilt I started. This was a monthly course that I attended but I missed one session. This will be another project that I would like to complete this year. 

I have also had a clear out of some items that I am not using. Please look on my Ebay shop 'Knit's Not Perfect' for my things I need to sell such as books and magazines. I am at the point where I think I have too much yarn......I did not think that I would ever reach this point. I feel I will be spending a few months on ebay just trying to clear, so I can save up more money for more yarn :p

I have finally typed up all of my written projects, which means I cannot loose them. Happy days :). With my new tablet I will ensure that I write projects as I go to avoid this mess again :s. I have been working on some designs which have been in my head for a while. Hopefully some of them will be printed in Inside Crochet :) Watch this space! 

I am learning new stuitches too. I am enjoying working with raised Treble stitches and tonight I will hopefully be looking at a double crochet rib. 

I will be heading to Reading at the weekend so I will be visiting some of their local yarn shops :)

I have to get back to the day job now!

Happy crafting

Sarah x

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Final Part of The Christmas Jumper

Hello Everyone, 

What a busy time it has been! I did my last two craft fairs of the year, which was great fun. I need to seriously replenish my stock in preparation for next year. However, before I do that I need to knit up my jumper and a baby blanket.



It took a lot of time but I am proud to announce that my jumper is completed and ready for Christmas. For my first ever jumper, I think it doesn't look too bad. The pattern was from Sue Stratford's Christmas jumper book and the pattern was easy to follow and really tested my skills. This is the first project where I did a tension square. I practiced my intarsia, which was fine until I managed to knot the wool repeatedly :s. I also practiced weaving the wool into my work so it was tidier on the back. I also finally learnt how to ptbl. I avoided it for years but I finally watched you tube and now get it :). I like the technique suggested for M1 which involves wrapping the yarn round. I found this much easier to work with and will use this method in the future. I also learnt the importance of reading instructions before jumping ahead. I had to do the bottom of my jumper twice as the first time I did a 1 x 1 rib instead of a 2 x 2 gggrrrr. I had to adapt the pattern as I found the arm lengths too short. I decided that each time I increased I would add an extra row to ensure it is long enough. I am happy with the project and I am sure it will bring much festive joy.

I attended the Knit Night held at TOFT. It was a good evening as we all gathered to try and completed Christmas Projects. At the time I was working on my jumper but I did learn two new stitches. As I had learnt how to ptbl, I was able to learn how to do a twisted rib stitch. This looks lovely and I can't wait to incorporate it into a project. I also learnt about crocheting into the front and back of the post to create a stitch equivalent to the knitted basket weave. It was a great evening and I would recommend attending a knit night if you get the chance. You also have to check out their huge mugs. They are great as they come with a knitting pattern on it :) 

My Christmas knits are completed and wrapped and I hope everyone enjoys them. I will be able to post what I made after the big day. One project that I can post is the one I made for my mum.....as she has already opened her present. This was the first time that I had used the yarn specifically for scarves. It looks complicated but once you get your head around it, it's quite easy to use. I liked the project as progress could be seen quickly. I hope my mum enjoys it as I was happy with the end product.

I also began the mission of tidying my yarn stash. I had been avoiding it so long as I had needles, mixed with wool and mixed with crochet hooks :s. After two hours, I was able to untangle it all. One of my New Years resolution is to keep the draw tidy. 

I have had 3 great knitting gifts. The first was a knitting mug from my school friend Becky (many thanks). I use this every morning for breakfast :). I also have a new knitting mug for work. This was given to me by Secret Santa, thank you by the way Frankie :) The final gift was a Knitting Loom. I have read a lot about these and wanted to get hold of one. A colleague at work gave it to me and I was really chuffed. Amy (my colleague) said that she had seen someone create a rug. This sounds great and If I can get large enough yarn, I like to give this a try. 

You have been updated with my adventures. I will shortly begin work on the blanket for my sister. I wish you all a Merry Christmas.....and if I  do not post between Christmas and New Year, have a safe and Happy New Year :)

Thanks all and happy holidays :)

Knit's Not Perfect 

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The Knitting Collection and Rabbit Thief Strikes Again

Hello all,

I am finding Christmas to be an extremely busy time for knitters. Over the last week, I have completed my Christmas knits for the family......well almost all of them apart from my sister's, which is a blanket. I have already said that this will not be completed by Christmas. 

I attended another great workshop at TOFT where I made a snowflake decoration. The teaching was good and the pattern was easy to follow. I successfully made a beautiful snowflake......and a second one for TOFT to keep. I also met a new knitting friend known as Yiknits on Raverly. He has a website (http://www.inopportunetimes.com/) which is  full of his lovely creations. Yi told me about Romanian Crochet (which I have never heard of) but I would like to look into more. 

I did my craft fair at Coleshill which was great. People seemed to like my designs and I sold a few items. There was a great range of crafts and also a choir which really got you into the festive mood. Due to selling well, I was left with no Christmas decorations for my next Christmas fair on Saturday. I have frantically been making some more so I have some stock once again.

On the 29th November The Knitting Collection was released with some of my patterns inside. It was a coaster, mug cosy and tea cosy set. The yarn was selected by the skillful eye of Claire Montgomerie and from there the designs was made. If you every have the opportunity to work with Claire I would recommend it as she is extremely supportive and always there if you need guidance. I think she has done a great job with the bookazine and I hope it does well. 

I went to the Harry Potter experience and I was pleased to see that there were some knitted items on display :) I have since decided that Mrs Weasley is my favorite character and has a talent for designing.

If you have the time to go to Warwick, Please do! they currently have a knitted/messy sheep trail where you look for sheep in the shop windows and record their names. It is great fun and there are over 95 sheep to find :) I only have 4 more to do when I return again. 

As I was preparing items for the craft fair on Saturday, the rabbit thief struck again! There I was innocently knitting, when I noticed that I had ran out of yarn. As I looked to the floor I saw the face of Caramel the rabbit aka rabbit thief. In her mouth I saw my beautiful yarn being chewed. As I tried to get her, she ran away with my yarn. I managed to get it back.....once I wrestled her down. Just to add insult to injury, I began to knit again and my cat (Kitty) came over and began to attack my knitting needles. So I urge you be aware of these menaces to the knitting society. 

 I have my final two craft fairs of the year over the weekend. On Saturday 11am-3pm I will be at the Coventry Frost Fair which is held in the Coventry Cathedral. Many local talents have gathered to sell our goods. The event on Sunday is at Ansley. This is 10am -3pm at ANSLEY VILLAGE CHURCH HALL Birmingham Road, Ansley, CV10 9PS. I am also looking forward to this event.. I will be at these events, finally continuing to work on my Christmas Jumper :) So hopefully my next blog will provide you with a progress update. Come on down of you're free. 

Just a reminder that there is no Knit's Not prefect knit night this month as it is the festive season....and I don't have a venue :s

Back to the day job

Happy Crafting

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Craft stalls and the Knitting Thief

Hello all,

I did my 2 craft stalls and it seemed to go OK. The first was in the town of Nuneaton. Here I found people seemed to like smaller items such as key rings. I was nervous when I first arrived as this was my first actual craft fair.  I managed to forget my table cloth (despair) As I looked sadly at my naked table all was not lost as I lucky had a friend there to help me out. I have learnt that Rule 1 of a craft stall never forget your table cloth or you will have a naked table of shame! Rule number 2, make sure your items clearly show what they are. I had some headbands but people seemed unsure what they were....I even had one person tell me that the necklaces I had made were lovely. I have since decided to order some mannequin heads to display them clearly on :). Rule 3 take your knitting. This was great as people came over to chat to me about my craft and also laugh as I managed to tangle myself in the wool again and again. 

The second craft fair I did was in Rugby. I came more prepared as I had my table cloth! However, to my surprise the tables were already beautifully dressed. Rule 4 do  not assume you will need to use the table cloth you bring. In this area I found that my mobile phone covers did well :) So I have come to realise that location can affect what you sell. I guess this means that rule 5 is that location is key. 

I tried to make my tension square for my Christmas jumper but alas it was an epic fail. I realised that I knit extremely tightly. So tight I have to use needles that are 1/2mm bigger than intended for the wool. This means if I continued with the current yarn...It would be holey and look odd. I have since consoled myself by yarn shopping on www.woolwarehouse.co.uk Of course I did not buy anything extra....that I will need to hide from the husband....:s 

I am up to date with my knitting orders :) I have made 2 minions, 2 cowls, 1 West Brom scarf and a Super Mario. I found a great pattern on http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mario-plushie by Linda Potts. The pattern is free and it is a great pattern. It is easy to follow and the end products look like what they are meant to.  I have since become a massive fan of Linda and follow her blog :) Please respect that the pattern or end product is not to be sold. 

I have realised that my knitting is no longer safe in my house. There is a creature that lives in my home that steals yarn and needles. I thought I was misplacing things until I caught the villain red handed, or pawed rather! To my horror, the criminal was none other than my pet rabbit Caramel. I was there, casually sewing my project together and she jumps on my table, steals my knitting needle, runs away with and and then gnawed it. I am in need of a new place to stash my work.....and a new 3.5mm bamboo needle.

I have brought the latest Inside Crochet magazine and again delighted with the projects. I particularly love the crochet Christmas Stocking and the Festive Wreath. This has been added to my long list of things I would love to make myself.

I have now got the festive spirit so currently working on Christmas decorations for future stall. I have finally got an original pattern that I am happy with for a mini stocking and I hope to made a mini snowman soon too (as red and white are the only colours I have :s)

I will be selling on a crafty stall again on Saturday. It is at Bedworth Methodist Church, Mill Street, CV12 8JZ. The event begins at 10 am and I will be there.......with a dressed table. 

Well I am going to return to my festive makes

Happy crafting :)

Deadlines and Christmas Jumper part 1

Hello all,

Hope you are well. I have had a busy week full of deadlines. You will hopefully see some more of my patterns soon (fingers crossed). I am also involved with a volunteer organisation in my area who are intending to yarn bomb a nursery to raise awareness of children's well being. This will be the first bit of yarn bombing that I have done. If there is a piccy, I will post it, My urgent deadlines have been achieved so I am now able to update my blog :)

I have had more orders for minions and I learnt about a new character called 'Totoro'. One of the crocheted minion has been mentioned on a blog (http://williamsandcole.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/one-in-a-minion/) How cool is that !!!!! I am also going to be working on two cowl and baby gifts. In the mists of all of this I have began work on my knitted Christmas jumper.

Phase 1 of selecting a jumper has been successful. Looking through 'Merry Christmas Jumpers to Knit' by Sue Stratford, I have decided that I would like a reindeer jumper :).I think, if I am to a make a Christmas jumper, I may as well go all out.

 The 2nd phase on this knitting adventure is to work out what size I am. I tried to use measuring tape on myself but worked out it is a two person job very quickly. This was after I tripped over it :s However, after speaking to my dad, he came up with the idea to measure a jumper I own and that fits. I have quickly realised my arms are a lot longer than the pattern was written for so i need to remember this when making the sleeves. After much confusion, I have decided to go with a large.

.Phase 3, to buy the yarn. I am a big supporter of natural fibres and like to use them where possible. I referred to a great yarn shopping website (www.woolwarehouse.co.uk) and decided to use Rico Cotton. I have ordered if (with some extra) and can't wait to get started soon :)

If you are at a loss on Friday and are near Coventry, feel free to come along to knit night. It is held in Esquires Coffee House in Coventry and you are able to enjoy free entertainment from a group called Down the Rabbit Hole (@catonthejam). The knit night runs from 7pm to 9pm and all skill levels are welcome. Please bring your own yarn and needles as it cannot be provided on the night.

That's all for now

Happy crafting :)

Sarah

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Winter's Coming

This week I have been playing with chunky wool to make scarves :). I have found a great yarn for this to be Rowan Big Wool. I particularly love the orange and purple in this range. I wanted my items to be made with one ball of yarn to keep costs down. 

The first design is a moss stitch scarf. I knitted it on straight needles, which was no problem. As I feel that my sewing is a not a great strength, I attempted to knit this on the round. I did not realise that you do not knit on a knit stitch and it is actually the opposite way round. I kept on making errors and ending up with a rib stitch instead so reverted back to the straight needles.  It is a shorter scarf in size but it is really warm and snug to wear.

After this, I decided to make a scarf that was longer in length. I was missing my crochet hook so though I would crochet one :) I have grown to like a wavy chervon pattern so that is what I have used as the pattern on my scarf :) I think this turned out well and I am happy with it. I have attached pictures of my scarves

I am off on holiday tomorrow to Weymouth with the family. It is apparent that my addiction is still present as I have already begun making a list of the local wool shops to visit :) Hope the family haven't made too many of their own plans :s I may also stop at a shop in Salisbury if I am lucky as my brother lives there and we are collecting him :) I hope I am not the only knitter who does this :s

Whilst away I will hopefully have 3 project. The first a commissioned one the second is knitted spiders and the final is Christmas items ready for my next craft fair. I still can't decided if it is took soon from Christmas good in an October craft fair but we will see. Can't wait to work on them all.

I am sure that I will have a lot to write about when I am back. So until then, happy crafting :)

Sarah 

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Back from my Holiday

Hello all,

I am back from my holiday with the family to Weymouth. It was a great trip and lovely to spend the holiday with my close family members. Whilst away I have still been doing my crafting and visited many local wool shops. 

The first I visited was on the way to Weymouth in Salisbury. It is a beautiful shop called 'Born to Knit'. The shelves are stack high with a lot of beautiful yarn. The shop itself encourages knitters and crocheters to use beautiful natural fibres. There is an excellent range of colours and different weighted yarn available  You can find Rowan, Debbie Bliss and Artesano wool here and many many more. Whatever your project is, you are bound to find gorgeous wool that will really add to it. I have brought some lovely Debbie Bliss cotton from here and have a new project in mind for this already. My brother, James Reed (who has a blog http://jreedguitar.wordpress.com/ by the way), lives in the area so I am sure to visit this shop again. I love the knitted bear present outside the shop. For all the products in this shop please look at their website http://www.borntoknit.co.uk/. The shop even offers one to one tuition, check out their page for more. I have included a picture of the shop below.

Once in Weymouth, I visited their local shop called 'Spin a Yarn' the website is http://www.spinayarnweymouth.co.uk/. This shop has a good range of Acrylic and some natural fibre yarn. The owner is nice and willing to give advice, if needed. Here I found chunky Wendy Cotton yarn, which I had not seen before. As you can guess, I have brought this and have a little project in mind.

The final shop that I had the opportunity to visit was 'Yarn' in Bridport. This is a spacious shop which has a vast range of yarns that are made up of natural and natural with a bit of acrylic fibres. It is a lovely shop to browse around and easy to navigate. They even have a comfortable sofa for the poor non-yarn addict to rest on, this was great as it gave me plenty more time to browse. They stock wool including Rico, Artesano, Rooster to name a few. I had never come across Rooster Almerino until I came to this shop and fell in love with it. It is so soft and the colour range is excellent. The shop owner knows when you want to be left to browse and when to offer advice and guidance. She seemed extremely knowledgeable and friendly.  I wish I lived nearer the shop but it is great to know that they have a website (http://bridportyarn.co.uk/) where I can order from. Also the owner has a friend who lives near Bedworth (my home) so maybe I can get my orders delivered by hand :p The wool I brought can be seen below 

I also browsed the charity shops and picked up a couple of knitting book. One covers Fair Isle knitting so I am hoping to get a few pointers from there and others were stitch guides for inspiration 

 I have now decided to be brave and knit my first jumper. This will be no ordinary jumper but a Christmas one :) I am a proud owner of Sue Stratford's latest book 'Merry Christmas Sweaters to Knit'. I tend to find that my arms do not quite fit regular jumpers, so hopefully if I make it myself, I can adapt the jumper slightly to make it fit. I will be blogging about this project regularly so you can keep up to date with my progress. 

Overall a busy holiday but very enjoyable :)

Until next time happy crafting 

Sarah 

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