Friday 14 November 2008

Natural wools

I've a sirdar organic merino dk pattern that I want to knit next, but their own 'sublime' wool is very expensive and I can't really afford it. So I've been trying to find cheaper equivalent wools on the internet. I'm not so bothered about it being organic, although this would be great, but I have come across various sites that have organic yarns for sale.

Firstly, Garthenor organic pure wool have an incredible selection of wools, all in natural shades.

Wednesday 12 November 2008

Noro reductions

I nearly shrieked out loud when I found a site in Chester selling reduced Noro wools (among others) just now. I'm midway through knitting a cardigan that uses Noro's Kureyon yarn and I love it. Noro yarns are the sort that look beautiful on their own even before they've been knitted, in fact sometimes I wish I could hang up skeins of wool just to look at (this is why the Knitting and Stitching show was such heaven).

Anyway, here they are: Stash of Chester. I'm thinking I might just buy a few balls and make a nice scarf. The range of colours in Noro wools means it would go with loads of different things.

Tuesday 11 November 2008

Gift ideas for christmas, birthdays etc...

So while looking online for knitting wool I came across etsy, which is an online marketplace for handmade arty things - all sorts, from ceramics to knitted items to jewellery to you name it.

Also online is Not on the high street, which is a brilliant source of beautiful things (clothes, jewellery, accessories) and none of your mass-produced rubbish.

They're also great sites for inspiration if you're a crafter.

TBC...

Stuff and nonsense

I decided to start again with this blog, as all the other stuff I'd written was utter guff (plus ça change), so now hopefully it might be a slightly more useful blog with some helpful things in it. I'm doing lots of freelance stuff at the moment but hope to have more time to do fun things in the not-too-distant future.

We'll see.

Anyway, today's things that are making me happy are knitted fairy cakes from little cotton rabbits, who also has freebie knitting patterns on her lovely lovely site.