Crafty Bath

There are lovely shops in Bath, many of them independent stores which mean that it is not just your usual high street experience. Amongst those stores are some lovely and highly recommended crafty shops!

Country Threads Patchwork - on a small lane in the centre of Bath is this large quilt shop with a great selection of quilt fabrics and haberdashery. The owner was very friendly and helpful and it's definitely worth stopping by. I bought some fabric from the Cool Britannia range and some British inspired ribbons......

I am not sure who manufactures the ribbon but  I couldn't resist the rows of soldiers in their bearskins and the "Made in Britain" ribbon which I plan to use in my handmade knitted goods!

Just along the road from the quilt shop is Bath's local yarn store, suitably named "Wool". It has a lovely collection of yarn including Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Fyberspates, Louisa Harding, Rooster and Rico. I bought a new Rowan baby book called Little Rowan with some really cute 4-ply baby patterns. My only question, is will I ever have the patience to knit something other than socks in 4-ply.....

Then there was The Makery, a shop and a studio where you can take part in a wide range of classes - from making bunting to making knickers, from lamp-shade making to book-binding, from embroidery to knitting. I bought the cutest little stamp that I will use to decorate my gift-tags on handmade goodies!

Woollie Exchange

Claudia, over at Aux Petits Oiseaux, and I arranged a little private exchange recently. I love doing these with people - it is so nice to receive and send hand crafted goodies all over the world! I had commented on her beautiful felted bird and she kindly offered to send me one, of course I wanted to send something in return. But I can't tell you what that is yet as I only just posted it a week ago! 

Claudia's bird arrived last week and it really is beautiful! Go check out her blog!

Thank you Claudia!

WOOLLIE - BABY BERETS & GIFTS

Gifts - I was so lucky before Christmas - I won a giveaway on GreenJello's Blog - a whole host of fabulous things from the Martha Stewart craft line - all things not available here in the UK, 2 Christmas decorations made by GreenJello and some chocolate (hmm!!) I was touched by her generosity - thank you so much!

Woollie - I really don't know where the time went over Christmas and New Year! I had all the plans for copious quantities of knitting but it just didn't happen! This weekend I was determined to get started again and my needles managed to produce 2 baby berets from a Debbie Bliss pattern. The hats are so cute (not sure how practical they are but the do look cute) and easy to know and require only 1 ball of aran weight yarn, plus a contrast colour for edging. 

I have been trying to knit a hat for my friend's 6 month old and I  have tried 3 other patterns recently that are supposed to knit up to 6 to 9 months or 9 to 18 month size but all end up looking big enough for a newborn, so this tried and tested pattern came to the rescue! I used Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in pale blue and a lilac colour and some bright pink Reynolds Lopi Lite  and think that they turned out well.

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WOOLLIE CHRISTMAS

Just wanted to pop in to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

I have had a busy few days of wrapping parcels, seeing friends, going to work, occasionally........

I thought I'd share with you a little more Christmas decorating from around here.....firstly my new advent tree - a Danish design I bought in the Tate Modern in London - a beautiful little tree for you to add a daily decoration too. It's attached to my fireplace and twirls gently in the air that the fire gives off.....then there is the glass Santa that I bought at the Hanukkah Christmas Market in Berlin last year....a Santa at the Jewish Museum. He has pride of place, a middle branch on the front of my tree!

This week I also received some more beautiful ornaments as part of the 2007 Annual Holiday Decoration exchange - a beautiful bauble, a beautiful bird and a beautiful bell!! Thank you all!

I have also wrapped most of my presents - thank you to Pink Purl for the fabulous wrapping idea - recycled brown paper, silver wire ribbon and cut out felt love hearts and stars....

And finally - two Christmas elves....OK - two friends - this is for all my other friends out there who would like to see Steve and Ewan!! Ewan was back from Canada for what seems to have become an annual overnight stop in Dundee and it was great to see him - oh and Bruno passed his viva!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

WOOLLIE

I have been taking part in Cake and Pie's and Freshly Blended's Christmas decoration swap - over 600 crafters all over the world swapping decorations - I sent 4 to Australia, 2 to Singapore, 1 to New Zealand and I still have one to send to England. So far I have received 3 beautiful decorations in return!!

WOOLLIE - SWAPS AND WINS

I am very privileged to now be the proud owner of work from 2 very talented ladies - Jade and Tine.

A while ago I fell in love with one of Tine's picture sequences - Jonathan and Emma - pictures of cute seagulls standing on the beach! My mum is the chairperson of a local charity which is called the Seagull Trust, which provides free canal cruising for the disabled so seagulls always catch my eye.

Tine and I decided to organise a little swap and I posted off some yarn and things and Tine sent me this:



It is now sitting happily on my mantelpiece! I was supposed to give it to my mum but I am not sure I can!!



Then I was lucky enough to win Jade's blog giveaway!! I was so excited! My first ever blog win!! Less than 10 days later - all the way from Australia, the beautiful apron arrived. I apologise to Jade for my poor photography - trying to take a picture of myself wearing it was not easy! It really is beautiful! Thank you so much for choosing my name out of your hat!

WOOLLIE - BIRTHDAY

It was my birthday on Friday - another year has passed! Having to go to work was a pain (apart from the beautiful bouquet of flowers from my colleagues and the numerous renditions of Happy Birthday!) but after work things picked up - dinner with friends in the pub! I think that my birthday really should have been Saturday as I had a lot of fun! Knitting group in Newburgh complete with birthday cake and then dinner at my friends house - Allyson, always makes me a cake, and this year she outdid herself! Chocolate supreme!!

I got a lot of woollie related gifts - Andrea created a whole host of woollie goodness - black forest gateau, cupcake, felted pear, apple and orange and a little rat a la Ratatouille! I was also lucky enough to get a 2 year subscription to Marie Claire Idees!! Thank you all my kind friends! Your friendship is much appreicated! (PS Eva - the subscription doesn't start till February so the Christmas edition would still be gratefully appreciated!!)



WOOLLIE - CREATIONS

I have finally finished the cloud! I decided that even a Scottish baby could get depressed lying under a cloud every night, even if it has a silver lining. So I knitted some yellow lopi and felted it in the washing machine, I started to make a sun to go with the cloud. I cut some thin strips and sewed them together round a pipe-cleaner to make flexible rays of sunlight (although I have to admit they looked a little more like french fries!!) I finally attached the sun to the cloud and I am finally happy with it!

Oh - and I also added to my yarn stash at Twist Fibre Craft yesterday - 3 balls from the sale bin - loved the autumn colours!