More off-line than on

Yes, its been a very busy period for me these last 2 months. Not had much time on line, to chat to friends or to blog to you all. My off-line knitting life seems to have taken over.

A few months ago, I finally found a knitting group that meets up every week in my local village Slaithwaite in the heart of Yorkshire. The joys of having like minded crafty people to talk to, show off your knitting to and ask for advise and guidance, its overwhelming. It's the one thing I have been missing since I started knitting again a few years back. The "girls" are a wonderful diverse group of people, ranging from colourful & wacky to calm & classic and everything in between.  I have attended knitting workshops with them and gone on trips out to Yarn festivals and massive yarn shops. I am the one that always says I won't be buying yarn this time and then I come home with bags full of the stuff.  

Then if that's not enough, I have found a lovely crafty shop again in my village that is now selling some of my finished home decorations as well as knitting kits I have developed specially for the shop (they are available on-line to). The knitting kits feature our local Stylecraft yarn. 

Myself and the shop owner Amy decided that it was a good idea to bring selling the yarn back into the village, as the last local yarn shop that sold Stylecraft yarns closed down some 20-30 years ago. Hopefully its something that was missed by the local people and they will come flocking back to Amy's shop - 'The Yorkshire Makery' bringing a new generation of people to buy the local yarn.





'The Yorkshire Makery' is also hosting textile workshops of which I will be one of the knitting tutors. Amy has already started tutoring some of her customers in the art of crochet and I will be following suit with knitting courses. Aimed at the Beginner -> Intermediate I will cover the basic skills plus colour work, cabling and lace work to start with. 

And then, have you seen my move in to the published magazines? One of my knitting patterns was published in last months supplementary addition to Simply Knitting" !!!!! 

and I have another 3 patterns lined up to be published over the next few months. Woop!, so excited. If you see them, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Stylecraft yarn. This used to be spun at the Spa Mills @ Spectrum Yarns in Slaithwaite. Spectrum yarns have just launched a new yarn range called Yarn Stories.