MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to all our lovely customers

We will be open on Christmas eve til 2pm , Fri 27th 10am - 2pm and Saturday 28th as normal but then we will be closed until the following Saturday 4th January.

Hope you all manage to find time for your festive knitting and crochet.

See you in the New Year.

Come to Frome Extravaganza.

We have gone for the highly appropriate orange theme for our window this year complete with our very favourite 'marmalade' kidsilk haze.

 Christmas boxes with tempting yarns and gifts for knitters,

and some poodles!!! 

It is worth walking up Catherine Hill just to see our poodles:

                              

 This is a very exciting weekend in Frome. All the shops are getting ready for the Extravaganza.

Jenson Button is coming back to his home town to switch on the Christmas lights and there are lots of events over the weekend including the wonderful Christmas Supermarket on Sunday.

We have some delightful new stock to show you which will be available over the weekend,

Made By Ewe kits, these contain 100% british wool. We have robins, angels and several different reindeer and sheep available. All perfect as gifts for knitters and small enough to complete before Christmas.  

If you knit gifts to give then this stationery is what you have been waiting for....

Classy design with a loving message and space on the back for you to pass on the care instructions.

There will be no mistaking how special your handknitted gift is when it comes with one of these attached. If a gift tag is not the answer then try one of the greetings cards.

We thoroughly recommend a trip to Frome this weekend, it's where everything is happening.

Paloma Sale.

 To celebrate the chill in the air we are offering 15% off the cosy, soft and chunky Paloma.

The offer is available in our web shop or in our real shop which is looking fantastic.......

We have a proper counter, with built in Noro display, it feels like a real shop.
So whether you want a brusque walk up the hill in the cold to squish the wool and look at the colours or sit by the fire you won't miss out on a fantastic bargain.

Your Best Christmas Pullover

I have now fully come to terms with the 'Christmas starts in October ' ethos of being a retailer and in fact if you want your very own perfect Christmas jumper then Christmas may start much earlier.

Maxine has already finished hers and has smugly installed it in the shop, as featured in the last post.

 I think she is taunting me as she is fully aware that I cast on the Rowan Christmas Slipover this January, yes JANUARY!!!

So now I am on a massive mission to finish mine. It doesn't even have sleeves but I am sweating over this project. It is knitted in Rowan Felted Tweed and I have chosen more subtle colours (celadon and cinnamon)  which I am not so sure was a great idea. I love the colours but the reindeer are less distinct.

Meanwhile we have several other desirable Christmas knits in the window:

These are all King Cole patterns.
Aren't the jumpers for bottles a great idea? All patterns are available in the shop and there is still time to knit them before Christmas.

CHILLY DAYS

All of sudden it has turned colder and I have started to wear this Rowan Pure Wool Aran Cardigan

It is 'Dwell' by Martin Storey which is in the new book called Pioneer. It is a lovely warm cardigan, I think the model in the book shows it off better than I do:

It is hard o buckle down to filing and paperwork when there is new stock and this week has been a very distracting week. We now have Smoulder, a new Kim Hargreaves book which is full of classic designs and another angora cardigan.

My mild obsession with this Angora Haze has led me to want to drape it around my face and I suddenly thought that I knew the perfect design,








This is 'Miss Laverty's Motoring Hood' from Vintage Gifts to Knit by Susan Crawford. How can anyone resist a knit with such a fantastic name. I love this book and have many projects queued up in my wish list of future knits.










Maxine has already made The Perfect Christmas Jumper:














 which is part of our Christmas jumper display but more of that next time....

Open All Hours?

I wanted to show you some of the lovely things we have in the shop just now, it is an exciting time when Autumn is round the corner and a new season of irressitible projects arrives.

We have a beautiful wrap shawl in baby alpaca:

This is the gorgeous Sublime Colour Block Tote, made in the Sublime Luxurious Aran Tweed:

and Rita, a divine 4ply cardigan in Rowan Angora Haze:

We have lovely new colours in the Shilasdair 4ply:

and more Jilly Bean:

We have so much exciting new stock that we have decided to extend our opening hours and from this week will be open on Mondays too. So no more disappointment for eager customers who climb the hill on a Monday, we will be here drooling over our winter projects.

Fresh Look and BIG SALE

While you have all been enjoying the summer, we have been busy giving the shop a bit of a facelift.

The maroon paintwork we inherited has gone and is now a lovely shade of green. 

The sign is now an appropriate shade of orange

We have also had a lick of paint inside

 and check out the amazing crocheted lampshade, one of maxines creations of course.

To celebrate our 'new look' we are having a MASSIVE end of season clearance sale on Sunday 1st September. This is to coincide with the Frome Supermarket. If you have never been to this it is well worth a visit with lots of independent traders and interesting stalls.

We will have lots of yarns reduced up to half price, lots of bargains!!!

COOPKNITS SOCKS live at Marmalade Yarns.

Rachel Coopey will be at Marmalade Yarns

Thursday 18th July

6.30pm - 8.30pm

As you know sock knitting is a bit obsessional.

There is nothing better than casting on an exciting new sock pattern, other than grafting the second toe and slipping on the finished pair....

Rachel has just published her first book which is a must have for any sock knitter:

'Coop Knits Socks is the first printed collection of Rachel's original sock designs. These well-written patterns are accompanied by exquisite photography by Jesse Wilde, as well as step-by-step tutorials for techniques such as Kitchener Stitch and Afterthought Heels.

Many of the clearly written patterns use a variety of skills, including cabling, grafting, lace and twisted stitches and provide a great opportunity to try out new stitch patterns.

Each design is beautifully balanced and well thought-out, giving both experienced and novice knitters the chance to create socks that are beautiful and wearable, while being enormously enjoyable to knit.'

The recent variety of exciting sock yarns available is a constant temptation (as my personal stash is proof) and only adds to the whole joy of being a sock addict.

So if you too are afflicted by the sock knitting bug then you will be very excited by the news  that Rachel Coopey will be at Marmalade Yarns on Thursday 18th July.

There will be drinks and nibbles and sock adoration.

Rachel will be able to answer an sock questions and sign some books.

Please come along and bring any socks you are knitting or are particularly proud of.

See you there.

The Colourful Flock

If you needed another reason to visit Catherine Hill then let me show you a fabulous new shop. 

Mary Kilvert has brought the most delightful flock of sheep to the top of the hill.

To celebrate her launch day Rollo, a handsome, people loving sheep came to visit.

 When you venture inside the colourful flock is there to greet you.

 I couldn't resist and now eat my morning toast from a sheep plate.

 Mary is the perfect addition to the hill.

The Hap

Well, it didn't take very long and I thoroughly enjoyed knitting it:

 Kate Davies' Northmavine Hap

I have changed the colour way a bit as I wanted cream but still wanted an overall blue effect. 

I have reluctantly left it in the shop on display but really want to take it home and wear it all the time.

For all the information it is on my ravelry page here

Rosie is also making this in another colour way so I look forward to sharing that with you too.

'Spring' Lambs

 At last, the lambs have gone outside, despite the biting east wind. We had to keep them in for a week but now they seem to enjoy being out. It even looks like spring in the photos with blue skies and daffodils. So if we close our eyes and wish really hard.....

We love to sit by the fire knitting and churning out crocheted blankets but sometimes we like to sit in the garden in the sun knitting and churning out crocheted blankets. It is almost time for the swallows to return, let's hope they bring the sun!

What have you done?

Right, that is it, I am not going to refer to Spring any more as it seems to have induced the coldest March weather I can remember. Instead, lets think about really chunky warm wool, like Erika Knight's delightful maxi wool and fur wool trimmed boot toppers and hat.

I had just unpacked the box of Erika Knight goodies and turned round and Maxine had this hat knitted, seriously it was that quick! So if you are wondering what that vice like gripping feeling on your head is, it is the icy wind and you need a hat- quick:

Looking Forward to Spring...

If you want to feel that spring is just around the corner then this is the blanket for you. Made from Amy Butler Belle organic aran, it lifts your spirits just to look at it.

 Tonja, who works in the shop and is a very talented crocheter and knitter made this for her caravan. The colours, weight and drape are perfect. It is on display in the shop just now, waiting for caravan season to arrive

This beautiful daffodil yellow cardigan in Handknit Cotton looks perfect with the vintage style scarf in Jen's Green from Fyberspates.

and sitting on the table below, the basket of Handknit Cotton to tempt you.

Kate Davies in Frome!

This week, we were thrilled to have a visit from my favourite knitwear designer: Kate Davies. To say I am a fan is a bit of an understatement as I find her truly inspirational and love all of her work. I have been following her blog for a few years and love the photography, scenery, history,  designs and colours and of course Bruce. If you look at all of the above links, you too will be a follower.

So now you are wondering 'Where is the photo?' Yes, good question, where is the photo??? I didn't even ask her to sign my book!!

I think I was so determined not to come across as a dribbling groupie I forgot to use my brain. Luckily Kate brought her camera and took some lovely pictures and was very complimentary about Frome, which is a lovely place to live or visit. So I don't have a picture of me smiling next to Kate Davies but you can look at her pictures here.

JANUARY SALE and SPRING!

We have quite a few luxury yarns on offer just now so for a bit of budget indulgence pop down for a browse.

We can't resist topping up our colours though to keep the shelves looking bright so we have added the fantastic 'Jen's Green' to our Scrumptious palate. We love this green almost as much as we love Jen! It is well worth visiting her blog just now as she has a fantastic giveaway (see below)

 To compliment the green we have also added some Vivacious 4ply and Gleem Lace, delicious:

The long anticipated Colours of Shetland has arrived and we are all planning our projects. So if you aren't lucky enough to win a copy from Jen, you know where you can pick up a copy.

Now, the start of Spring....

 Rowan Spring and Summer magazine is here so as we shiver in sub zero temperatures and wait for the snow we can dream of knitting in cotton.