Cupcake Surprise!

Last time I promised you a peek at our own projects and this morning Maxine thrilled me with a surprise project she had been working on overnight from 'Knittoday'. I now have a beautiful new keyring on my shop keys.You might already know that we have a few patterns written by Maxine for the shop which include tea cosies, bunting and the very popular cotton peg bag. The latest additions are this cute baby hot water bottle and decorative heart. These were knitted in King Cole 'Splash' which is lovely for household items as well as baby knits. The decoration reminds us of small rosies.Here is my work in progress! It is a cardigan and I am very excited about finishing it, I have been knitting it for about 4 months and it only needs sewn up. However if I stopped photographing it and picked it up off the floor, I might get on better. I will let you see the finished article, soon I hope.

Next to the retro crochet tea cosy are a plate of petit fours kindly donated for display by a very talented customer. They have been in the window and drawn a lot of attention. Another very talented customer brought in this beautiful baby hat knitted in baby cashmerino from 'Baby Bloom' by Erika Knight. You can just make out the gorgeous tiny heart button in the centre of the ribbon.

I was so in love with this that I have bought the book which includes beautiful maternity patterns. Now, the last thing I need is another baby so lets hope I become an aunty again soon.

The Knit Nurse.

After all the sick kids had been and gone, Maxine decided to knit us a Barbie nurse to be on duty. We have been advised by 2 real nurses that she should be wearing a navy cape lined with red so it can be turned inside out on Christmas day when they drink sherry on the ward! Guess when you should avoid ill health. Instead of the cape I suspect Maxine should be knitting a uniform in the colours of a psychiatric nurse, as that is probably the next type of nursing we'll need.

If you are passing the window look out for our very own knit nurse, she will be there for a few weeks and hopefully make you smile.

Another piece of progress; we now have the couch in the cubby hole. All ready for pattern browsers or husbands in waiting.

Remember I mentioned my feelings of jealousy as everyone leaves with their new wool? Well this is one of the most jealous inducing items I have been forced to part with this week. Two customers have taken it home to make hats and I can't wait to see the finished items. The colours are beautiful and it is soooo soft.

Another soft yarn, which has had rave reviews, is the Sirdar baby bamboo. Neither Maxine or I have ever knitted with it but now are itching to give it a go however we need to plough through our WIP's. Next time I will treat you to a selection of our projects. Unfortunately one of the effects of working in a wool shop is your 'Project Wish List' increases in direct inverse proportion to the 'Amount of Time Available to Knit'. I knew there would be a down side.

Open for business...

Well, how niave I was 2 weeks ago when I thought I would update this blog a couple of days after we opened! We hung up our sign and opened the door and thankfully, customers started to visit.

We had browsers and buyers and friends popping in to wish us luck. We were both trying to get used to working every day and fitting in the rest of our family life around it.

I had a trip booked to Jersey and had to abandon Maxine on our first weekend. She coped and secretly loved it. I took bad photos of bronze Jersey cows, relaxed, drank wine and crocheted in the sun, it was a chore.Back to Frome with a bump, well a bang really as our plane was struck by lightning on the descent! I rushed back to the shop and as you can see by the squashed crocheted cushions, the chair was being well used and appreciated by tired knitters who climbed the hill to pay us a visit.

We have plans for further seating in the form of a sofa in a cubby hole and we are also carpeting the back of the shop in preparation for our 'learn to...' classes and knitting groups.

We were very excited on Friday when the first phase of 'marmalade' carpet was laid. Let me tell you, it is freezing in the back of the shop and bare concrete didn't help. I might have been lucky enough to be living every knitters dream but I was in danger of freezing to death or at least losing a couple of essential for knitting fingers to frost bite. You get the picture so admire the carpet and feel the orangey warmth..........

Phase 2 of mission carpet is scheduled for next week but first we have to clear this room :

The week took a turn for the worse when I had to keep a child with stomach cramps home and bring him to the shop, then got called by the school when another of my children vomited in the playground. My husband, crippled from a cricketing injury, helped out by limping to the school and picking up the sick child. After nursing children overnight it was slightly depressing to find this on Saturday morning....

Despite these hiccups, Maxine and I have had the best 2 weeks and are thoroughly enjoying it. The customers are uplifting as every one has different projects and ideas and we love to see their work. I am surprised to find I feel slightly jealous of them all as they leave with their new wool and patterns. Luckily I managed to find the time to make an organic cotton chicken who is now sitting on the shelf and he has told me that everything will be fine.

Tomorrow, the Artisan street market; see you there.........

The Big Day

After weeks of planning and waiting we now have the keys and started painting yesterday, you can see the state of excitement Maxine was in from the tin of paint she was using. We were in raptures as we applied the strawberry ice cream coloured paint. True to form Maxine managed to do 3 walls to my 1 (we have very different painting styles).

I hardly slept last night thinking of the mammoth task we had today and couldn't believe it when it took all day to dismantle 2 shelves and put 2 new ones together, if I ever have to assemble another Ikea shelf......

Meanwhile, Maxine was painting a second coat, the streamline machine arrived as well as a large Sirdar order, we couldn't move for the chaos and mess and it was time to pick up the kids and go back to our other lives. But only for a short while after a much needed break we returned and against all expectations have got wool on the shelves.....Things on display........... and the excellent 'MARMALADE' bunting up,LOOK ............................

Needless to say Maxine made it and all the other beautiful knitted and crocheted things on display but did I mention, I put up the shelves?

It was getting late when we decided to call it a day but couldn't resist a peep in from outside. What a day! Tomorrow, our first day of trading, better get some sleep.

10 days to go....

Look at these cute chicks for putting Creme eggs into. I am struggling to produce one each for my children while Maxine has made 14! I am incredulously amazed, impressed and jealous but also grateful as she has given me the 2 on the right of the picture to boost my pitiful numbers.

I have been busy though, trying to line some baskets which we want to put balls of wool into.

These baskets have given me hours of headaches and I am not very satisfied with the results, I'd rather be knitting.....

or perhaps crocheting, I have been desperate to use these new hooks, only one more basket to line and I will be free.

Rowan have kindly sent us some garments for display which are beautifully knitted, especially this kidsilk haze cardi, the colours are amazing and it is so soft, we love kidsilk haze!

I am off home to Falkirk and to meet my beautiful new neice Lola Jane, who will be 4 weeks old when I see her, thus leaving Maxine to tie up all the loose ends and continue her frenzied knitting.

So I leave you with a jar:

Next time we will be proud owners of a massive stash...I mean shop.

We love to knit and crochet and are very lucky to be taking over the wool shop in our town. Tina, the current owner is off to Australia to join her husband, one of her daughters and 2 cats who have gone ahead. Sadly, she has to leave her lovely shop which she opened 3 years ago but we have promised to look after it. We have set the date for taking over for Mon 20th April, safely after the Easter holidays and we can hardly wait.

This week has been the busiest (and most exciting) of all. Yesterday we met Annabelle our local Rowan rep and we could hardly contain ourselves, she had such lovely things but we tried hard to stick to our budget and only succumbed to a couple of extra goodies.

Today we have been to Ikea to get some shelving and pick up a few other pretty things.




Previously I have been painting old furniture to take to the shop and there are bits and pieces lurking in the garage and all over the house.

Maxine has been speed knitting and writing out her own patterns and we have been talking about so many plans for the future we can't remember them all.
We are looking forward to meeting the Patons rep tomorrow and completing an order with Sirdar.

I just need to get off the computer and do some knitting or I might be in trouble...

Watch This Space........................

If you enjoy knitting, crochet and all lovely things handmade then watch this space for tales of a delicious new venture.