Celebrate the Sunshire & Treat Yourself
I couldn’t go over bank holiday without showing you this little treat that popped through our door this week. A definite ooo and ahh moment for Deborah and I. Imagine I’m now talking in the M&S food advert voice “Rowan Fine Art, premium hand painted sock yarn is a mix of merino, kid mohair, mulberry silk and polyamide, hand painted in South Africa, would make a special pair of socks or a beautiful scarf”. Back to normal voice ….. Rowan are supporting a South African Womens project where they produce the yarn. Click here to read more about the project (it’s worth a read). If you would like to purchase a skein or two then click here to go through to our online shop. Everyone have a good bank holiday and, yes, the sun is shining in Rushden (well at the moment anyway)
Colour, colour, colour.
It’s all about colour at Manfield Crafts this Spring. Totally and utterly inspired by designers like Kaffe Fasset, Debbie Abrahams and Jane Crowfoot our little brains are working overtime. With the shelves stocked with Rowan Pure Wool DK and 4ply our fingers can’t knit and crochet quick enough. Following the success of the Flower Power Scarf I have followed up with this Butterfly Cushion. We’ve made it easy for you and made up kits or you can buy the pattern on it’s own. Each kit has enough yarn for a cushion, buttons and instructions and available here. Let me know what you think.
A very jolly Debbie Day
Well, as expected, we had a fabulous day with Debbie Abrahams yesterday. The day was filled with lots of fun, laughter, creativity and spooky stories !
The project for the day was based on Debbie and Jane Crowfoot’s brand new book Kaleidoscope and was full of clever techniques and colour. We have a few signed copies of the book in the shop and on line here so if you would like to treat yourself to a copy then click away or give us a call.
Purl found all the spooky stories a little too much and had to find a quiet corner for some quiet time and a snooze.
Manfield Crafts on Tour
Deborah and I are all of a dither today. We’ve been invited to a special day at the Rowan Mill in Holmfirth tomorrow and are a little excited about being let out for the day. We’re getting a preview of the Autumn Winter collection which, I’m sure, will please.
We’re also looking forward to the next few weeks of workshops here at the shop. Next week we have the lovely Debbie Abrahams coming along. This booked up months ago but we’ll put some pictures on the website to give you all some inspiration. On the 16th May we also have a few spaces left on our Tunisian Crochet workshop. I can’t wait. I’ve never had a go so I’ll be an eager beaver too. It’s £50 for day so if you are interested then give us a call to reserve a place.
We had a lovely Easter holiday in Sandringham in Norfolk. Apart from the amazing flat beaches, chasing squirrels, rabbits and deer Purl’s next favourite thing was a Spring time ice cream.
As I left the shop on Thursday my last words to Deborah were, “There’s nothing in the diary, it should be an quiet afternoon”. I came back a few hours later and Deborah pops her head up, like a meerkat, from a large pile of boxes and squeeked, “Six deliveries”. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to have new yarn, patterns and accessories in the shop. I suppose it reminds me how lucky I am that do what I do for a living.
The most pleasing addition to our range is Sublime/Sirdar. The Sublime yarn is of the most splendid quality and the baby patterns are just lovely. We also have Sirdar’s Egyptian DK Cotton. We were a bit undecided about stocking it until the rep showed us a garment knitted up. It’s sooo soft and will be lovely and cool for the Summer. Do pop in and have a look. We can also now order the whole Sidar range if you are after a specific yarn.
Amongst other things we also had a delivery of new knitting bags that I wasn’t expecting for a few months. They are such a simple design but very classic and an excellent price.
It was Purl’s birthday on Thursday too and what with that excitement and all the kafuffle of deliveries and cardboard boxes Purl slunk off and thought she was hiding. Funny Girl. Happy Easter Everyone.
More Snow ……… get your needles out
So despite our attempts to bring Spring to Manfield Crafts, what do we get ? More snow. Well there’s only one thing for it. Hunker down and get your needles and hooks out.
We’ve had some rather lovely reps visit us in the last few weeks and we’re very excited by some new ranges that we’ve decided to stock. Bergere de France have the most wonderfully sophisticated designs for babies and children. We have their most recent patterns and yarns now in the shop and Deborah couldn’t resist knitting up this beautiful coat, hat and scarf collection. Sirdar have also paid us a visit and we are just waiting for our delivery of Sublime patterns and yarns. They have also, very kindly, suggested that we have a Sirdar evening/afternoon so you can all come along and have a knit with their wide range of yarns. Keep an eye on the website for details.
If you haven’t already made friends with us on Facebook then please do. I often see patterns or yarn or ideas that I just pop onto the Manfield Crafts Facebook page. Purl is not keen on this weather. It’s not the snow (that’s quite good fun), but this coldness has forced all the local squirrels into hibernation so there’s nothing to chase in the park. So she’s taken to sitting in the window and looking rather wistful. Ta ta for now.
Emily Peacock is Coming to Manfield Crafts
Emily Peacock at Manfield Crafts
We are REALLY excited that Emily Peacock is coming to Manfield Crafts on Saturday 6th April. Emily has become famous for her bright, colourful tapestries and we can’t wait to spend the day with her. The day will consist of a morning of Goldwork Embroidery (pictured above), a scrummy lunch and an afternoon of “how to design and sew your own project”. All this for the bargain price of £60. We only have a limited number of spaces so book now to avoid disappointment.
