Weekend in London

The weekend of October 11th /12th saw me up bright and early and off on the coach to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace.  This is really the only show I do in the year and I consider it to be the Rolls Royce of knitting shows.  Its not just a market place but an ideas feast too, as it hosts various other exhibitions and award shows. Thanks to my lovely hub for managing the shop and home while I was away. 

This year I made an overnighter of it... staying at my sisters, and meeting up with my daughter and her hub for a meal... then on the Sunday I was off to Bermondsey for another feast of all things knit at the Knitting: Chanel to Westwood Exhibition being held in the Fashion and Textile Museum.

At the Knitting and Stitching show I was greeted at the door by this floral extravaganza.

 It represents a tremendous amout of hard work by some very talented people and is really cute... but it is 'crafty' rather than 'designy' and for me it conjures up images of little old ladies. It's the design led work that gets me excited.  And I was really wowed by knitwear from the knitted textile design awards

Here are some of the photos...

This is by Emma Wright fromNottingham Trent Uni

 

Ainslee Mackie  Bath Spa Uni

 

Georgina Mae Central St Martins

Georgina Farrell Cass School of Art

The next day saw me wondering around London trying to find my way to the Museum of Fashion and Textiles.  There are a lot of building works and I got a bit lost as I made my way there... Perhaps there could be a few more signposts...

Most of the exhibition was a no photo zone, and there were some georgeous items on show. Here are some photos from the parts that were OK to photograph...

 

It was great to see one of Mark Fast's Dresses in real life... such intricate work...

Iben Hoej   Also does amazingly intricate work

And some photos taken from a  slide show....

Katie Jones

 

And again... look at that dog bag!!

 

Hannah Taylor

JohanKu

I've linked to all their websites or blogs so hope you can go an your own journey to see the lovely designs.

Kaffe Fassett Exhibition

I just looked at the last post and it was way back at the end of June.  Well my new year’s resolution was to write more frequently - like once a month or so - but as you can see that hasn't happened.  I really am going to try to catch up as I have been to lots of interesting places over the Summer and have loads to talk about.

It seems like a long time ago now that my husband and I went to Bath to see the Kaffe Fassett exhibition at the American Museum.  It ends November 2^nd so you’ll have to go soon if you want to see this lush feast - http://americanmuseum.org/about-the-museum/current-exhibitions/kaffe-2014-the-colourful-world-of-kaffe-fassett/

It was a really great day out  - and it was also my birthday!  The museum has lots to see and my husband who – to be fair – wasn’t that interested in knitting, really enjoyed the maps on display and the American History exhibitions. There is a nice café and some great grounds to wander around. As you can see.

The Home of the American Museum Bath

 I'm hoping to have some of these planters for Christmas

 Very tame Bunnies

 Yummy Lunch (and Yummy Husband!)

 

But back to the Kaffe Fasset Exhibition. 

Colour Colour Colour!!!!!

From the moment you drive through the gate there are trees and lamp posts all yarn bombed with colour,  and pom poms galore!  Kirsty - http://kirstieallsopp.co.uk - would love them!

 

 

 

I hasten to throw in a quick ad and say that we sell pom pom makers in the shop! www.lupinandrose.co.uk

It really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words…

 

I do so love pink!

 

 

 

I could go on......

 

PS my book ‘Hooked on Crochet’ will be available as from this week… www.lupinandrose.co.uk/books

1940's Street Market in Bromyard

As I write this the traders are clearing up and the end is coming to a brilliant day here in Bromyard.  Yet again the Bromyardians have pulled out all the stops and created a lovely day which many people came to.  Even the sun turned up.

Perhaps the best thing about today was the music, which being in the square I was able to hear really well.  All that mellow swing time quite chilled me out.  And there were some very dashing men wandering about in  uniforms, and some equally pretty ladies of course.

The round the downs race was held and I was intrigued to hear that it has been a Bromyard fixture since the 1920's.

The winner of the 1940's themed shop window went to the Anchor Cafe which I haven't seen yet but will try and drive past on my way home. The ladies who collected the prize looked pretty special. 

The joint winners of the costume prize went to the ladies of 'Too be Frocked' so well done to them as well. 

For my shop window I dusted off some of my vintage patterns and books.

There was also a Fire eater (or perhaps blower would be a better way of putting it)

And lots of vintage cars;

My grandpa had a car like this...

And it was nice to meet up with friends

It was also a chance for me to get on with proof reading my book Hooked on Crochet available to pre-order on amazon. So I am getting through my 'to do' list...but sadly it keeps getting things added to it!!

Next week is the Bromyard Gala.  A feast of steam engine, tractors, vintage cars, working dogs, firemen and all manner of other delights.  I will be having a stall in the craft tent (so the shop will be closed on Saturday 5th of July). For this I have been making up kits which I hope to sell a lot of! I have also ordered some knit and crochet themed mugs, will be selling scarf yarns cheap cheap cheap! and hope to have a make & take your own pom pom corner! 

This month I have created a babies cardigan and a ladies cardigan from my very popular Meredith baby dress pattern and these have been selling like hot cakes!

Thanks Elly for modelling on such a hot day!





I'm now a granny!!

Not long ago... just the day before yesterday or so it seems, I had four small children and was really quite young.  But it seems I blinked and I have now become a Granny!

Penny is adorable, chubby, cuddly and cute as a button.  She has just started to sit up so I took the opportunity to photograph a couple of my designs on her.

This dress pattern is already available on my Etsy site or my website. 

And this one will go live soon.. email me if you want me to hurry up!!!

I've been really busy (so what's new) so this post will be quite short!!! But I do need to tell you that the publishing date for my book is 26th August.

Here's a sneak preview of the front cover.  It can be pre-ordered on Amazon... although if you buy it from me I'll sign it!!!

Christmas Window

I am really hoping that after Christmas I may have caught up with my ‘to do’ list. Having finished writing my books I am now madly recreating my website.  I decided to change from Wix to Weebly because my website – the Wix – one wasn’t viewable on smart phones and tablets.  This meant that either way - whether I stayed with Wix or moved - I would have to re-write my massive site.  Having only just finished creating it in the first place this didn’t fill me with great joy. 

  

Anyway the new site is up and running and nearly finished… I am at the moment adding the patterns (or some of them) …. All the yarns are uploaded and so are the pom pom makers currently my favourite new toy!!  (As can be seen from my shop window)

I have also loaded a few free patterns – and am trying to create a free pattern with every yarn quality that I stock.  For instance see: http://www.lupinandrose.co.uk/fab-dk-colour-100g-ball-pound295.html

Exciting news this month is that I won first prize in Bromyard’s Shop window competition….

The Lights in Bromyard are great – well worth a visit. And when you come pop in and say hello"!

I will be giving a free gift with every £20 spend during December.

What a Lovely Summer

Well that was a nice summer.  After last years washout I really do feel as if I have had a proper bit of sunshine, and although we only managed 4 days away we had such lovely weather it was almost as if we had been abroad.

Most of the summer was taken up with madly trying to finish my crochet book – being published by

Bloomsbury Publishing sometime next year.  We had a few hiccups with the photography so everything was delayed – but I finally finished at the end of September. I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished book.

I was also finishing a personal book project – which I have been working on for the last 10 years or perhaps a bit longer! Mothering Sundae is a book about parenting – aimed mainly at Christian parents, but also has info for carers of all ages and faiths. I finally self published - also at the end of September – I’m not joking when I say I was just a tad busy!!! For more info about Mothering Sundae go to my website http://www.motheringsundae.co.uk/

In October - with my new found freedom from writing - I took a day out to visit the Knit and Stitch show at Alexandra Palace.  I travelled by coach - which apart from the fact that the coach broke - really is the best way to visit.  When I’ve been in years past it has involved a long trip across London and up to ‘foreign parts’ in the north of London.  It really is impossible to do it in a day from the midlands. It was so great after a day on my feet to be able to get back on a coach for the journey home. I spent most of the journey down playing with my new smart phone and getting used to it... so here are a few pics which I took using it.

 

 Not really my cup of tea but he taxi is great fun!!

The show itself was heaving with people as usual, and I was really glad that I took my sons rucksack rather than my wheelie bag.  

 

 Nice bit of Student Crochet Work

The colours and sights were amazing and lots of inspiration was to be had.  I bought a few patterns and kits but came home with a largely undamaged bank balance, but having enjoyed a great day out.

 

 I loved the colours on this stall

Now I’m back to the grindstone as I’m redoing my website.  Having spent ages making a website on wix which was quite good, I discovered that it couldn’t be seen on phones and tablets. The only way to solve this problem was to completely replace the website which I am now doing on weebly. I’ve had to find my way a round a new format but it seems to be working OK and I am hoping to have it up and running soon.  

There are quite a lot of new yarns in the shop – I have been buying for England -  so do come and visit or see the new site when its up and running.