Woolly Wednesday

So, the blog's been a little quiet of late... well I'm hoping to remedy that with a little roundup post about the Knitting & Stitching Show!

Last month I was fortunate enough to attend the first ever Edinburgh edition of the Knitting & Stitching Show. I've attended the Harrogate show a few times and enjoyed it, so I was intrigued when I saw the announcement that there was to be a Scottish one. Needless to say, this needed to be investigated!

The show was held at the Royal Highland Centre within the Highland Hall and I attended on the Sunday (the last day, but the show started on Thursday of the same week). My friends and I got wind of a free shuttle bus, which we took full advantage of.

One of my favourite parts of the show was the "knitted feast" - a competition for which creative folks submitted all manner of fibre foods. Some very inventive crafting! See below for some highlights...

Woolly Wednesday is back!

Hello! Happy new year to you all.

January seems like a natural time to reasess things and figure out your goals for the coming year. One of my goals this year is to have a *massive* destash, declutter and general life detox.

With that in mind, I have signed up to take part in the Edinburgh Yarn Festival's Big January De-stash! I have a rather humungous stash of yarn, more than I will ever be able to use within this lifetime, so I'm going on a bit of a "yarn diet."

I'm joining other fellow crafty types at the Columcille Centre in Morningside this Saturday (16th January) to sell, swap and socialise. If you live in or near Edinburgh and fancy coming along, it's only £2 entry per person - EYF are asking folks interested in attending to pre-register so they can gauge numbers on the day. The event is being run by Edinburgh Yarn Festival as not for profit, in support of and to raise awareness of its nominated charity, the Teapot Trust who provide art therapy for children who suffer from chronic illness (all proceeds from the day go to the charity).

I'll be there for the afternoon session which runs 1-4pm but there will be yarny goings-on from 10am onwards.

Goodies I plan to sell on Saturday include:
- Rowan pattern books
- Knitting/craft magazines
- Rowan and other hand knitting yarn
- Knitting & crochet tools
- Lace trim and other notions
- Fibre for felting or spinning

I might also have a few hand knitted items for sale on the day too :) Hope to see you there!

Find out more about the Big January De-stash event here.

Christmas at WildCat Designs

Where there's cold weather, there's knitwear. If you're looking for something cosy to give as a gift for a loved one, or even just a little handmade treat for yourself, look no further!

WildCat Designs has lots of colourful scarves and other woolly warm things for winter. You'll find more information on my website: www.wildcat-designs.co.uk or visit one of my online shops here: wildcatdesigns.etsy.com & wildcatdesigns.folksy.com.

Below are my order deadlines for Christmas:

Last order dates for December 2015

Africa & Middle East - Thurs 3rd
Asia, Eastern Europe & Cyprus - Sun 6th
Central & South America, Caribbean - Mon 7th
Australia, New Zealand & Greece - Tues 8th
Germany, Italy & Poland - Sun 13th
USA, Canada, Sweden & Finland - Mon 14th
Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain - Tues 15th
France - Wed 16th
Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Slovakia & Switzerland - Thurs 17th
UK - Sun 20th

Please note that custom and made to order items will usually take a minimum of a week to be completed and so may not be ready in time for Christmas.

Woolly Wovember

Have you heard of Wovember?

Well, as you might have guessed, it takes place in November and it's a collaborative celebration of my favourite fleece, wool!

There are retailers out there who use a pitiful quantity of wool in a garment (say 5%) and somehow feel they can still justify calling it woollen or misleadingly marketing it as "wool". Wovember hopes to reconnect consumers with *real* wool, its beauty and rather marvellous properties, as well as educating them on the process behind creating different woollen yarns and fabrics, from fleece to finished product.

Image via Wikimedia

How can we support Wovember? It's really simple, actually! You can wear woolly things - and believe me, I have been... there's a definite chill in the air and what better way to stay cosy really. Also by spreading the word and generally helping to raise awareness of the wonders of wool.

If you've read my blog before, you will probably know just how passionate I am about wool. As a knitter, consumer and textile designer, I would definitely feel cheated if a piece of clothing (or yarn, for that matter!) was sold to me as wool but had little to none of the real deal off of an actual sheep's back in it.

Almost everything I make for my WildCat Designs label is made from wool. The majority of my accessories are handmade by me from gorgeous 100% bona fide Merino wool, which I carefully sourced from a UK woollen mill. One thing I wasn't willing to comprimise on was quality.

One of the reasons I love wool, as I'm sure I've probably said many times before, is its versatility. The folks at Wovember are celebrating wool in all its glory and variety by hosting an Instagram competition this year - you can join in the fun and submit your woolly pics using the #WOVEMBER2015 hashtag. You could even win a wool-themed prize if you're lucky!

Find out more about Wovember and how to support the campaign on the wovember.com website.

Happy Knitting Week!

Wishing all my readers a happy Knitting Week! Perfect timing for starting on a cosy autumn project, don't you think?!

Doesn't that little mouse just look so cosy! It certainly made me smile at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival earlier this year :)

I didn't have the chance to share these pictures at the time, but it was a really great day out in March with some fellow fibre enthusiasts. Below are a few of my highlights.

I also have a few woolly links up my sleeve...

As it's also Wool Week, I recommend checking out the Campaign for Wool website - lots of lovely events going on all over the UK this week!

"How wool got cool" - a Guardian article on the weird and wonderful things us crafters get up to these days.

The UK Hand Knitting Association's website has had a bit of a makeover - well worth a look, it has plenty of ideas to help you get started or find out more about the world of knitting.

A new routine

Hello, dear reader!

You might have noticed things being a little quiet around here lately... I've been moving house, changed jobs and started working in another city! So needless to say, things have been a little chaotic at times.

I recently returned from a rather lovely holiday to Florida with my partner - quite a change of scenery and climate, and just what the doctor ordered in fact! We stayed in Orlando at the StaySky Suites just off International Drive and used it as a base for exploring several of the theme parks in the area. So we had a lot of fun, as you can imagine! (more on that later)

I'm back at work and settling into what's still a relatively new routine, now that I've moved in with my boyfriend of many years (in Edinburgh) and am doing a daily commute by train to Glasgow. This is not too bad, as I can easily get to the train station, pick up a weekly copy of the Stylist or read a book and listen to some music. Much better than driving on the motorway twice a day and ending up exhausted. It's quite nice to have access to the best of both cities too - Edinburgh will always feel more like home but I did enjoy living in Glasgow last year.

Fabric Friday

#FabricFriday is back!

My first/last Fabric Friday post was back in January, so I thought it's about time I did another.

As is often the case, one afternoon I was looking for some stitchy inspiration (it may even have been initially for my still-ongoing possible-quilt/quilting project) and had a gander at what Pinterest had to offer. As usual, it did not disappoint.

I love the idea of using something entirely non-traditional as a "canvas" or "fabric" to stich on or embellish a project with and found this really gorgeous mixed media piece (below) by Claudia Orengo, aka Stitch the World. It's such a beautiful way of using a lovely vintage postcard whilst simultaneously breathing new life into it.

During the same search for fabric and textile-related ideas, I also came across the work of Hella van 't Hof. She operates at a fascinating intersection between traditional sampler-style embroidery and old photographs imbued with wistful memories.

Her works have an added tactile element as the images have been printed onto canvas, providing the ideal surface to stitch onto.

I like the way these embellishments add a three dimensional aspect and often take an organic form, complementing the original photograph and giving the evoked memories a feeling of tangibility.

Colour Lovers

Do you love colour? Then you just might like this blog post!

I promised a while ago (back in May!) that I would blog about the rest of my visit to the floral heaven that is Keukenhof, because I just couldn't quite cram all that gorgeous colour into one post... well here you go - enjoy!

Possibly the cutest dog ever - it was almost as if it was posing for the picture!

We saw a stunning variety of different types of tulip (as well as other flowers) and a staggering spectrum of colours. It truly was a feast for the eyes!

Of course, you can't expect to visit Holland without seeing a few clogs...

...and we also saw the beautiful flower fields too!

I was really blown away by the sheer intensity 

of the red tulips as they were incredibly striking.

From the edges of the Keukenhof boundary you could even see groups of tourists on little boat trips along the canals running around the borders of the flower fields.