The first news is that a lovely gentleman called Stephen Sheppard has just exited the shop leaving in his wake 11 of the most beautifully crafted spindles you've ever seen in your life! Stephen is an engineer by trade and since becoming semi-retired from the transport sector has concentrated on his true love: angling supplies (if there's an angler in your life check out his merchandise through the link above, even I want it...). A few months ago a friend of his asked if he could make a spindle for her, he obliged and I guess he got a bit hooked - because what is in my shop right now are top class spinners with a quirky edge and could only have been made by somebody with a passion. I know we crafters all appreciate somebody making things with a passion!
All of the spindles are made from reclaimed woods: at the minute we have a mixture of pine, walnut and oak in stock but as these sell through he'll provide more spindles in whatever woods he can lay his hand on - so watch this space! They each have a series of weights which can be taken away or added as the fancy takes you. It means that as the spindle gets heavier you can take a few weights out to even everything up, or if you want a finer yarn take out all of the weights or a heavier yarn put them all in (some of the newer designs have space for more weights if you want to go mad and we've got some spare ones in the shop for purchase). With the turn of a screw the spindles can become bottom or top whorls. They spin like a dream - I just had to try them. All. And, did I say before that they look damn impressive!? Have a look here, go on, I'll be waiting for you at the other side...
Price: £20 as an introductory rate (everybody's first spindle is this price), £25 thereafter. The washer weights are £1.50 each or 5 for £6.00.
Come in to try before you buy - they really are stunning!
A week or so ago I promised that I'd have a Knit Pro surprise for you and I do indeed - we now have in stock Knit Pro sock needles! Wahey!!! We've got 2mm and 2.25mm in 10cm and 2.5mm in 20cm (it's difficult getting hold of these little b*ggers so I just asked for those sizes in whatever lengths they have - I was shocked by how short the 10cm are but I've tried a friend's since and they're actually lovely, long enough to hold a sock's worth of stitches but short enough not to get caught in your sleevies - perfect!!!). The Knit Pro needles come in sets of six, either five or four for working with and one or two spare or a cable needle to match your real needles - don't we treat you well?!!? :)
We all know about how beautiful the colours are, and how exciting it is to accessorise your yarn to your needles but have you felt how silky smooth they are!? Yeah, you need to.
Price: 10cm: £5.00, 20cm: £6.00 (if we get the 15cm in, which we will at some point, they'll be £5.50 funnily enough...).
I'm not just a knitter, nutter, crocheter, some-time spinner and weekend sewer - I am now a DIY'er!! I personally think this is the most exciting news - I've made a bloody piece of furniture. Well, not strictly true, I put some hooks in an already made piece of furniture but doing so, for your pleasure and ease of finding needle sizes, made a big bloody hole in my finger (I was going to post a picture but it's a little too gruesome...).
We got the shelves from Kathleen and Lily's closing down sale (very sad news for Nottingham's craft scene but we wish the girls well). They cost me £2 - two measely pounds!!! But they were a bit wonky and wobbly, so I nailed them into the wall (tool number one) and bought a gimlet (tool number two!) and got to work attaching roughly 50 lovely little hooks. Then I filled it up, then I sat back and basked in the glory that is my own DIY handy-work. You should all pop down to the shop just to see the shelves, notwithstanding the fact that both the Knit Pro's and Stephen's Spindles reside right on top of there...
Anyway, photo:
Also, the lady threw in some fabulous fabric in an American footballer pattern. I made myself a skirt (badly) and it matches my new jumper which is also fabulous! Proper crafty me...
In other news: the Heritage DK is now back in stock fully fully fully. We know you love that stuff but I've been struggling to get hold of it but it's here now and you can buy to start making winter garments (no time like the present ey? Who hasn't started a winter jumper in October and wondered why is isn't ready before Easter?!).
The webshop is sort of ready - it was up for a short time on Tuesday but we had bugs and tried to reinstall but it's all gone a bit Pete Tong. So bear with us on that - it's a major source of stress for us!
Finally, just about half an hour ago the phoneline gave up too - blimey!!! Which means our chip and pin is down too... I went to great lengths to try and get it sorted but I'm having to wait for the BT engineer. Why is it that the problems are never caused by you but you're always the one that has to deal with it? Alright, now I feel like my mother...
So - you can see I've had a lot to say. And I've got more to say tomorrow. I'm off for a quick fag and my first coffee of the day and then I'm doing a job for Louise West the Northern Knitter (she's only been waiting about forever).
Love Eleanor. :)
P.s. I've been trying for about an hour to format this bloody thing - I'm giving up - going to finally have that coffee - I may try again later and in the meantime I hope it doesn't give you a headache...
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