Wonderwool-ed out :)

I'm back!! Did you worry that I had got buried under piles of yarn, or maybe that I couldn't get into my car to drive home after eating so many scotch eggs from the lovely Scotch Egg man (who'd have thought you could have so many flavours of scotch egg, one even without the egg, which, as someone said, surely must make it a 'scotch'?).

Anyway, no, I am home, just suffering from jet-lag and trying to locate things that have been hidden under a pile of dirty pots, clothes and a ridiculous amount of 'stuff' that seems to appear out of nowhere if you leave the other three residents of my house alone for a couple of nights. Monday morning saw a hunt for school shoes (in the garden, where else would you take them off it Mummy is away?), tea bags (don't need them when you go shopping with Daddy, just tins of new potatoes and tomato soup) and the sink (obviously hidden under a pile of dirty pots; apparently the tidy fairy had the weekend off since the laundry basket was also overflowing....)

Wonderwool was great. I had a fab time, caught up with friends, made new ones, sold bags and bought......no yarny goodness!! What can I say? I get overwhelmed by shows with so much yarn and so many pretty colours. I spent all of my money in the food festival. I bought lots of lovely scotch eggs. Wyesue, you are right, the Valentino were the best (Free-range SADDLEBACK pork stuffed full of Wensleydale cheese and bright red cranberries), just a bit of fudge from the nice fudge man and half a sheep from the Elan Valley Organic Mutton company

Here are my bags on our stand (clicky to make bigger!)


Here is Gemma with the rest of the stand, busily pricing up fibre on the Saturday morning...

And look what greeted me when I got home very late on Sunday night (other than the birthday cake that Mr Nicsknots was making at 11pm!).......

It's my drawstring bag in The Knitter magazine. :D

Right, got to go, I am still putting new things from the weekend on my shops. Have you seen the shiny new MISI widget on the side of my blog? I love Emma, she works so hard to make MISI great.

Buried under Wonderwool preperations....

Well, not many people embraced their messy creative corners. I'm leaving this open until I get back from Wonderwool on Monday but then I am going to send something to a random person who blogs about their 'space' with piccies.

I have been away, busy with Easter holidays and friends and children. We've had a lovely time but now I am in the midst of Wonderwool last minute sewing and organising. Here is my pile of bags this morning...


Hmm, looking ok but no zippy bags in there yet. They don't sell very well in comparison to the drawstring ones so I haven't been making as many but am now wondering if I should have done more? The same as big needle rolls. They don't go as well as the dpn ones and they take a lot more material. It's so difficult trying to work out what to bring and what will sell best and people want. I keep finding old material too and thinking 'Oooh must make something with that!'

Tomorrow we are going to see Uncle Bryn Rob Brydan. Its my birthday on Sunday so I have bought tickets for us as a birthday present to me from Mr Nicsknots...how kind of him ;) How awfully kind of me to give up my last evening before I go away to go out too. We all know that is going to be a disaster and mean that I will be up till stupid o'clock trying to pack, get kids stuff ready, make sure everything is organised then forget vital things but never mind.

If you are going to Wonderwool, come and say hi. Enjoy the sun.

Oh the shame.....just for Daisy

A few months ago, Lauren ( I think) on Folksy, was doing a feature on peoples workspaces on her blog. People had wonderfully organised, beautiful spaces, I joked that she could have mine but it wouldn't be inspiring or beautiful or anything other than chaotic and maybe rather messy too.

Last week I was emailing the lovely Katie/Daisy and mentioned how I would never take pics of where I did my sewing because it was embarrassingly messy, she said that she would love to see it so because I briefly had no shame this afternoon, I took these photos. I don't have to say this because it will be obvious when you see the photos but I didn't tidy up before I took the pics. In fact this is just after a morning of sewing.

Here is my wonderful Ikea storage unit that I bought for the kids toys then realised that they couldn't reach the top two shelves so they are now my stock shelves. Here is one basket full......



This would be my semi-organised pile of things I have next to my sewing machine; labels, pins, water container from the iron. Zebra? It's Easter holidays, what more can I say? Ditto the felt tip pen, I was teaching Lou how to write Jack....


This would be the fabric mountain. Not all of my fabric, just what I am using at the moment.



Next up, my trusty sewing machine. She belonged to my Grandma and is older than me. I have to talk nicely to her or she has a tendency to stop working. Sometimes I can't disengage the sewing mechanism when I want to wind on a new spool of thread so the machine has to pretend it is sewing while winding thread on but mainly we get on.

You want a general overview of the whole area you say? OK, here it is then.....


I sew at the dining room table in the corner of my lounge. All of those wash powder pots that you see hold my thread, beads, elastic, other useful bits and bobs when I tidy everything away. Hmm have I inspired people?

OK I think everyone should go and take a photo of their work area now. No tidying up allowed just point and snap and link back here...I have Easter related goodness on offer......

Easter gift buying on Folksy

It's the last day of school tomorrow, the shops have been filled with Easter eggs and other gaudy wonders since Boxing Day so its about time to think about Easter presents for the little ones.

There are loads of lovely gifts on Folksy. The Warren sell great sock bunnies in every pattern and colour combination throughout the year but Easter seems to be the perfect time to stop resisting temptation and pop one in your shopping basket. How about Sniff the Easter Bunny?



If bunnies aren't your thing, take a look at Niftyknits Easter chicks. There are many different colours to choose from and for the bargainous price of £4 each, you could buy one for every child in your family and know that they will have something other than chocolate smeared mouth memories come Easter Monday.



Are you a crafty kind of person and have a few hours spare between now and Easter Sunday to crochet these delightful Easter Baskets from Rainbow Valley?



Zoe Woods makes some lovely jewellery and this 'Hello Butterfly' necklace is no exception. My little girl would love to receive this from the Easter Bunny



What are you going to use to collect eggs on your annual Easter Egg hunt? How about this cute 'Easter chicks' diddy tote from Nicsknots?



Are you still searching for the perfect Easter card? There are loads of lovely cards on Folksy. Just type 'Easter cards' into the search. How about this from Clare Hurd?



Get over to Folksy and start buying your Easter goodies now.....