Crochet @ Mansfield Crafts

I am just back from a lovely day at Mansfield Crafts in Rushden (Northamptonshire) where I spent the day with a group of lovely ladies in the workshop room within Emma's lovely shop.

The workshop was based on the crochet club and gave members and other participants the chance to work on the 2012 project or make the front for a small cushion cover based on the crochet club design. The day went really quickly (as workshops always do) and the group created some really lovely colour ways of the Coronet Rose pattern using some shades from the Rowan Cotton Glace range.
Emma provided a lovely lunch and the break gave us all a chance to take a look around her treasure trove.

Emma has a way of making all her merchandise look lovely - her displays are beautiful and you can see how much work and thought has gone into them. She obviously has a love for all things cute and there are lots of knitted rabbits and toys dotted around the store - I even found a knitted dormouse asleep in a tea cup within one of the yarn fixtures - just so cute!

You can tell that Emma runs a very tight ship - the shop is immaculately clean and her yarn displays are pristine - no messy balls of yarn here! Emma has been busy putting together some great little kits for toys and accessories, including the Rowan sheep Breeds Ram and Ewe toys.

Emma also has some great little knit kits for mitts, boot toppers and knitted decorations - all of which I wanted to bring home with me. After much deliberation (and after considering the lack of time I have to crochet let alone knit) I decided to come home with 2 of the Herdy mugs which I have been hankering after for ages - so they have been washed and put along side my other mugs ready for the next cuppa.

I will be back at Mansfield Crafts in November to do a Christmas workshop. The workshop is for knitters this time and I am currently thinking along the lines of a Christmassy cushion, or perhaps a table runner/place mat. There are still places on this workshop so if you can make it to the store I can tell you for sure its well worth the trip.

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Stitchtopia

Arena Travel have released the dates and prices for this exciting event which will take place at Wybostson Lakes in February 2013. It is destined to be a really amazing event, with the likes of Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably and Karin Hellaby on the bill - not to mention Debbie Abrahams and myself along with other Rowan tutors.

Kaffe Fassett

The venue is lovely and there is a huge array of classes to choose from - I will be doing lots of crochet classes (surprisingly enough) and will cater for beginners and those wanting to learn new skills - I will be doing a beaded crochet class and a 'working with colour' crochet class along with a more experimental 'fun with crochet' which will talk about freeform and more unusual crochet techniques.

Debbie will be concentrating on knitting (she can't crochet, so this hardly surprising) and has a lovely range of classes on offer too. Debbie will be teaching beaded knitting, design your own knits, fair isle and intarsia knitting and of course 'finishing techniques' - I will also be doing a finishing techniques workshop for crocheters on the final day.

Knit with Debbie

There will be evening presentations - can I recommend seeing Kaffe if you haven't done so already, he says that 'being the dinosaur of patchwork and quilting guarantees that people will come and listen to me', but he is selling himself short as i have always really enjoyed seeing him give his presentations - seeing Kaffe in the flesh is another of those 'rights of passage' for knitters and patchworkers so you will kick yourself if you miss it.

Crochet with Jane

Arena received some bookings within an hour of launching the information on their web site and my feeling is that it is going to fill up very quickly, so you may want to give yourself a very early Christmas present or reward yourself for all your hard work over the last few months by booking early and securing your place at this exciting event. I for one can't wait!!

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Crochet Club 2012

Members of the crochet club 2012 have been sent their last set of patterns so I can now reveal the design to you.

crochet club 2012

If you would like to become a member in 2013 please keep your eye on our web site which will be updated over the next week or so with all the relevant information and images

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