#WIP Wednesday - one mustard colour beret

This post has an experimental air to it - and consequently might be rather short! - as I'm using an app called Blogsy to write it on my iPad. Let's hope I've remembered everything from their How To videos!

My current WIP is a beret from the Sirdar Eco DK book. I am hoping for a Land Girl vibe, but I've been told it might make me look like a daffodil, if I wear it with my green coat. But does that matter? I think not. It might actually be rather nice. The yarn is my bargain purchase from Lois Mickleburgh's Ipswich shop, Jenny Wren's Yarns. It's SMC Extra Soft Merino Cotton which is lovely and soft and hopefully Spring- like!

Right: fingers crossed that this posts!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Yep, All I Do Is Drink Coffee & Knit.

 

We started Christmas shopping sensibly early this year, as we send a package to Australia. The Craft Fairs run by the March Hare Collective have really nice things - and lots of lightweight things suitable for posting! Jane Crick prints badges, journals and papers and we bought some jewellery from another stall too. Since I've started selling my knitting (in a very small way!) I've become much more appreciative of the time and effort it costs people to make such good quality things themselves, so I was glad we supported this. It was really busy and had a lovely, jolly atmosphere so I hope they all did well.

 

I feel I've spent most of my time recently squirrelling away Christmas presents and having coffee in various places, like our local Costa:

 

 

But also the lovely Coffee House where they had some fab KeepCup decorations:

 

 

I've managed a trip to Lavenham, too, to Cafe Knit, where Victoria had a gorgeous, Christmassy window display:

 

 

Crochet snowflakes on the left, knitted trees on the right . . .  beautiful! Victoria had some new Artesano yarn, made from British wool - it looked gorgeous and the colours were really luscious, dark, rich shades. A nice pattern book, too. It's a bit too late for my Christmas list, sadly, but if I get a voucher, I may be heading back for that lovely wool.

 

I always pop into Lavenham's St Peter & St Paul's church, too, and this week they have a really lovely but slightly sad memory tree in the churchyard:

 

 

In the wooden box are gift tags and a pen, so that you can write the names of people you remember and tie them to the tree. Lots of people had done this, and I wrote one, too. A really nice experience, and a poignant one, too, among all the excitement and bustle of shopping.

 

I feel I should mention the Works I Currently Have In Progress - but it's clear from this post that, er, I've been out and about rather than getting on with my Christmas knitting! I have finished a couple of things, so will write another post soon with some pictures!

 

 

Buying Local in Lavenham

My resolution to buy local was so successful in Lavenham yesterday! I needed a day away from the crochet dress, so decided to go to Lavenham. As I've mentioned before, Cafe Knit on the High Street has skeins of knitting wool spun - and, in fact, reared! - in Orford, Suffolk, as well as offering delicious carrot cake made locally too! But as this was more of a sight-seeing trip with my Mum and Dad, after a trip to the cafe, we went to the Tourist Information office and came away with the lovely terracotta plant markers above - made in Suffolk - and soaps from Watkins, a company based in Woolpit. It was a beautiful sunny day to see the Guildhall and the church, too - both built as a result of the town's medieval history as a 'Wool Town', spinning, weaving and dyeing cloth until Dutch cloth became more fashionable in the seventeenth century.

Sadly, my seeds seem in danger of being washed away in the rain so I might not need the markers after all! 

But I wonder what else I should be buying locally?