EYF 2016: The haul

March 26, 2016March 26, 2016 ~ solrencoret ~ 3 Comments

Happy bank holiday weekend! Hope you all have a relaxing time, crochet and knitting included 🙂 I am currently working on a new cardigan myself: Rosemont by Hannah Fettig from her book Home and Away. I love all the patterns in this book and it is so beautifully presented it is just nice to flip through it, recommend you guys check it out.

I am back today to share my EYF haul with you guys, I am very happy with my purchases and also very proud that I didn’t buy much yarn this time which is a very good idea considering the size of my stash at the moment. I’ll start with my favourite purchases of the festival: I think I stopped by Pink Hazel‘s stall about a dozen times during the festival and managed to buy two of Annette’s stunning creations.

The first is an interchangeable needle organiser in this awesome sheep fabric. She also sold these really cool rings for you to sew to your organiser and mark the sizes of the needles, so smart! This is SO WELL MADE. The quality of the fabric and the stitching, the details, it is just the perfect needle roll and I had to get it. She also sells a small travel version that I think I may have to buy from her online now!

My other purchase from Pink Hazel was one of her wristband project bags, again this is such a smart idea to have a bag you can hang from your wrist for those projects on the go. I got this cool stag fabric, love it! Again, really good quality, I am sure this bag will last for a long, long time. Thank you so much to Annette, it was great chatting with her and hope she is back next year 🙂 Oh, and check her website to buy online if you can’t wait until then.

Continuing the project bag and notions theme, I stopped by Little Grey Girl’s stall and got myself a sheep project bag and some tea-themed stitch markers (tea is my other obsession apart from yarn). I also stopped by Ginger Twist and Chopped Ginger’s stall and got a cute little notions pouch that I couldn’t resist, it s now the home of my stitch markers and they are loving their new place.

Moving on to yarn, I only got two sweater’s worth this time: three skeins of Ysolda’s Blend Nº1 and four skeins of Baa Ram Ewe’s Dovestone in the colour Aire. Both incredibly soft and my hands are itching to cast on with them, but I shouldn’t…!

Finally, I bought this beautiful wool blanket from Knockando Mill’s stall (I just saw that it is still available online if you are interested), they were having a EYF special and it simply called out to me. It is funny but I have recently bought quite a few home stuff that I put away the minute I get home because I want to use them in my “future-not-rented” home, and this one will definitely go on the back of a future couch 🙂

And that is it! I am so happy with all my buys, please go check out some of the websites if you are interested in anything, we must support great small businesses like these.

Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Sol

EYF 2016: The morning after

March 21, 2016 ~ solrencoret ~ Leave a comment

EYF1

It is the day after the EYF 2016 and I am sitting in my living room writing this post, trying to arrange the thoughts and memories in my head of the past weekend.

As expected, the workshops I taught this year are what comes up most whenever I think back, I couldn’t be more grateful to Jo and Mica for putting their trust in me and to all those who showed up each day excited about learning a new skill. Their enthusiasm and their smiles whenever they managed to tackle a new stitch are food to my soul and it made me realise that teaching, even though it came to my life quite unexpectedly, may be a love that lasts a lifetime.

The marketplace was a huge array of beautiful stalls, with everything a fibre enthusiast could want and it was very tempting indeed, I will share my purchases later in the week. The yarn fumes were all around and the atmosphere was amazing, with everyone proudly wearing their projects while at the same time admiring other people’s creations and enquiring after pattern info whenever they couldn’t stop themselves.

It was definitely an event to remember and now all we can do is wait for 2017 to come soon.

Have a great week everyone!

Sol

Crochet month!

June 3, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 8 Comments

Hello everyone! I want to share some crochet news and events with you, I am so excited that this passion of mine is opening up some great opportunities for me to grow and explore. I have always been someone who moves from craft to craft never sticking to one in particular. I have tried crochet, sewing, knitting, cross stitch and so many more, and I was always teased in my family since I would get so excited at first to only give it up completely in a few months. I think this time is different, I know now that I will always be involved in a fibre art. I have become so passionate about yarn and would like to try all crafts that honour such an amazing resource: knitting, spinning and weaving are definitely on the list!

So first, if you are in the Edinburgh area the Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl is happening on the 13th and 14th of June. Three local yarn shops (Ginger Twist Studio, Kathy’s Knits and Be Inspired Fibres) participate and you can make your way around them on your own or sign up for a lucky dip group and get a tour guide as well. There are workshops and an after party on the Sunday so make sure to check the Facebook page for details. Yours truly will be at Ginger Twist Studio on the Sunday with all my samples, would love to meet some of you if you can make your way there.

I also wanted to let you know that I am doing workshops at Ginger Twist Studio. The next one will be a crochet colourwork class in which you will learn about the different techniques and learn how to work tapestry crochet by making an adorable little purse. This is the technique I used to make my Moroccan bag so if you liked that pattern this might be of interest to you. The workshop will be held on the 19th July from 12pm to 3pm at Ginger Twist Studio, check her website for details and booking.

Finally, I am excited to announce that I am Designer of the Month at Ginger Twist Studio during June! My samples will be on display at Jess’s shop this month along with other crochet designs by Anna Wilkinson so I am really happy to be part of her lineup (can you spot my Moroccan tote in the window? Love it!)

That is it for today, hope you are having a great week!

Sol

EYF 2015: My first yarn festival experience Part 1

March 20, 2015March 19, 2015 ~ solrencoret ~ 13 Comments

Uffff… I have been thinking about how to write this post since there is so much to say. I have decided that it will have to be done in a couple of posts: one to share my general experience in the festival and another one with my favourite purchases (I can’t show them all since I am too embarrassed to confess all that I bought!).

Edinburgh Yarn Fest was one awesome weekend that more than exceeded my expectations. I really don’t know where to start and I am bit tired today so this post will be a bit all over the place but here are the highlights of the weekend:

The marketplace. OMG, I have never in my life seen so much beautiful yarn and yarn-related things in one place, it was all a bit overwhelming the first day but the second day I got to stop and truly admire the work of such talented people that put so much love and dedication to their products. I got to chat with quite a few and everyone was so nice and attentive. From yarn, to buttons, to fibre, to patterns and everything displayed in such beautiful and creative ways, it was very inspiring just to walk by those stalls. And the colour… such amazing colours everywhere made my heart sing 🙂

The Crochet Project stall: If you are a crocheter, and only a crocheter like myself who couldn’t knit if my life depended on it you will understand the joy of seeing a crochet stall in a yarn festival. And not any stall… a stall from the awesome Crochet Project run by two amazingly talented designers: Kat Goldin and Joanne Scrace. I have crocheted beautiful patterns by both of these ladies and have admired their designs, especially garments, for a long time. Very few people in the crochet world design patterns as stylish and wearable as these two designers so I was so star struck when I met them! Their stall was filled with gorgeous samples and patterns, crochet hooks, the cutest labels for your hand knits and their new pattern book “The Shawl Project”. More on this little book on my next post since it is definitely on the favourites list…!

The people. If you have any knitters or crocheter friends you must already know that yarny people are awesome. They are encouraging, passionate, friendly and they are the happiest when around loads of yarn and other yarny people who feel the same way about their crafts. So you can imagine what you get when you put hundreds of yarny people in one place surrounded by the most beautiful fibre-related products: a happy and oh-so inspiring atmosphere. Just to look at what everyone was wearing was like a runway show of beautiful hand knits made with love and care, it was such a treat. Whenever you got tired you could go sit down somewhere and take your WIP out or pet your new yarn, and then you would look around and see that everyone else around you was doing the same! I had been the lonely crocheter on the train for so many months since work didn’t allow me to go to my knitting group and then suddenly I was just one of the crowd, doing what we love to do, surrounded by people who love that as well. Sigh… I don’t know about you but a room full of knitters and yarn is exactly how I think heaven should look like.

My first crochet class. I booked one class for the festival, it was the only crochet class that wasn’t for beginners. It was about how to make crochet wearable by the amazing Joanne Scrace. As you may know I am diving into the world of crochet garments and have had a few ups and downs so this class seemed like a great way to help me in this new journey and I definitely didn’t leave disappointed. Joanne was a great teacher who not only explained techniques that can make crochet fabric more wearable but also why and how they achieve that effect and what is the whole science behind crochet fabric that makes it different from knitting. If you have the opportunity to take this class I truly recommend it, you can check Joanne’s website for more details.

The organisation. I had never been to a yarn festival but this was one well organised event. The only time I was in a big queue was before the start of the first day and only because many of us got there before the doors opened. Getting our ticket was breeze, there was a big lounge area to seat and eat with a great selection of music in the background and there were some really fun stuff like a free Photo Booth on Saturday.

As you can see it was one awesome weekend filled with colour and inspiration, it was so hard to get back to work the next day and realise that your everyday world doesn’t have yarn in it!

If you are thinking of attending any yarn festivals next year I would put the EYF in the list since it can only get better!

Will be back soon with my favourite purchases and my Cobbled Street pattern which is almost done 🙂 My tunisian crochet class is this weekend so have been very busy preparing for it, hopefully I will get some time to get pictures of my purchases and share that with you soon. I leave you with more pictures of the weekend for you.

Have a great weekend 🙂

Sol

Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl

July 1, 2014July 1, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ Leave a comment

Hello there, thank you for visiting my blog on this lovely day! It has been so sunny and warm in Edinburgh today that no one can talk about much else. I never thought that blue skies would be such a topic of conversation but if you live in Scotland you understand that once the sun is out everyone will comment about it wherever you go. I am even wearing shorts! (it took a while to find them). Ok will stop about the weather now, told you it’s all you can talk about…

In this post I wanted to share with you some of the lovely yarn I bought while participating in the first ever yarn crawl in Edinburgh. If you don’t know what a yarn crawl is, it is basically a pub crawl but instead of shots you buy yarn and instead of a headache the next morning you get that amazing feeling of new yarn under your hands.

The yarn crawl included three shops in town: Ginger Twist Studio, Be Inspired Fibres and Kathy’s Knits. They are all lovely shops, each with its own unique identity and beautiful yarn. I joined a lucky dip group so we went to each shop together which I thought was loads of fun.

If you read my blog you know that I have set up a challenge for myself to use up my yarn stash and buy less yarn, BUT I thought that such occasion as a yarn crawl was clearly an exception since there was no way I was going to go to three yarn shops and not buy anything. So I set a budget, then increased it of course once I was there and ended up buying some beautiful yarn so I thought I could share it with you guys. I bought all of them for Be Inspired Fibres.

First, I wanted some lace since I have an idea in my head for a shawl ever since I started downloading japanese crochet books and fell in love with a stitch pattern in one of them. The yarn is called Holst Garn and it is SO soft, 100% pure thin alpaca. It smells amazing as well, reminds me of the south of my country.

Next, I wanted some cotton yarn for another project I have in mind for a pencil case (details to come!). I wanted bright, fun colours and these ones are perfect.

Finally I ended up picking up this superwash yarn called Jawoll by Lang Yarns, I just fell in love with the colours and thought they would make some lovely fair isle wrist warmers.

I am in a chart mood lately, I have been playing with my colours trying to put into paper some of the ideas I have and can’t wait to start swatching!

Sol

a crochet journey

Tales of my journey to a colourful and creative life

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