Thursday 17 May 2018

Local Yarn Shop Day




Did you make it to your local yarn shop on Saturday? I don't have one near me at the moment but there is a yarn shop local to my boyfriend in Portsmouth so I decided that it was going to be my local for the weekend! As I'm in Portsmouth a lot I think it may become a regular haunt especially after my experience on Saturday.

I'm not too familiar with most parts of Portsmouth so I Googled the shop and then got Will to drive there! He likes to get an insight into the knitting world occasionally and was descended on by the ladies knitting outside the shop for a chat. Perfect timing for me to look at yarn!


I don't know of any other yarn shops in Portsmouth other than Seeded. They run regular classes in the shop although I haven't had time to try one yet. I tried taking photos of the interior but it was so busy I couldn't get a clear shot. The plus side of this is that the shop was really busy! It's lovely to see similar people gathered for the same purpose. Alexis who owns the shop generously offered 20% off all yarns except Stylecraft for anyone who signed up for Local Yarn Shop Day at the shop. You can find her website for the shop here.

At the entrance cupcakes and a pile of yarn were sitting either side of the door, not that anyone needed any encouragement to go in. I even managed to capture a patient partner heading out of the shop or potentially a knitter?


Directly inside the shop was a heap of finished knitted items which had been submitted to the competition for the day. The rest of the shop was crammed with yarn in various shelves and nooks and crannies but in a way that you could see everything. There was also embroidery thread and ribbons and haberdashery items.

Alexis was very friendly and organised a raffle ticket for every £10 spent in the shop. I won a tote bag with the shop logo on it in gold. Who doesn't love a good raffle? The shop regulars were chatty and very keen for new local knitters. Within the first five minutes in the shop I was invited to the knit night and also any future dinners and drinks that they organize. This natural friendliness and reaching out to new people is one of my favourite parts of the knitting world. Long may it continue.

Aaaand there may have been a little bit of stash enhancement. Only three balls so fairly controlled and already allocated to projects. #winning!

First was a ball of sock yarn by Regia in dark blue with slim lines of orange. I'm hoping to make a pair of socks for Will for either his birthday in July or for Christmas. I've never knit socks for someone else and I'm looking forward to the challenge.



Next was another ball of sock yarn but with a difference. This is Regia cotton in Tutti Frutti. Again something new to me which is knitting with cotton and also knitting cotton socks. I'm interested to see if cotton can be knitted like normal socks or if it requires a bit more elasticity in the cast on and more stitches. Perfect timing for the hot weather we're having here in the UK. I'm thinking two pairs of short socks would work really well.



Last was a 200g ball (cake?) of Stylecraft Batik Swirl. I was attracted to the colours but had no idea what to use it for. The colourway is poppy fields and when I saw the colour mix it really evoked an image of poppy fields in my head. In a complete coincidence, I borrowed Issue 131 of Let's Knit magazine from my local library and their one ball knit for the month is a shawl using batik swirl and pattern looks nice. Sorted.



Did you go to your local yarn shop on Saturday? Any purchases or new knitting friends?

Have a great week x

No comments:

Post a Comment