The New Wool Stock Just Keeps Coming!!

Another huge delivery of wool has descended on Create and we are very busy trying to fit it in!! This time its the Sirdar and Sublime! We have ordered loads of the new colours plus some new lines. Lots of new colours in Sirdar's Baby Bamboo, Escape Dk, Crofter DK and Big Softie as well as the new line Crofter Chunky. Crofter is a self patterning yarn which gives a look of fairisle without the work! The DK range has been really successful so am sure the Chunky is going to go down a storm. And in Sublime we have new colours in the Organic DK wool, Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK and the Extra Fine 4 Ply Merino. They look sooo beautiful. We have also brought in the Sublime Luxurious Woolly Merino - a gorgeously soft, subtly textured yarn that creates the most exquisitely luxurious knits to wrap yourself in natural, gentle warmth. Made from extra ordinarily soft Australian merino wool and has been created in the most beautiful palette of velvety winter shades AND is machine washable!!! I have already been modelling (well wearing!!) a jumper in this wool and have had loads of great comments about it - some from non knitters asking where I bought it from and could I knit it for them.
Anyway better go and dig Charlotte out from under the wool - she has been sorting it out all morning!!

Emma

We just love Debbie Abrahams' Courses!!!

Well Debbie Abrahams was back into Create yesterday to teach a full quota of eager students "Professional Finishing Techniques". You can see a few of them on the photo working very hard before Debbie allowed them to break for lunch!! Apologies this course hasn't been advertised on our website its just that it has been full for ages. Anyway everyone seemed to get a lot out of the course and were in fact asking us to run Professional Finishing part two as soon as possible!! Debbie brought in one of her lovely blankets (picture above). It was gorgeous. Its out of her book More Blankets and Throws. We have Debbie back in a couple of weeks to teach Fairisle and Intarsia which again am afraid is fully booked! BUT we do still have a couple of places left on Design your own knits (details on our website www.createcafe.co.uk) but I really would get in fast. Managed to get 4 more dates in the diary for 2010! but will post details as soon as we have fixed what we are going to run on those days. It was more a matter of getting in quick as Debbie seems sooooooooo busy.

We have Anne Makepeace back in next Monday to run Learn to Crochet - we were so over subscribed for the last one that we put this one in to satisfy the reserve list! However there are still some spaces left so let us know if you want to come along. Can highly recommend it as have taken this one myself and loved it. Have knitted for ages but never crocheted and really felt I had got the hang of it (well the basics!) after the day. Miranda had to run around doing all the coffee making and lunch preparation that day as hardly left my chair or put down my crochet hook - I was that hooked!!!!!!!!

Well not long now and I mean very very soon we will be announcing the launch of www.createwithwool.co.uk - so exciting. Anyway more to follow.

Emma

Gorgeous Cardigan in KidSilk Haze

I just love this cardigan!!!! Carol who is an amazing knitter and knits a lot of our samples at Create brought this in for us last week. The pattern is in the new Rowan Magazine (Number 46) and is called Wentworth. As you can probably tell it is a Kaffe Fassett design. Don't think the photos do it justice as it really is beautiful, a wonderful mix of colours! Ours is slightly adapted to the one in the book just to incorporate all the colours we have in Create - a vast array I can assure you!!

Pretty much as soon as Carol brought it in I whisked it away with me on a trip down south to visit friends (including a wedding and a 40th Birthday party - very hectic!). It got a lot of admiring comments. One of the days I took my daughter into London. We spent the majority of the time in Hamley's but we did make it to Trafalgar Square and saw the famous plinth where Anne Makepeace (a Rowan Consultant who takes some of our knitting and crochet courses in Create) stood with her knitting. Can't say there was anyone quite so interesting when we were there. We also went into the National Gallery and I can quite honestly say my cardigan did not look out of place amongst the Masterpieces!!! Anyway it is now proudly displayed in Create for you all to see.

Summer holidays are pretty much over. I find it sad when all the kids go back. The weather has certainly turned as well just to remind us that the summer has gone. Well at least I can get out my warm knits, put our new wood burning stove on and settle down with my knitting!

Emma

Ba T'at Wool Names

This is a blog particularly for MerrySusan who has been asking for the names of the beautiful Ba T'at sock yarn featured on Emma's blog in August - apologies for the slowness in our reply but I think I have managed to work out the names of the skeins shown, but I will get another photo taken with them all in a row and named since the colours have not come out brilliantly. Bottom left skein (Reddy/browns) is Cranberry; The bluey/green one next to that is Wharfe; the reddy/brown one above Wharfe is Cranberry again; on bottom row next to Cranberry is Fun Fair (Blues/greens/ reds); Green/pink one is Rhubarb; Blue/red/pink one on right hand side is Watercolour and the Dark red/purple is Bilberry Crush. Hope that helps a bit! Will get camera in today and will post new photo as soon as possible.

Miranda

Media Fame and Another Knitted project!!

Well Create has been featured in the Ilkley Gazette today. They came in and took photos while we had the pottery wheel working and the kids throwing some amazing pots last week. Here is the link to the article on line - Ilkley Gazette.

We are hoping to set up after school Children's Art Classes starting after the October break which will include learning to throw pots as well as other art forms - information to follow. We are also going to be running a 10 week course on Learn to Sew for ages 7 plus again after the October break - we have got loads of great sewing projects to do. So when we finalise the days they are running we will let you know and put them on our website.

Well here are the pictures of my latest knitted project! Its a sort of mobile and yes they are birds!

The pictures show it hanging in Create and one of it laid out flat. We painted the beads at Create that you can see, which makes it a very original piece of work!! Anyway you can see it proudly presented at Create for a short time and then I am going to give it as part of a gift for my goddaughter at her christening. Her name isn't the one shown but for secrecy purposes have disguised the true owner!!! Sure if the parents are reading this blog they will guess its for them as I haven't been made Godmother to too many children this year!

The pattern is in Erika Knight's beautiful new book - Natural Nursery Knits. Miranda has knitted the rattle from there which she showed in an earlier blog. I knitted the birds and the covering on some of the beads in Rowan's Fine Milk Cotton - which is such a soft beautiful yarn - joy to knit with. Anyway I am really pleased with it! I wonder what my goddaughter will make of it in years to come .............! Guarantee there will never be another like it though!

Its knit night in Create tonight which I am looking forward too as need a bit of help with my new knitting project. Trying to stretch myself with this one but it may be a little tooo far! Do have some others to finish off, so it may not be the next project, I post in fact it maybe years before you see it! Miranda is back off holiday now so it will be good as it will be the first evening we have had together since the summer holidays started. Bit of gossip to catch up on. Anyway anyone is welcome to our knit nights - we have them every other Thursday from 7.30 and quite often there is wine - helps with the knitting I find and definitely with the chatting!!! Give us a call if you are interested in coming along - any standard of knitter is welcome.

Emma

Emily's first knitted item! Busy Saturday at Create!

Emily is one of our teenagers that works very hard at Create at the weekends and I am very proud to present her first knitted item (well maybe second think she did a sheep for her first!) Emily has had very little guidance from us, borrowed a book and taught herself. She has knitted the elephant in Adriafil Knitcol which is a self patterning 100% wool. Looks great!!

Had news of the A'level results and were very good! Off to their chosen universities.

Very busy at Create this weekend, a lot of pots painted and wool sold! We had a great group in on Saturday afternoon. They all came in to paint a 4 inch tile each to give to their parents / grandparents for their Ruby Wedding Anniversary. There were 20 of them (10 children, starting at a couple of months old and 10 adults). The parents arrived not knowing what was going to happen. Thought it was such a lovely idea and they produced a great selection of tiles. Here is a picture of some of them before they go in the kiln. The colours look quite dull at the moment but once they have been glazed and fired they will be shiny, bright and very colourful. They are going to put them all together as a picture.

One more week of summer courses - learn to sew, quilling, wet felting a small bag / ipod cover and pin felting and of course pottery painting - should be fun.

Anyway till next time

Emma

Beautiful Painted Pottery Jug

Just sooooo love this jug that one of our very talented staff painted for me this week. Charlotte has just finished an art foundation course and is off to Newcastle to do an art related degree. She has been working part-time at Create for over 3 years now. Hopefully we aren't saying goodbye as we seem to (luckily) get our staff back during the holidays.

Anyway she painted this up for me as I am off to a wedding next weekend and this is part of my gift. Its a good thing that we wrote a message on the bottom or I may have kept it!!!

On tender hooks at the moment waiting to hear how some of our other staff have done in their A'Levels. I think we are incredibly lucky at Create to have such a great crowd of staff who work for us part-time, after school, weekends or holidays. Some of them have been with us since we set up. They are all really hard working, committed, cheerful and talented.

We had a lot of people into Create today for the enamelling which was great. Think a few sorted some Christmas pressies out! Very organised and am sure those grandparents are going to love them!

Anyway better get back to my knitting I am soooo close to finishing off my next project!

Emma