Tuesday 8 March 2011

Needing some inspiration


Did you all have a lovely, blissful weekend? I hope so xox  

It was a busy but lovely one for us, we wallowed in Friday night, went to give almost 1 year old Annabelle her present of home knitted bunting (her birthday is tomorrow so it won't be opened until then) and then after Alice's ballet jetted to Brighton to pick up Papa and spend the night at Granny's house. Sunday was gorgeous with sunnyshine and blue skies and heavenly warmth from the earth. These last 2 days have been so heavenly too, I feel a real spring in my step when it FEELs like spring.

Not sure about your but all my senses need to be stimulated to evoke a feeling / memory. So not only am I greedy for seeing buds appearing, flowers awakening and scents wafting. I need to feel the sun, smell the warmth, hear the birds chirping and taste the joy of spring :0)


A little tiny bit of retail therapy was done for a quick 1hour trek into Brighton town on late Sunday morning and a little visit to here was called for...


Have you got a Cath Kidston shop near you ? I have one 45 minutes drive north of me in Tunbridge Wells and 1 hour drive away to the West of me in Brighton and it's not that often I get a chance to potter in one of her lovely shops. I tend to buy things that are super reduced in the sales or small bits and bobs for adding to presents and sometimes I come away a little inspired (sorry CK but especially after seeing some of the prices and being a wee happy hooker myself)

So firstly I spotted these crocheted tea cosies for a cool £20 !
Love love love pink and green together, not sure if I could replicate the parrot but some flowers might do.

  
And then there were these for £18 ! Such pretties for the spring time me thinks.


I think it's time to get my hook out again and see what I can come up with ?

And then there were these gorgeous soft cotton waistcoats in delicious colours, so very beautiful but so very much too money for my purse at a cool £68, it did however remind me of the very creative and clever Julia Crossland who has been inspired by a picture of this waistcoat in last month's Country Living magazine and is creating her very own version! She hope's to make a pattern too so I am watching this space with bated breathe xox


One more


If your purse can afford it, you can of course purchase it here

We did make a little purchase for a little someone called Alice who has been pleading for a CK umbrella for sometime now and she is best pleased with her new acquisition and is hoping for rain.....charming :0)


In the meantime, I'm knitting my very first lacey beanie hat which is knitted lace for beginners really as it's something I've wanted to try for ages but just could not find a simple easy pattern to understand until I found this one. It's not very
complicated, just easy for building confidence in all those psso's !!!

I'm using a teal colour of alpaca 4ply yarn which is super soft and will surely keep those last winter chills away before we can go out without layers on (can't wait...layers drive me crazy).


Hopefully this will be finished soon before I attempt a crochet tea cosy and I'll let you see my efforts at lacey knitting.

Hope you all have an inspiring mad march hare week xox


11 comments:

  1. I would love to visit a CK shop but we don't have one near,we do have a shop that sells a few CK bits. I agree the waistcoat is beautiful, I may have a go at that myself.
    Tell Alice she is a very lucky girl, Lucie has been after one of these for ages. xx

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  2. Some lovely CK goodies and yes the fabric is. xXx

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  3. wow - that tea cozy looks pretty easy to hook up..

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  4. an exciting trip! We don't get much CK stuff here, only a few smellies in some of the very designer shops... those tea cozies do look easy to hook! You'll have to have a try, and yay for walking away with inspiration!
    I'm impressed you're knitting with 4ply, I think I'd find it boring, but exciting to knit with alpaca, I'm getting quite interested in it here and have a 4ply blend on layby at my LYS I'm thinking of turning into my first pair of socks!!! oooh! One of the other LYS's in town got in the whole range of misti alpaca from Peru, you might get it too at one of your shops, the colours are gorgeous but at $25 for 100gm I left it behind!!!! (it was hard but i managed!) your hat is going to be lush and try the lifeline if you need to, it's like training wheels and I'm sooooooo thankful for mine!!! he he
    Have a lovely week XXX

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  5. Oh I just re-read my comment and meant that 4ply would be boring for me because it would take ages and I need instant gratification or I'll drop a project halfway!!!... don't you hate it when you write something and then it reads rudely!!! oooh!!! Sorry!!! tee hee

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  6. What lovely things! Our nearest CK is about 7o miles away but there are some local shops that stock some things.
    Love your collage header!

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  7. Hi Penelope
    I've only been to one C K shop in Liverpool when I had to do a quick dash for a new passport (another story!) I'm not that keen actually. Don't get me wrong I love the designs but all a bit of a cliche and contrived and sooo expensive. I'm sure you could come up with something more original.
    Enjoy the end of the week.
    Jo x

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  8. Ooohh! What gorgeous baby bunting, what a fab gift, it's GORGEOUS! Those tea cosies are just mouth watering aren't they. Luckily us crocheters can create our own, very satisfying feeling isn't it?! Love Vanessa xxx

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  9. Hi Penelope, I love your bunting, very very cute! Love your creations as always! Those cozies look so lovely, hope trying it one day! :) Have a great day, ! x

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  10. I luckily have one about 10 minutes walk from my house in Chichester... although it's not so 'lucky' for my bank account as unlike you, I cannot resist buying things. Even though half the time, I could probably make something just as lovely myself..!! It's just so tempting to buy the CK goodie's and have them in my hands right away rather than having to wait for me to finish them..! Lovelyyy blog by the way xxx

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  11. I am sooooo jealous! I would love to step into a CK store! ~Kelly

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