We all love knitting and crochet but not that many of us love sewing up and our projects sit lonely and ignored waiting to be finished.  Often though it is the finishing that makes the project.  I spend many happy hours knit-picking over the atrocious sewing up of garments in magazines (I may be alone there but I doubt it!) so it's really worth making sure that it's done well.  A neat seam and well sewn-on buttons make all the difference and sewing in ends properly will save much angst later on as they won't come  undone.  Our Sew-Up-Saturdays take the monotony out of finishing off as you can sit with friends and a cup of tea and cake and time will pass more slowly as you sew and snip and finish off those pesky UFOS.  

January 26, 10 am till 1 pm will is the first Sew Up Saturday of the year this weekend so tidy up all of those projects that have been sitting in baskets since before Christmas, bring them along to the shop and start sewing!

It sounds musical but Thrumming has nothing to do with stringed instruments.  It has to do with string of a sort -- the wool variety!  Thrumming a knitted item involves incorporating roving (unspun fleece) into a piece of knitting to make a lovely cosy fabric.

Originally 'thrum' referred to short bits yarn leftover from weaving.  Weavers would use the thrums for stuffing items like pillows and later for making hats and mittens warmer.  These thrums caught and frayed quite easily though so knitters evolved the technique to use roving instead to make lovely cosy items like hats, gloves and, for the more ambitious, jackets or even blankets.

We will be running a workshop on Saturday 2 February to teach knitters how to thrum.  We will provide the materials to make a thrummed mug cosy with materials and patterns available to buy to make bigger projects.

The workshops runs from 10.30 am till 1 pm and costs £35.00 including materials for the cosy.  Just click on the picture  to link to the booking page.
 

I can't believe I haven't written a proper blog since December -- life has been busy!

It's difficult to get away from Brexit at the moment but it did mean that BBC Wales came into the shop this Monday to talk about the effect of Brexit on small businesses.  Nick Servini also took the opportunity to have a chat with some of our knitters and crocheters.  How exciting and terrifying was that!  If you missed our five seconds of fame it is on BBC i-player,https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0by2nt8/bbc-wales-today-evening-news-15012019.

If Brexit is getting you down, the mental health benefits of knitting and crochet are well known, so pop down to your now famous Local Yarn Shop and pick up a new project to see you through the political plotting.