After Make Do And Knit

I can’t believe it’s nearly a week since we set off down south to take part in Make Do And Knit though I can still feel the discomfort of being stuck 10 miles from the Bluecoat School on the M62 for 2 and a half hours with my legs crossed trying not to think about running water.

Anyway, having set up on the Friday night we had a really great weekend with the other vendors taking part and the lovely people of Liverpool. This was the first ( hopefully of many MD&K) organised by Susan Crawford, queen of all knits vintage, who also staged a fashion show featuring designs from her book ‘A Stitch In Time’ on both afternoons ( though I managed to miss it on both days)  and the Knitted Poem was laid out in the Chapel; if you ever get a chance to see it in the flesh then take, photos don’t do it justice because is HUGE!

I don’t usually get seduced into making yarn purchases especially when I’m being watched like a hawk by a man who doesn’t ‘get the wool thing’ but I managed to buy 2 absolutely stunning hanks from Babylonglegs, a  3 ply handspun

and a hank of Meriboo, not usually my colours ie it’s not pink, but I thought I’d venture out of my comfort zone a little

Thanks to Susan, Gavin, Helen, Dorothy, Roy and everyone who made Make Do And Knit possible and so enjoyable.

Shall we all do it again next year? . . . .

Being productive . ..

I seem to spend a lot of my time at a laptop keyboard these days ( if you’ve ever seen me type you’ll know why) but this week has been set aside for being productive. I’ll be making new stock of needle cases for Make Do And Knit next month  and finally getting round to making up the pin boxes – honest. Making the cases is a lovely process as I can just whack the music up in the studio ( it’s Stevie Wonder today ) and get out the sewing machine, all that lovely fabric, gorgeous buttons and begin playing. I haven’t done any knitted ones for ages so I’ll be on the 10gg  knitting up fabric for those too, that’ll tone up the bingo wings. When I get to the point of choosing the buttons for each case it really feels like putting the final  touch on something I’ve loved making and hope it’s enjoyed almost as much by whoever receives it.

Here’s to a good week . . .

Make Do and Knit, 27th & 27th March 2010

This is another brilliant event organised by the very talented Susan Crawford of Knitonthenet ( together with some other talented folk ).

It’s a two day knitting and making fair with a vintage feel and as well as fashion shows and a cafe there’ll also be carefully selected retailers offering a wide selection of high quality knitting, spinning, dressmaking and haberdashery supplies. One of the things I loved about working in Jenners on Princes Street some years ago was the old style feel of their haberdashery department, sadly that’s gone along with that particular type of customer service. Bring back department stores like Grace Brothers!

I’ll be at Make Do and Knit with lots of goodies from duppdupp including a new collection of needle & hook cases, buttons, Boye needles & hooks and the hand turned pin boxes that I didn’t quite manage to get onto the website in time for Christmas ~ oops! I’ll also be taking Kitglobal kits so there’ll be a chance for anyone  who doesn’t know how soft our Baby Alpaca is to come and have a feel for themselves. There’s a newly formed Make Do and Knit group on Ravelry so join up here , say hello and spread the word.

Have a lovely weekend all