nest

It was with great excitement that this morning I visited the new knitting shop around the corner from my flat. Nest is not only just a few minutes walk away but is full to brimming of fabulous yarns that I have not seen sold in other bricks and mortar shops.

I love the way the shop has J C Rennie yarn on cones, which you can buy spun off into little balls of the exact weight that you need and wrapped in beautiful brown paper nest labels (above).

Other exciting stock is malabrigo yarns, (including Rasta and Lace which are both used in Linda Permann's Pebble hat in the Christmas issue of Inside Crochet) Drops yarn and patterns and British based John Arbon, Skein Queen and Fyberspates.

I was also saved from a trip into town by purchasing some lovely black and gold beads for a crochet project, which you can buy by weight (60p for 10g - very reasonable!) and was tempted by hello kitty buttons and vintage knitting books, maybe next time!

I spoke to Amy, one of the owners of the shop and her young man (who was clad in a very fetching hand made jumper) who are very friendly and I

have already heard tales of groups sitting down with tea

to knit and natter so I am thinking that this is going to be a cosy, must-see destination for North London knitters very soon - get down there while it is still quiet and they have plenty of stock!

While all of this is definitely a good thing, I can see myself frequently popping out for some groceries and ending up with armfuls of yarn and no dinner. Temptation should never be placed this close, to your doorstep!

loop grows up

Last weekend loop finally made the much anticipated move into its new premises on Camden Passage, Islington. I went along to the grand opening to see how the beautiful yarn shop has matured.

When the first shop in Cross Street opened five years ago I was working in the shop and I thought that launch was packed and busy. However, the opening of the new, bigger store saw queues out the door and the ground floor heaving, which just goes to show how the little yarn boutique has grown to become one of the best-loved stores in London.

Loop now has four floors; one for storage, two for the loverly yarn and a basement for all sorts of exciting classes and events. There is even a small courtyard out the back! I cannot wait to attend all the wonderful happenings which Susan has planned for the shop.

She has, yet again, decorated the store beautifully, with surprising yet sophisticated colour choices for the features and fittings, a shed load of stunning reconditioned secondhand furniture and samples and products placed as if they were works of art.

I personally loved the weird yellow-y woodwork and picture rails and the striped carpet on the stairs - I cannot resist a stripe, especially a rainbow coloured one!

There are now lots of comfy chairs to recline in downstairs while you peruse the yarns, and a table upstairs for congregating round and knitting while meeting yarny friends; the only things that Loop Mark I was really missing.

After a few pieces of yummy cake and a glass of refreshing Pimms, I decided to not to brave the queue, but returned later in the week

to purchase some scrummy yarn for a few new projects - any excuse to make a repeat trip!

I love the new loop and am excited to see what new yarns Susan is sure to start stocking to fill up all the available space!

If you want to make a trip to the new loop, be sure to check out my earlier post about all the wonderful independent shops in the area so you can make a day of it.

i knit london

I am very ashamed to say that until last week I had not made a visit to the infamous I Knit London store in Waterloo. I should hang my head in shame as a London based knitter, but I finally made it on Friday, after an epic bus journey across town through multiple roadworks (next time I shall get the tube!)

It is a small yet packed to brimming store, full of fun, bright, colourful and interesting yarns, products, samples, books and much more. I loved seeing George the sheep in person, clothed in what seemed like hundreds of skeins of Colinette Point Five in rainbow hues and placed in the prime spot in the window.

As per usual, I cannot leave a yarn store without a purchase, and seeing as I have finally succeeded in reducing my stash after an epic move, I settled on these wonderfully sweet Lego stitch markers by Bothered Owl.

I think I saw them first on the Stitch London newsletter and have been meaning to buy some for ages. They take me right back to my childhood, recalling hours spent following instructions for making houses, cars and spaceships. I also end up loosing so many stitch markers when I am knitting in the round - they pop off at the end of the round and disappear down the side of the sofa - I am hoping these will be big enough to spot! Ah well, if I lose any of these, it shall just be an excuse to pop back to I knit!

prick your finger

Finally, after months upon years of promising to visit, last week I made it to Prick Your Finger in Bethnal Green. A yarn shop with a difference, the owners Rachel and Louise built all the shop fittings themselves, spin some of the yarns and try where possible to support British designers and yarn companies. It is filled with trinkets, button jars, scraps of fabrics, wonky creations, needles, hooks, spinning wheels and even a little studio out back. This leads to the shop having a friendly and welcoming atmosphere with an ecclectic, eccentric feel and you cannot help but come out with a smile on your face.

The yarns from companies such as Tait and Style (above) and Jamiesons are displayed unconventionally, presenting them in their full glory, hanging from walls allowing their pretty hues and interesting texures to be admired easily.

Below are some of the unique yarns spun in the shop in short runs from unusual materials such as fabric and cassette tape, ensuring if you knit yourself something from these, you will not see its like anywhere else. With this and the shop's thrifty 'make it and mend it' attitude, there are no embarrassing matching party outfit worries here!



Ribbons tumble from drawers in some kind of colourful organised chaos which just adds to the shop's quirkiness...

The sales desk is a display cabinet filled with 'sock specimens' and topped by jars of thimbles, spools of thread, crocheted creatures, a bell jar showing off free-form crochet foliage, a massive pin cushion and all kinds of other nik naks.

I wondered if the girls know where eveything is, or if things kind of find their own little space in the charming clutter and get lost there in their own world....I almost imagine this shop as a kind of Bagpuss & Co, where, when there are no customers around, the little toys and creatures come to life and help Rachel and Lousie with their spinning, darning and knitting while singing a little song....

Oh, how I wish that were true! As A toy maker myself I have a strange kind of affinity with these little characters, with their own individual personalities and I adored the crocheted reptiles and amphibians hanging from the ceiling and the massive crocheted hedgehog with needles for prickles.

With so many lovely things to look at and with my self imposed eleventh commandment; Thou shalt not leave a yarn shop without making a purchase, at the front of my mind, I succumbed to this Money For Old Rope yarn. I was drawn to the defined ply and washed out lilac colour. Hopefully this will be whipped up into a floor cushion in no time at all! Will post the first pictures of it here, in the meantime, make sure you take a trip to get your finger pricked.

P.s. There is also a fab cafe round the corner, the Gallery Cafe which you can catch your breath in afterwards. I have written a little about it here.