Giveaway | Win tickets for The Stitch Festival

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Outings, Sale / Special Offer, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

EDITED: Giveaway now closed, congratulations to; Ann C, Tracey L, Charlie P, @Catherinecrochets and @shearsfiona

How would you like to win some FREE tickets to The Stitch Festival which returns to the Business Design Centre, Islington, London from 23-26 March 2023?

London’s hottest event for contemporary stitchers is back! The annual four-day creative extravaganza is a ‘must go’ for craft fans, with more than 230 hands-on workshops hosted by top tutors, designers and makers.

Dressmaking, upcycling and slow fashion are a major focus for The Stitch Festival, with a dedicated Dressmaking Studio (sponsored by Brother), an overlocker workshop programme, and a Dressmaking Competition that shines a spotlight on the skills and talents of home dressmakers. Open to sewists of all levels, there are categories for Eveningwear, Loungewear, Childrenswear, Knitwear and Crochetwear, Upcycled or Repurposed garments, and new for 2023, Menswear.

Two ladies looking at different fabrics at The Stitch Festival — © The Stitch Festival 2023

Eagle-eyed judges from the worlds of fashion and textiles (past judges have included Esme Young, Lisa Comfort and Nerrisa Pratt) will be looking for excellence in technical skills, stitching and creative flair. With prizes for category winners, a Janome Sewing Machine worth £650 for ‘Best in Competition’, and a Finalists’ Fashion Show on Sunday 26 March, Stitch Festival visitors can expect some exciting highlights. Competition entry submissions must be made by Friday 24 February 2023. For full entry information, visit www.thestitchfestival.co.uk/dressmaking-competition/

Portrait of Katie Jones, Crochet Designer surrounded by colourful crochet samples and yarn — © The Stitch Festival 2023 – Katie Jones (Photo by Rachel Manns)

There are yarny things to look forward to too at the Festival. This year crochet designer Katie Jones has designed The Stitch Festival’s Crochet Lounge where she will be hosting crochet lessons and book signings. There are also so many workshops, just search ‘Crochet’ for a list of all the hooky ones – or try your hand at a new craft. In terms of crochet they include sessions on Mosaic crochet, Tunisian Crochet, Broomstick crochet lace and Freeform crochet to name a few.

Textile artist Jen Cable’s project, Knitted Lives, will be a celebration of contemporary knitting, exploring the lives and stories of everyday knitters, while best-selling author and craft entrepreneur, Isabella Strambio, will be inviting Festival goers to awaken their creativity as she shares her passion for macrame.

Image of Knitted Jen Cable by Sophie Hoare — © The Stitch Festival 2023

Looking for inspiration for new projects? The Festival’s Stitch Stage features free demonstrations, presentations and Q&As with some favourite faces from the knit and stitch world. On Saturday 25 March, the Instagram Makers’ Catwalk features garments made and modelled by talented Insta makers, supported by independent pattern makers and fabric companies.

Last but not least, there’s shopping, with more than 150 specialist retailers under one roof and special Stitch Festival deals to be had, plus all that vibrant Islington has to offer with its stores, restaurants, bars and cafes. Hot and cold refreshments are available throughout the venue, with seating areas for picnics.

Although I can’t make it to this particular show, I’ve enjoyed the visits to these Stitching Shows in the past. If you fancy a read about those experiences you can read about them here and here.

So on with the bit you’ve been waiting for! The giveaway details! I’ve got FIVE pairs of tickets to giveaway hurray!!! I’m giving away THREE pairs away here on the blog and TWO pairs away on Instagram.

GIVEAWAY

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is either leave a comment on the bottom of this blog post about why you’d like to go to the show or do the same over on my Instagram post.

The competition closes on Wednesday 1st February at 7pm (GMT). Winners will be contacted via the email supplied from their comment or by DM on social media.

Tickets are valid after 10am on Thursday 23rd, Friday 24^th, Saturday 25^th or Sunday 26^th March. The organisers will not issue paper tickets. Winners will be emailed a link to register online with a unique code per pair of tickets and will receive e-tickets by email. When entering this competition you must be therefore happy to provide me with a your email address for this purpose, your email address will not be used in any other way.

However if you want some tickets now scroll down for an exclusive special offer!

SPECIAL DISCOUNT

Advance adult tickets for The Stitch Festival are £16.50 from Thursday to Saturday (concessions £15, children aged 5-18 years £7.50) – transaction fees apply. Full ticket information is available at The Stitch Festival website www.thestitchfestival.co.uk. Visitors are encouraged to book in advance to avoid disappointment. Opening hours are 10am-5.30pm on Thursday-Saturday and 10am-3pm on Sunday. Visitors are encouraged to book in advance to avoid disappointment.

But if you want your ticket RIGHT NOW I’ve also got a special discount for you! Just quote: CROCHETON23 to get £2 off advance adult tickets /and concessions.

Please note that the discount ends at 23.59pm on Wednesday 22 March 2023.

I’d like to say a big thank you again to the shows organisers for offering this special deal to my lovely KCACO.UK readers!

Good Luck everyone!

Stay connected

I’d love to stay connected with you so please do sign up to blog (below) and / or my mailing list to get a reminder when new blog posts, giveaways, special offers or new pattern releases are available.

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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2Nov2022

Win tickets for The Knitting & Stitching Show Harrogate

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Outings, Sale / Special Offer, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

EDITED: Giveaway now closed. Winners have now been chosen, congratulations to Suzanne, Jill C and Julie here on the blog and @sarahreedscrochetadventure and @made_by_skoo on Instagram!

How would you like a giveaway to win some FREE tickets to the The Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate? If the answers a big woolly and heartfelt yes please – then keep on reading…

The Knitting & Stitching Show is back in Harrogate this year from 17 – 20 November held at the Harrogate Convention Centre.

Meet up with like-minded crafters, discuss ideas, learn new skills and shop for your annual craft supplies all under one roof – it’s the ultimate day out for craft lovers. If craft supplies are on your Christmas shopping wish list, there are hundreds of specialist companies under one roof, selling haberdashery, fabric and patterns, sewing machines and equipment, thread and yarn, craft kits, accessories and more, with on-stand demonstrations and show offers to enjoy.

Whether you’re a knitter, quilter, embroiderer or needle felter, The Knitting & Stitching Show promises inspiration and ideas for every style and stage of stitcher, from complete beginners to experts. Top tutors will be hosting more than 220 hands-on workshops and demonstrations, with a dedicated dressmaking programme and festive, seasonal makes like knitted Christmas gnomes, felted wreaths, fabric baubles and embroidery Robins.

Spectacular galleries by internationally acclaimed textile artists and groups are a highlight of The Knitting & Stitching Show each year. This year’s show is no exception with exhibitions by Aran Illingworth (Hanging on the thread: Portrayal of Poverty), Archana Pathak (Mapping Transience), Maggie Scott (Five Times More), Marcia Bennett-Male (Moments to Myself), The 62 Group at 60 (Essence), Vivienne Beaumont (Seeds, Flowers and Flowing Hair), James Fox, The Quilters’ Guild Collection and Jess Blaustein, the 2022 winner of The Fine Art Textiles Award, supported by The Open College of the Arts. A gallery of winning quilts from The Festival of Quilts 2022 competition includes the stunning Handi Quilter Best in Competition Award winning quilt, Impresión. Tramonto en Venecia, by Inmaculada Gabaldon.

Sure to put a smile on visitors’ faces is the Hawes Yarnbombers’ Knitted Shrek. The group’s members meet every week at their local pub to knit “without being disturbed by husbands, family, work, household chores or the rest of the world” (their words!). After a great deal of hard work, and with a different theme every year, they have created a collection of delightful characters from the popular movie to raise money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Swaledale Mountain Rescue. Hawes Yarnbombers will be encouraging other knitters to give yarnbombing a go to raise money for charity while having fun, and will be on hand with some top tips for first-time yarnbombers.

Although I can’t make it to this particular show, I’ve enjoyed the visits to the Knit and Stitching Shows in the past. If you fancy a read about those experiences you can read about them here and here.

Hot and cold refreshments are available throughout the venue, with seating areas for picnics. Harrogate town centre also offers a wide range of cafés and bars to enjoy, including the famous Betty’s Café Tea Rooms (yum!).

GIVEAWAY

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is either leave a comment on the bottom of this blog post about why you’d like to go to the show or do the same over on my Instagram post.

The competition closes on Monday 7th November at 5pm (GMT). Winners will be contacted via the email supplied from their comment or by DM on social media.

Tickets are valid after 10am on Thursday 17th, Friday 18^th, Saturday 19^th or Sunday 20^th November 2022. This year the organisers are not issuing paper tickets, winners will be emailed a link to register online with a unique code for one pair of tickets. Winners will then need to register online, enter their codes and they will receive e-tickets by email. When entering this competition you must be happy to provide me with a your email address for this purpose, your email address will not be used in any other way.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT

Standard adult advance tickets for The Knitting & Stitching Show, Harrogate are £17.00 (concessions £15.50, children under 18 £8.50) with VIP ticket packages starting at £36.00. Full ticket information is available at The Knitting & Stitching Show website www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/harrogate/. Visitors are encouraged to book in advance to avoid disappointment.

But if you want your ticket RIGHT NOW I’ve also got a special discount for you! Just quote: KEEPCALM22 to get £3 off advance adult tickets (and there’s £3.50 off advance concessions!). Please note that the discount ends at 23.59pm on Wednesday 16th November 2022.

I’d like to say a big thank you again to the shows organisers for offering this special deal to my lovely KCACO.UK readers!

Good Luck everyone!

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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8Feb2022

Win tickets for The Stitch Festival

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Outings, Sale / Special Offer, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

It’s been AGGEESSS since my last giveaway hasn’t it – so I’m quickly going to rectify that now! How would you like to win FREE tickets to the The Stitch Festival at the Business Design Centre, London?

You’d love the chance – well awesome! Just keep on reading…

The Stitch Festival, formerly known as The Spring Knitting & Stitching Show, is the ultimate day out for craft lovers. The Stitch Festival champions creativity with hundreds of workshops, demonstrations, fashion exhibitions, textile installations, as well as exhibitors selling specialist craft supplies.

Highlights of this years show include the fabulous TOFT’s exhibition Making Women Who Made History, which marks International Women’s Day. The exhibition is a celebration of inspirational, brave and talented women, all made in amigurumi. TOFT launched its first design, Emmeline Pankhurst, on IWD in March 2020. I love TOFT yarn and characters so I bet that’s going to be awesome! And there are going to be over 100 other specialist retailers who will be selling yarn, crochet equipment and craft supplies…swoon right!

Although the The Stitch Festival showcases all stitch crafts like sewing, knitting, if you are just there for the crochet there are a range of crochet workshops which include:

Tapestry Crochet: Flower Power Coaster / Diana Bensted
Mosaic Crochet / Diana Bensted
Crochet an Amigurumi Easter Egg / Diana Bensted
Beginners’ Crochet / Debbie Harris
Crochet your own Perfect Sock / Diana Bensted
Freeform Crochet Scumble / Diana Bensted
Crochet a Granny Square Cushion Cover / Debbie Harris
Make a Mini Crochet Shawl / Diana Bensted
Crochet a Spring Inspired Pen/Pencil Holder / Eleonora Cugin

Excitingly this year they also have The Stitch Festival Dressmaking competition is open to all contemporary dressmakers who want the opportunity to share their creations. And it’s not just sewing there is a crochet / knitwear outfit category sponsored by Stylecraft. Basically it could be a chunky knit jumper or a fine knit cardigan, a dress, a scarf or other accessories. Anything goes, but you haven’t long, the entry form with photos must be submitted online by Midday on Friday 11^th February.

Although I can’t make it to this particular show, I’ve enjoyed the visits to them in the past. If you fancy a read about those experiences you can read about them here and here.

It’s so wonderful that craft shows are coming back, I’ve really missed them, but if you are at all concerned or have questions about how the show will work in COVID times The Stitch Festival hold visitor safety as paramount and you can view Immediate Live’s Covid commitment if you have queries about attendance.

GIVEAWAY

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is either leave a comment on the bottom of this blog post about why you’d like to go to the show or do the same over on my Instagram giveaway reel post.

The competition closes on Monday 14th February September at 7pm (GMT). Winners will be contacted via the email supplied from their comment or by DM on social media.

Entry is for any one day on any of the dates of the show (3 – 6 March 2022). This year the organisers are not issuing paper tickets, winners will be emailed a link to register online with a unique code for one pair of tickets. Winners will then need to register online, enter their codes and they will receive e-tickets by email. When entering this competition you must be happy to provide me with a your email address for this purpose, your email address will not be used in any other way.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT

Advance adult tickets for The Stitch Festival are £15.50 (concessions £14.50, children aged 5-18 years £7.50) from Thursday to Saturday. VIP tickets start at £40. Full ticket information is available at The Stitch Festival website www.thestitchfestival.co.uk. Visitors are encouraged to book in advance to avoid disappointment. In the event of pandemic-related cancellation, ticket holders will be offered the choice to transfer their booking to 2023 or receive a refund. Transaction fees will be retained.

But if you want your ticket’s RIGHT NOW I’ve also got a special discount for you! Just quote: KCACO22 to get an adult ticket for £12.50! That’s £3 off advance adults (and there’s £2 off advance concessions!). Please note that the discount ends at 23.59pm on 2^nd March 2022.

I’d like to say a big thank you again to the shows organisers for offering this special deal to my lovely KCACO.UK readers!

Good Luck everyone!

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

11Sep2019

Win tickets for Stitching Show at Ally Pally!

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Outings, Sale / Special Offer, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

It’s been AGGEESSS since my last giveaway hasn’t it – so I’m quickly going to rectify that now! How would you like to win FREE tickets to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the Alexandra Palace?

You’d love the chance – well awesome! Just keep on reading…

If you’ve not heard about the The Knitting & Stitching Shows before, and are wondering if you want to enter or not, they are the UK’s biggest textile art, craft and design events. Events are run in various locations usually four times per year and there are LOADS of exciting features for crochet fans!

But if you dabble in other crafts, alongside crochet, there are things for needle felting to embroidery to dressmaking – in fact pretty much covering every textile craft imaginable. And the show is great for complete beginners, experts or folks somewhere in between, as there are demo’s and workshops to try, or you can just fill your boots looking at all the crafty and yarny goodness!

In fact for this show, in The Creative Living Theatre, there are going to be free, 30-minute demonstrations to inspire future crochet projects including Tapestry Crochet: Fair Isle Techniques with Diana Bensted.

And for those visitors wanting to learn new skills, The Knitting & Stitching Show’s Learning Curve workshop programme is extensive! Offering over 250 workshops with top tutors where crocheters could have the opportunity to learn how to make seasonal snowflakes, Christmas baubles and mini amigurumi monsters or baskets, owls, scarves and fingerless mitts.

And there are over 350 specialist retailers who will be selling yarn, crochet equipment and craft supplies…swoon right!

I’ve attended different shows, and really enjoyed each visit, so I feel that I can tell you about them with experience, but if you want to read my FULL experience of the shows (you may want to get a cuppa before hand) then you can check out when I visited London Olympia earlier this year here or the time I went to the show at the Ally Pally here.

I was excited to see that Italian textile artist and contemporary crochet designer Luisa De Santi, will be showcasing her amazing work again at the Ally Pally.

I was amazed by her extraordinary exhibition when I saw it earlier this year. Magical Crochet Spells features colourful three-dimensional artworks, soft sculptures and jewellery that is just amazing and inspiring! Her work really is something to see – I also got the pleasure of meeting her in person too and she was lovely!

Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to make the show on this occasion, as I already had family plans on this date, but just because I can’t go doesn’t mean that you have to miss out because I’ve got FIVE pairs of tickets to giveaway hurray!!!

Giveaway

The tickets are for redeemable any day except Saturday 12th October for the Knitting and Stitching show at the Alexandra Palace which runs from 10th – 13th October 2019.

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment on the bottom of this blog post about why you’d like to go to the show.

The competition closes on Wednesday 18 September at 7pm (GMT). Winners will be contacted via the email supplied from their comment.

Special Discount

But if you want your ticket’s RIGHT NOW I’ve also got a special discount for you! Just quote KEEPCALM19 and you can save £2.50 on advance adult ticket price (£13.50 instead of £16.00 adult advance/£13.00 instead of £14.50 concessions), plus £1.95 fulfilment fee per transaction (£2.50 for posted tickets).

This discount is for advanced bookings only and can be redeemed before 23:59pm (GMT) on Wednesday 9 October. Tickets can be booked online here or by calling 0844 873 7343 and quoting the discount code. Full Terms and Conditions are available on the show website. Information is correct at the time of writing.

I’d like to say a big thank you again to the shows organisers for offering this special deal to my lovely KCACO.UK readers!

Good Luck everyone! Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

6Mar2019

My visit to Spring The Knitting & Stitching Show 2019

Posted in Blogging, Days Out, Getting Crafty, Inspiration, Life, Outings, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Howdy folks, how was your weekend? Mine was a greatly creative one! Mum and I went down to The Knitting and Stitching Show in Olympia London for a weekend away and we had such fun!

I’m feel that I should start with a photo of one of the showstopping photos I took of The Enchanted Wood by the Norfolk Knitters just to entice you in…

Though you might just want to grab a cuppa before you start to read the rest of today’s post, as it’s a bit of a long one with lots of photos… right…you all sorted..then I shall begin.

Have you ever visited a craft show? For a craft lover it’s like a little slice of heaven! The Olympia London may not be as grand a venue as The Alexandra Palace we visited a couple of years ago (you read about that here) but it was still a jam packed with lots of stitching themed loveliness!

After a uneventful journey from Staffordshire (which is always the best kind of journey) we got to the show about midday on the Saturday which was the third day of the show. All the knitting and knitting show events run for a whopping four or five days so there’s usually plenty of time to attend one (or more) of the show dates.

As we were going to be there for two days we decided to be fairly systematic in our approach – the venue was kind of split into two sections, so we thought we’d spend the first day in one half and the second in the next. This worked out pretty well and we got time to see everything we wanted to and have a bit of time to chat to folks – which is the bit I love!

Guess what! We got to chat with the very lovely Katie Jones of Katie Jones Knit!

If you follow Katie, as I do, on Instagram (KatieJonesKnit) you will know that she’s a lover of vibrant bright designs and bold colour combinations. So as you can imagine her stand was just a fantastic pop of colour…and isn’t her t-shirt just the most awesome thing!

We got to see a close up of her amazing Blooming Bomber (which is a FREE download from Katie’s website)…

and the stunning Casa Kahlo Blanket which I just adore (this is ALSO a FREE download from Katie’s website).

She was such a delight to talk to, she’s done so much and worked with so many different people, and was telling us a bit about her history in the fashion industry and how she’s now concentrating on her Make-It-Yourself collections.

We then thought it best to stop monopolising Katie’s time and go and see some of the other things on offer.

Around the corner from Katie’s stand was the Zandra Rhodes exhibit, which was a showcase of garments celebrating iconic British designer Zandra Rhodes’ 50th anniversary.

Zandra Rhodes is well known for her bold iconic prints and this collection was no exception, really interesting to see these statement pieces up close. So much inspiration!

The next stand I was excited to go and see was the fabulous exhibition from the Italian textile artist and designer Luisa De Santi with her Magical Crochet Spells.

Up close it is just the most stunning work! She was explaining to us that everything she crocheted for Crochet Magic Spells was with sort of embroidery cotton and a 2.5mm (US size C/2) hook! Some of her pieces are really quite big so I can’t even imagine the length of time it took to create them.

Crochet Magic Spells (of which you can buy the book of here from Luisa’s website) is just such a wonderful fusion of crochet and embroidery! She was so kind in taking some time to tell us more about her pieces – she’s such a lovely lady.

Much of her work, she says, is just created in an organic way, she may sketch a rough idea but she just lets her pieces develop and grow into the fantabulous pieces of art that they are. Her work is just so intricate and seeing it all up close it just amazing as you can really see and appreciate all the detail, it really was a magical collection.

Around the corner from Luisa was some of Catherine Kaufman’s sculptures. Catherine is a sculptor but not in a traditional sense as her medium is wool. She spins it and needle felts it into large scale sculptures that are just unbelievable!

We did some more browsing of stalls and then found ourselves at Sue Strafford’s stand. I’ve seen Sue’s name a lot in Let’s Get Crafting Knitting and Crochet magazine so it was really lovely to put a name to a face. And actually my yarn purchase from the show came from her stand!

I completely fell in love with the yarn colourway (by Skein Queen) that she’d used on her Voltage Shawl – so I bought the kit for the yarn (Sue didn’t mind)! The knitting pattern actually hasn’t gone to waste as it went to knitter mum who’s going to have a go at making it (though not with the yarn because that’s all mine!). Just take a look at these beauties!

Meet urban graffiti, charcoal and neon kiwi! Every time I look at them it makes me ridiculously happy! Aren’t they just gorgeous! Sadly I don’t have the time to play with them at the moment, as I’m working on commissions, but I can’t wait till I do! I’m thinking some sort of shawl but the design hasn’t come to me yet!

After all that it was pretty much the end of day one! We’d walked our legs off and needed a bit of a rest! For the start of Day 2 we had already decided we were going to do a workshop.

I always like to take the opportunity at craft shows to try a craft that’s completely different to my own. I’ve found it’s really enjoyable to attempt something I probably wouldn’t otherwise and so that’s how we found ourselves at the RowanDean Embroidery stand.

The workshop was to play around with some techniques that the lovely Katrina from RowanDean has developed in her book Hand Stitched Landscapes and Wild Flowers (available here). And what fun it was! Mum and I spent such an enjoyable couple of hours creating our little wild flower scenes – who knew that french knots could be so addictive!

Both mum and I bought a little hanging hoop in which we can display our finished pieces and once I’ve just added a few more french knots (they really are ever so addictive) I’m going to hang mine above my desk at home.

And now if you were pulled into this post by the Enchanted Wood image at the start then you’ll be delighted to know that, that was our next stop! And can I just say WOW! It was just unbelievable! Fairies, elves, unicorns, gnomes to name a few in a stunning magical knitted and crochet setting.

Everywhere you looked there was something new to see…

A veritable feast for the eyes!

Such a wonderful collection of creativity – and I really also now want to make a crochet tree!

Next it was my complete and absolute delight to meet the one and only Erika Knight! Erika, as you probably well know, is is a highly respected knitwear and crochet designer, who has published more than 20 booked on knitting and crochet. Her designs are always classic yet modern (if that makes sense) and are what I would class as wardrobe staples that you’d get a lot of wear out of. I’ve got to admit I was a bit intimidated to meet her but she’s so lovely!

We were chatting for ages about various things including my goal (to some day) crochet myself a wearable garment, my mum’s crocheted wedding dress and Erika’s love of supporting British manufacturing and wool.

As well as designing Erika also has her own yarn label and she asked me if I’d like to try some yarn that she’s designed especially for crocheters. I squeaked my surprised thank you at her lovely generosity and she allowed me to pick a 50g hank of her Studio Linen to try. I picked the colour Velvet which is a rich, dark heather / auberginy sort of purple.

I’m thinking maybe some lacy summer mitts or maybe a skinny scarf when I get a moment to play!

There’s was so much more than this that we saw over the weekend and so many wonderful other people we met but I think that this blog post is getting quite long enough!

Hopefully you get the general idea about the show and maybe fancy attending one yourself. The Knitting and Stitching Show runs in several venues across the UK with two dates in London each year, the next one for London is in October – you can sign up for the latest news about the shows by subscribing to the newsletter (link on the bottom of the website).

I had my step counter on whilst walking round the event and over the two days we walked the equivalent of 9.6 miles (15.6km) so it was great exercise whilst enjoying ourselves! Aside from the yarn and the frame for my embroidery I bought myself a few bits and bobs including some new scissors, some copies of magazines I hadn’t got, a fun £20 note themed hook case, some material that I wanted and some more safety eyes – I didn’t go too crazy (for once).

Like all the craft events I’ve attended the show is not only about the pretty things I have the opportunity to buy it’s about the people I got to meet. If you get the chance to go to a future Knitting and Stitching Show I can thoroughly recommend it.

Before I finish off this post I’m just going to say a quick thank you to the organisers of the show for my complimentary tickets and goodie bag and for also giving me a press badge – I seriously will never lose the glee of that!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking and keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

24Jan2019

Win tickets to The Spring Knitting & Stitching Show 2019

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Days Out, Getting Crafty, Giveaways, Life, Outings, Sale / Special Offer, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

EDITED: GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED, congratulations to Heidi Bradshaw, Sharon Bowles, Candida Carvalho, Cristiana Alexandra Ferreiro do Vale, Jackie Walter and Michelle Smith!

Hey folks, would you like a chance to win some FREE day tickets to the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show at London Olympia?

I’ve got FIVE pairs of tickets, most generously donated by the shows organisers, for all you lovely readers – plus they’ve also set up a nice discount on ticket prices for anyone that doesn’t win (more about that in a moment).

If you love a good craft show, which of course I do, and you aren’t familiar with the Knitting and Stitching Show then you are really missing something. These shows are the UK’s biggest textile art, craft and design events and the Spring show will open its doors to thousands of crafters for FIVE whole days at London Olympia on Thursday 28 February until Sunday 1 March 2019.

You may remember I went to one of the shows back in 2017 with my lovely mum and we had a blast (you can read about that visit here). So we are going back down to the show together again this year for more crafty fun!

Any hoo, if you want to go straight to the details on how to win tickets scroll to the bottom of this page, if you’ve got a few more minutes I just want to tell you about another couple of things that’s happening at this years Spring show…

I for one am extremely excited to see the amazing work by Italian textile artist and designer Luisa De Santi who is bringing her extraordinary knit, crochet and embroidery work to the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show. Her exhibition called Magical Crochet Spells sounds like something not to be missed out on! I’ve seen some of the photos of her work and it’s just so intriguing!

Lucia creates complex and colourful 3-D modular structures that are amazing and mind-boggling, weird and wonderful all at the same time and I can’t wait to see them in the flesh!

I’m also looking forward to seeing The Fashion and Textile Museum who are hosting a 50 Years of Fabulous. They are doing a showcase with a collection of garments from its forthcoming exhibition celebrating iconic British designer Zandra Rhodes’ 50th anniversary. Although I don’t sew I do admire those that can (and I LOVE The Great British Sewing Bee) so I bet that’s going to be a whole lot of fabulous fun to see!

dame zandra rhodes. photograph by simon emmett. copyright zandra rhodes ltd

I also can’t wait to see the stunning Enchanted Wood – an elaborate scene of
knitted and crocheted magical creatures created by the Louise Hamilton Knit and Yarn Group and Norfolk Knitters and Stitchers. It looks so amazing doesn’t it!

Ooo the more I’m writing about it, the more excited I’m getting! As well as all these exhibits there’s going to be over 150 exhibitors selling specialist craft supplies (including yummy yarn that needs to come home with me), and there’s going to be hundreds of workshops and demonstrations too. I’m still looking at the full workshop list deciding what to do as there are so many I just want to do!

Spend a day re-stocking your yarn stash, learning to knit, mastering the art of tailoring and just so much more. There has never been a better excuse to go to a show – it’s been designed for us to enjoy to the max!

Right enough enthusing from me, I think you get that I’m quite excited about going, let’s get on to how YOU can win tickets to the show…

Giveaway

I’ve got FIVE pairs of tickets to giveaway and the tickets are for redeemable any day except Saturday 2nd March. These tickets are only for the Spring Knitting and Stitching show at the Olympia London which runs from 28th February until 3rd March 2018.

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment on the bottom of this blog post about why you’d like to go to the show. The competition closes on Thursday January 31st 2019 at 7pm (GMT) with the winners being announced later that evening here on the blog. Good Luck Everyone!

Special Discount

But if you want your ticket’s RIGHT NOW I’ve also got a special discount for you! Just quote KCACO19 and get £2 off any advance adult ticket or £1 off any advance concessionary ticket. This means that tickets will be £12 instead of £14/£13 (please not there is a £1.75 fulfilment fee per transaction).

This discount is for advanced bookings only and can be redeemed before 23:59pm on Wednesday 27th February. Tickets can be booked online https://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/spring/ or by calling 0844 581 1319 and quoting the discount code.

I’d like to say a big thank you again to the shows organisers for offering this special deal to my lovely KCACO.UK readers and maybe we will catch up with some of you at the show?

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

21Oct2018

Sincerely Pam and Dear Ewe | Win Triangle Chart Mug

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Dear Ewe, Giveaways, Product Review by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

So regular readers of my blog know that, as well as doing crochet design work, this year I set up the company for creative folk called Dear Ewe. Well I felt that I just wanted to share our first product review by the lovely Canadian crochet designer and blogger Pam (aka Sincerely Pam).

We know that people like to hear about products from actual people, so we are very excited to have received such a lovely review from Pam. As a new business it obviously means the world to us that people like our products!

You can read Pam’s full product review post here – and excitingly you could enter her prize draw to win your very own Triangle Chart mug. Entries for the giveaway are direct through Pam’s blog – winner will be selected on October 24, 2018.

We were also delighted to be part of her Makers Maven series with an interview where we shared a bit more about us and how Dear Ewe got started.

You can read the full interview here and learn how gin was an integral part of the beginning of Dear Ewe and how Becky and I work together as a team as well as being friends.

To keep up with more Dear Ewe news you can follow us on the Dear Ewe BLOG, FACEBOOK, or INSTAGRAM.

PLUS make sure you check out the blog post about the ‘Sheep on a Shelf’ Crochet Competition which will run from December 1st-12th 2018 and is going to be so much fun!

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

31Jan2018

And the winners are…The Spring Knitting & Stitching Show 2018

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Days Out, Outings, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Is everyone ready! We have have ourselves some winners…but first I’d like to say thank you to everyone that submitted an entry, I really enjoyed reading your reasons why you’d like to attend and / or who you’d like to go to the show with. And we also have to say a big THANK YOU to lovely people from the Knitting and Stitching Show for providing the ticket prizes.

So without further ado the winners are…

Samantha Wormleighton
Libby
Posydog1
Peter B
Cheryl Gardner

Congratulations my lovelies! I’ll be in touch today to request your contact details so that the tickets can be posted out to you.

And to everyone else sorry if you didn’t win this time but there’ll be more giveaways and special offers for you coming soon (if fact later today!)

And don’t forget the special discount for tickets still applies. Just quote KEEPCALM18 and you can save £2 on advance adult ticket price (or £1 for concessions) which makes the tickets £11.50 instead of £13.50/£12.50). You can buy tickets here or call 0844 581 1319.

I’d like to say a big thank you again to the shows organisers for offering this special deal to my lovely KCACO.UK readers!

23Jan2018

Win tickets to The Spring Knitting & Stitching Show 2018

Posted in Competitions, Crochet, Outings, Sale / Special Offer, Yarn Show by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

It’s giveaway city here at KCACO.UK headquarters! Next week I’ve got my big blog birthday giveaway starting and this week I’ve got FIVE pairs of tickets, kindly donated by the lovely organisers of the Knitting and Stitching show, to giveaway to KCACO.UK readers!!!

The Knitting & Stitching Shows are the UK’s biggest textile art, craft and design events and the Spring show opens its doors to thousands of crafters at Olympia London on 1st – 4th March 2018.

From crochet to needle felting, embroidery to dressmaking, there are over 200 workshops and free demonstrations hosted by expert tutors, covering every textile craft imaginable. Whether you’re a complete beginner, an expert or somewhere in between, there is something for everyone, and with nine workshop classrooms, it’s the biggest Spring show programme ever.

You can read all about my visit last year to the Ally Pally here (it’s a bit of a long post so make a cuppa first) – but in a nutshell it was really, really fab and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to make the show at Olympia London (sad times) so I’ll be living vicariously through everyone else that attends…and of course if there’s any beautiful hand-dyed yarn that you want to send my way…

Have you heard about the campaign for creativity? It’s the aim to provide more and better opportunities at school for children to be creative and to think creatively, there’s a petition you can sign here, but the The Spring Knitting & Stitching Show are hosting a wall of embroidered signatures as a visual representation of the Creativity Petition. They are asking crafters to get creative and send your stitched signature (this can be crocheted, embroidered, knitted, cross-stitched, the more creative the better) to be added to their wall of signatures. Alternatively if you are attending you can bring your stitched signature to the show yourself. To find out where to send signatures to see the link here and don’t forget to share your crafty creations on social media and encourage others to get involved by using the #campaignforcreativity

Also this year the Spring Knitting and Stitching Show are hosting an all crocheted and knitted afternoon tea competition in partnership with Betty Blythe Vintage Tea Rooms. They are challenging visitors to crochet or knit any item you would find in a traditional English tea room, think knitted scones and jam, crocheted Prosecco flutes, cucumber sandwiches, tea sets and more.

You can use a pattern or design your piece yourself. To find out more about the competition see the full details here.

Right let’s get on to how you can win tickets to the show shall we!

Giveaway

The tickets are for redeemable any day except Saturday 3rd March for the Spring Knitting and Stitching show at the Olympia London which runs from 1st – 4th March 2018.

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment on the bottom of this blog post about why you’d like to go to the show. The competition closes on Tuesday, January 30th at 5pm (GMT) with the winners being announced later that evening here on the blog. Good Luck Everyone!

Special Discount

But if you want your ticket’s RIGHT NOW I’ve also got a special discount for you! Just quote KEEPCALM18 and you can save £2 on advance adult ticket price (or £1 for concessions) which makes the tickets £11.50 instead of £13.50/£12.50). You can buy tickets here or call 0844 581 1319.

I’d like to say a big thank you again to the shows organisers for offering this special deal to my lovely KCACO.UK readers!

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

27Nov2017

A pretty amazing weekend actually…

Posted in Crochet, Days Out, Life, Outings by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Although I’m currently a bit under the weather and feel like I have been like that for months (I blame little people and their germs) I need to tell you about the weekend before last as it was pretty fan-dabby-dozy and I shall tell you why in a rather longer than usual post.

Back in October, when I was down at the Knitting and Stitching show in London, I got chatting with the lovely Sara from Black Sheep Wools who told me about a special open day they were holding in November.

To celebrate becoming Scheepjes stockists they had arranged for Haak Maar Raak blogger Kirsten (think the Hygge Shawl) and Look at What I Made blogger Dedri Uys (think Sophie’s Universe) to come along and chat to people, sign books and run mini workshops. Well after discovering that Black Sheep Wool are only about 50 minutes up the motorway from me I marked the date in my calendar to go along because yarn plus chance to meet amazing designers equals no brainer right?!

If you’ve never been to Black Sheep Wools it’s a big yarn shop (with it’s own coffee shop) in Warrington who regularly hold yarny events and workshops in their craft barn. For me it was a little bit like stepping into a sweet shop – and I do so find it hard to resist squishy goodness…but more on that in a bit.

So with my lovely mum in tow (and my dad – but he read his book in the car) we set off early last Saturday morning to Warrington. When we first got there the bloggers hadn’t arrived yet which was actually handy as I got time to squish and browse. I feel I must just bring your attention to the Christmas tree in the store foyer because I’m sure like me you will feel that you need it in your life! It had been decorated, amongst other things, with all the little Scheepjes Catona Cutie Pies and looked fantastic!

But it wasn’t long before I got to have a complete fan girl moment and meet the lovely Dedri and Kirsten. Now you may recall that Dedri was my first ever designer interview (which you can read it here) but we had never actually met in person.

When Heather met Dedri!

It’s so nice to finally meet someone that you have only met virtually and I’m going to add quickly, in case any of you have done it too, that all this time I’d not realised that I’d been saying her name wrong! In case you were wondering Uys isn’t pronounced ‘yus’ as I’d been saying it but should be pronounced more like ‘ace’. And whilst we are talking about pronunciations Scheepjes I also learnt should be said like ‘Shape-yuz’ not ‘Sheepes’!

When Heather met Kirsten…

Both bloggers were so nice, open and helpful, answering all my many questions and offering really good advice on ways of looking at colours, designs and blogging! They also kindly signed a couple of my books that I took along (Amamani Puzzle Balls by Dedri and Bold Baby Crochet: 30 Modern & Colorful Projects for Baby collated by Dedri and features Kirsten).

Next mum and I took part in a mini workshop by Kirsten to make her fab Scandinavian Heart (get the free pattern here) with some yummy Scheepjes Catona.

Mum and I both decided to go for Christmassy sort of colours and had great fun making little yarn jellyfish to weave together to form the heart. It was really nice sitting crocheting and chatting about crochet in a little group.

But conscious that Dad was still sitting in the car (he was still happily reading) and we’d already been there for over three hours we decided it was probably time to leave. But of course as there there was soooooo much lovely yarn to squish and as it was a Scheepjes open day I thought it would be really rude of me not to purchase maybe a little something…

I know! I know! I have a yarn addiction! I must hasten to say at this point that although it may seem that all I do is buy nothing but yarn I promise that everything I purchased was / is all for specific projects!

And some of it was a lovely gift! Because I was one of the first 50 customers in store I also got an exciting Schjeepes goody bag in which I got the purple Schjeepes Catona (this is fast becoming one of my favourite yarns to use for my ami’s), the really inspirational Schjeepes YARN Bookazine Tropical Edition (which I LOVE by the way), two mini Schjeepes YARN pattern books, the big Schjeepes window sticker and two great Schjeepes wooden buttons.

The next day mum and Dad came back round to my house to look after the girls as Mr. KCACO.UK and myself were off for a spa day! I know! Sooooo exciting! You may remember that this year we had celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary and as I gift I bought us a spar day. We usually aren’t so extravagant as this with gifts but ten years – it’s an achievement well worthy of a bit of a special gift.

We ended up going to Mottram Hall in Cheshire which has an outside sort of spa bit with a hot tub and steam rooms. It was so strange to be sitting outside in a swimming cozzie in November but it was really fun, they’d decorated ready for Christmas and I have to say their tree’s were pretty amazing ranging from Harry Potter themed to Alice in Wonderland (which was my favourite).

We also had fantastic back massages and enjoyed a most delicious afternoon tea.

All too soon the weekend was over and it was back to reality with a Monday-ish bump. But cake, back massages, crochet and yarn – it doesn’t get any better than that really does it!

Until next time folks! Happy hooking, keep calm and crochet on my friends xx