Crochet Sanctuary | Keep Calm and Crochet On U.K

Howdy folks, how are you all? I’ve been in crochet heaven as last week I went to join in the fun and frolics in a weekend stay at The Crochet Sanctuary.

Unbelievably it was their 1st birthday (the mind boggles at the fact that my first visit was a whole year ago). This time I was there for the whole weekend and we were well and truly spoilt as always.

The theme for the weekend was birthdays and unicorns so as you can imagine there was lots of cake, of the crochet kind and the edible kind! There was also a pinata and pass the parcel and bubbles in party bags and just so much yarny fun and laughter!

On the Friday we were given Stitch and Story Miffy slippers to try… I didn’t finish mine. I’ll be honest and say that I fell out a bit with the pattern whilst I was there, it isn’t written in what I would class as a standard format, but the yarn is gorgeous so I may give it another go when I’ve got a bit more time to concentrate!

Then on the Saturday morning we made the fab crochet cupcakes and as Amanda, from the Little Box of Crochet was also attending the weekend, I also got to see the brand new Learn to Crochet Beginners box by Little Box of Crochet. I was very excited to see this box as it’s rather special! It includes one of our Dear Ewe project bags (you can read more about the box on the Dear Ewe blog here).

I’m not just saying it, because it contains a product from Dear Ewe, but it really is a gorgeous box that I wish had been around when I first started crocheting! A full set of lovely ergonomic crochet hooks, gorgeous yarn, scissors and more – what’s not to love!

Then on Saturday afternoon we had a wonderful crochet workshop with the lovely Lindsay from Lottie and Albert.

If you love crochet then I don’t think you can have failed to see (or be inspired by) the rainbow blanket CAL that Lindsay is currently hosting. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen that I’m joining in with a lemon sorbet version…

And for our workshop we were given the choice to create the rainbow blanket or a chunky love heart belly basket.

It was super fun to get a master class from the creator! The first thing I learnt was how much easier it is to wind six balls of DK yarn together standing up rather than sitting down like I did with my yarn ball at home! I would never even thought of it – but sooooo much easier!

We were all given a really pretty pastel pallet of Scheepjes Colour Crafter to work with and I started making the basket…which is nearly finished, I just need to add some pom poms to the front, I love the clever way that Lindsay has created these – which you can find out at the bottom of this post here.

Sunday was spent finishing off our projects and enjoying some good hook and chatter time. I love just watching everyone and seeing how enthused they are with crochet and yarn – definitely my kind of people!

Before I knew it the weekend had flown by and it was time to go home with loads of goodies, including a gorgeous wooden 20mm hook, and an extra special treat of Amanda Bloom’s The story so far book – and as Amanda was there attending the sanctuary I even got my edition signed!

The book is gorgeous, with a lovely tactic cover, and features 15 of the best loved designs from the Little Box of Crochet. I’m seriously going to have to find sometime to make The Woodland Wreath by Kate Eastwood because it’s such a beautiful nod to autumn which I just adore!

So in a nutshell another fabulous visit at The Crochet Sanctuary.! I think you’ll know by know how much I love my visits by the fact I can’t stay away! I can’t recommend how great it is! The atmosphere of the weekend is lovely and we are spoilt rotten by our hosts Lisa and Lynda! Just a wonderful abundance of food, drink, yarn, laughter and of course crochet! I can’t wait to go back again in June!

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

Howdy folks, how are you all? Are you alright? Have you had a nice Christmas break?

It’s been a bit odd at the KCACO.UK house as on the first day of the holiday break we were woken up by my six year old running in to tell us that she was going to be sick…and then her promptly being sick all over the floor! That certainly wakes you up quickly! Since then we just haven’t been able to shake this sick bug but I hear there’s a lot of it going around. Either the baby or, more so, the big one has been sick (usually at 3.30am – what’s with that!) so it’s been a bit of a subdued Christmas and we’ve had to cancel quite a few of our plans which is a shame. Even I haven’t been feeling great – the only one with immunity seems to be my husband, which I’m very thankful for because it would be even more horrendous if all of us were ill at the same time.

That said even though we may not have got dressed on Christmas day, Santa came and brought LOADS of presents for the little ones and some nice stuff for us grown ups and we did manage to have a semi nice day. And luckily we happen to handily have lots of crochet blankets around for snuggling under and some new Christmas movies to watch so we’ve taken some time to rest and try to recuperate.

Looking on the positive side of things I got some FABULOUS yarny gifts! Anyone would think I like crochet or something…

Firstly I got this absolutely gorgeous Scheepjes mango wood yarn bowl which is just sooooo lovely. I absolutely adore wooden things and really wanted a wooden yarn bowl so I was very pleased with this. It’s so smooth and tactile and just super yummy! I love it and I’ve already been using it.

I also got the new Scheepjes Yarn Bookazine ‘Dutch Masters‘ which is also gorgeous (I need more adjectives for gorgeous don’t I; splendid, sublime, delightful – they all work!).

I shall have to do a review of these bookazines for you at some point because after I had my first one from the lovely people at Black Sheep Yarns (the Tropical edition) I had to have them aaaallllll! Glorious patterns, stunning photography and really interesting articles – what’s not to love! So I was really pleased to add the Dutch Masters edition to my collection which came out in October this year.

My other yarn related gifts were some really useful retractable snips, a Stylecraft Batik Swirl in colourway Poppyfields, which is super pretty and not something I’ve used before, a James C Brett Fairy Cake, in colourway FC03 which is lots of blues, very fluffy, and again something I’ve never used before. I was also lucky enough to get the Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies book from Lalylala which I reallllllyyy had wanted so I was super happy to find that under the tree – so look out for reviews of all these once I get round to using them.

And finally I got a joint present for my wedding anniversary and Christmas present; a days pass to visit the Crochet Sanctuary in Cheshire (not that far away from me) in February which I can’t WAIT for! A day off to relax, unwind and crochet – hooray!!! Haven’t I been a very lucky girl!

I have been crocheting off and on throughout the holidays but I can’t show you any of my finished objects as they are Christmas presents still waiting to be given in the main. Though I can share these… I had this idea that I really wanted to make a special amigurumi for both children using the TOFT DK yarn I bought at TOFTfest. If you remember when I went to TOFTfest then you’ll know I started these amigurumi’s back in 2016 so it’s rather disgraceful that it’s taken me this long to finish them but I actually kicked myself into gear and finished them off for Christmas. I made Little G Jack the Macaw from Edward’s Menagerie: Birds and I made Little Miss; Georgina the Hippo from the original Edward’s Menagerie with a tutu accompaniment pattern I got at TOFTfest.

I love how they came out and both children loved their special present from Mummy. I’ll try and do a review of both of the TOFT books in the new year too for those of you that are thinking you might like to make either some animals or birds (or both) of your own.

I’m already busy working on some secret commissions for 2018 – there’s some really exciting projects coming up in the new year that I can’t wait to share with you all.

Until then I’d like to wish those of you that celebrate it…