Just want to mention a new informal knitting club being run by my friend (and demon knitter) Ali for anyone in the north/east London area.
some of KnitMonkey's beautiful knitting
It takes place in Cafe Oto, every Friday between 1.30 and 3pm. There’s no charge and Ali will be around to advise, encourage and help with all things yarny - knitting, crochet etc. Bring your own needles and wool and Ali will have books, patterns and other woolly things around for general inspiration.
cafe Oto 18 Aswin St, E8 3DL 0207 923 1231
Ali taught herself to knit about 10 years ago and has rarely been seen without a pair of needles since. Scarves, shawls, jumpers, cardigans, dresses and socks - lots and lots of socks. Basically, anything you ever wanted to ask about knitting she will almost certainly be able to answer.
Almost finished all the bok projects now; favourites so far - the deckchair and the lampshade made from old dress patterns - human-shaped stand optional.
What do you think is in the box in the John Lewis Christmas advert? Maybe a whole bunch of Buttonbag craft kits? All right, maybe not. But, they are one of the best selling craft lines in the store and, as a friend just texted me - they are in three windows in Oxford Street. I am truly chuffed about that. Especially as one of my favourite Christmas memories is getting the bus into town with my Mum and sister to look at the windows on Christmas eve. We started at Selfridges and finished at Hamleys, taking in John Lewis and Liberty’s on the way. I take my children now, but I suspect they are not as excited as I was.
Two lovely ladies from Liberty spent the morning at Buttonbag last week filming Sara, Anna and Mel making an Advent Calendar.
You can watch the brilliantly edited result -thanks to the talented Liberty lasses, Sian and Tash here ……..
If you happened to be walking down Upper Street this morning at 10 o clock, you might have wondered why Islington was heaving with impeccably turned-out, beautifully groomed ladies marching in determined formation towards the Business Design centre when they looked like they would be more comfortable sitting on a horse or fund raising for the local Conservative Party Asssociation.
The answer is the first day of Country Living Christmas Fair. – Even if you are not a horsey-type, let alone a Tory-type, do come down – there’s loads of hand-made stuff and beautiful things. As well as special Buttonbag offers -we are on stand P61 – and you’ll almost certainly meet my dad and stepmum, Murray and Wiz, who are brilliantly running the stand for the fifth-year. (thank-you!!)
Augustine and Maryam, our lovely work experience girls
We would just like to say a big thank-you to the two lovely work-experience students who spent a week in the Buttonbag studio at the end of October.
Everyone here was really impressed with Maryam, who is a year 10 student at nearby Clapton Girls school in Hackney
and Augustine, yr 8, from Wymondham College in Norfolk.
Both were really hard-working, very creative and lots of fun to have in the studio. As well as taking part in the normal Buttonbag production routine, they both made some beautiful embroideries on old denim clothes – one of the recycling projects for the new Buttonbag book, Thrifty Craft. Check out the pictures from the photoshoot in the next blog.
For the last few weeks we’ve been beavering away on a brand new project – our first ever book ( if you don’t count the unfinished novels gathering dust in the attic). It’s all about turning second-hand stuff – the kind of junk you find in charity shops or the back of your wardrobe into beautiful things for your friends, family and home. It’ll involve quite a lot of sewing and lots of other making with wood, paper, old records, crockery, books and glue. It’s being published by the lovely people at Francis Lincoln who do all kinds of gorgeous illustrated books and will be available next summer – providing we get all the projects in by our deadline. Here’s a a taster and I’ll be posting more projects here and on the website as they come up. Sarah
Just recovering from Autumn Fair at the NEC. Hard work, but a great show – we had a fantastic response to the new kits – particularly Madame Jolie and the Advent Calendar – we’ve had to get started on a new batch immediately. We also had some lovely feedback about the design of the stand – we created a tromp l’oeil living room with some vintage wallpaper and a magic marker.
Lots of folk took pictures and said it was their favourite stand of the show. Autumn fair judges take note!!! And to all those people who wanted to know where the paper came from I have now found the details: It’s a great old-fashioned DIY shop that’s been around since long before DIY was invented; EW Moore in 39-43 Plashet Grove
London E6 1AD, tel, 020 8471 9392 www.ewmoore.com.
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