Stitches & Cream in Falmouth

Well hello my lovely ones. How are we all? Crikey this warm weather has been bonkers. Can’t quite believe the temperature. I have a funny feeling it’s going to turn now, so I am not going to say much more. I wonder if winter woolies will be out soon?

I hope you are all well and are having a good start to September. My little ones are now at school and are doing well. Can’t quite believe my boy is finally at school. Crazy. Definitely missing his wonderful bouncy nature and cheerful energy around the house. It’s definitely quiet in the day now. I’m hoping it’s going to mean that I have a little more time on my hands now to concentrate on some serious yarny things. I have so many patterns that are nearly ready to be published, but just need a little tinkering and a bit of my time. So hopefully I will be able to share those with you soon.

Before the start of school, we had a much needed trip down to sunny Cornwall. We love Cornwall and Devon. They seem to call us every year and this holiday didn’t disappoint. We were lucky with the weather, so a lot of the time we had trips to the beach and evenings crabbing on the quay. Definitely a well earned rest for all of us.

I even managed quite a lot of knitting and crocheting, which was rather nice. I realised one of the days, I had quite a lot of yarny things with me at the beach. Whoops. You can’t have too much, surely.


Now, I wanted to share with you my new rule about holidays. (I think it’s a good one, so hopefully you will like it.)

If you are lucky enough to go on your holibobs, you have to visit the local yarn shop! (See, I told you it was a good one!!)

My thinking is, that you always sample the local delicacies and the yummy local produce, so why not the local yarn shop. So with this rule in mind, I had the absolute pleasure of visiting Stitches & Cream in the beautiful town of Falmouth. Oh my, what a treat it was.

My dear Mother-in-law had told me about it, a few weeks before, so I already had an inkling that I needed to visit this particularly shop. Now I have been to Falmouth before, but when you get off the little ferry, we have always walked left, rookie error, as this particular wonderful shop was to the right. Ooops.

As soon I saw their window display, I knew it was a good one. You just get that feeling don’t you. I mean, don’t get me wrong, if I see a yarn shop, I always go in. But they either hit the mark or they don’t. And this one definitely does.

You walk in to be greeted with a warm smile and the sight of a serious amount of the most wonderful yummy yarn and beautiful fabric. Everywhere you look there is colour, of all different shades. Each corner of the shop is just a delight to the eye. It was utter heaven.

My daughter’s eyes were on stalks and I just knew that we weren’t leaving there without a little something delightful. I mean they have The Wall of Wool!!! Wow!! What’s not to like!

I think that one of the main reasons that I liked this lovely shop so much, was the fact that so many of the yarns were from local handdyers. They seemed to celebrate their local yarny produce and were proud to tell you about them. There was just so many and so many different varieties. You are completely spoilt for choice.

After much deliberation by my little lady, we settled on a beautiful local yarn dyer called Pixie Yarn. Can’t wait to get started with this one. Ooooo, the possibilities…

There was also a lovely part of the shop dedicated to sewing. It included some beautiful fabrics and patterns. I am hoping that next time I visit, I will have a little more time to explore this end of the shop.

Stitches & Cream can be found at number 16 on the High Street. Remember, if you come off the ferry, you need to turn right. Haha, if only I did that the last time I went to Falmouth. Oh well, hopefully not long till we visit again.

They also have a fabulous website, with a variety of delights to suit everyone. They have some incredible fabrics on their websites too, with all the accessories you need. I’ve just had a peak at some of the yarns. Oh my, there’s too many that I like!! Love that so many are local Cornish yarns too. I also noticed workshops as well, so well worth a peak at the list, to see if anything tickles your fancy.

Here’s the link to the wonderful website.

https://www.stitchesandcream.co.uk/

So if you ever find yourself in the seaside town of Falmouth, then I urge you to visit this haven of a shop. Trust me, you will not be disappointed and you will definitely not leave empty handed. I reckon it is completely impossible to do so. Happy shopping chaps!! I am crossing all fingers and toes that I am able to visit them again in the not to distant future.

Happy hooking.

🌈Xx



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Wool on the Exe

Well hello my lovely ones. How are we all? Hope you have all had good Easters and bank holidays! What weather we have had!! Just incredible!! We managed a few trips to the beach together and my Seaside Shawl has had its first outing of the year!!

It’s still a way off being finished, but it’s getting there. The rule with this shawl, is that I can only crochet it when I’m by the sea!!

So as you can imagine, it’s taking me a while!!

So yesterday, I was one happy little crocheter, as I had a lovely little trip to the wonderful Wool on the Exe Shop which is located on Oxehampton Street in Exeter!!! And oh my was it worth the journey!!

It’s located at the top of the street, near a roundabout, but there are lots of car parking spaces outside to be found. Once you are inside, there is an overwhelming sense of yarny calmness and colour. Your eyes are drawn all over the place, with splashes of colour and yarny magicalness. It’s a yarn lovers dream. And then, you are greeted by one of the bubbliest, kindest yarny shop people I have ever met. Yesterday, my daughter and I met Debbie. She was sooooo nice and so happy to help to us. That’s one thing that has always astonished me in the yarny world – how lovely and welcoming people are. They make you feel at home instantly and part of a happy, creative group. There’s definitely a sense of belonging. And this belonging was definitely found in Wool on the Exe yesterday!!!

We only went in for a sneaky peak as it was my birthday and came out with a bulging bag of yummy yarn.

They have all sorts of yarny magicalness in there!!! And I am happy to report, there were some incredible yarns from companies that I had never heard of!! Small little business, making a living from their livestock or their ability to hand dye. Just the best!!

They also had some of the big boys like West Yorkshire Spinners. Now they must be proud of the range that they stock in this shop too, as there was all sorts of colourful treats to be had! I was so nearly tempted by the new 4 ply sock yarn that they have just launched, but my arm got twisted by a certain bouncing little girl who found this ball of fluff.

It was tucked away under the window display, but were hawked eyes by my girl and brought to my attention!!! Now I have heard of this kind of yarn from a friend at home, but I have never come across it before and have always been intrigued! It works up with normal crocheting or knitting, but looks and feels like a real teddy bear! And oh my it is sooooooo soft!! I can’t really describe how soft it is!! My daughter was literally doing somersaults she was that excited about it!!! Well, it’s another little pile of yarn to add to the project list!!! My daughter would like a teddy bear, so thought it would be a nice challenge to design one. It says it needs a 10mm hook, but thinking I would reduce that to a 9mm maybe, seen as it’s an Amigurumi project. Definitely don’t want any stuffing popping out!!! Oooo, my designing hat seems to be on and in go go mode!! Hmm, I had better get my other projects finished first!!

So some of you may have seen that my daughter has started Finger Knitting. Well, I think some kind of addiction has kicked in, as she is loving it!!! This is the girl that has tried with bits of crocheting, but has been shown how to Finger Knit once and is a complete natural. I mean she literally walked around a supermarket yesterday, finger knitting!!! So I promised her some yarn from the fabulous Wool on the Exe shop. Once she’d whizzed around the shop, her little eyes landed on some lovely soft West Yorkshire Spinner yarn from their Bo Peep range.

This is great for all sorts of projects. So I wonder what she will make with this!! Finger knitting is all about little strands, so it’s how you assemble them together, which gives you the end product. I reckon some little teddy blankets first and see how she goes.

She also picked up the Baby Zpagetti Print Cotton yarn. Debbie had said this was great for finger knitting, so off those two went, making a necklace, giving me a chance to squeal at the delights in the shop. Bless Debbie, she was so nice with her and even showed her how the cotton was worked up and made her this beautiful necklace!! So sweet of her!! Sure my daughter will cherish it forever!!

But for my own little birthday treat, I just couldn’t resist this skein of wonder! It’s a mix of Superwash merino wool and silk and was hand dyed by the one and only Debbie!! So it was obviously meant to be!! It’s sporting some incredible colours, so will have to have a think as to what project will do it justice!! Love that it’s called Easter Eggs! Maybe it can be my Easter Sunday scarf!!

Here’s a link to their wonderful website. You will find all their workshops and events on there! Hmm, I wonder if I could arrange a holiday down here, around one of their workshops! Now there’s a thought!!

https://wool-on-the-exe.myshopify.com/

So if you are ever in the vicinity and are able to take a magical step into this little gem, then please do!! It is well worth it and you will come out feeling very happy!!! Can’t wait for our next trip, hoping to meet Ella, Debbie and the whole team next time.

Wool on the Exe. Adventures in Yarn – think that says it all…

Happy hooking.

🌈Xx

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