Another busy week at Roses & Rue

A quick catch up to let you know whats been going on at Roses & Rue - maybe we can tempt you to come and join us to learn a new skill or take up an old one again.
Last week we had a patchwork class, a children's party, the usual knit and natter and crochet clubs and knitting for beginners - phew!
The knitting for beginners group was nice and easy because the ladies had all had a go at least once before, thus making my job easier. The patchwork class, as always, is all about colour and choosing fabric before we get anywhere near the sewing machines.Hopefully I'll have some lovely pics to show later in the week when the qulits are finished.
The childrens parties always take a lot of planning. The birthday girl decided that she wanted to make sock monkeys. Trust me, it is impossible to make 8 sock monkeys in two hours, so preparation is vital. A big thank you must go to Rosie and Joel for helping me stuff monkey bodies all week, ready for the party.

Monkey love!

Amongst all this chaos I have been crocheting up oddballs to make a lovely granny square cushion and matching blanket. When the blanket is finished they will go in the shop window for sale. We've been selling a lot of handmade stuff lately. In fact we are having a job keeping up. Luckily I have a band of dedicated friends who are creative and enjoy adding to the window display.

Rumer modelling the granny square cushion

Granny square cushion with unfinshed blanket made using oddballs of Debbie Bliss Babycashmerino

When it comes to knitting for the shop display or customers, I have a secret weapon - a Pat! She is quite simply the best knitter I know and I'm not prepared to share her with anyone. Aside from being the best knitter in the world she has also become a dear friend over the last two years - dare I say a mother figure (that might embarrass her, since she is so modest). She supports me all the way and is an integral part of the business. How she puts up with me I dont know, frankly, but I'm glad she does as I'd be lost without her.

Three quarter sleeved cardi knitted by Pat in Louisa Harding 'Aimee' (modelled by Rosie).

Phew, back online!

What a nightmare, suddenly losing access to email and then the laptop breaking down. You'd have thought that the end of the world was nigh in my house. Rosie couldn't purchase anything on Ebay or spend hours on Facebook, Ru couldn't play Moshi Monsters online and I couldn't deal with any enquiries, bill payments or do any blogging! Goodness me, we all had to read books and have grown up conversations! And how lovely it was. I was able to catch up on who was doing what in sixth form, what was going on in the payground in year 5 etc.

Now we're all back to normal and I had to fight Rosie for the laptop so that I could post this and have a quick catch up on the blogs that I follow.

We had a busy week in the shop last week; classes galore, childrens parties, knit and natter, visits from reps, customers in and out, new yarns turning up.

Check out the applique that was produced at the 'Applique for Beginners' class - its was a real buzz of activity and everyone really enjoyed themselves...

And look at the appliqued self portraits that the children made at a party on Saturday afternoon...

They're great aren't they?

This week there is more to come: knitting, crochet and patchwork. Can't wait x

Something New for WInter

Hi all,
Although its my day off from the shop, I popped in there this morning to give it a spring clean and get ready for the first class of the new season, which starts this evening. I'm expecting 5 ladies for 'knitting for beginners' so it should be good fun. As  I was busy dusting, the post man knocked on the door with a large box labelled 'Designer Yarns'. It's always exciting getting new stock....

One of my best selling yarns is Baby Cashmerino, by Debbie Bliss. The colour range is enormous and it is a great yarn to crochet with. Lots of my regular customers use it to make gorgeous blankets and crocheted goodies. These are three new colours which are yummy and I can't wait to use them.




I can't seem to rotate the pic, but you can see the gorgeous colours!

In addition to the above, there is a new yarn, Paloma, which is a super chunky yarn, made with merino and alpaca. It's a gorgeous replacement for the discontinued Como.




A selection of some of the colours available

To support the yarn there is a new book with nine patterns, all of which are perfect for keeping you warm and toastie during the winter months.

One of the designs from the new book, a super chunky scarf with long fringing.

Since I had all this new yarn, I decided to rearrange the shelves, a job which I do regularly so that yarn is rotated. It's very satisfying seeing all the shelves chocka with colour and texture. It's like walking into a patisserie and beholding an array of cakes and pastries - you feel as if you want them all but know that this being greedy...

better than cake!