We're loving yellow at Mrs Moon this season! There are loads of lovely yellows in stock but my personal favourite is the Big Wool version. it is the perfect shade for brightening things up. I've knitted up a collar in it shown here. The pattern is Kiss in Rowan's Easy Winter Knits and I've added a bit of tartan ribbon to cheer myself up evening more.
We're in full Ally Pally mode now and have taken a day out of the shop to write up all the patterns that we have created over the last few months. My personal favourite is Susan's crochet cowl shown here. I love the colour of the Worsted Hand Dyes (strawberry) and the stitch that she's used is just gorgeous.... you might have seen it in the shop window recently.
Anyway, the pattern is called Syon and will soon be available to download from the website, but if you are coming along to the Knitting & Stitching Show from 11th to 14th October you can grab a copy there.
See you soon!
It feels really wintry in Mrs Moon today and this is backed up by the number of people buying wintry projects. It's been a good week for our Cocoon sales....
We saw all the new Rowan A/W lines yesterday which also got us in the mood for all things Autumnal. There are some fabulous fairisle designs coming in and also some lovely new yarns to snuggle up in.
To be honest, at the moment I feel like ditching my summer knit that is on the needles and doing something thick and woolly instead... WHERE IS THE SUMMER???
Susan and I started the year deciding to create a simple knitted and crocheted baby blanket each using Spud & Chloe's lovely Sweater yarn. The colours of this wool/organic cotton mix are so fresh and combined with the fact that it is machine washable and tumble dryable, it makes it perfect for hardworking baby gear.
Susan's crocheted blanket is a version of a giant granny square with a flower incorporated in the centre. It literally took her a couple of evenings, so she stole my thunder on the quickness front. I tried to be a bit speedy by double the yarn up, very much inspired by the Purl Bee'sbeautiful Chevron Baby Blanket which uses Blue Sky Alpaca's Worsted Cotton in the same way. It still took a couple of weeks worth of evenings, but very satisfying and quick enough to knock up as a gift.
The result is two wonderfully simple blankets that any new mum is sure to like. Hope you like them too.
We've always loved Erika Knight's simple and incredibly stylish designs and are so excited that she has at last launched her own range of yarns to accompany them.
She came in to see us today and show us the range. As well as being great company, Erika's eponymous yarns did not disappoint. She has created a capsule collection of luxury British yarns that will appeal to any knitter. All three types will be in soon, so you can see for yourself ... the only problem will be deciding what to knit with first.
See all the yarns here on Erika's website and look out for them at Mrs Moon in the shop and online really soon....
We had such a lovely morning on Saturday with Helena and Katarina from Millamia. They brought in samples of just about every pattern from their three books, Close Knit Gang, Bright Young Things and the latest, Wonderland, and they all looked amazing.
I managed to try quite a few of the samples on my daughter Tilly when she popped in at the end of the morning and have now had a few orders placed from her....! Luckily she's small enough still for it to be achievable....
Katarina and Helena are going to come back in the Autumn, so if you missed them, not to worry and we managed to keep hold of a fair few new samples for the time being, so do pop by to have a look.
See you soon
Karenx
It was a lovely day in Mrs Moon yesterday! Jane arrived with lots of samples from her gorgeous book which look even better in the flesh than they do in print. We were joined by lots of Jane's friends and fans and had a super time eating cakes and generally chatting about knitty things.
It was lovely to meet so many new people - we hope that you will visit us again - as well as all our regulars, who just made the day so jolly! Not much Prosecco was drunk, but I'm sure we'll manage it somehow.
Special thanks to Clare Kelly for taking some fabulous photos - we will try to post some here soon (I've left my camera at the shop...) ... and of course to Jane Brocket for taking the time out with her family to show us why we love her work so much...
See you soon
kx
Gosh, sorry it has been so long since I've been here... I really don't know why I haven't managed to keep the blog up to date but my new New Year's Resolution is to do better!
I think some of the reason why I've not written anything is that there is too much to write! We have been so busy at Mrs Moon... what with appearing on the telly, in The Evening Standard, Home & Gardens etc etc we've hardly had time to think!
We've been thrilled to have lots of new people coming along to our knit-ins on Thursdays at 10.30am (ish). In particular, we welcome people who make cakes! There has been a bit of a cake war recently and this is something that Susan and I positively encourage! It means I have something for lunch if it doesn't all go which is particularly good as at the moment I seem to be eating the same sandwich (emmenthal cheese and ham if you're interested) every single day and it gets a bit boring!
Last week Emily and Susan (not that one) both served up something completely delicious, but Emily went for it, by bringing in TWO cakes one of which was in the shape of a horse... now that really is raising the barre! Can't wait till tomorrow.
To be honest though, we've needed cake since lovely Robyn headed off back to Adelaide in December. Things are much quieter without her, but eating is getting us through...
See you soon
Karenx
We tried to take a little bit of St Margarets to Ally Pally last week and hopefully it worked. The Knitting & Stitching show was something new for us and we were a bit nervous about it, but we had great fun and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (most of the time)!
Tim took Susan and I up on Wednesday for set up - it took us much longer than we'd hoped and Tim had to get back to Twickenham for school pick up so Susan and I were alone lugging stuff around for most of the afternoon. The only thing we had forgotten was white tablecloths and it turns out that no one sells them in Wood Green.. .we should have gone with the intial thought of heading back along the north circular to John Lewis at Brent Cross, but instead, Tim had a great tour of all the chains in Wood Green High Street... Argos came up trumps in the end!
Despite a few technical hitches trying to get the shelving up and having a fight with the clothes rail, everything was just about there by the time we hit the Piccadilly line at 7pm - just enough stuff left to do for Kate to feel useful in the morning!
Up early on Thursday and this time Kate was our chauffeur. Her buttons were a really bit hit at the show which was brilliant. We introduced loads of people to blue Sky Alpacas and Spud & Chloe and the discerning buyers also loved fyberspates and Malabrigo.
We had visits from Jane Brockett, Debbie Bliss, Erika Knight, Claire Montgomerie, Kate Haxell and lots of other lovely people. Special mention has to go to Fiona who brought us tea in our hour of need.
Saturday was bonkers and really great fun - we were totally exhausted - I could hardly concentrate of Strictly Come Dancing, it was that bad.
All in all a success and we've booked again for next year so will be ready next time... hope to see you there.
The thing about setting up a shop and a website when you've got four young children each is the summer holidays are a bit tricky... something has to give and this summer it's the shop. Luckily the Lovely Lydia & Lynne are holding the fort extremely capably, but we do miss seeing everyone...
Anyway, I just popped in this evening to get my fix and who should be there but Ysolda and Sarah. I was feeling a bit spacey, but managed to put names to faces and was just so pleased that I had popped in when I had!
They were on their way to Knit Nation so hopefully we'll see them there, but thrilled that they dropped in...
Don't forget we're closed from August 16th to 31st, but you can still buy online....
See you soon
Karenx