Knit-picking in Glastonbury

We went off to Glastonbury to visit my mother over the weekend. Her flat is currently chock-full of packing boxes as she is hoping to be on the move again soon, so we decided to ignore the rain and wander around the shops. Now, I do hold up my hand and freely admit to having an ulterior motive – I was on the look out for some yarn, hopefully hand-dyed and multi-coloured. Mm, perfect.

Unfortunately, although there were plenty of handmade crafts for sale (yay!), there didn’t seem to be any raw materials to be had anywhere. One of the charity shops had a bundle of knitting needles to choose from, but no yarn. Not even a single, 100% acrylic, pastel ball leftover from someones baby blanket project…

OK, confession time again. If you had opened up my handbag, you’d have found a skein of Debbie Bliss’ Maya (scrummy yarn from a few years ago, similar but nicer than Soho, in my opinion), along with some Sirdar of varying quirkiness and crochet hooks in assorted sizes. So… I guess I didn’t actually need any more goodies at that particular point. …But my bag was indeed capacious enough to accommodate quite a lot more yarn, and I did have a few coins set aside for spending…

Anyhoo, a lucky sideways glance at a shop tucked back from the main street set the pulse racing… Yarn. The good stuff. In the window. Right now.

Huzzah!

The manager of the little shop was attempting to lock up and leave for lunch, but she noticed us coming, and very kindly let us in. Inside there was a lot of (really, really nice) handmade stuff for sale, and garments were hanging all round the room, including over the doorway to the yarn section. Once aside, I rushed into the tiny room, all eager to forget the coins and instead to fumble in my wallet for The Naughty Plastic, but there wasn’t much there at all. Still, kudos to them for possibly being the only local yarn supplier to the crafting denizens of Glastonbury and I think they can order in any Rowan you might fancy.

I asked Pixie if she’d like another hat, she said she would, and so I ambled to the the till with some Rowan Kidsilk Haze in shade 590 Pearl, and Artesano Inca Cloud in 53 Plum, 57 Fuchsia and 61 Teal.

I’m afraid I’m not sure of the name of the shop, because the paper bag I was given (finished with a cute bow made of assorted yarn!) was plastered with inkjetted adverts, but I think the most likely name is The Cats Whiskers Clothing & Wool Co, which is a huge mouthful for such a tiny shop. Fab. Someone has clearly put their heart into that little place. …Not somewhere I would frequent for non-yarny purchases because I prefer to make my own handmade goodies, but there were certainly lovely things to see, such as dresses, accessories, and handmade fairy wings…

Back at Mum’s place, I started to crochet the lovely new yarn, and we chatted while the girls played with toys, fiddled with yarn and ate cakes, while Lam tried not to nod off (bless!). A perfect day with Granny.

Entry plonked in Yarn @ 3:24 pm
Tagged thusly: artesano alpaca, artesano inca cloud, glastonbury yarn shop, rowan kidsilk, yarn, yarn shopping