Cowl

Super cosy

I decided it was time to get my needles together for some extra warmth for my Latvia trip.

I have tons of the rusty coloured chunky wool I bought from a charity shop last year.

It's knitted on circular needles too so once you've finished knitting, it's basically ready to wear straight away. 

You can get the pattern for free from Ravelry here

good reasons to be poor

Things I've been spending money in the last week (which I probably shouldn't have) but am happy I did...

This book 'Just Kids' that I cannot wait to start reading! About £5, brand new from Ebay.

This super cute bike necklace, £7 from Accessorize, on a nice & long gold chain. I couldn't walk away from it...

This dress from Traid charity shop on Holloway Road (one of my all time fave charity shops) for only £4.49.

This vegan face mask with avocado and goji berry was £6 from Superdrug and it's soooo good.  Great to have affordable vegan beauty products more accessible!

This nail jewel set was only from the 99p store at the end of my road... I couldn't not get it! I did this two days ago and half the jewels have fallen off now, but it's a lot of fun and worth it if you want to bling up your nails for a big night out, haha!

Headphones (£4 from a sports shop) and water bottle from Sweaty Betty... I also got an amazing sports bra from them too. That was the big spend of the week; but it was so worth it.

Went out for a run the night I'd gotten it and ran for 7 miles - my new personal best! Being able to listen to music (finally) when I'm running was a major help too. Oh and having water with me. You don't even have to grip this bottle because it just sits on your hand.

I became a member of Sweaty Betty for free and get to attend free excercise classes they hold in the evenings - Wednesday is running club. I can't wait to go along to one!

Pleat Treat

I've been brooding for a pleated midi for a small while now.

On the off chance, I thought I'd check out the charity shops of Richmond on my lunch break today.

I walked into the Cancer Research shop on the corner of Hill Street and there it was.

The skirt I'd been wanting all this time.

Brand new with tags.

In my size.

[What are the chances?!]

 I also had to have a quick gaze at the jewellery section.

I found this piece.

At first I picked it up as I thought it would be great to reuse all the chain for my creations.

Then I realised I actually quite like it just for myself.

That's my outfit sorted for the rest of May then...

[just the way] i like to shop

Tuesday was a day well spent. 

It started with a quick trip to my local charity shop Scope, as I'd seen a dress in there last week and was silly enough to walk away from it. 

Lucky, though, it was still there.

It's not usualy something I'd go for, but it really called out to me and for £5, you can't go wrong. 

I had an Etsy order to ship out to the States I was quite happy about - the first chain maile necklace I'd put online sold, so watch this space for more very soon.  For now, though, I still have bicycle chain bracelets, chain maile earrings & my charity bees for sale...

I enjoyed the nice 4 or so mile walk down to Spitlefields and met up with my good friend Penny; then spent the day wandering Old Spitlefields market & reminiscing in the vintage shops along Brick Lane.

I got some great buys...

First up, was these cool carved characters:

Hand crafted animal pens!

Ace.  There were so many others too... Turtles, lions, wolves, sharks, birds...

 Then I came across the stall of Conquer clothing.

Original (and ethical) illustrated vests, tees, sweatshirts, hoodies and artwork.

So refreshing.
Actually some unique illustration out there which makes a change. 
Fell in love.
Although my vest has quite an optimistic feel to it, a lot of the designs had a real dark side to them. 

I like.

The third amazing find was a stall full of the most beautiful handmade, semi-precious stone jewellery I have possibly ever seen:

 (My own chain maile necklace is sneaking in this photo - and the charity shop dress I'd picked up that morning...)

This fabulous woman was making these beauts using gold wire & stones to create rings, which she sells with a chain, so you can choose to wear it on your finger, or round your neck.

I found it so hard to pull myself away.
So I came away with this white quartz necklace and this turquoise, rose & lilac stone ring ~

Here's mine & Penny's new rings...
  She was such a wonderful person too; unfortunately she didn't have a website, but go find her in Old Spitlefields Market or Portobello. Now.

The green beaded ring I got for Penny as part of her birthday present (this Friday 13th) from Trade charity shop on Holloway Road.  {Love that shop}

She also got a token pair of hand knitted socks this year, too ~

~ and she loved them, hurrah!

New [old] Cardi {AYOKA}

I finally got round to paying a visit to Ayoka; a charity shop run by the St Margarets House Settlement.  Before I knew it was one of their projects, I used to cycle past it on my commute to work and was always intrigued to pay it a visit.

The shop is small and requires a bit of a rummage in some corners... Organised but still a bittle of a jumble... Just they way charity shops should be.

I got this beaut of a cardi there:

 Check out the crocheted epaulettes

 What makes this cardi like none other I've seen are these fantastic crocheted patches (doilies!) on the side, spreading from front to back.

 The front and back sections have been knitted separately and stitches cast off/on to leave an open space for the crochet design to be sewn into; the picot edge allowed to float freely.

Along the arms is a criss-cross and bobble pattern; 

not too dissimilar to the cardigan I am knitting for myself at the moment:

St Margarets House run so many different projects; including the Gallery Cafe, literally next door to the charity shop.  I stopped in there for lunch & ended up staying for hours... All the food is either vegetarian or vegan and very reasonably priced; I had a homemade vegan burger and it was probably the best I've found in London yet!

Take a look at their website as they also hold craft/sewing events there too... I might try to get involved!

Shiny Sequined Bargain

Nipped into one of my local charity shops on my wonder home today and found this little gem:

 I've been dreaming about getting my hands on some of the beautifully unique Knit Collage yarns from Loop Knitting.  Priced at £24 per little bundle of wooly wonder I haven't quite been able to justify it yet...

However this (I'm guessing it's new) ball of silky, shiny, tasty chocolate brown yarn - sprinkled with a rainbow of cute little sequins will satisy me (and my purse!) rather nicely :)

So... What to knit now?

A Little Knitting Treasure

A charming little box a dear friend of mine spied in a charity shop recently and was so kind as to purchase it for your's truely...

 It's 17" long and the lid is a tad on the snug side, but does slide out...

 You can forgive this slight quirk though, as it does display a lovely wool and needles print

 and then opens up to a handful of odds and sods of knitting sticks

 My favourite of which are these 'Poppy', 'Queen Bee' and anodized blue ones.

 Although not all of the needles are in pairs, I think they look perfect in this box.

What a brilliant find!

Charity Shop 'Cat' Wool

I popped over to my local Salvation Army charity shop today and managed to bag myself 5 (100g) balls of this beautiful, chunky, rusty brown wool for only £4 - that's 80p a ball!

For some reason I only took half of what the shop had... I will return tomorrow and right this wrong of mine as I know I need it all. Seriously.

The wool is called 'Lana Gatto' and it has THE BEST BALLBAND EVER! Check out the crazed cat (I wondered for a minute what type of yarn it was when I saw that). It's obviously an Italian brand, however the lambswool content is English,(well, 'Old English' to quote the label) and is combined with acrylic, 50/50, so the best of both worlds (warmth + washable woolies). I would love to know what this label/name is all about!

Unfortunately my photographs are not doing the colour of this wool justice, but when some new knits are made of it I will of course post them up for all to see. I'm extremely happy with my new stash, I'm thinking up a nice knitted rusty jumper. I hope the cat approves...