Wednesday, January 07, 2009

UK Knitting Delights

I've been back in the UK, with family, over Christmas and the New Year and it's been great! There are a few knitting related highlights I wanted to share with you here on my (mainly) knitblog.

First was meeting the lovely, and talented, knitbloggers from Joli House - Amanda and Lily.
Amanda, and her daughter, Lily live in the same area of the UK as my family and so it was nice to be able to meet up in person at a local cafe. I love the Joli house blog -- Amanda takes some of the most wonderful photos of her gorgeous knitting projects and Lily is a wonderfully talented knitter at such a young age. It was super nice to meet them both.

Second was a trip to Texere yarns - a yarn shop and warehouse in nearby Bradford. What an amazing place!
We arrived and were guided to the shop section which had a lot to offer. We were also offered mince pies and hot drinks. Yum! But it was when we walked into the warehouse that we really got giddy! The place is huge. And full of a wonderful selection of yarns -- British wool, Scottish wool, cotton, silk, mohair, etc etc... all at a really attractive price. Don't even get me started on the bargain section upstairs where yarn was 1p per 1g. Can you imagine? Needless to say I came away with quite the stash. Let's hope it all fits in my suitcase!

And finally there is the knitting content on some of the commercials (quite surprising as knitting isn't as big here in the UK as it is in the US). One was the Shreddies ads (breakfast cereal). I read a couple of reviews that people just didn't like these ads. I thought they were cute.

Knitting Nanas


Nanas Return


The other that does seem to be popular is for PG Tips (tea bags) and features a knitted monkey (not unlike the sock monkey that you'd see in the US). Another cute ad, IMO.



And lastly I'll leave you with this one -- a take on the Queen's Christmas message.



And on that note I'd like to 'shave a stoat' to you all in 2009!

9 comments:

Stacey said...

Okay....that WAREHOUSE of yarn looks amazing! I can't wait to see what you picked up!

Denise said...

OMG, that last video had me laughing til my side hurt! Seriously, I'm typing this with tears running down my face, I've not laughed this much in ages.
Have you ever seen the Morecambe and Wise skit in the kitchen? It's what that first monkey commercial is based on. Hilarious!
Thanks for sharing. Not sure about the Shreddies one's though, what I don't like is how the still portray knitters as 'old grannies' :-(
Love the pic of you with Amanda and Lily.

Anonymous said...

We loved meeting you too Sam! It felt like we known you forever! :D

Bea said...

Sadly I can't see the ads, but it sounds like you had a very knitting and fun filled trip. That yarn store looks excellent.

Oiyi said...

That knitting warehouse made me drool!!!!

www.oiyi.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

The picture of you, Lily and Amanda is beautiful! How fun to meet up with them! :) The fiber shop looks so fun and overwhelming! Where do you start???

I am glad you are home and having a great time! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh.......I just watched the Utube posts, those are hilarious! :) Knitting cereal.....I have seen it all! :)

Terrie D. (StarSpry) said...

What a cool yarn shop and warehouse! How fun that you got to meet up with some bloggers while you were home :)

Those videos were great!

WandaWoman said...

Oh, I love that picture of you, Amanda and Lilly. Very cute. Oh my goodness, I love that warehouse. Can I go please? Pretty yarns for good deals! Did you fill up your luggage?