Following the storming £120 sale earlier this year of a vibrant hand knitted blanket, the marvellous Lyn (Christi1) has just donated another beautiful thing to P/hop for auction on Ebay, this time raising a fabulous £73.
A beautiful Handknit Valentine Shawl in cornflower blue with delicate lace pattern made from hand dyed Wild Fire Fibres Tempo 4 ply yarn – absolutely gorgeous.

Ebay seems to do well for us – we seem to be good at getting the message out and finding buyers who appreciate the joy of a hand crafted creation. If anyone else fancies having a go and wants help with listing etc, get in touch with me via Ravelry and I’ll try to help.

Well done to all concerned
Jo aka josp on ravelry.

The most excellent HilltopKatie and her lovely mum are taking p/hop back on the road to Fibre Flurry this weekend (Friday 28th & Saturday 29th October).

We had a great time at Fibre Flurry last year, it’s a marvellous show with lots of great vendors, workshops and friendly atmosphere. Please do go along and say hello to Katie and her mum while you are there. They’ll have all the p/hop patterns for your perusal, including one’s Katie herself has designed and donated.

There will also be a raffle for p/hop at the event so you have a chance to win some pretty nice prizes.

Please visit the Fibre Flurry website for more details.

We’re back down south after a smashing weekend in Glasgow for the Glasgow School of Yarn run by the most excellent team from The Yarn Cake.

This was the first ever Glasgow School of Yarn (GSoY) and hopefully it won’t be the last as it was a brilliant event.

The event was held in the beautiful Mackintosh Church, designed by the famous Glaswegian architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Some of the classes took place in the church and it was great seeing Stephen West teaching in the upper pews. It looked like he was conducting a choir of knitters, which in a way, he was, a choir of colourwork!

As well as Stephen West, Amy Singer of Knitty.com, Carol Feller (aka Stolen Stitches and author of Contemporary Irish Knits), and Ann Kingstone of p/hop and Novel Knits were at the event. GSoY was very relaxed and the tutors had time to browse the market place and have a look at the stands and chat with knitters. There was a good mix of people who knew all about p/hop and those who had never heard of us.

I took the photo below before the marketplace officially opened, it was busy with people knitting and shopping all day.

Our patterns proved to be as popular as always,  including our recent designs, Cricket Tea Cosy, Waterhouse Mitts, Teeny Tiny Teddy, and we launched a brand new pattern, Lyle socks, which will be available on here shortly.

On the Friday night there was a party, with knitters knitting in the pews, a buffet and  donations for wine going to p/hop. There was a brilliant design competition at the event. Sadly I didn’t get a photo of the designs but they were of such a high standard and all reflected the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

I didn’t take as many photos as usual as I’d been sent by MSF with a film camera, evidence of which will be coming to the blog in November.

We raised a marvellous £464.60 as well as lots of good will and awareness of MSF.

I’d like to say a huge Thank you to the Yarn Cake team, especially Antje for organising such a well run and happy event, providing the vendors with cake was a stroke of genius and we will definitely be back. Thanks also to K who had me to stay and who instigated a trip to the pub in which we found beer with Stephen West’s name on.

I’m taking a couple of weeks off to do some travelling but the excellent HilltopKatie is taking p/hop to Fibre Flurry next weekend so if you’re in Birmingham please go and say hello.

When I’m back there will be some things happening for p/hop’s third birthday! Three? How did that happen? Stay tuned, there will be more cake and yarn to celebrate three years of knitters changing the world …

We’re really excited here at p/hop HQ as it’s less than one week to go til the exciting Glasgow School of Yarn. On Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd October we’ll be in the gorgeous Mackintosh Church on Garscube Road, Glasgow.

There’s loads of cool stuff happening, including book signings by our very own p/hop designer Ann Kingstone, as well as other super designers Carol Feller and Stephen West. As well as the fab vendors in the market place (p/hop included) there will be great homecooked stews and cake as well as a cafe, and also, and I think this is a brilliant idea, a massage therapist for the event, who will be offering a variety of gentle relaxing treatments over the two days.

There’s also the party on Friday evening which I’m really looking forward too.

For more information such as opening times and location please click here.

I’m Looking forward to seeing you there.

PS If you can’t make it to Glasgow we’ll be at Fibre Flurry near Birmingham on Friday 28th and Thursday 29th October.

He’s so small, to teeny tiny, but that only adds to Teeny Tiny Teddy’s cuteness. Here’s our latest pattern, designed and donated by Alessandra Parsons.

Teeny Tiny Teddy is only 5 cm tall when standing so would make a great keyring toy, Christmas or nursery decoration, gift, or companion for your hamster.

This wee bear is straightforward to make so is ideal for a new knitter looking for a more involved project or a super quick knit for an experienced knitter.

It is easy to make a larger Teddy using larger needles and thicker yarn. If you are new to knitting and baffled by which needle sizes to use with which yarn look at the label on your ball of wool which should have a recommendation for which needles will suit your yarn. This will depend on how tightly or how loosly you knit but doesn’t matter too much on a project like this.

You can find Teeny Tiny Teddy pattern here.

Can’t kitchener? Confused by cables? You need a Knit Surgery!

Knitting teacher and designer Karen Wessel aka Quesselchen is holding another knit surgery in return for donations to p/hop. Pop along to Big Knitters on Wellfield Rd in Cardiff from 11am to 2pm on Saturday 15th October where Karen will help solve your knitting problems. In return it’s the usual p/hop ethos, make a donation based on how much pleasure/perseverance/persistence/insert p-word of choice you gained from your new skill.