Woolly Winter Wonderland!

Yes, we're nearly there - just a few more days!
Halfpenny Home has seen an awful lot of handcrafted presents planned and made during this last year. A handmade gift means so much more than a shop bought present as the recipient knows how much thought and care has gone into producing it. One of our Sew and Crow ladies, Michelle has really thrown herself into her crafting and presented me with this wonderful bauble wreath - I love it!

I on the other hand could not resist the temptation to knit up some of the Colinette Point Five that we have in the shop. This speedy one skein pattern is on the very wonderful Purlbee, the blog for Purl Soho in New York. It's really easy and comfy to wear, we need as many woolly knits as possible with all this snow!

Purlbee has some brilliant projects and I'm quite a fan! Jane Southgate and I have been looking for a long sock pattern for ages and couldn't quite find one that we liked until we saw one on the Purlbee blog. We had to get it and it arrived just before knitting...

It's this shaping on the back that really got us going!

It took me no time at all to start knitting up a pair in the hand dyed Wensleydale yarn from the Gedgrave Flock.

They are on hold for now though as along with everyone else I've got loads more presents to make and it's getting closer and closer to the big day!
Everyone needs to stop for lunch though and I can't knit and eat but I do like a read and luckily for me the current issue of Oh Comely magazine has just been dropped off.

It features our very own (Dolly Beth) Beth Davis with a delicious recipe for rhubarb pie!

Right lunch over, back to work! Halfpenny Home will be closed after Wednesday 22nd December and will re-open on Saturday 8th January 2011. Hope everyone's Christmas preperations are going smoothly, Nic x

Stay calm, make tea!

Here are some of the photos that Tracy Ranger took during her visit to Halfpenny Home last week. We last managed to meet up at the Saint's Market in Ipswich and because Tracy works so hard looking after the Gedgrave Flock, her flock of Wensleydale's with her husband Peter it makes it tricky to find time for a good chat about fleece, wool and natural dyes. I managed to lure her over with the promise of buttons...
I love this cascade of yarns! Maria of mimibellatree also popped in with Emily and Isabella to show off her finished fabruckets.
We were in the middle of a power cut when they turned up but we all stayed calm and made a cup of tea on the camping stove we use for dyeing and settled down with some vanilla cupcakes from Scoffin'. Maria took a couple of the wooden hares away with her, they're new and you can find them alongside the wooden hearts which are ready for you to paint and embellish. You can see in this photo a couple of the hearts that Jacqui has decorated with some Farrow and Ball paint and vintage notions.
Don't forget our blog giveaway! Post a comment before Saturday night to be entered into the draw, Nic x

Yarn, yarn, yarn.

It's been an exciting week, Beth finished her first knitting project - a really snuggly cushion made up of swatches of knitting, all with different stitch patterns. What is she going to make next?
I also wanted to show you this lovely photo of yarn from The Gedgrave Flock, it is so soft. Tracy looks after the wensleydale sheep with her husband over at Gedgrave, just outside Orford in Suffolk. We sell her yarns at Halfpenny Home and I can't wait for her to not be so busy so she can come and visit.
On Saturday we had the first Tunisian Crochet session with Lesley and Jeanette bravely tackling this unusual technique which is a bit like a cross between knitting and crochet. You can see our back garden through the open door, this is where we will be holding monthly Craft and Vintage Fairs throughout the summer starting on the 19th June. Cakes of the week are Coffee and Walnut and Toffee Fudge.