The brief was a knitted ginger cat about 8 inches tall. Other than that I’ve had complete creative freedom on the design.

Being a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland I thought I would give it the feel of the Cheshire Cat. So I introduced some pink stripes and a big smile.

Staring off we’ve got a knitted and felted netbook case, finished with a beautiful butterfly.

Up next is a camera case with front and back compartments featuring crochet flowers.

Last but not least a magenta and black stripy knitted handbag, lined with black polka dot fabric and green polka dot pockets. Oh and a crochet flower brooch on there too with a hand painted button.

Knitted Green Butterfly Netbook Case

Knitted and Felted Flower Camera Case

Knitted and Felted Magenta Black Striped Handbag

Knitting is by its nature a time consuming business, not to mention all the thought that goes into the design and pattern beforehand, and then all the finishing. One of my knitted bags can easily take 15 hours to make.

I tend to put my prices far too low for the time, thought and expense that’s gone into my work, and I know there are lots of other makers out there that do the same. It’s an easy trap to fall into

At a craft fair before Christmas I was reminded of this by a very inspiring maker I met for the first time, Kirsten Miller of Quernus Crafts.

So 2012 is the time to get your pricing right. I found this useful article on the Creative Choice website about how to price your work as a good starting point.

So that is where I shall begin.

It’s good to be doing this in the Corn Exchange, close to my heart after living in Leeds for 11 years. Arriving as a student, I visited the Corn Exchange a lot.

It was such a shame what happened to the Corn Exchange, when they got rid of the alternative shops with the idea of turning it into a food emporium. It didn’t work out. And now it’s good to see there’s more life there again with some shops, and events, such Reetsweet  - Art, Design and Neon Craft Shopping Fair.

The Corn Exchange also had a guise as a club back in the early to mid-naughties. I’ve been a nocturnal/early morning visitor to the Corn Exchange. Good memories.

But tomorrow I’ll be there as Knitting Kidd, where I’ll have a selection of one-off knitted goodies. Felted bags with mushrooms, a pencil case featuring a knitted carrot, knitted mushroom key rings and brooches. A rainbow netbook sleeve, rainbow flower brooches and iPod and phone sleeves.

Hope to see lots of people there, and looking forward to seeing the other stalls and stallholders.

Flickr gallery of recent work

Today we restarted our staff knitting club at the University of Bradford. A small group of us started meeting at lunchtimes a couple of months ago, to well, knit.

If you’ve been thinking about starting a knitting club at your work place, I encourage you to do it.

We chose Wednesdays. A nice midweek lunchtime knitting session does wonders for relieving any stress. Just enjoy sometime with a few like-minded knitters.

Next up for the University of Bradford Staff Knitting Club, a trip to Texere Yarns in Bradford. A gem of a knitting shop in Little Germany. Massive selection of wools, and in a lovely old mill.

So yes I have been enjoying my knitting lately. Very excited to have my first bespoke bag ordered through this very website. The bag design is complete and I’ve been knitting away happily. Trying out some new pockets with this one!

Happy knitting everyone! x

I shall be bringing along a collection of my usual felted bags, as well as some cute little mushroom key rings I’ve been working on recently and I’m working on a new collection of mushroom lined felted purses. Can’t wait for this event in the beautiful Corn Exchange. Reetsweet are well know in the Leeds craft fair scene and I’m very happy to be finally doing a stall with them.

Reetsweet is a 100% handmade craft fair promoting local artists, designers and jewellery makers in and around leeds and beyond…

Here I am being featured on the Reetsweet blog for my first appearance at a Reetsweet event  in October.

Why not have a look at the Reetsweet Facebook page to keep up-to-date.

Hope to see you you on 1 October. A sneaky peek of some of my new products coming soon…

If any of you visting this site were there – hello!

The highlight for me was Billy Bragg visiting my stall after rehearsal in the morning. He seemed to really like my knitted delights and enjoyed playing around with my toadstool bag in particular, which he thought would make a good rasta hat! He then went onto mention me and my stall during his headline set!!! Very exciting. We also got to hear Billy perform a song during rehearsal that he had written the night before – ‘Scousers don’t buy the sun’ – also a hightlight.

I met some lovely people including Lisa Roberts, The Arts Live Coordinator; Anna who was on the stall next to me selling some lovely porcelain pots and buttons; and lots of lovely customers and festival goers.

All-in-all a lovely day and another craft stall learning experience. I shall be focusing on on making lots of my smaller designs, including brooches, keyrings and some small squidgy children’s toys over the next couple of weeks.

Looking forward to my next craft fair outing in Harrogate on Sunday 24 July at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate. An indoor event this time so no need to worry about gazebos this time!

I wanted to keep the camera case as bright and colourful as the camera, and my friend’s personality, so I went for pink and orange.

The camera case has a pocket at the back for any wires and accessories (with a lovely wooden button from Eljo’s Haberdashery on Folksy) and its key feature is a detachable carrot, perfect for my friend who loves her allotment. I also lined both compartments with a lovely pink printed cotton also from Eljo’s Haberdashery.

It’s a lovely little craft fair in a pretty little village in Derbyshire just up the road from my home town of Buxton. I visited it a few weeks ago and thought this will be my first outing as a craft stall holder. The Village Hall is located opposite a pretty duck pond and Tissington Trail is just round the corner.

If you happen to be in the area, here’s a map. Do come and say hello.

Now I have to build my stocks up a bit and I have a brilliant knitting assistant to help, my mum!

I’m getting some Knitting Kidd bunting ready and thinking about all the other bits and pieces I need to get ready including labels and customised paper bags.

I will make sure to get some pics of the stall and will blog about how it all went. Right, back to getting my stocks up. Another mushroom bag here we come. Ta ta for now.