Shopping heaven…

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and it’s definitely got me in the shopping mood.  There is nothing like gifts of cash to allow you to go crazy.  I dragged the hubby off to York on my birthday and had a very mild shopping trip in Cath Kidston where I picked up a new laptop case but not much else.   That’s very odd for me, I’m finding less and less in CK I want to buy, either I’m not liking the designs any more or it’s the fact that everyone has it now!  We then perused some hand dyed yarns in that lovely knitting shop on the Shambles and finally succumbed to a box of fudge from the Fudge Kitchen.  It was all I could do to stop the hubby devouring it all on the train home.

Then the Thursday that week was spent at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate with my friend Gemma, we saw our first bit of snow this season and also spent lots of money on fabric and yarn.  I went back to my favourite shop Toft Alpaca but also found a new alpaca obsession with Purl Alpaca.  I bought a fantastic kit to knit up a beautiful chocolate brown jumper.  I’ve cast on but not had a moment to get properly started, there is also the knitting present guilt as I haven’t finished all the Christmas presents yet so they have to take priority over my gorgeous jumper.

I finished off the week with our Craft Candy fair – it was Candy Cane, our Christmas extravaganza.  We were really busy with over 1500 visitors, as usual I managed to find time to do a bit of shopping.  I bought a gorgeous keyring, cuddly vampire bear and one of Gemma’s necklaces.

For any of you who don’t know by now I’m the new General Manager of Folksy, I’ve been there for just over a month and I love it.  I didn’t foresee a huge problem though, my job is to spend hours on the site so I’ve now found lots more things to spend my money on.  I’ve been selling on Folksy for a couple of years but I always used to see it more as a seller than a buyer, I have bought things from the site, often from items I’ve seen in the Featured Sellers shops, but now I’ve found so many more things I’d like to buy.  So I came to the happy conclusion that it was no use trying to fight it any more but that I would treat myself to one thing a month.  Better spent on handmade than in the high street, that’s my philosophy!

Here are a few things that have caught my eye this past week, just click the links to visit the shops.  I bought the lovely tartan hairband earlier this week from Imogen’s Imagination and I haven’t stopped wearing it since, it’s beautifully made and matches everything, including my winter coat.