A Trip to Craftopia…

Last weekend I hosted a ‘Crochet Christmas Decorations’ workshop at the amazing yarn and craft shop, ‘Craftopia‘ which is in Ingleton, North Yorkshire. It was a weekend filled with crochet which I’d love to share in this blog post… 🙂

Craftopia is a new craft shop which only opened back in September and is owned and run by the lovely Amanda Bloom of ‘Little Box of Crochet‘ fame. Having designed for Little Box of Crochet in the past and having met Amanda a few times before, I’m happy to call her a friend… so when Amanda asked if I would consider travelling the 324 miles north to host a workshop, I just had to say yes!

I arrived Friday evening and here is the shop on my arrival… 🙂

…isn’t it beautiful! That window display was just amazing!

Amanda welcomed me into her gorgeous home and we enjoyed catching up on all things crochet (and more of course!) 🙂 The next day, it was time to set up… there’s a brilliant workshop area in Craftopia…

And of course my blankets came too…

The lighting is really nice and bright in the workshop area – just perfect… but I did dim the lights briefly for a photo opportunity so you can see the Christmas lights intertwined with the crochet a little better…

We were ready… 🙂

I had brought various decoration samples with me so there was a wide choice of patterns for people to make.

After everyone was settled and introductions were made, everyone got crocheting!

There were Lindor chocolates (my favourite) and a delicious lunch stop too…

The workshop was from 10am – 4pm. It always amazes me how quickly time flies when you’re crocheting together with others… it really did whizz by!

What a wonderful group of people it was and I loved spending time with them all and sharing the crochet love…

At workshops I host, it’s always nice when I see familiar faces and I had met Diane previously at a workshop I hosted for the Crochet Sanctuary last year…

It’s also great meeting other people who are working in the yarn industry… there’s always lots to talk about! This is Sophie who owns www.botanicalyarn.com…

I always love it when people manage to complete projects during a workshop. To be able to go home with lots of new ideas, tips, skills and friends but also an actual finished item or two is perfect. And that’s certainly what happened here…

Now more about Craftopia… Amanda’s shop is a real beauty! For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you’ll know I always try to visit local yarn shops wherever I go and I have been to many… Craftopia is certainly a very special one…

It’s not just wonderful yarns including some of my favourites such as ‘Scheepjes’ that Amanda sells, but there are so many other crafty things including beautiful fabrics, books, buttons, needle-felting kits, baskets, slipper kits, past boxes from ‘Little Box of Crochet’ (which are of course exclusive) and so much more!

Everywhere you look there’s something new to discover… every little nook and cranny is used! Dogs are welcome too (always a big bonus for me) and there’s crochet and knitting to spot all around… it’s a real feast for the eyes!

For those of you who have followed Amanda and ‘Little Box of Crochet’ you will know about Amanda’s daughter Jenny who sadly passed away in 2017. Amanda has always been so open about this tragic loss and shared her story with so many people which you can read about here… Our-story

The till area of Craftopia is adorned with Jenny’s crocheted flowers which the worldwide crochet community made for her… it is so very beautiful and so special. Jenny’s presence is certainly felt throughout this wonderful shop…

My visit to Ingleton coincided with a late night Christmas shopping event so Amanda and I headed out after the workshop…

And there was much excitement when Santa made an appearance!

And even more excitement for me when the next morning we awoke to snow!!

It was time for me to drive back south… it’s a long way from home but it was such a special crochet filled weekend that was worth every mile travelled!

I said a “till next time” to dear Amanda for there will surely be more visits to Craftopia. And I stopped for a couple of photo opportunities outside beautiful Ingleton…

I’m writing this with just 5 days until Christmas Day… I wish you all a wonderful week ahead, whether you celebrate Christmas or not… and that you find some creative time in there somewhere!

I will finish by showing you a wonderful gift Amanda gave to me which I’ve put under the tree ready for Christmas Day!

Yes… it’s a ‘Little Box of Knitting‘!! How wonderful is that?! It’s really all about crochet for me but during my stay in Ingleton Amanda and I were chatting about all things yarn related and the topic of knitting came up in conversation. I actually knitted long before I crocheted and I used to knit all kinds of things many many years ago…

These Christmas baubles were knitted by both my mother and I for Christmas 2013 from the book ’55 Christmas Balls to Knit’ by Arne and Carlos…

I revealed to Amanda that I haven’t picked up knitting needles in over 5 years!! I’m not even sure I can remember how to do it! But it looks like that might change for a brief moment on Christmas Day… my ‘Little Box of Knitting’ is waiting for me to have fun giving those needles a go!

I wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a creative 2020!

Happy crocheting… 🙂