Seven Magpies Studio

Back to school isn't just for the kids, September classes are live!

There's some classic beginner classes there, plus the usual Makers Social on Thursday September 19! After taking August off, I can't wait to see everyone and catch up.

What are you looking to learn in the autumn this year?

Thanks to lockdowns and babies I haven't been home to Toronto for over 4 years! It has been such a treat to return to my hometown in all its summer glory. So much has changed, so much is the same. I'm seeing my childhood through their eyes again. We are also experiencing the best/worst of the heat, with soupy humidity that means frequent trips to the wading pool.

Here's a few things we've done already for the grid!

1. Toronto skyline from the islands
2.
3. Fresh Ontario peaches at St Lawrence Market
4. Musselbrough Hat in WYS Spinners
5. Crystals and gems at the Royal Ontario Museum

Summer yarn sale!!

I'm going on holiday next week, so get your yarn orders in now before I go! To give you a hand there's currently 20% off all orders over £25, ending on Monday at 11pm BST. I'll be able to ship everything on Tuesday and Wednesday before we leave.

What's on your yarny wishlist?

Saving to the grid for posterity!

Miss M had a very specific request for her birthday cake this year. It started about 9 months ago with a 'cake cake'. Then it became 'an orange cat cake'. And then it became 'an orange cat cake called NoNo.' 🤷🏻‍♀️

So that's exactly what she got! Making cakes with fondant is bringing me back to my FiMo/Sculpey highschool days, I've done a few now for the kids over the years, this is probably my favourite so far. She seemed pretty happy with it and definitely reminded me lots of times to not forget the whiskers. Though she might be only 3, but she knows just what she wants!

I wonder what she will come up with next year?

Just don't let me forget next year that decorating takes about 3 hours and I definitely should have done it all the night before instead of in the morning!

🎉 Announcing a very special guest! The next Makers Social will be hosting Kitey of , coming up from London with his orange suitcase full of yarn!

Kitey will be debuting a collection of hand dyed minis that were destined for an event later in the month. Unfortunately that event has been cancelled, but it's our win as they will be displayed for us first!

Makers Social Chelmsford runs from 6-9pm upstairs at . No need to book, just come along with your knitting or crochet and pull up a chair. This month there will be pop ups from both Seven Magpies Studio and The Yarn Whisperer. Let us know if there is anything you are looking for!

See you soon!

Natalie

There's lots of fun stuff coming up in May! The very first Baby Cardigan class, even if you don't know any babies, this is a great class to take to practice everything you need to know to make a grown up sized one afterwards. As well as the ever popular Crochet Basket class, with spaces filling up quickly!

Also, for the first time I have arranged for a special guest to join us for the Makers Social. Kitey of will be bringing his orange suitcase over to Chelmsford for the evening to show off all his gorgeous hand dyed yarns.

Stay tuned, I'm booking June and July classes and events before a break for the summer holidays. Get on the newsletter if you want to be the first to hear about what's coming up!

Not long now until it's yarn shop day! I'll be at Chelmsford for the mobile pop-up yarn shop from 10am-2pm. Come by to hang out or stop by to browse the yarn in person. I can't wait to say hello to local knitters!

See you there!

Spring class dates are up! I'm so looking forward to the longer days and spring projects.

🌟 Embroidery on Knits
🌟Granny Squares

❤️Makers Social
❤️Local Yarn Shop Day Pop-Up

I'm especially excited about my first Local Yarn Shop Day event, I'll be taking over with the mobile pop-up shop. This is a great time to come by and hangout if you can't make it to the monthly Makers Social dates.

Look what just arrived! Stick and Stitch packs and beginner embroidery kits from !

When I started my shop I knew that it wasn't just going to be knitting, that I would carry beautiful supplies for many crafts. Embroidery has a special place in my heart as it was the first craft I really got into when I was about 8. I've been following Niamh for a few years and knew she was the top of my list to stock!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just be embroidering all my knitwear now!

Hi there, I am looking at scheduling my knitting, crochet and embroidery classes for the next couple of months. I was wondering what people might be interested in, and if there is any interest in a daytime social or classes? It would likely be on a Wednesday morning.

Loving these crochet hearts at the moment!

Deep in my soul I will always be a knitter first, but I can't help getting swayed by all the adorable crochet flying around at the moment. And as a teacher I will go where the people want me, and at the moment they seem to want crochet! Tonight's class is crochet hearts, so I'm finishing up some samples.

Which do you like better, the garland or the individual hearts? Little L is desperate for me to sew two together and "make them squishy", I might have to indulge her!

These are my own versions that I've done based on a few patterns I found online, all mushed together and tweaked to how I wanted them. I'm not sure they are original enough to write up myself!

Yarn: Kremke Soul Wool Karma Cotton
Hook: 4mm

New things have arrived! Excellent little knitting and crochet books, the perfect size to throw in your bag and bring along for reference. As well as scissors that are going to be just perfect for the embroidery class at the end of the month!

I'll have everything along with me at the Makers Social on Thursday!

I'm so excited to announce that I'll be teaching Visible Mending at in March! Tickets for classes went up for sale this weekend, so you can go ahead and grab one now. I'm so excited to share this, and it's been a good excuse to reach into my mending basket to make some new samples. These socks were wearing through on the ball of the foot, but now have loads more wear in them.

Bring along your favourite items that need mending and we'll make a plan to get it back into rotation!

See you there!

Before I ever learned to knit, as a kid I did a lot of embroidery. Since then I have dipped in and out of stitching, here and there. I'm so happy to finally bring embroidery to my set of classes!

For my first embroidery class we will be looking at embroidery on knits, both handknit and commercial. We will be using stitch and stick packs from to decorate something you bring from home: sweaters, scarves, hats, t-shirts, mittens, you name it, we'll stitch it!

Now that I've started I don't think I can stop! I definitely think this cardigan needs more flowers in the gaps, what do you think?

Class: Embroidery on Knits
Date: Saturday February 24, 2024
Time: 10am-12pm
Location: Chelmsford
Link in the bio to book or send me a DM for the link!

I am really enjoying the budding community of stitchers that I am meeting in Chelmsford, and making a regular space to meet has been a big priority for me. I'm happy to say I've got three Makers Socials booked for the start of 2024.

Thursday January 18
Thursday February 8
Thursday March 21

All meetings are held upstairs at from 6pm, free to attend! I'll be there with a mini pop up yarn shop, you can order drinks from the bar downstairs. Bring along your current project and settle in! We are a friendly group and everyone is welcome.

Will I see you this year? The first one is this week!

I'm super excited to be vending at my first proper yarn show! Seven Magpies will be at in Norwich with a full selection of yarns and haberdashery, including lots of new things. I'm busy behind the scenes here making plans and placing orders for stock to bring along. Stay tuned for announcements of what I'll bring!

There's still tickets available, but some time slots are starting to sell out. Let me know if you'll be there, I can't wait to meet loads of knitters in person!

Last chance for the new years sale! It ends tonight at 10pm, get 25% off of all purchases over £20. Perfect for getting a start on those classes for your new years resolutions!

So many fun classes coming up! Including loads of new ones, like Embroidery on Knits, Amigurumi, and Crochet Hearts. And don't forget that there's an offer on now so you'll get 25% off £20, it's a great time to book.

All the classes are held at , next to Nando's in the town centre. It's a lovely space, and I've heard it's about to get even nicer!

Happy New Year from all of us here at Seven Magpies! We've had a busy holidays visiting family and friends in Ireland, taking the ferry for the first time. I was able to do a fair bit of knitting as a passenger, including these quick matching chunky hats for the kids!

To kick off everyone's knitting this year, I've got 25% off all supplies and classes over in the shop! No code needed, it will be added automatically when you have a basket with a value over £20. It's a great time to sign up for a class and get your supplies while you're at it.

I've got loads of plans for the new year and I can't wait to share them with all of you!

❤️🧶🎉🥂🎄

A massive thank you to everyone to stopped by at the three holiday markets I did this season! It was wonderful to meet so many new people interested in knitting and crochet in the area!

The shop is now closed for Christmas orders, and any new orders will be shipped on January 2nd. But you can always buy a gift card or a spot on a class as those will email automatically!

Now, time to get Christmas sorted for this house!

Tis the season for this advent calendar! Each pocket has a wee ornament that gets hung on the button to show that day is done. Plus a wooden animal from a saved advent calendar from last year. Some days I'll tuck another gift in, some reused, some new. Today was mittens, new ones that she needed anyway for Little L and her own ones for Mini M.

Do you have any handmade traditions that come out every year?

There have been a lot of new yarn deliveries in the last couple of weeks. Between the weather turning and my classes ramping up, the chunky yarn has been flying out! I recently restocked all my colours, plus added two new ones. The light pink is Soft Love and the blue is Potion. This &Make Chunky is so lovely for accessories, and on an 8-12mm needle it's also a quick knit!

It absolutely took a brioche bun AND a hobnob biscuit to convince M to take pictures of her new Renboga Cardigan. But she was happy to keep wearing it when I was done, so I'm counting it as a win!

The original Renboga is designed with a classic rainbow, but I wanted to switch it up for this version. The main yarn is Tweed Treat in Shortcake, with a grey ombre stripes made with stash leftovers. I was a tiny bit short with two skeins for the sleeves so I used one of the contrast colours for the cuffs as well.

Pattern: Renboga Cardigan
Yarn: Tweed Treat in Shortcake
Size: 2-4 year old size on a 2.5 year old.

🌈🌈🌈Friends, we are finally live!! 🌈🌈🌈
Renboga baby cardigan lives, kits on the website and Etsy for international orders, Ravelry for digital downloads.
The kits are available in 5 size options, in cream or navy. I didn't want to make things easy on myself did I! 😂 the kits are a pre-order, with the goal to start shipping on November 2nd, so not too long to wait! This will let me gauge interest in the colourways and order enough yarn for everyone.

There's a link in my bio for Ravelry, Etsy and the shop.

Happy knitting rainbows!

Renboga goodness coming on Friday! Preorder for kits will open at noon BST on this Thursday 20th of October for newsletter subscribers, Friday noon BST for everyone else. The hope is to start shipping kits by November 1st.

The PDF pattern for the hat and cardigan will go up online on Friday for everyone to buy.

There's a link in my bio to sign up, don't delay!

I went away for the weekend by myself for the first time in what feels like forever, definitely since becoming a mum! I visited a highschool friend who now lives in Madrid for a delightful weekend of ice cream, food and excellent company!

I decided to pack a new project that was just for me, no design work and no samples! I have been wanting a new pullover with colourwork for ages. A weekend without the kids was the perfect time to sit down and get through most of the yoke without getting interrupted! 😁 I picked up three colours of 4ply to go with some ancient stash for the body. The pattern is only meant to have two colours, but I saw some finished ones with more and had to join in! I'm going to go back and duplicate stitch some of the pattern as I didn't fancy loads of rows with three colours 🙃

At the moment I've got 10 more rows of colourwork and then it's smooth sailing for the body and arms. I can't wait to be wearing this, especially as the weather has shifted from the 30C in Madrid to 11C this morning here!

Pattern is Fatherland by
Yarn is purchased from and from deep stash.

Accessibility description: The beginnings of a colourwork sweater lay on a table with a cup of tea and project bag. A Carlita toy peeks out from behind the project bag. The sweater has a deep wine collar that then adds periwinkle before changing to a white floral motif on a green background.

What a wonderful morning spent learning to crochet Granny Squares with Natalie, Eloise, Ann and Vicky!

The next crochet class is baskets in November!

Thank you so much for everyone's help with picking a name for my latest pattern! This will be the Renboga , Old English for rainbow.

I had to knit one last one before the pattern comes out, this time Miss M, who is 2.5. I wanted one in a hand dyed yarn with a different twist on the rainbow stripes. For this one I've used Tweed Treat DK in Shortcake, and an selection of random bits from my leftovers. I'm loving how quickly it's knitting up!

For those of you wondering about the pattern, it's not long now! I'm just waiting on buttons to arrive for the other two I've knit, which will also be in the kits. Once they arrive I'll be able to take pictures and get things launched! I'll launch the pdf pattern and a pre-order of kits, with the plan to start shipping kits about 2 weeks later. Doing a pre-order will help me gauge interest and order the right amount of yarn.

DM me your email to hear first about the launch!