Weekend away

Trish was the lucky prize winner of a weekend away in Norfolk in the raffle held at the Jolie exhibition back in June. She kindly invited Linda, Julie, Karen and Dany to go with her - so winners all round. We had great fun trawling round the antique shops in Holt (and Brandon and Swaffham on the way - you know us).

We picked up some great bits and pieces. Linda made a still life back at the cottage with lead cowboys and indians, a pretty little tray and the sweetest tea and sugar travelling tin (tea one end, sugar the other).

As usual we ate our way round Norfolk.

Tea in Byford's, Holt, dinner at The Hero, Burnham Overy Staithe....breakfast at The Burnham Deepdale Diner.

After a few gins, Linda tried on her tablecloth wedding dress. According to Dany's dream (too much cake perhaps!) there was a grand wedding, Dany was maid of honour with Nana Mouskouri as celebrity guest in choice kaftan purchased in Swaffham. Don't ask!

A little more demure after the previous night's fun and games we went for a little walk around Wells next the Sea. Thanks to Sue Noyes for her kind donation.

Pet heaven

Maybe it's because we are country girls we get excited about knitted animals. Linda finished her fab fox terrier - based on Teddy of course.

Claire Garland's new book has pets galore to knit - chickens, kittens, ponies, even a tortoise

and gorgeous bunnies!

More knitted toys from Sandra Polley including these lovely mice who are obviously very good at sewing, some daft meercats and a reindeer which is a must for Christmas.

Introducing Sakura

Sakura (Cherry Blossom in Japanese), arrived a little earlier than expected on October 8th.

Here she is with proud grandmother Jennifer.

And yes, she has dancer's feet for sure.

Lollia

New in at Jolie, a range of fine fragrances and luscious hand cremes from Lollia.

There are four fresh scents to choose from; Wish, Imagine, Breathe and In Love. Very boudoir. The packaging is beautiful, the shop smells divine, and so do we!

Knit and Wine

Due to half term we have brought Knit and Wine forward a week to Tuesday 19th October from 7.30 - 10pm.

! Stop press !

Exciting news. As of Tuesday Jolie is launching a new line. Come and see the new pre Christmas girlie treats now available.

Bagsie yours

Our very talented Karen, who comes to Knit and Chat on Tuesdays, is making these stunning bags exclusively for Jolie. Karen has very cleverly devised a way of using beautiful vintage scarves and fabrics to make these lovely bags, which are not only fully reversible, you can remove the handles and still use the scarf.

Karen is sourcing vintage fabrics and souvenir scarves from far and wide meaning each Fibi Vintage bag is unique - there are no two the same in the world! (£49.95)

The spare room has been reinvented into the Fibi Vintage workshop - at least Karen can see which designs go together. She matches the colours beautifully and each time a new bag comes into the shop Linda and Dany start drooling.

Sue was delighted with her gorgeous Fibi bag which she received from everyone at Knit and Chat for her birthday last Thursday.

Life is sweet

Debbie knitted Lisa this lovely cabled shrug in Louisa Harding's Thistle aran. Beautifully knitted and very soft and cosy.

Lisa, who is a very talented baker (we finally identified it was Lisa who made the incredible brownies on our cake stall at the exhibition back in July), made these delightful cupcakes decorated with chocolate roses as a 'Thank You' to Debbie.

Loose women

Tony (Hadley) really needs to learn to knit! He is currently working on a music project with Phil and can't resist coming in to see the girls on his way up to the studio. " It always sounds like you're having so much fun, it's like Loose Women in here - women talk about much more interesting things than men - not just football and cars". Pictured here with Ann, Linda and Sue. Get some needles and a ball of wool Tony and you're in!

Goodwood girls

More birthday celebrations at Goodwood Revival Weekend for Linda and Karen. Linda is wearing Mary's genuine 70's dress and Karen has on that fab hat featured in an earlier blog shot in Scotland back in June. A great day out and highly recommended; tons of dressing up, vintage stalls, track racing, air displays, fun fair and more!

Mary, Mary

Mary is a fabulous knitter and has knitted many lovely things for Jolie and for our customers. Mary knits samples for the shop, all of our baby shoes as well as undertaking commissions. She is very speedy and enjoys a challenge - the more intricate the better. How Mary manages to fit in knitting with all her other commitments we will never know.

Thirty days hath September

and nearly every one seems to be a birthday at Jolie.

Dany and Linda chose Mr Kipling's Big French Fancy for their cake on Thursday. Ann provided the pastel coloured macaroons. It was exceeeedingly good!

Knit and Wine

Tuesday 21st September 7.30 -10pm

Best in show

Best in Show by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne. Now you can knit your own dog. This book has patterns for 25 breeds.

There is a Bassett hound.

A Dalmation.

A Collie, and many more.

With a twist

New from Debbie Bliss, The Knitter's Year contains 52 hand-knit designs, one for each week of the year. All projects are designed to take less than a week and include; bags, flags, hats, scarves, socks, bootees, cushions, a pencil case, peg bag.

We chose a hot water bottle cover which Mary knitted over the weekend in the new Rowan Silk Twist aran.

Is it systematic, hydromatic, ultramatic? - no it's Hipstamatic!

It was Linda's birthday on Monday 13th.

September is the month for birthdays at Jolie - hope I havn't missed anyone out but at last count it was; Sally, Linda, Libby, Dany, Karen, Trish, Julie, Annmarie and Ann all celebrating in September.

Jo took these great pics of the shop with her new iphone Hipstamatic App.

Very atmospheric.

New in: gorgeous new handbags from Fibi Vintage. All handmade using pretty vintage fabrics and souvenir scarves.

Island life

Dany and family went to Ven (or Hven, in old Swedish), an island between Denmark and Sweden, for our summer holiday.

Scandinavian children go back to school in mid August, so the beaches were deserted. We managed to catch a few rays of late summer sun.

My lolly of choice - dark chocolate and pineapple. I wasn't so sure about raspberry and liquorice as an ice cream combination....

Unless you are a resident, and there are only 300 or so of those, you cannot bring a car onto the island. We hired bikes for the week and travelled around together like the Von Trapp family.

We stayed in an old Swedish farmhouse painted in typical colours.

There was even an antique Gustavian clock, although it had lost it's hands.

And I loved this hand blocked wallpaper in the hallway, which had been papered over the door!

We spent a day in Copenhagen and met up with some rellies (Phil's). It was lovely and quiet to come back to the island for some more reading, drawing and knitting - unfortunately I ran out of wool and there was a distinct lack of wool shops.

Still, more time to sit and reflect and watch the boats go by.

Happy holidays

Sorry we've been absent for a while. We've been on our summer hols and taking turns in the shop.

Linda and family had a relaxing week in deepest rural Tuscany (near Poppi) and stayed in a lovely farmhouse with beautiful views over the countryside.

Such a busy walk to the pool. Not!

Linda went on a Madonna quest and spotted a few around Poppi.

Aah, there's another one. Madonna by night in Castello de Fiorentino....

Linda found one to bring home too - no wonder her mum thinks she's changed religion!

Clever clog

Here is the sweet little Amsterdam souvenir haberdashery holder, with pincushion - put to good use straightaway. Thanks Jennifer, as I love all that kinda stuff.