Manchester Wool and Yarn

A Postcard from April 2026

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Hello there! I hope April was kind to you. We have been blessed with some truly beautiful sunny days with blue skies and they have meant the gorgeous spring blossoms have been looking fantastic. From my own back garden, to walking down the street and visiting a university open day with Son number 2 this month, the one constant has been floral colour and it’s been spectacular.

An azalea in my back garden
Beautiful cherry blossom on a street I walked down
Stunning blossom at Keele University

So here’s what I’ve been up to last month…

Easter Weekend

The month of April kicked off with Easter this year and it was a lovely weekend for us. Eldest set aside some time from his studies to return home and we were able to spend a good chunk of time together which was lovely. We had a family meal (finished off with a gorgeous chocolate cake made by my Mum – Grandma’s Easter cakes are legendary in our household!), we got out for a lovely walk which included some very seasonably appropriate coffee! I made up some cute Easter jar lids for table decorations. The pattern is by @blossom.and.yarn on Instagram and was so easy to follow. This little collection of bunny ears worked up very quickly.

Another University Open Day

One sunny Saturday, I found myself back on my old stomping ground of Keele University with Son Number 2 who is considering it for his next step.

Keele has a very special place in my heart. I spent 3 of the happiest years of my life in this place and have lifelong friends and three very special young men in my life as a consequence of my time there.

I’m not sure if Keele will be his first choice for where he wants to study, but it was so lovely being back there briefly.

Vitamin Tree!

My word, I do love being out in the greenery of nature. We are blessed to have Dunham Massey, a National Trust property in our area and we made the most of the sunshine last weekend to pay it a visit. We got there relatively early in the morning before it got too busy and it was so lovely to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the place.

Big news!

I have been bursting to share this news… last week it was announced that I am going to be a guest designer at The Crochet Sanctuary! My appearance will be in October 2027 – so there’s a bit of time before then. Although I have been designing for over 5 years, this is the first time I have ever done anything like this – so it’s all very exciting!

If you are interested in coming along to join me and everyone else that weekend, you can book onto the weekend here: https://www.crochetsanctuary.co.uk/product-page/october-29th-31st-2027-774-per-person-50-deposit

A visit to Stockport

Early in April, I popped along the M60 to Stockport to visit a fantastic independent yarn shop called Manchester Wool & Yarn! It’s run by Gareth, who I met for the first time at TexStyle festival in March. We chatted then and he invited me to come and visit him in his fab yarn shop to record an episode of Making Stitches Podcast.

I have to confess that despite living back in Manchester for almost 6 years, I haven’t visited Stockport since my return. It was a place we often went to for a mooch around the shops when I was growing up, but it had fallen off my radar of late. I keep seeing posts about the vibrant independent shops which have sprung up in the town centre, and it was high time I returned!

It was lovely to actually see Manchester Wool & Yarn in real life after seeing so many of Gareth’s social media posts! It really is a delightful shop, packed full of beautiful yarn and lots if gorgeous hand dyed skeins created by North West yarn dyers.

Do please pop in if ever you are in that neck of the woods – it’s so nice.

And as for my podcast chat with Gareth, that came out last week – you can listen to it here!

Podcast news

The first podcast episode I released in April featured the amazing Anna Nikipirowicz, a hugely talented crochet designer, who is passionate about crochet, mosaic crochet, Tunisian crochet and embroidering on crochet too.

You can find her episode here.

And, of course there’s Gareth’s episode too! (Link to listen if above).

That’s all from me for this month, thanks for stopping by!

If you have a bank holiday weekend in your part of the world this weekend, I hope you enjoy it!

Lindsay x

A postcard from March 2026

Image shows a closeup of some white blossom against a blue sky
~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Hello there! I hope you’re doing well. My word, March was a super month in my world, filled with fun, sunshine and lots to interesting chats with super people. The main highlight of the month was the TexStyle Festival in Manchester city centre. It was the first of its kind and I spent the whole weekend at it – it was amazing!

So, here’s a little round up of the past month in my neck of the woods…

Sunny days

Image shows a closeup of some white blossom against a blue sky

I don’t want to sound like a weather bore, but in amongst the usual damp and grey March days, we enjoyed several beautiful sunny and warm days this month. Fortunately for me, some of them happened on days when I wasn’t working so I was able to enjoy some time out pottering in my garden.

It was lovely to be able to give the back lawn it’s first cut of the year – it was getting very long and tufty in places, and it stayed looking pretty smart for a couple of hours until it returned to being used as a penalty shoot out area again! One day I will have a pristine lawn, but only when my resident footballers have flown the nest, so I’m not wishing my life away.

A Literary Evening Out

In early March I went along to our local bookshop along with a very good friend of mine to hear local author, Helen Gaskell, speak about her first novel. Released at the height of Bridgerton Series 4 fever, her book The Regency Switch involves time travel from the present day, back to the Regency era.

Helen gave a really fascinating talk and we really enjoyed our evening out (on a school night too!).

Thank you Helen for a brilliant evening!

Image is of author Helen Gaskell posing for the camera holding her first novel, The Regency Swap in a book shop in front of book cases

TexStyle Festival 2026

It’s official I was in!
It was lovely seeing my friend Christine aka Winwick Mum at TexStyle
Work completed by Yarn Addicts of Manchester
Some of the work done by Yarn Addicts of Manchester

Oh my, where to begin with TexStyle Festival? What a wonderful weekend of fun, creativity and community!

I was thrilled to be asked to compere the Textile Talks stage at the festival, so I was lucky enough to spend the full two days at Manchester Central, enjoying all that it had to offer. The weekend’s speakers were textile artists, Sophia Gardiner, Stephen West from WestKnits, Amelia Rogers from Amelia Stitches, Gareth from Manchester Wool & Yarn, Debbie Munro from The Lace Knittery & Jane Smith from Japanese Embroidery UK.

Sophia Gardiner at her stand
Stephen West in action
Stephen West ready to go on stage

It was a brilliant weekend and I feel really privileged to have been a small part of it all. I took my podcast microphone with me (naturally) and shared an episode all about the weekend.

With Gareth from Manchester Wool & Yarn
Jane Smith from Japanese Embroidery UK
Amelia from Amelia Stitches in action

The whole TexStyle experience was a whirlwind, which I still can’t stop thinking about, I had so many lovely conversations with people and look forward to seeing lots of them again in the not too distant future. I’m really grateful to be a part of this super duper community.

Victoria Salmon from Another Knitted Thing
Alena Ruth from Manchester Tufting Workshops
With the super Debbie Munro who gave 2 talks

To get a true flavour of the event, please check out my TexStyle 2026 episode of Making Stitches Podcast.

My March Makes

My only full length photo of my new cardigan taken in the loos at TexStyle!
Image is of the back of a cardigan made using Orla Squares
The back of my Orla Square cardigan

Last month in my Postcard from February, I mentioned that I was working on something using the Orla Squares I had made during my summer craft challenge. The aim was to get a new cardigan made using the squares and I just about managed to get it finished in time for the second day of the TexStyle Festival.

The pattern I used for the squares was on PS I Crochet’s Instagram account last year in Karen’s Orla Love Bag post you can see her account here.

I’m really chuffed with how the cardigan ended up and received some nice compliments about it when I had it on at TexStyle, which is always nice!

Zeens and Roger Small Bobble Cowl pattern

Once my cardigan was finished and I had time to hit my WIP pile with determination to tick another WIP off the list, I settled on this Small Bobble Cowl. I started it in January and then it was cast aside for cardigan making. The pattern is by Zeens and Roger and is called the ‘Small Bobble Cowl’, you can find a link to the crochet pattern bundle for cowls designed by Rosina here. I loved making this and used yarn from Kitey aka https://www.yarnwhisperer.co.uk I love the vibrancy of the colours against the cream background yarn. I just hoping when I wear it, I don’t look too much like a children’s TV presenter!

My final make for March was this ‘mini-me’ for my Zumba instructor, Guillaume who left us at the end of the month to concentrate on his other, candle making business.

I can’t tell you how much my Tuesday evenings dancing have meant to me over the past 4 years I’ve been going. They have been the highlight of my week and such a laugh.

If you want to support his business, I can highly recommend his candles, wax melts, diffusers and candle-making classes. All of which leave your nose in raptures of lovely smells! You can find all of Gui’s products at https://malumiere.co.uk

The mini-me is not anatomically correct by the way! I used my fail safe of adapting a pattern from the Carla Mitrani book Crochet Iconic Women.

On Making Stitches Podcast this month…

I kicked off a brand new series of Making Stitches Podcast this month with a chat I had with Katy Mitchell aka Kate’s Crochet Creations.

Katy is a passionate advocate for the Granny Square and has designed hundreds of different ones. She published her first book last year ‘The Granny Square Book’ which is filled with over 100 different designs for you to make your own unique Granny Square projects with.

You can find Katy’s episode here

Episode art for Episode 101 of Making Stitches Podcast
Episode artwork for the TexStyle festival 2026 episode 102 of Making Stitches Podcast

I have said so much about this festival already in the post, but in case you missed it before, my second episode of the month came out last week and features the brilliant TexStyle Festival. You can listen to it along with all the previous Making Stitches Podcast episodes in all the main podcast places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify etc as well as on my Making Stitches Podcast website.

And that’s it for this month, I hope March was kind to you and that April goes well too. We have the Easter long weekend just around the corner and with it plenty of time to enjoy time with family and my yarn too! Thank you for stopping by to read my latest update.

Have a lovely month!

Lindsay x