Edinburgh is a great place to live or visit if you like independent shops, delicious cakes and handmade goodies. I’m on maternity leave at the moment, and get a bit twitchy if I don’t leave the house every day. This means I’ve had plenty of time to explore the city and discover some hidden gems, as well as revisit my old favourites.

Broughton Street is one of those places which has lots of lovely independent shops, and is really central as well. It’s only five minutes walk from Waverley Station, and starts at the tram terminus on York Place. As you go down Broughton Street, you come to a place called Curiouser and Curiouser. They’re an independent gift shop with a particular focus on prints and cards. They also have a framing service so you can have your new piece of art framed in store. The shop stocks other items as well, including some funky Katie Abey pins, and adorable children’s plush toys. There’s also another branch out in Bruntsfield, on the other side of the city. I was very tempted by a glittery hippo or unicorn pin, and also admired some beautiful ceramic clouds designed for a child’s wall.

Further down the street, you come to Dragonfly. This is a boutique style gift shop, selling gorgeous and often unique items. The front of the shop is devoted to children’s things, such as vibrantly colourful Frugi and Blade and Rose clothes. I loved the leggings with funky stripes and sleepsuits with cute prints. There’s also a selection of dresses for adults, and a wide variety of gifts from the adorable to the super practical.

Over the road, you can find artisan homewares, clothing and jewellery in Concrete Wardrobe. They sell items from Scottish based or trained designers. There’s always a featured Maker of the Month, which for September is Jane Sedgwick, a wooden jewellery maker. You can also find screen printed textiles, knits from Collingwood Norris, and the wonderfully unique crochet creations of Laura from Lost in the Wood. If you’ve ever wanted an anatomically correct crochet heart or a taxidermy pug, this is the place to go!

Broughton Street isn’t just about gift shops though – as you head down the street you’ll find Kathy’s Knits. This is one of Edinburgh’s independent yarn stores and Kathy sells British yarns, several of which are exclusive to her shop. You’ll find Jamieson and Smith, JC Rennie and baa.ram.ewe yarns amongst others, as well as books from Scottish based designers Karie Westermann and Ysolda Teague. It’s well worth a look if you enjoy knitting or crochet, or just want to stroke some beautiful cashmere!

At the bottom of the street is a haven for those with a sweet tooth – the Marshmallow Lady sells her amazing creations, and you can cross the road to buy cakes for special occasions from Sweet Unique. You can even pick up a gluten free treat from Sugar Daddys. From here, you’re minutes from Edinburgh’s gorgeous cycle path network. You can take a stroll down to the Botanics, or enjoy the views on the Water of Leith path. It’s a lovely quiet part of the city.

There’s plenty more places to explore in Edinburgh of course, so in future blogs I’ll feature some more of the hidden gems across the city. I’d also love to hear about new places to explore!

There’s a new magazine available which is aimed especially at those who are total beginners to knitting and crochet, or who are coming back to the crafts after a long break. Your Crochet and Knitting comes with a 4ply yarn kit, 3.5mm knitting needles and a 3mm crochet hook, as well as a yarn needle and little bits and pieces like safety eyes. The magazine features projects which can be worked up with the yarn kit, so you can choose something you like and get crafting right away. It’s perfect for beginners as you don’t have to go out and buy lots of equipment. There’s a fairly wide variety of projects, so there should be something for everyone. Previous issues have featured toys, accessories, baby clothes and household items.

Issue 3 comes out on September 27th, and I’m excited that my pattern “Hilde” will be included. This is a baby cardigan to fit sizes from newborn to 2 years. I normally like to design stranded colourwork, so it was a challenge to use the colours but keep the design simple enough for a beginner. I opted for a striped pattern, with bands of slip stitch colourwork which only ever uses one colour per row. Here’s the cardigan modelled by a sweet little toddler!

I’ve seen a sneak peek of the other patterns in this issue and it looks like it will be full of ideas for Christmas gift items. Of course you could always buy the magazine as a gift, and get another new knitter or crocheter started in the wonderful world of crafting!

There are some knitting patterns that you can make over and over again, and I think I might have found a new favourite. Flax is a top down seamless sweater in Aran weight yarn, created by Canadian design duo Tin Can Knits. It’s part of their Simple Collection, a selection of designs that are aimed at beginner knitters. However you don’t have to be a beginner to enjoy knitting a quick and easy sweater like this – it’s a pattern that can be customised and knitted lots of different ways. The other bonus is that Flax is sized to fit everyone from newborns to an adult size 4XL, and the pattern is free! It comes with a whole bunch of tutorials to help beginners, including knitting in the round and increasing stitches.

I made my first Flax for my older daughter, using Caron Cakes Funfetti. This is the adult XS size, but only used just under two cakes of yarn.

Next I made the 0-6 month size for my baby daughter, using King Cole Comfort Aran. This is really soft and very reasonably priced, and is also machine washable – essential for a baby knit! I added the sequin rainbow patch because it was too adorable to resist.

My most recent Flax was another baby knit, the 1-2 year size in Caron Cakes Mixed Berry. It took less than a cake, meaning that there was plenty of yarn spare to make sure that the sleeves matched. I quite enjoy knitting with a yarn cake, getting the stripy effect without needing to sew in lots of ends.

Tin Can Knits also have a 4ply version of this sweater called Flax Light, if you’re looking for a slightly less bulky garment. Take a look at the project gallery on Ravelry for some inspiration – there’s over 10.5k Flax sweaters knitted so far!

My new business cards arrived today, and I’m super happy with them. The picture is a close-up of my Millook Cowl, and the reverse has rainbow writing which looks really cheerful! Vistaprint had a very easy designing and ordering system, so it only took a week for them to arrive. Now I’m off to get to work on some new designs!

I last posted on my blog over 3 years ago, just before I started a new adventure. I’ve been training to become a midwife, which has taken up most of my time and energy. Now I’m on maternity leave, and I’m enjoying some time to sit on my sofa and knit!