If you're part of online community Ravelry, you'll know how great it is to be able to chat with all sorts of other knitters online. Last weekend the virtual became reality for British Ravellers as the UK's first ever Ravelry Day was held in Coventry. Organised by a lovely lady named Jo, the day promoted Ravelry and British wool - two of my favourite things - so I was really pleased to be able to go. Deb and Elizabeth went too, as did Juliet and Jen from The Knitter.

Part of the fun was meeting people I'd only ever encountered online before, seeing their knits and waving yarn purchases at each other. They were every bit as nice in real life as they are over t'internet! Perhaps it's because people knew each other from online that this was one of the friendliest knitting-related events I've been to. I always get nervous before these things - will someone harangue me over a subs problem (I don't deal with subs!) or start telling me how much they hate our patterns? Everyone was lovely on Ravelry Day, though.

Jen said, on seeing the list of stalls before the event, that it was like her dream shopping list. The weather in Coventry was utterly abominable, raining all day. The local pigeons were hiding under a stone bench, and even Toft's alpacas looked pretty miserable – and they're evolved for the climate in the Andes. Nonetheless, the stallholders all did a brisk trade. One stallholder told me a lot of the customers had done their research online and knew exactly what they wanted to buy when they arrived. That's serious shopping!

I bought a skein of Tui sock yarn in a colourway called Candy Corn from Krafty Koala. That Koala is indeed a cunning beast; the yarn is in my least favourite colours, bright yellow and two shades of caramelly red-brown, and yet I loved it from the moment I saw it. I also bought some Knitting Goddess cashmere laceweight. I'm not supposed to be buying more yarn right now, but it was sooooo lovely! I thought my husband would disapprove of all this as he's constantly telling me I have 'too much yarn' (makes no sense to me), but when we got home he pulled a skein of Fyberspates' Sparkle Sock from his pocket, which he'd sneaked off to buy as he thought I'd like it so much.

Away from the shops there were all sorts of exciting workshops, including two on dyeing and two introducing knitters to lace and fair isle techniques, and talks by Meg Swansen and Debbie Bliss. Whether people went to shop, socialise or learn, they will have had a grand day out!

(Nice to see a venue with such impressive cakes, too!)

Welcome to a new online knitting shop: Serenity Knitting!

Set up by keen knitter Jadwiga Bialkowska, with the help of her sister Anna, Serenity Knitting focuses on  providing a great shopping experience, replicating the joys of browsing your favourite shop online.


Here's Jadwiga!

Trying to decide what to knit next? It's easy with Serenity Knitting.

• Browse through all the gorgeous yarns.
  
• Search for projects by difficulty, pattern type, yarn or tension.
• Visit the Inspire section to check out the latest trends.
  
• Special software lets you flick through pattern books to see what designs are inside.

The pattern browser lets you flick through pattern books, like you would in a bricks-and-mortar shop.

Serenity Knitting has a strong ethical standpoint and tries to source natural and sustainable yarns – you'll even get a discount if you choose recycled packaging.

To celebrate their recent opening, Serenity Knitting commissioned this gorgeous knitting themed cake, and have also got special offers on their site – if you're one of their first 100 customers, you'll get a discount, so check it out today for your chance to bag a bargain!



Developed by ecommerce specialists, the site has a high level of security so you can shop securely. And if you run into any problems, or have any questions Jadwiga and Anna can answer queries in English, French and Polish!

Heard enough? Visit the Serenity Knitting website.