Knitting and crochet holiday in France - May 2017

Due to a cancellation we have spaces available for the first holiday of the year from Sunday 30th April to Friday 5th May.
Prices start at £395 per person in a twin room. This includes full board and outings during the week, all you need to do is get yourself to France with your knitting or crochet project and we will do the rest! For further details visit Knitting Holidays in France here.

During the holiday we will visit the large monthly market in Saintes and a Brocante for colourful baskets, fabric, haberdashery and old buttons

Guests bring along their own choice of knitting or crochet projects

there will also be optional workshops on Freeform knitting and crochet

We will visit a yarn shop or two

and there is a pop up shop on site selling hand turned wooden yarn bowls, knitting and crochet kits and patterns

There are other optional visits to Chateau la Roche Courbon and the Roman Amphitheatre at Saintes

And there will be plenty of time to explore the surrounding countryside, wander through sleepy hamlets and vineyards and admire the spectacular skies

And most of all relax! With no shopping, cooking or housework to do all you need to do is put your feet up, enjoy your knitting and crochet and be wined and dined.

Knitting, crochet and now stitching holidays in France!

On the last knitting and crochet retreat one of our guests brought along a stitching project and this is the finished result - absolutely beautiful, thank you Pat for sharing that with us. So you don't have to be a knitter to take part in a holiday here!

Stitching up Paris tour

On our second day in Paris we went on an amazing tour of yarn, fabric and haberdashery shops. The tours are run by Barbara Cattoni, visit her website here, and last for approximately 4 hours. It is a wonderful way of finding the best craft shops and exploring areas of Paris off the tourist routes.
We started with Tissumarket, two warehouses side by side on rue Sentier selling luxury fabrics at bargain prices.

Next stop was Cat'Laine at 19 rue Saint-Marc, a great little yarn shop with rows of boxes selling yarn at discount prices.

On to 3 more fabric shops - Les Etoffes du Sentier, Sonitis and GHT

In GHT we had a little demo of how to test fabric content by burning it, the man made fibres burn quickly and melt.

Next was Sajou a stitching and haberdashery shop with the most amazing shop fittings and displays. They stock a huge range of sewing threads and a great selection of books covering all crafts including knitting and crochet.

In addition to the lovely fabric and craft shops you get a guided tour of the areas, these are all in the The Sentier which is a maze of narrow streets, with lovely old buildings, trendy cafes and bistros and designer shops.

Next stop was Le passage du Grand Cerf a covered arcade full of shops selling gifts, homeware, jewellery, brocante, hand painted wallpaper, soap and a great knitting and stitching shop called Lil Weasel.

We hopped on the metro to Bastille and a visit to Malhia Kent in the Viaduc des Arts (underneath La promenade plantee). This was shopping heaven for me. The large unit was filled with colourful hand-woven fabrics at bargain prices and floor to ceiling shelves filled with coned yarn in every kind of texture and colour.

The last trip was the metro to Place d'Italie for coffee at l'Oisivethe a yarn shop, tea room and the perfect spot for a knit'n'natter. The sister shop La Bien Aimee also stocks a lovely range of yarns, buttons, kits and pattern books.

To find out more about fabric and craft shopping in Paris the book 'Stitching up Paris' by Keiry Belton and Barbara Cattoni is a must have.