July 25th was a day for celebration.
Kerry Lord, founder of TOFT – a Warwickshire based alpaca farm and also the British knitting leaders, launched her very first crochet pattern book, Edward’s Menagerie.
Edward’s Menagerie is named after Kerry’s son and is a crochet pattern book filled with step-by-step instructions to crochet super cute animal toys for children. The gorgeous book is accompanied by many beautiful illustrations and each of the 40 different animals in the book are named and given their own personalities and lifestyles which really helps to bring the animals to life. See Bridget the elephant below who has a passion for baking scones, cookies, and endless amounts of cakes. Bridget is determined to stay focused on tomorrow’s diet and meet the man of her dreams.
TOFT have seen a recent surge in demand for crochet kits and workshops and conducted a survey to see where the sudden popularity stems from. They found a rise in the amount of women taking up crocheting in the last year as these women believe the craft can reduce stress and help with depression and anxiety, and also help during sickness and pregnancy. Take Kerry for example, she was an expert knitter but taught herself to crochet two weeks before her son was due and managed to crochet fourteen different animals in that time!
To celebrate the launch, we headed to the gorgeous grounds in TOFT for a day filled with alpaca and cria tours, workshop classes, and lots of delicious cream teas and scones.
The tour was very scenic, picturesque, and informative. The alpaca’s were so cute and definitely made the trip complete!
After our tour, we set up shop in TOFT’s beautiful workshop area to get started on our crocheting. The staff at TOFT are so great at explaining things clearly and helping you if you get stuck.
The last thing on our agenda was to get stuck in in all the delicious treats available from the Cornflower Café. There are several different options to choose from to satisfy all tastes.
To order your copy of Edward’s Menagerie or to book a workshop experience at TOFT, head to their website to see all the different classes available for every level: http://www.thetoftalpacashop.co.uk