Here at last, in response to many, many requests - gold and silver lurex yarn, ideal for all those angel wings, fairies and Christmassy goodies that you're all knitting out there.  Alongside it we've also got sparkly mohair for party shrugs and shawls in a range of colours woven through with either silver or gold.

Well, according to The Guardian's Style section the other weekend, crochet is on the up and up. And certainly we've had many many people asking about crochet lessons, buying hooks and beginner books, and coming along to our groups to get started. Amy, pictured here, came along last Wednesday night and within less than two hours had produced her first egg cosy. Vicky, another novice, has been to our Tuesday afternoon group and over the past two weeks has made three little cosies in mix and match shades of pink and purple complete with pretty folk ribbon loops.

Just bobbing by to say hello and thank you to everyone who's called into the shop since we opened 10 days ago. Your warm and generous comments and feedback have touched us and confirmed our belief that The Fibreworks is 'just what Chippy needs.'  And from what our fellow retailers tell us, we are currently the 'talk of the town.' Our knitting groups have been busy (and productive) and today we publish our first programme of workshops - see the classes section for more information.

After much sweat, but fortunately no tears, our little shop is finally open! Friends and family attended a preview on Friday night and then on Saturday morning we opened our doors to the public. Walking along the street first thing in the morning, several people stopped me to wish us well. The goodwill shown to us by other businesses in the town and by all those who've visited us over our first two days has been incredibly touching. So many lovely comments - thank you, everyone.

One of the many things we discovered about our wonderful old building was that in the 1950s or 60s it was Mrs Burbidge's sweet shop. It's easy to imagine jars of colourful sweets lined up in the bay window and the pleasure it must have brought to children (and adults, no doubt). We like to think that we've created a new kind of 'sweet shop' - one that puts a smile on the faces of those who pass by our twinkling window and brings pleasure to anyone interested in colour, texture and being creative.

And just to finish, here are a few pictures taken over the past hectic week, as we raced to complete the refurbishment and open on schedule: