Flibbertygibbet: Origin-al thought

A very pleasant morning yesterday was spent meandering around Origin (the hangover wasn't so much fun, but it was worth it for a great meal here the previous evening, complete with the thrillette of seeing Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall) and I'm feeling completely inspired. Once the housework is done tomorrow, there's a whole list of crafting and creating waiting for me.

Here are the people whose work I adored:

Janet Bolton - whimsical fabric collage, and I would love to take one of her classes.

Adele Thurstan - ceramics, with almost Victorian scenes juxtaposed with contemporary images.

Alison Willoughby - wearable works of art, and Alison herself was so friendly, explaining the process of making her stunning gold leaf skirt. She said the woman who bought it chose it to go with a gold handbag she'd already bought. Perhaps that's the way to do, accessorise with clothing rather than the other way around.

Jenni Wilson - incredibly cute, and clever - not the kind of thing I'd actually wear myself, perhaps with the exception of these as a pendant or brooch but I appreciate the concepts, they indeed made me smile.

Linda Miller - when I asked her what sort of dog this is, which features in many of her beautiful embroidered pictures, I was wondering if it was a miniature bull terrier, much beloved in our household and she said that it wasn't. Rather it's the made-up dog she'd ideally like, but says that the embriodered one is lower maintenance.

The Bookery - a book in a bag. A bit daft but sweet. The sort of impractical thing that I rather love.

Melanie Tomlinson - she makes automata. How incredibly cool is that? As well as pretty butterflies, which are my own personal girls-in-white-dresses-with-blue-satin-sashes at the moment.

Julie Haslam - domestic bliss indeed, which comes from the reassurance of personal culinary traditions and history, based on her grandmother's recipe book and reinterpreted as stylish textiles.

Sarah Grove - her jugs and vases are divine and might even have been my favourite things in the entire show.

Johanna Basford - stunning wallpaper and prints. Lizzie Allen's wallpaper was fabulous too (her website is still under construction).

Grainne Morton - I've long been a fan. Absolutely inspirational. One of those "I want to be her when I grow up" moments when you see those treasures in real life - I certainly want to make things like that.

Ruth Singer - a wonderful maker who also has a great blog which I've been reading for ages. It was lovely to meet Ruth in person, I just hope she doesn't think I'm too stalkerish for bounding up to her like a labrador.

Cathy Miles - I loved her sense of humour and coveted the 'Stu' on his postbox, fabulous stuff. Another favourite from the show.

After sheltering from the rain afterwards I made my way to Cooksons in Hatton Garden and bought some new tools for jewellery making so that I can cut out some new silver pieces tomorrow. I like Cooksons for two reasons - they have no minimum order amount, and more importantly, they are really friendly and helpful. You can also order over the net.

Today I visited Loop again - twice in a week, it's like an addiction, and this is with Ally Pally on next week. Although they had a customer there who'd been in yesterday - he was buying sock yarn and was wearing the most amazing socks he'd knitted himself. He's been knitting for forty-three years, his grandmother taught him when he was five. There was a discussion about knitting needles - I always thought that the brightly coloured needles in my great-aunt's knitting roll were made of plastic - it turns out they are casein. Milk protein. As the sock knitter said 'as eco as you can get'.