Hello and welcome to my Folksy shop! I've been making for others since 2013 and if you'd like to see what my customers have said about my work since then (before I opened up here on Folksy), you can read more than 1,000 reviews on my web site: http://www.thecrimsonrabbit.co.uk/ (click 'Reviews' on the bar at the top of the page).

In addition to the UK, I'm happy to ship most items to the US, Canada, Japan and Australia - just message me for a shipping quotation if a shipping price isn't shown against an item you're interested in. Please note that all US shipping prices shown DO NOT include tracking. If you'd like your package sent with tracking, please message me for a quotation.

Many of the pieces I make are made to order and the shipping time is a 'worse case scenario' estimate - I will often make and send items quicker than indicated, although things do sometimes slow down at busy times. If you want something urgently, just message me and I'll confirm if I can meet your deadline. Some items over £30 are posted via the 'Tracked 24' Royal Mail service automatically, but if you'd like to make sure you have this on your order, just message me.

I'm more active on Instagram than anywhere else: https://www.instagram.com/the_crimson_rabbit/ but you can always find me online elsewhere: my blog is here: www.thecrimsonrabbit.co.uk, my facebook page here: www.facebook.com/thecrimsonrabbitpage and my Pinterest addiction is evidenced here: http://www.pinterest.com/crimsonrabbit/

You can subscribe to my newsletter to hear about new designs, offers and giveaways! https://mailchi.mp/069210225db4/thecrimsonrabbit

Knit and stitch fripperies for you and those you love

The crimson rabbit is my artisan alter-ego. She is a rabbit because my mind loves to hop about from one creative project idea to another, and she’s crimson because she likes to be special – red would be a tad dowdy for an alter-ego; even one that doesn’t wear their pants on top of their trousers (which she would if she wore trousers at all but, being a rabbit, she doesn’t…).

I've always made 'things' with fabric, thread and yarn, but had very limited time to indulge in making while building my career. Whilst studying for an Open University degree alongside my full time job between 1999 and 2005, I rediscovered my love of crochet, as I found that making something helped me to concentrate, while listening to study recordings. It also helped me to stop smoking in 2005!

Once I'd completed my studies, I found that the organisation and self discipline I'd developed for myself over the 6 years of part time study not only enhanced my performance at work and helped me progress my career, but it also meant that I had some wriggle room in my schedule outside work.

I quickly substituted the study time with creative time and made a dive into developing my rediscovered crochet, knit and stitching skills. I familisarised myself not only with new techniques, but also with all the beautiful materials available to buy - and boy did I buy! I started making gifts for family and friends and was frequently told that I should be making these things to sell. At first I thought people were just being nice, but when I heard these kinds of comments enough times, I started to imagine how fabulous it would be to do that!

After working in the financial services sector for 30 years, when an opportunity to take voluntary redundancy arose in December 2012, I jumped at it! I decided to give myself a year to see whether I could make my dreams come true and build my own business from my own creativity.

I spent the first part of 2013 developing and refining a collection of products, my processes, and learning about the hand made market place. Sometimes it all felt incredibly frustrating and slow, but I knew that it was important to have a sound base to build from. Fortunately, I have a lot of hands on operational, general business and project management experience, which helped massively, and it felt great to be using skills from my old career to build my new one!

I opened my first online shop in May 2013. It has been wonderful making things for people and getting such great feedback from them. When I'm not busy making to fulfill an order, or running the practical side of my business, I'm greedily consuming inspiration from all manner of places and designing new products. I never want to stand still when it comes to learning new skills and developing the ones I have, and that shouldn't be a problem - my creative business keeps me challenged!

Every time I complete an item and package it up to post, I'm thinking about the person I made it for and hoping that they will love it. That is just the best feeling in the world and reminds me that my business is absolutely personal - in every way.

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