Buying handmade when you also make...

Sometimes a cake just isn't right for a birthday. Muffins won't do. It has to be cookies, or biscuits if you're more traditional, in the UK, and just prefer that word. Last week I baked a batch of cookies twice (no, not the same ones twice, new ingredients the second time...), refining the recipe for the second batch, and then putting the survivors (freshly cooked biscuits always seem to make the kitchen an attractive place) into a sturdy parcel and dispatched them to the grateful recipient.

Yes, I did feel good about myself. I'd made the effort, and helped make someone's day a little more special. And that made me wonder what it is about handmade things that make people feel pleased when they've created them, and does that feeling also translate into buying handmade gifts for others...

I have to say, when I buy homemade and give them away, I feel happier with myself than when I buy mass-produced from the high street (or worse, a supermarket). I feel like I've tried harder and haven't gone for the easiest option.

So even though I haven't made the item myself, my appreciation of the time and work that's gone into it, the fact that it wasn't created on a machine, along with hundreds of others that look identical, means that the handmade 'magic' rubs off on me as well.

I can't deny that I do sometimes feel the tiniest bit guilty that instead of buying handmade, I should have made it... I must confess to having a list of crafts, as long as the scarf I've not yet figured out how to knit, that I'd like to learn how to do...

But for now I'll muddle through, dabbling every now and then in other creative pursuits, but trying to focus on the many-faceted medium of jewellery... as I say, for now...

ps. The cookie recipe was this one. When I adapted it for the second batch, I added a little more flour and used both dark chocolate chunks and white chocolate chips. They're not massively sweet biscuits, but they are very mmmm...

Crafting in York

I've been fortunate enough to visit York twice this year, although both times it rained rather heavily. Not that that's surprising, given I went in the summer. The Shambles is always worth seeing and gazing out of the rain into a shop window, I recognised a name I knew from Folksy and Twitter - Noodle Bubble.

I took a snap - 

but, foolishly, didn't go inside, and instead continued on my way, brolly in hand.

Then just recently I read this fantastic guide to craft shopping in York by Made by Lolly (who seems to have visited on a much sunnier day), and rather regretted not having read it before I visited. Ah well. It's just an excuse to go back sometime soon.

It was wonderful to read that The Gift Gallery, where some of both Noodle Bubble's and Made by Lolly's beautiful felted goodies reside (follow the links if you can't get to York), only stocks handmade items crafted in the UK and Ireland. Very nice indeed.

I'm afraid I don't have any crafty haunts in York to recommend (I just don't go often enough!) but if you fancy something very tasty to eat (and aren't a vegetarian) then do try the York Hogroast and the stunning roast potatoes they sell. Wonderful even if it is chucking it down...although do bear in mind it's takeaway only...

Anyone else have any excellent craft shops in their local towns, or in cities they love to visit?