From the shop

Embroidery has had something of a moment over the last few years, and not for the reasons you might expect. It's not nostalgia, exactly — or not on...

Should you start with tubes or pans? Artist-grade or student-grade? This guide cuts through the confusion and points you towards the watercolours that will actually help you improve.

There is a particular kind of gift that is very easy to get wrong at Christmas: the creative kit. It sounds like a thoughtful idea. It ends up in t...

Two beloved indie yarns, two very different personalities. We compare Baa Ram Ewe Woodnote — a Yorkshire wool with natural depth — against Malabrigo's famously saturated hand-dyed merino, so you can choose the right one for your next project.

October is the right time to start Christmas making. Knitted gifts, needle felting, embroidery, cross stitch, Fimo and more — at Craft and Canvas.

Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 — 80 colours at highest lightfastness, smooth wax core, made in Geneva. Individual pencils at £3.99 at Craft and Canvas.

Cross stitch: one stitch, repeated — X by X. Hoop kits from £9.99, starter kits from £2.99, DMC thread 500+ colours at £1.55. At Craft and Canvas.

Start embroidering with DMC Mouliné — 500+ colours at £1.55. Complete kits from £25. Six essential stitches explained. Craft and Canvas, Hebden Bridge.

Soft pastels, oil pastels, and pastel pencils are genuinely different materials that suit different approaches and intentions. This complete guide covers all three: Seawhite soft chalk pastels from £4.99, Toison D'Or at £8.95, Seawhite oil pastels from £4.99, Caran d'Ache Neopastel professional oil pastels at £2.75 each, Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils at £2.75, Caran d'Ache Pastel Pencils at £4.05, and the Pastelmat range — the surface most professional pastel painters choose, available as individual sheets at £11.28, pads from £18.99, and mixed-colour pads from £25.99. All stocked at Craft and Canvas.

Acrylic yarn is dismissed in some knitting circles as the inferior alternative to natural fibre. The reality is more useful than that — a good acrylic has specific strengths that wool cannot match, and for the right projects it is the sensible choice rather than the compromise. In this honest guide we cover what acrylic is genuinely best for (blankets, toys, children's garments, machine-washable gifts, colourwork, beginners), where natural fibre genuinely has the advantage, and why Stylecraft Special DK (43 colours, 100g/295m, £3.15) and Special Chunky (15 colours, £3.15) are the benchmark. Stocked at Craft and Canvas.

Sirdar Jewelspun Chunky With Wool makes self-striping simple — bold colour transitions develop automatically as you knit, with no joining or colour management required. An 80/20 acrylic-wool blend at chunky weight, 200g and 300m per ball at £11.99, machine washable. In this post we cover how the self-striping effect works, why the 200g ball format matters, what the wool content adds, and the nine dedicated Jewelspun patterns we stock at £3.50 each — from the one-ball Marbled Hat and Mittens to the raglan Metamorphic Cardigan. Stocked at Craft and Canvas.

Stylecraft Naturals Pure Wool DK answers the question many Special DK knitters have been asking — what if it were pure wool? The answer is 100% superwash wool in a 31-colour palette drawn from the beloved Special DK shade range, fully machine washable at 30°C, with outstanding stitch definition for cables, colourwork, and textured patterns. In this post we cover what superwash wool is and why it matters, how Naturals Pure Wool relates to Special DK, what it excels at, and the full colour palette. 50g and 110m per ball at £4.45 at Craft and Canvas.