Wednesday 27 November 2013

ragamuffin loves...partying (again!)


Thanks so much to everyone who came to see us during our five day shopping event on Isle of Skye last week! We had a fantastic week and really enjoyed seeing everyone and appreciate the effort people made to travel to us this chilly November! We're open every day until Christmas on Skye - if you didn't make it for the party there are still lots of cosy woollies, gorgeous party outfits and great gifts to snap up in time for the festive season!

It's party time at our Edinburgh shop tomorrow! We always like to festoon the shop windows - it gets dark so quickly now and it's lovely to have the twinkly lights on inviting people in! This year we are super pleased with how the shop looks and had our photographer, Paul, take some photos to show off our efforts!

So if you are in the Edinburgh area tomorrow, please join us between 12pm - 7pm for a glass of bubbly, some festive fun & treats, special promotions and 10% off on purchases of £40 or more!




Tempted? We really hope to see you!

Thursday 7 November 2013

ragamuffin loves...wrapping up in style!

An amazing floral crown made from Fabulous Felt corsages
It's November...it's cold and crispy outside...the Christmas adverts have started to appear on the telly... and we are in our element with the most gorgeous collection of winter clothes and accessories we've ever had! We still have new deliveries coming every week and will have lots of lovely new pieces in time for the party season. A couple of dates for your diaries: our annual Christmas events will take place later this month. Skye are having a five day extravaganza starting on Tues 19th Nov 9am-5pm continuing all week and culminating in a proper Christmas party on Saturday 23rd Nov 9am-5pm. In Edinburgh our event is on Thurs 28th Nov 10am-6pm. Join us for gift ideas, special promotions, Christmas treats, free gift wrapping and 10% off on purchases over £40 on each of the event days.
Neeru Kumar Kantha work coat, wool flannel skirt by Aurea Vita
and Kapre fine wool scarf
We recently arranged a photoshoot with our favourite photographer, Paul Marr, and model, Dagmara, to showcase some of our favourite pieces! I won't waffle on, we'll let the photos do the talking - wrap up this winter, ragamuffin style! 
Cardigan by The Quernstone, fine wool scarf by Kapre and mitts Annie Glue

Cardi Janette Murray, skirt Aurea Vita, fine wool scarf  Etnika,
socks Kennedy and headband handknitted at ragamuffin


Fisherman Out of Ireland cardi, Grizas skirt, Kapre fine wool scarf
Kennedy socks

Cardi, Janette Murray, silk embroidered tunic and silk dress Privatsachen
chunky wool socks, Kennedy

Jacket and skirt Grizas, lace top Out of Xile, loop scarf Cut Loose
Flowers in hair Fabulous Felt & socks Kennedy

Wool stole Kapre, short dress Grizas, long dress Privatsachen
neck piece LoveThatStuff & socks Kennedy

Jacket Neeru Kumar & trousers Grizas

Hand tucked shirt by Yaccomaricard & trousers by Grizas

Quilted silk jacket Privatsachen shirt & trousers as before

Fine wool Shibori dyed kimono & fabric beads Neeru Kumar
Soft lambswool sweater by Harley, crumple hat by Breege Walsh
grandad shirt in Gordon tartan

Brushed mohair cardi by Harley of Peterhead

See anything you like? Drop us an email if you'd like further details on any of the clothes featured. We wish we could have photographed everything but there are many many more styles available in store so visit if you can! A great big thanks to Roy Rogers at Milk for the fantastic hair and Kari Hart for the gorgeous make up (we wish they lived in our basement and could make us all look this polished every day at work!)

We hope to see you at one of our event days - we've got lots to show you!




Monday 16 September 2013

ragamuffin loves...woolly accessories!

How sad are we? We've been left feeling practically giddy of late by the chill in the air and the nights drawing in...all because we just can't wait to wear woolly things. There, we've said it...we're addicted to wool and we're not ashamed! However, even we admit that it's not quite cold enough yet to wear and Icelandic cardi or wool coat so we've started to dip a toe into winter - with accessories!


We just love these pure wool stoles, beautifully woven in India. They are disappearing fast already, so be quick if you want to bag one this season...Assorted wool stoles from £42.50

Always a classic, a pure lambswool tartan scarf from Johnstons of Elgin looks fabulous with a winter coat. They suit men & women so, even better, you can share with your loved one! Tartan scarves from £19.50


A few years ago, Breege Walsh (who worked in our Edinburgh store for 8 years) waved farewell to Scotland and moved back to her native Ireland from where she continues to make her range of hats and mittens (pictured). Our customers love them, they are soft, comfortable and come in all of our favourite colours! Hats from £39.50, mitts from £27.50

We used to sell Judith Glue's famous Rune Stone jackets many years ago and were delighted when her daughter, Annie, followed her into knitwear design. Annie Glue's scarves and wrist warmers cleverly combine traditional Scottish patterns with modern yarns and techniques. Scarves from £35, wrist warmers £27.50

When we bumped into lovely Kate Ramsay in Ireland a couple of years ago, we knew you would all love her soft silk and wool felting. Her outrageously big flowers and crazy felt boas are so ragamuffin! Boas £39.50, Giant Flowers £25

We have stocked Buttercup's traditional knits for longer than we'd care to admit! We love their heavily patterned hats - mix with stripes and florals for a modern take on a classic hat!

Also traditional and equally lovely are these socks from West Yorkshire Spinners, made from beautiful Bluefaced Leicester yarn. We were introduced to them by Sophie's Wild Woollens and are grateful as they are the best socks we've seen in a long time! They come in diferent colours in lady's and men's sizes at £15.95 per pair

We never hide the fact that we love buying things from all over the world and are proud to stock accessories from many ethical suppliers.

For the uber trendy amongst you - Kusan stock an amazing range of ecologically and ethically made accessories, made from beautiful New Zealand wool. We've had to order again as our first autumn delivery from them sold out almost immediately. Prices start at £15.95 for earmuffs & mitts and around £21.50 for hats

Chunky, fleece lined hats, mitts and snoods are the order of the day at Pachamama - another of our ethically conscious suppliers. Whether it's a simple baggy beanie or some patterned hats and mitts, this is one of our most popular winter collections. With mitts, hats and beanies from £11.50, you can
see why!

When the summer craziness dies down a bit, we have time to get a smidge creative ourselves! We knit up the Colinette yarn into bobble hats, slouch beanies and headbands. For knitters who like our designs - you can buy a hank for £8.95 and rustle up something equally fantastic! For those of you who don't, our accessories start at £12.50 for a corsage up to £39.50 for a trendy slouch beanie

We have so many other fabulous things this season, so if you can, come and see us soon! Ciao for now!






Wednesday 12 June 2013

ragamuffin loves...versatility!

When it comes to clothes we are always looking for clever designs in beautiful fabrics that can be worn again and again so when we saw this jacket by one of our fave designers, Grizas, we pounced!



It is so light and gauzy and, with it's double layered front made from two different textured silk fabrics, looks like you've chosen the perfect layers without even trying!
Best of all it can be worn multiple ways to change the look of the piece!
 

It's also light enough to layer under a loose fitting jacket for cooler days, so is the perfect thing to take you from summer to autumn! It comes in three delicate colours, shell/ sage (pictured), purple, olive & slate/ praline.
Grizas jacket, £150, worn with Grizas trousers £110, Out of Xile vest £82.50 & Grizas kimono (on top) £140.








Saturday 27 April 2013

ragamuffin loves...a good old clear out!

We love when people come into the shop and tell us it's like an "Alladin's cave" or a "treasure trove" and we always prefer to offer customers lots of choice, but we've realised over the past few weeks that we have become a smidgen over stuffed so...time for a good old SALE!

Lots of lovely dresses from Privatsachen & Out of Xile will be reduced!
So come for our SALE preview on 1st of May for the very best of the bargains! We have up to 75% off Oska, Clemente, Shepards, Flax, Out of Xile, Grizas, Privatsachen & YM Fashion, to name but a few. We'll also have bargain baskets with vests and accessories - starting at just £5!

Along with pretty separates from Mes Souers Et Moi, Kamuflage and Shepards!
The SALE will continue on over the Bank Holiday Weekend so there is plenty of oppertunity to bag a bargain if you are in Edinburgh or on Skye!

Join us on the Royal Mile...
 Edinburgh will be open 10am - 7pm on Wednesday then 10am - 6pm Thurs/ Fri/ Sat/ Mon
and 12pm - 6pm Sunday.


...or on the beautiful Isle of Skye!
Skye will be open 9am - 6.30pm Wed/ Thurs/ Fri/ Sat/ Mon and 11am - 5pm Sunday.

Hope to see you there!




Tuesday 29 January 2013

ragamuffin loves...a good old round up!

Hello all! Happy new year, we can't quite believe it is now the end of January and we haven't blogged yet...eek! So what have we been up to since the festive season ended and January well and truly set in? Mainly buying knitwear for the shops is the answer!

Breege's gorgeous mitts!
First stop was Dublin and seeing all of our fabulous Irish suppliers! We got to take Islay, from Skye, to her first ever trade show where she met some of our favourite people, including the lovely Breege Walsh (who many of you will remember from the Edinburgh shop) with her new hat & mitts designs for the coming season, Branigan Weavers and their gorgeous matchy-matchy capes and caps, Bebhinn Marten and her wonderful handmade knits, Irelands Eye and Fisherman out of Ireland for the chaps, McKernan's supersoft handwoven scarves...the list goes on and on.

Jamieson's fabulous Fairisles!
We were also delighted to see Jamieson's of Shetland and Harley of Peterhead across in Ireland and bought many fairisle and nordic inspired knits (our obsession with Scandi-crime drama continues!)

A quick flight back through a blizzard and we were off to Glasgow to see lots of our Scottish and English knitwear suppliers at the SECC. All of the usual suspects were there - The Quernstone, Scott Officer, Sophies Wild Woollens - along with some fabulous new makers which always keeps us happy!

Ah...our expressive language!
It has all started to roll in already. Skye have had a delivery of witty, Scottish slogan aprons and tea towels from Couthie, who are also good customers of ours. The Couthie gals have also designed a range of greetings cards with a collection of auld Scots word magnets on the front - words like sleekit, bahookie and besom are surely a must for any fridge! Jonny Kimber has just sent a box of his beautiful cotton scarves to Edinburgh - they will be on Skye by the end of the week - and Susie, from Pappu Mama will be delivering our new Indian textiles later this week.


Nautical stripes & swallows from Jonny Kimber!
Add to that our ongoing SALE and new clothes deliveries from Privatsachen and Yaccomaricard, we are beginning to see where the month has gone! Also, we are so enjoing connecting with everyone over on Facebook and Twitter, so if you are that way inclined please Like/ Follow us! We met a lovely new customer in the Edinburgh shop today, Kym Lloyd, who we hope to see on Facebook soon. Kym is a novelist and we can't believe we haven't come across her books before - they sound right up our street and are now added to our Amazon wishlist!