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.

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!




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!

helping out the guys!

While we stock lots of lovely knitwear and accessories for men all year round, it’s this time of year that we have swathes of you men folk coming through our door, slightly frantic, slightly confused, looking for the perfect gift for your lady friends. We congratulate you for coming to the right shop, you’ve done 80% of the job already, and we thought we’d help you get the other 20% right so you get full marks on Christmas Day! It’s not that we think you’re all hopeless, it’s just we understand the task can be overwhelming to some!

* If you’re not sure about sizes, have a look at the labels on items from her wardrobe you know she likes, or, if she’s shopped here before, make a note of the brands she buys and her usual colour choices. Gift buying should always be about the receiver, so just go for something that will make her happy, it doesn’t have to be anything drastically different, it can often be the simplest choice.

* When you’re in the shop, don’t be shy, and ask us staff to help you if you are stuck! We know our stock really well and have a good idea what suits all different shapes and sizes, so we’re well equipped to assist, no need to panic!

*Our best sellers are best sellers for a reason. We’ve highlighted below some of our best gift ideas, based on what’s been popular, customer feedback and what we’d like ourselves!

Idea#1: A NICE BIT OF SCOTTISH KNITWEAR- Not only shows you appreciate the hand-made look, but you get extra brownie-points for supporting local crafters!

*Janette Murray, gorgeous hand-crafted knits, made with love by knitters in their own homes. We can’t advocate these enough, they’re so popular right now, and have a bit of Christmas appeal also. They make Icelandic pattern berets, legwarmers too and even teddybears!

*The Quernstone, these are a nice timeless style, with a relaxed fit, that suit many figures. They come in a wide variety of styles, lengths and colours, and we can help you find the perfect one. They look lovely with layers of linen, most regular customers here have at least one! The company also make cute cowls as a lovely co-ordinating add-on.

 

Idea#2: A SET OF ACCESSORIES- It’s nice to have a set of hat, scarf and mitts to wear altogether, but something we all love to do here is put together a set of accessories that co-ordinate without being overly ‘matchy-matchy’. It shows you’ve put a bit of thought and creativity into it, rather than a ‘ready-made’ set. You can choose from everything in the shop to suit your budget.

Budget 1: Pachamama hat £15.95, Morsta scarf £9.50, LTS corsage £8.50 Total: £33.95

Budget 2: MTM hat £47.50, SWW mitts £42.50, Shirley Pinder scarf £45 Total: £135

Blow the Budget!: Studio Donegal cloche £137.50, Alex Kay scarf £75, Breege

Walsh mitts £32.50Total: £245

Idea#3: THE CLASSIC BASIC Sometimes it's nice to get a new pair of our favourite trousers because we've loved them to death, or a special top in a different colour: It shows you've been paying attention! Here are some of this year's best-sellers, customers come back for the same thing again and again, for the high quality craftsmanship, and simple yet flattering shape.

*Flax floods. We have stocked these fab comfy linen pants for YEARS, and their super quality never changes, and they never date. Simple, block colours, relaxed fit, great with pumps or boots. It's a nice practical option. From £69.50.

 

*Grizas top 5403. This top has been a revelation! It's simple but luxurious and seems to suit absolutely everyone that tries it on! A linen and silk blend, the crinkle is stitched in so perfect for travelling or events where you want a nice fabric that doesn't crush. We get it in a huge range of colours and also in wool weight, it's just been flying off the shelves!

 

*The Yaccomaricard kimo jacket. Such a good classy option, in durable cotton, exquisitely made. Great with jeans or to bring a smart monochrome outfit alive, this is a real statement piece with lots of pin tucks to give structure, really obviously a special item. Again, customers come back for the same great design in lots of different colours, we just love them! From £160.

For those of you who are last-minute or nervous types, there is always the fail-safe Gift Voucher. This lasts indefinitely so she has plenty of opportunity to come in and find something nice. However, and we think most women would agree, nothing says “I love you” more than a little effort, so we’d recommend taking advantage of our knowledgeable and friendly staff to help you find a great gift perfectly suited to your gal. Come in and visit, guys, let us help you!

ragamuffin loves...visiting/ visitors!

Last week Nicola, from our Edinburgh shop, made a surprise visit to Skye and worked up there for the week. She took her husband Paul (who also happens to be our photographer) and they got some great photos of the shop at Armadale. It was a beautiful day when they arrived - Nic can't believe she's never noticed this paving stone before...

The guys up there were busy preparing for our Christmas Shopping event and were glad of an extra pair of hands! The weather was so atrocious for our Christmas party last year we decided to make the fun last a whole 5 days this year to give everyone a chance to come along so, between Tuesday 20th and Saturday 24th November, pop along for a cuppa, festive treats, free gift wrapping and 10% off purchases of £50 and over. Our proper party will be on the Saturday - with added fizz!

The outside of the shop was looking lovely and the view is as spectacular as ever...

The Skye team have the inside looking fabulous with lots of gorgeous displays, inspirational colour combinations and ideas for layering our beautiful pieces together...

As well as our soft seperates, we've got loads of cosy woollies...

...a good menswear selection...

...and more accessories than ever (we just can't resist a great scarf!)...

...as well as cool gift ideas...

...back by popular demand, these wonderful Deer heads from Italy are already disappearing fast...

Paul got this fantastic shot of the shot on their last afternoon, just as the light was about to dip, with the ferry coming in! We're not sure that the shop has ever looked more inviting...

We really hope to see you at one of our Christmas shopping days on Skye or at our Christmas party day  in Edinburgh on Thursday 29th November 12pm-7pm. Don't worry if you can't make it - we're open every day until Christmas, packed full of gorgeous gift ideas!

ragamuffin loves...all things knit!

We sell this fabulous Colinette yarn - pop in for a ball and join in National knitting week!

It's national knitting week from 15th - 21st October and we are jolly proud to say that this winter we are bursting with beautiful handmade knits! Here is a round up of some of the gorgeous designs that are in store now...perfect timing seeing as it's gotten so chilly in the past few days!

Kearse & Boys Willie waistcoats

Kearse and Boys Box jacket

We continue to stock Kearse & Boys - their super soft felted lambswool jackets are always popular and we've got them to make us, old favourite, Willie waistcoats again for this year! Also in felted lambswool, with cute handmade button detail, Sophie's Wild woollens are gently tailored - perfect soft suiting for winter office wear or for lunch at the weekend over a white shirt with jeans and chic leather boots!

Sophie's Wild Woollens jackets

Proper Fairisle from Jamiesons of Shetland

We are delighted that The Killing will be back on the Beeb this winter (17th November, can't wait!) it truly is the TV show that launched a thousand jumper enquiries and we have a superb selection of Icelandic and Fairisle designs!


Janette Murray Icelandic knits
 

As always we have an amazing array of accessories to compliment (or matchy-match!).

Match a go-go with this Quernstone trio of Waistcoat, sweater and cowl!
 

These pretty hats by Breege Walsh...

...have matching mittens!

And of course we haven't forgotten the chaps! We have cuddly sweaters from all of our favourite Scottish and Irish designers. Go Nordic, like the cast of the hilarious BBC4 comedy Lilyhammer...

Harley of Peterhead provide the sweaters - just add a log fire and some eggnog!

...or cosy and soft with these comfy, subtle Scott Officers! We do from medium to extra large and also stock traditional Irish Grandad shirts in soft cotton flannel.

Lastly, don't forget to checkout our Facebook and Twitter pages! We will be posting our "one ball" knitting ideas all next week - we hope we inspire you to get your needles out and get knitting!