Carolyn Gerrish is a lovely local lady whose knitting obsession has turned into a jo-bby. For those who don't know, that is a job-come-hobby, otherwise known as a side hustle.

Carolyn has been knitting and sewing since she was 13-years-old, and has racked up quite the repertoire since then, creating a range of wonderful items for her friends, family, and now the local community.

From cardigans, to bobble hats, to knitted gnomes, Carolyn can knit just about anything – as well as trying her hand at sewing and cross stitch, she really is a woman of many talents!

Carolyn said: "My first project was an apron in readiness for our domestic science lessons at school. I then rose through the ranks to sew a dirndl skirt. At this time I also made my first jumper with tweed effect yarn and a cable pattern.

"I carried on knitting and sewing for friends and family, also doing wedding flowers in between as I had done a floristry apprenticeship.

"As my family grew up though, they didn't want hand knitted items as to them it wasn't cool."

However, in the last months, knitwear really has sprung back into style, and Carolyn has found that her wares, particularly the bobble hats, are in high demand.

In recent months, her charming knitted gnomes have also featured at locally run shop, Warners Traditional Sweet Shop, proving just how sweet they really are!

She continued: "So instead of knitting I took a break and went back to my other love cross stitch and I did this for a few years making cards, pictures for new babies and my biggest challenge was doing the family tree in cross stitch. I landed up doing 5 altogether for my siblings and my kids plus myself. This took some time as I had to check censors of the people concerned for their ancestry before I began. I had to give up doing cross stitch as I have osteoarthritis and it affected my neck because of the posture needed for the task.

"This is when I went back to knitting I now knit for premature babies. During lockdown the hospitals were not accepting items because of covid but I needed something to do so started knitting various items hats, dolls, gnomes babies pram blankets children's cardigans to name but a few."

The trouble for Caroyln was that her knitting was piling up, filling the house room by room, so she decided to try and sell some of it to cover the yarn expenses.

Carolyn only charges £7 for her gorgeous bobble hats, which come with a personalised label and packed beautifully. For a one off garment, this is fantastically cheap – and on top of that, you get the biggest smile with every purchase.

Enforcing just how nice she is, Carolyn concluded: "I love doing anything to do with arts and crafts loved helping the grandchildren if they needed fancy dress or helping them giving them ideas for their projects."

We would seriously recommend seeking Carolyn Gerrish out on Facebook to snap up one of her beautiful makes while they are still available. Treat your family or friends to the joy of a handmade garment, or spoil yourself for only the cost of a ball of yarn!

If you know about any other local people doing amazing things, please get in touch! You can contact us via our Facebook page or by clicking the 'Nub It' button at the top of our website.