Kits and Materials

Musgrove Willows - Supply many different varieties and colours of willow, including tailor-made DIY kits. Also offer a range of workshops and courses on working with willow: basketry, sculpture, hurdles, living arbours and tunnels, even how to weave a willow coffin!

DiGilpin.com - fabulous knitted designs and yarn plus online knitting club

Clothkits - no need for paper patterns as cutting lines are printed directly on the fabric. Designed and printed in England

Gossypium - offer some kit dresses and fabric by the metre

Coats Crafts UK - brilliant site of knitting, crochet and needlework products plus lots of free step-by-step project instructions

Hobbycraft - arts and crafts superstore with online project ideas and getting-started guides

Stitch 'n' Craft - beads and craft supplies

VV Rouleaux - ribbons and trimmings includes online customer blogs and ideas section

The Cotton Patch - everything you need for patchwork and quilting

Wee Folk Art - free applique patterns

Training

The first place to look for courses is your local adult education service, evening classes can offer excellent value for money. Other places worth checking are the Women's Institute and local craft shops. The library and local paper should be able to provide information on any local craft groups you could join. The internet is a good source of training and inspiration, we're only adding small selection of favourite links because they provide a gateway to hundreds of others!

Craftyblogs - attempts to list and rank all the UK craft blog sites

Craftgossip - scour the net looking for the best craft ideas and review them

Crafty websites we love - The Guardian's selection of the best craft websites

UK Hand Knitting Association - find a local knitting or crochet circle, plus info on shows, courses, patterns and resources

The Guardian's 'Make Your Own' section - step by step instructions and videos to create designer makes

Wardrobe Refashion - make a pledge not to buy any new items of clothing for a period of your choice. Members post photos of their re-fashioned creations on the blog, sharing tips, patterns and ideas.

Sew Green - a collaborative blog covering everyday green topics and crafting

Crafting a Green World - featuring DIY projects that incorporate reused, recycled, and natural materials.

Elegant Musings - creativity and vintage style in the every day. Features some detailed tutorials and sew-alongs.

Workshops

See the Eco-centre page

If you live near a Transition town, there may be skill-share schemes available such as the Sumac programme in Nottingham

The Make Lounge in London, offers a wide variety of workshops and parties to - 'meet people. make stuff'

Investigate your local arts centre or museum, for example The Lightbox in Woking offers regular Family Workshops in a range of Arts and Crafts.

Shoe-making workshops by Greenshoes in Devon - see Guardian article for other traditional British shoe-makers

Map of Traditional Craftspeople in the UK - find out who's working in your area, many offer courses or workshops

Selling your work online

Etsy is an amazing site where you can buy and sell every imaginable kind of handmade items. It's based in America, but includes loads of UK online shops too (you can view them by selecting the Shop Local option). When you register you're given an easy-to-use online shop which you can customize. It costs 20 cents to list an item for four months and if it sells you pay a 3.5% transaction fee (correct at time of writing). There's a wealth of guides, videos, blogs, forums and chat rooms to help you develop. Check it out and be inspired!

Folksy is a place to buy handmade things, and for makers to sell their work and find supplies. Based in the UK, Folksy aims to reclaim craft and showcase talented makers and their work.

Open Source

Most people are familiar with the open source phenomenon in terms of successful software projects such as Wikipedia, Linux and Firefox but it has also progressed into hardware. In our own small way we are trying to support open source by making material freely available for people to improve upon and adapt for their own purposes. We're compiling links to communal open source projects, please let us know if you're aware of any others.

Hexayurt Shelter System

Arduino micro-controller

The Oscar project - an open source car

Openmoko - an open source mobile phone

Appropedia - sharing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives. You can add your own projects to the wiki or enrich existing articles.