The benefits of shopping with local retailers are many and varied but, for me, the most overwhelming argument is that of maintaining a sense of community. Although I heartily dislike shopping of any sort, particularly food shopping, I quite enjoy our weekly trip to our local market. I inevitably buy more than I intend as I get waylaid from the veg and cheese stalls to the wool stall, but I'm always surprised by still managing to remain within budget - usually. The budget of time is another matter, we always spend longer either chatting or sitting drinking market coffee (Mmmmm) and a sticky bun!

During one visit we were hampered in our shopping by the many wooden crates that we were carrying - for future craft projects. The lovely ladies on the veg stall asked us, "What are all of those for?" I explained a little of what my intentions were but then decided to make them a surprise. Just for fun I knitted a dozen or so carrots and covered a case in the local paper and made them a present of it. As we all know carrots are very good for you, however this batch is particularly 'High in Fibre'!