Two days in knitters' paradise

Arty sock yarn

Hat Wars

Two days in knitters' paradise

Monday, October 16, 2006

I spent Thursday and Saturday at Ally Pally - I've never seen so much yarn in one place or talked to so many knitters! The show was hot, sweaty, crowded and totally enjoyable. Most of the time I was helping teach knitting and crochet in the Relax & Knit area which was busy, busy, busy on Thursday and only slightly quieter on Saturday, but I did find time to look around and buy yarn, and then, er, buy more yarn. I completely ignored my spending plan; I blame it on the heat although the quantity and choice of yarn displayed on the stalls and my inability to resist may have played a small part....

On the left of the first pic, Hand Maiden Angel Hair in Nova Scotia, Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace in Tropical Storm from Gill at Woolly Workshop; on the right of the pic, Nic's hand dyed sock yarn in Charred Chivalry (just try saying that without concentrating), Wagtail Yarn's 4ply Kid Mohair in Deep Violet and Cherry Tree Hill Potluck Supersock in Blues/Purples and Earth. The fab selection of Lorna's Laces yarns in the second pic came from Get Knitted - 8 skeins of different yarn in gorgeous shades of purple/lilac/blue which were sold as a set. Some of the yarns like Lion & Lamb I've already used; others like Dove (tweedy wool/cotton) and Glory (mohair/wool) I haven't even seen before, let alone got my knitting needles into.

On both of the days I was there, loads of bloggers were chatting, buying yarn and indulging in bouts of fibre-related show-and-tell. Yvonne (above, purple jumper), Relax & Knit's boss lady (and shameless yarn purchase enabler), counted 13 bloggers in Relax & Knit at one point on Thursday. I saw lots of knitting and stitching friends and met lots of knitters I recognised from reading their blogs. There were a surprising amount of knitbloggers there called Sue, including Wye Sue, Spinning Sue, Susoolu, Knittiotherapy and Stitch 'n Dye, as well as some of the Stash Yarns regulars including Dawn and Jill. I also caught up with Mary and met Fred (above, green shirt), Mary-Lou, Gerard from I Knit London.

Liz came on Saturday and after doing our bit on Relax & Knit, we had a good look round the yarn stalls, happily enabling each other like knitting friends should. As well as yarn, we both bought (and thoroughly approved of) the first issue of Yarn Forward, Kerrie's new knitting and crochet magazine. Ruth had her lovely spiral hat creations with her and much hysteria ensued when I tried them on (I look pretty dorky wearing any sort of hat - think Benny in Crossroads - even when the hat itself is gorgeous). I understand there may be photos....

Posted at 01:50 PM in crochet, knitterly stuff, Wibbo's World, yarn | Permalink | Comments (4)