What a lovely day, calm and friendly and just lovely!
I drove my new car down there, which was fun! The Golf survived, as did i, and we pulled up outside the church hall amid rain showers, dark skies and coldness but inside the hall was a warm glow of wool, spinners, knitters and cake and tea!
I saw Jan, whose blog i had seen the flyer on in the first place and her lovely pile of sock yarns and lace weight yarns and then decided i needed a nice restoring cup of tea after my journey down so i headed off for tea and a cheese scone mmmmmmmmm!
Then it was on to the "shopping". I had a browse round and after some dithering at Jan's gorgeous piles of wool i picked out a lovely "wrapped" skein in shades of green, blue and brown, the wrap is an acrylic binder and so doesn't pick up the colour but it adds a depth to the yarn that i really love.
I also picked out a skein of something for someone, but it's secret so i can't tell you about that :oD
Jan was sharing her table with two young ladies, who were in turn looking after the stall for their Mum, Annie. Now, i saw vases, i thought i was a knitted covering for the vase inside, but on closer inspection it was a knitted vase which had been stiffened and i could not resist. There were several designs there but the one that caught my eye was a lovely shade of green in a wonderful pattern. I find it pleasing on so many levels, i love looking at it and admiring how the shape of the pattern complements the shape of the vase, the colour feels "right" for the pattern too and well, i love it! I managed to drag myself past the rovings, i'm not doing too well with spinning and i have a lot of fluff here already without adding to that stash any more than i have to!
I stood in awe at Nimu's stand. The colours were just beautiful and i made the mistake of picking one up... it stuck to my hand :oD
It was the softest squishiest angora and the colours so vibrant! I had a little rummage on the table and came across another skein, this one even more soft and squishy as it was an alpaca/silk blend and that one became stuck to my hand as well!
When the lovely lady told me that if i bought three skeins the third would be cheaper i was in a quandry! Yes, i have a lot of yarn, no, i probably won't knit it all before i die but this is angora for heaven's sake! I ummmmed and ahhhhed and then saw the perfect skein, all sugary pink and lilac and perfect for my mother-in-law!
So that was it, shopping over, money gone but a bursting shopping bag and some new to me yarn outlets :oD
There were lots of other things to buy too, sushi sock rolls, self-striping sock yarns, acid dyes, kool-aid and more sock blanks. Knitted monsters, badges, crochet brooches and hair decorations, sock bags, pottery yarn bowls, stitchmarkers... an endless array of talent really!
I went on to spend the afternoon crocheting pasties as part of the "Naughty Knitting and Kinky Crochet" workshop, but my pasties were a big FAIL as i decided to use KidSilkHaze (which is evil) as the upper part and the lining part of the pastie didn't show through very well. My pasties also came out extremely small, i think i crochet tighter than i knit! :oD
I have to say, i went there having only met Jan twice before in the past three years, but i felt really welcome and had a lovely afternoon just having a giggle with the workshop ladies. We were joined by various local ladies, one had her daughter with her and told her the pasties were "dolly hats" and they sat and crocheted hats for her PG Monkey and there were the two old dears who joined us to crochet garters and proudly proclaimed that they would wear them to church on Sunday! Suzanne and Sue who were running the workshop took great care of us all and were so encouraging, and i have discovered a love for the knitted undergarment! I'm not sure i could knit and wear cami-knickers but they look stunning! :oD
I really hope Peri is able to take on the challenge of organising another event next year, i love seeing the small indie dyers work in person as it were and not just on the computer screen. As a visitor and not a stall holder i found the event to be well organised and well thought out but i can only imagine how much stress and organisation was involved!
Oh, and i won on the raffle too! :oD
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