I heart Ally Pally

I had my annual pilgrimage to Alexandra Palace last Friday for the Knitting and Stitching Show, it's one of the highlights of my year, i just love it :D
This year i saved my birthday money so i could spend guilt free and i have to say i thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Having a budget meant i didn't overspend or buy anything i wasn't really sure about and i will make sure i do the same thing again next year. Due to Lisa starting a college course we weren't able to go on our usual Thursday so i missed meeting up with Noo and Jessica which was a shame, i do enjoy their company but they had a great day out too by all accounts ;o)

So, on to my spoils!!
Firstly the birthday pressies...
Bottom right is a small quilt kit, the fabric is all hand-dyed by Starr Design Fabrics and the quilt is made bargello style, i absolutely fell in love with both her fabrics and her quilt designs and it took me a while to settle on just one kit to bring home!
The two middle pictures on the grid are the same skein of Nimu Sella, i bought this to contrast with the turquoise skein that i bought at Unravel and i will use them together for a Crow Waltz shawl (Rav link)
In the middle are some supplies for making Kumihimo cords. There's a Kongo Kumi disc for making round braids, 2 little packets of various threads to make into bracelets and a couple of packs of bobbins for when i make long braids. The patchwork bags that i made need drawstrings for the handles and i have had no luck in finding anything suitable so i am going to attempt to make my own! Fortunately i have had a couple of goes at making Kumihimo and i really enjoy it so that'll help when i have to make a couple of metres!!
Hmmm, what else? Oh yes, see the little "samosa" of colour up there in the corner? Well they are small pieces of Starr Fabric, i am going to make a mug rug or something similar with them, i had intended to go back and get some more but unfortunately we ran out of time :(
I'm really hoping she will be there again next year, i am going to save up especially for one of her bigger kits :D
There's a ball of James Brett marble DK lurking int here, it's become a traditional purchase now! No matter which show we go to i seem to always end up bringing one home. This one will go with the three pastel squares i have already to make a lap blanket - i'm not entirely sure who the blanket is for but i have loved making it so far! I also have a lime green square currently on the go plus a purpley-blue ball so i expect i will end up buying another couple to go with them for another blanket :D
I also bought the rest of the fabric for the Kaleidoscope Quilt, i will edge it with the black and back it with the red and gold and the pale pinky fabric is for a quilt for my mother-in-law. The floral will be made into hexagon kaleidcopes and then backed with the swirly pink.

All i have to do now is find the time to play with it all!!

Tales from Ally Pally

So, the awesome shopping wasn't all that was available during the day!
First up there was great company in the form of Auntie Noo, Jessica, Aknita and Jobo - a fab group of ladies and a real pleasure to meet them all (in the case of Aknita and Jobo it was nice to meet them again :o) )
There were so many friendly stall holders, helpful, chatty, insightful :o)
WAY too many to mention them all, but off the top of my head there was Socktopus, Colinette, Bruce at SKD, Kerrie at Hipknits, Piiku, the ladies at the spinning, weaving and dying Guild, the man with the lucet on the braiding stand, the people at knitshop, Gill and Cheryl from the Woolly Workshop and Cherry Tree Hill yarns, the ladies at the Simply Knitting stand, the ladies at Get Knitted, the man stamping hands through to the ice rink, the man on the Crocs stall who was disgusted that i kept pet rats :oD i'm sure i'll think of more but it was such an overhwelming day!

A little tale of the end of the day...
Literally as i was walking out of the "Guild Hall" don't know it's proper name offhand and the programme is downstairs.. anyway...
I was walking out and there were two girls walking towards me, one was wearing a knitted stole with beadwork and as she passed i recognised the pointed end. It was an MS3!! i turned and scuttled after her, and said "that's a Mystery Stole!" honestly, i was like a starstruck teen!! It really was beautiful, the wing is soooooooo nice, when i finally get mine going again and if i ever get that far i will be putting a wing on mine for sure! We chatted for a few minutes, she said she liked it better on than when it was blocking and i said i hadn't got past clue two *blushing*
As we parted company she said "that's an "Urchin" from Knitty isn't it? I made one this week but yours is so much nicer" *blushing*
Honestly, she spend months knitting a gorgeous lace stole and there she is complimenting me on my 3 hour hat!! Knitters are so nice!

i went to Ally Pally...... (pic heavy!!)

and a few things came home with me *grinning*

You want to see inside the bags? Oh, go on then!! *lol*

James C. Brett - Marble
200g of chunky weight cheapy acrylic, but aren't those colours gorgeous!

Then there's some fleecy goodness:
Alpaca (if i were an alpaca, this would be me!!) For spinning!! :D

from uk alpaca

Not alpaca but couldn't resist the colours, she said it could be spun or used for felting :)

Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and bluuuuuuuuuue,
I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow tooooooo!

Next up is the sock yarn - i was very restrained *wink*
2 balls each of 901, 902 and 903 from Bruce at Scandinavian Knitting Design -

The Cherry Tree Hill stand is a den of iniquity i tell you!!
I was very well-behaved and managed to pick out just one skein of Potluck that wanted to come home, after narrowing it down from three *blushing*

Aren't the colours luvverly!

I found some gorgeous patterns too, one for a clamshell modular scarf by Maggie Whiting at 21st Century Yarns and a scarf by Jean Moss for Artesano Alpaca that has a plaited section running through the middle of it - very hard to describe but i think you can just about see it in this picture:
I think i am going to make it in two colours, with the two sides in one colour and the plait in another, failing that i will do each "half" in different colours, but i definitely want to have a play with it!

So, on the table underneath the books at Cherry Tree Hill was a gorgeous table cloth which turned out to be a shawl from Cheryl's new book...
I had a flick through it, like you do, thinking oh yeah, that'll be the only pattern i like and it won't be worth it... but i was wrong!! That's right, me... wrong! ;o)
There at least three other patterns in there that i intend to tackle :o)

Look at this work of art! Three firgure of eight shapes make up the centre and then the two side edgings are joined on too. Ingeeeeeeenious!
So, after i'd decided i was going to make it, i then had to choose a colourway - enter the fantastic Gill (from the Woolly Workshop) and Joy and after much umming and ahhing Martha's Vineyard was chosen -



Isn't she beautiful?
There are 2,400 yards there, i have no idea how i am going to ball it up!!

My hugest thanks go to Joy for spending the day with me, she is great company and has damn good taste in wool/cross stitch/everything we looked at in fact!! *lol*
Also a huge thanks to Auntie Noo for organising us - i wouldn't have done it without you!

*HUGS*