Last weekend I ended up on a surprise road trip to the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching show.
My yarn show survival kit
I packed my yarn show survival kit and we headed off. Now I have to confess I was an annoying customer. I am one of those people who spend the majority of the day just looking and planning. I did not go with any type of list of things I wanted and I had not looked at the list of exhibitors as I did not know I was going until the last minute. No plan meant everything was going to be an impulse buy... and I was trying to be good...
Obviously I failed at the being good part. An hour before the show shut (yes it was last minute) I suddenly decided I wanted to buy everything I had seen and had to rush around to get it before everyone packed up. (Note to vendors: Please don't pack up 15 mins before the show shuts, it may be quietening down but those last minute customers can spend a lot - and to be honest, I think it is a bit rude when the show is still open. I know shows are tiring, I have worked at a lot of shows and do empathise, but it just does not look good.)
Jamieson's wall of colour
Despite being called the Knitting and Stitching show there is not a lot of yarn around. The show is geared far more to sewers than knitters but there is lots to see and get inspiration from. I love the Jamieson's wall of Shetland colour that is present, it has given me inspiration for a hat for my sister (she is complaining that I don't knit enough for her).
In the end I treated myself to some gorgeous rainbow yarn from The Knitting Goddess. I think with everything that is going on (see this post) I need a bit of bright cheery rainbows right now. I also bought a book I have been after for a while by Liz Lovick on Shetland Lace. Everything else was sewing related. There were lots of cute fat quarters around and in the end I went for ones with polar bears in hats, owls, rockets, bunnies and fairy toadstools. I also got a pattern for some pyjama trousers as I have been wanting to make myself more lounge pants and some jersey fabric that has a girl hugging a sloth. This came from a stall selling cute fabric and children's patterns but why should kids get all the cute stuff? My new year's resolution is to definitely get the sewing machine out and start using this mountain of fabric I am collecting.
The best bit of the show was the giant Game of Thrones White Walker that was embroidered by the Embroiderer's Guild. It was commissioned for promoting the show and it was just amazing. The detail was just fantastic, I was in awe. Even the background walkers had beaded eyes which made them rather scary.
All of the shields from the different families in the show were also embroidered around the edges and it was fun to spot the different clans.
Just a couple more pics...
Happy knitting,
Sarah x