a yarn show appeared!
Yarn Gathering took place on Sunday at the Daniel Owen Centre in Mold. It was our third time organising this show and we had 17 vendors (including myself) which is the most we have ever had. This meant we needed to hire the large room upstairs as well as using the hall and cafe spaces.
As always, when Anne, Sue and I arrived on Saturday afternoon to set out the rooms, it didn’t seem possible that in a few short hours the empty rooms would be bursting with colour, woolly goodness and lively conversations. But that is exactly what happened. Each of the vendors worked their magic to make their space look gorgeous and by 10am we were ready to open to the public – some of whom had arrived at 9.40 eager to get there before it got too busy! They were encouraged to go and have a cuppa somewhere warm as the weather wasn’t great and returned shortly after 10.
The day was amazing and flew by – it was our busiest Yarn Gathering to date as well as our biggest! There are some videos of vendors stands over on the Yarn Gathering North Wales Instagram page (particularly the upstairs stands, in case anyone couldn’t make it up the stairs). I clearly need to learn more about reels as the ones I put on the Facebook page seem to have vanished – another magic trick perhaps? However, Yarn O’clock made a super video of the setting up process, which is on her facebook and Instagram pages, the Yarn Gathering facebook page and my own facebook page. Anne was able to share the video with me! Here it is:
And then by 5pm, just an hour after we closed, the building was nearly empty once more and most things were back in their original spaces. People really do bring places to life – especially when they bring yarn and fleeces and fibre and weaving!
As you can imagine, yesterday was a bit blurry for me. The post-adrenaline come down probably. But I am back on all my cylinders today and have updated my notes for the sock workshop I am running tomorrow, analysed my sales of all my patterns everywhere – online and at each show I’ve done, and made a plan for how much printing I need to do in preparation for Yarndale at the end of the month!
I’m very excited about Yarndale. Our stand is L14 and my workshop (which is sold out!) is being held in Workshop Theatre 2. If you’ve never been, it’s a BIG show with 201 exhibitors, all based in the Auction Mart at Skipton, so our stands are defined by the metal rungs that mark out the animal stalls for the auctions. They do hose it down well before we arrive, but the floor is functional for an animal auction venue so is made of ridged concrete which can get very cold to stand on.
My summery shoes broke completely after Yarn Gathering on Sunday. I ground the plastic grid inside of the heels away by (shock, horror) standing and walking on them, and the insoles (and my heels…) collapsed into the void left behind, so they have had to go. I am rapidly breaking in some more shoes ready for Yarndale!
I’m also getting ready to re-release Prynhawn Da as an individual pattern soon. It was published in Knit Now in May and the rights have now returned to me. It’s an unusual little pattern, being a lacy coaster and placemat set, perfect for an afternoon tea where you want to go all out, but maybe not something for everyday use. The great thing about the design is that it’s a good way to learn the Pi Shawl construction on a small scale. The Pi Shawl is a way of knitting a perfectly circular shawl from the centre outwards without having to worry too much about the maths. I don’t know if it was invented or ‘unvented’ by the legendary Elizabeth Zimmermann – a knitter whose patterns were chatty in a way that would be really frowned upon now – and it is quite brilliant and works a treat. My Maid Marion Shawl is a Pi Shawl and Tiffany is a half Pi shawl.
Currently I’m re-blocking the samples as they were very crumpled by the time they got back to me, and I’m going to video the process as it’s so easy. The coasters and placemats were knitted in mercerised cotton and soak up water instantly, so you only really need to run them under the tap thoroughly to get them properly wet, rather than the usual 10-20 minute soak that wool can need.
Here is one of the coasters as it arrived back to me in the post, and another after re-blocking:
I have more workshops and shows coming up after Yarndale. I now have three more events before Christmas and six workshops, and I will start promoting the events just as soon as I have the official info! Most of the workshops are already on my Events page on my website – including some opportunities to learn two-colour brioche knitting or Fair Isle / Stranded knitting from the comfort of your own home if you can’t make it to an in-person workshop.
That’s all from me today. I must be more tired than I thought, as I started writing this at 5pm! Take care one and all. Thank you if you came to Yarn Gathering on Sunday, and do something that makes you happy this week. K x