I am delighted to be exhibiting at Wonderwool Wales for the first time this year. Find me in Hall 3, Stand W16.
Wonderwool Wales is the premier Wool & Natural Fibre Festival in Wales and is held annually on the last weekend in April at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, Powys.
First held in 2006 to promote the market for Welsh wool and add value to product for small wool & fibre producers in Wales, the festival celebrates the green credentials of Welsh wool and its versatility as a material for creative crafts, designer clothes, home furnishings and more. Wonderwool Wales has grown year on year. It covers everything from the start to the end of the creative process – from exhibits of sheep, through raw and hand dyed fibres, yarn for knitting & crochet, embellishments, equipment, dyes and books to superb examples of finished textile art, craft, clothing and home furnishings.
The Festival was awarded The Best Event in the Mid Wales Tourism Awards 2019/2020. Wonderwool Wales has also been awarded Highly Commended several years running in the Let’s Knit British Knitting & Crochet Awards.
Here you can find all the information you need. Find details about the event, the exhibitors, the Wool Schools, and the venue.
Entry Tickets are £12 for the day or £22 for the whole weekend.
I posted on social media today that I’m exhibiting at Wonderwool Wales in a couple of weeks’ time. Held at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells, Wonderwool is an aptly named show that I really recommend (it’s always been by favourite to go to as a visitor) and I’m going to have quite a few new kits (including six kits for Meg March Shawl!) and one or maybe even more new patterns with me.
In case you don’t access social media, here is the content of my post (apologies if you’ve already seen it everywhere):
In just a couple of weeks I’ll be exhibiting at @wonderwoolwales for the first time!
Hall 3 Stand W16.
As well as samples and patterns, I will have lots of kits, some handmade project bags, hand burnt wooden items and printed postcards of my designs.
Come and say hello if you are visiting the show.
27-28 April at the Royal Welsh Showground.
Pictured are: Top – Meg March Shawl (patterns and kits available), Bottom, left to right – stand display from Wool-in Garden City; Lichfield (pattern available); more of my stand from Wool-in Garden City.
Something else you may already have read about if you follow me on the socials is that I’ve done some work on my website and you can now browse my knitting designs by yarn weight.
The Patterns page has a set of yarn weight links as well as the original links to the pages that organise the designs by type:
Clicking on one of the yarn weight options will take you to the relevant page where all the patterns that are designed for (or also work well in) that particular yarn weight are grouped. These are the first six designs on the DK page – all designs on each page are listed alphabetically:
Even quicker, the yarn weight page links are also options in the main menu, so you can jump to the one you want straight from any page:
I am going to be doing some more work on the website during the year, setting up a WooCommerce store which will give folk lots of different ways to search for what they like – I can’t give any promises on when that will be done by though!
Cleo, my mum’s cat, has been on my blog before. This photo was taken in February when she was slowing down, but still doing ok. The past week has been a fast decline for her though and yesterday, when I arrived at Mum’s, I could see she wasn’t well at all. This morning I took her to the vets and for Cleo it was a one way trip. It’s been a very sad day as you can probably imagine, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I stop here and leave you with Cleo’s beautiful eyes.
Take care, look after yourselves and do something that makes you smile this week. For me that will be casting on the full version of a new design that will (I think) be out in August. K x
Last week I introduced you to Gnarly Roots (Gary…) and yesterday I received photos of the moebius version knitted in HeartSpun DK (the yarn I knitted the regular cowl in) and it looks glorious!
Helen from Woolly Chic Designs will have this sample and some printed copies of the pattern with her at The Sodbury Yarn Over! If you’re visiting the show, which takes place in Chipping Sodbury April 6th-7th, be sure to have a look and say hello from me!
You may also remember that last week I asked for name suggestions for the adult version of Honeybun and my wonderful wife has come up with a fantastic suggestion – Sugar Loaf Cardigan! Not only is a loaf larger than a bun, and honey is linked to sugar, but there is also a Sugar Loaf mountain in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire! (As well as the other ones with a single word name in Brazil and Maine). So, Sugar Loaf Cardigan it will be.
I’ve been knitting a lot of brioche this week. One item is for publication in July, and today I’ve been typing up the pattern and making the chart. I even created a stitch symbol in Stitchmastery that wasn’t there before – although it is a known brioche stitch. Brpyobrp (brioche purl 1, yo, brioche purl 1 all into the same stitch) is the purl version of brkyobrk. It’s very satisfying when you remember how to edit your stitch library in this programme. This is what the new stitch looks like, compared with the knit version above it:
On Sunday I knitted another Twisted Cowl. Twisted is my moebius brioche cowl that has two sizes and two yarn weight options. I’ve knitted quite a few of these now, so why did I make another? Well, one reason was that I wanted to have samples of both colour combinations that I’m going to have as kits with me at WonderWool Wales and the other reason was that I wanted to triple check the yarn usage in the small version. The new one is one the left in Soft Pink and Rust – it’s not even been blocked yet or had it’s ends sewn in. I have already made one in these colours, but it’s visiting Anne at Yarn O’clock currently.
There will be large and small versions of the kit in both of the colour combinations. The yarn is Town End Yarns Poldale DK which is a 100% Falklands wool and it’s so soft and squishy whilst still having enough body to hold the shape of the stitches really well.
The small version shown uses 24g of each colour and the kits include 26g of each. How did I manage to get 26g when the yarn comes in 50g balls? Well, there’s always a little bit of variation in the weight of balls of wool, so I weighed each of the balls I had, took the ones that were 52g or even 53g and split those to make the small kits! You can see soft pink and rust balls on the top of their piles are already part balls, as I’d used those ones to make the sample.
My kitchen scales have been getting a good work out today.
It may seem as though I’m being very organised and ahead of myself for a show that is a month away, but I need to be. I’m likely to be travelling down to Mum’s more frequently in the coming months as she is intending to make a big move this year (although nothing is finalised), and that will inevitably mean lots of time sorting stuff out. So, while I can, I’m getting my own things ready!
Caramel Slice is now available to buy online as an individual pattern! I uploaded this yesterday to my website, Payhip, Lovecrafts and Ravelry. The pattern was launched in printed form at East Anglia Yarn Festival, and I’d intended to put it online straight away after that, but then I came down with that cold and forgot all about it until reviewing my plans for March at the weekend! It’s a really cute child’s cardigan for ages 1 to 8. It’s knitted flat, with the body worked in one piece and the sleeves knitted separately. The colour-work on the body and sleeves is a slip stitch pattern, so you only use one colour at a time. And no matter which size you make you only need 1x 50g ball of each of the two contrast colours. One lady spotted the sample of Caramel Slice on display at EAYF and recognised it, having knitted it from The Knitter when it came out last August. This prompted her to buy two more of my patterns, Honeybun and Nos Da, on the basis that she knew she could trust my pattern writing as Caramel Slice ‘worked’. That was such a great thing to hear and has stayed with me (in fact, I may have told you about it before!) – a crafter’s appreciation for the pattern writing and being able to successfully use the pattern.
That’s all from me for today. Next week I’m hoping to show you some more progress on my small version of Petulia and on my crocheted Persian Tiles blanket, which is designed by the brilliant Jane Crowfoot. If you like crochet, have a look at her patterns – they are beautiful and they work.
Have a lovely Easter if you celebrate it and take care, K x
Back in February I had a design submission accepted. I was asked if I would be interested in using a particular dyer’s yarn and I jumped at the chance. The dyer in question is Rachael of Cat and Sparrow. We had some communication about the project and she asked if I had particular colours in mind. I replied with “Something like this?” and sent the picture that had inspired the design.
When the yarns arrived I was utterly stunned. “Something like this?” – it was exactly like that!! Rachael had worked absolute magic. The yarn is Singular BFL, a Bluefaced Leicester fingering weight singles yarn. ‘Singles’ just means it only has one ply. It was a joy to work with and I am SO pleased with the results.
When you are sent a specially dyed set of yarn that’s all there is – you can’t just go and buy some more to experiment with – so, although I’d swatched my idea thoroughly in completely different yarns and was clear on how the pattern would work, there wasn’t a lot of wriggle room for playing with and checking the best order of colours. So, I turned back to a technique from my City & Guilds in Hand Knit Design (thanks Loraine!). A great way to try ideas out and compare them without using up lots of time or yarn:
Trying out colour order options
The finished pattern – Bargello Aurora Wrap – is being published this Thursday (September 1st) in The Knitter, Issue 180 (that link should update to be Issue 180 on Thursday). Rachael is selling kits of the yarn on her website, dyed exactly the same as the yarn I knit the sample in, for you to knit this lovely wrap. And the finished design and kit has a 10+% meterage buffer for each colour, so it won’t be a disaster if your tension is a little looser than mine. You shouldn’t end up playing yarn chicken!
Bargello Aurora Yarn Kit from Cat and Sparrow UK
The wrap is worked lengthwise in order to get the maximum effect from the angled stripes (you’ll see…!), which has the added benefit of minimising the number of yarn ends to weave in once you are finished!.
Here’s a very sneaky peek from when it first came off the needles, before being blocked:
Bargello Aurora unblocked
This yarn has no problem being blocked firmly despite being a single ply construction – it was surprisingly strong and has great stitch memory. I’m not showing you the finished item though – you’ll have to wait until Thursday for the big reveal on that one!
Whilst the news of this design is very current, the wrap was knitted many months ago (in March). This week I have been working on two knitting projects, one of which I can show you. The latest secret knitting is coming on well and I’m now on the fourth section of five. I had got as far as halfway through section three before (did I tell you?) when I had to admit some aspects were not pleasing me, so I cast off, blocked it and reconsidered. That was definitely worthwhile as it looks FAR better now – tiny tweaks but they’ve had a big impact. Of course, I can’t show you that one.
The other knitting project I cast on for on Thursday. I finished it last night and it is now blocking on a balloon.
Rachis Blocking 1Rachis Blocking 2
That’s the joy of a hat – it’s small and quick and this one was good telly knitting (apart from when I missed a couple of yarn overs and had to fix it a couple of rounds later), especially as the yarn was a DK weight and light in colour. The pattern is Rachis from Woolly Wormhead and the yarn is from The Midnight Dyery (dyed when she was The Project Bag). I highly recommend the pattern (and the yarn)! I made the fourth size of six (21″) and there was plenty of yarn left from a single skein.
The other piece of big news is that Yarn Gathering is now less than three weeks away! When Anne at Yarn O’clock and I first started talking about and planning this event, September seemed such a long time away. And now it’s so close!
It’s very exciting for us that, since we first circulated the idea amongst yarnie friends/possible vendors, there has been such a positive response. We’ve even had some local fibre artists we didn’t know about contact us and ask if there might be room for them to have a stand.
Hopefully you’ve seen the posts that I’ve been publishing on Instagram and Facebook in the past week or so, each one spotlighting a different vendor. Yarn Gathering even has its own Instagram page now (@yarn_gathering_nwales) which should make it even easier for people to get details about the vendors they can come and meet. And, of course, I’m updating the webpage whenever I get additional info.
Yarn Gathering will be a small event (only a dozen or so stands), but since the Mold Food & Drink Festival is also on, it’s a great opportunity to make a day of a trip to our lovely corner of North East Wales!
I think that’s all I have time to tell you about today – I’m now going to help my lovely wife attempt to straighten up the washing line with the use of potting grit down the side of the post… Wish me luck! K x
The PopUp Wool Show on Saturday was definitely a success. The organisers were great and there were even some people on hand to help haul heavy things up the steps when we arrived. I am incredibly grateful to Sue for being such an amazing assistant – and for bringing all the stuff in her car that wouldn’t fit in mine. We were both a little tired when the alarm went at 5am on Saturday morning, having had an interrupted night driving to check Sue’s workplace after the alarm went off at 12.30am… However! We survived and I would bet that none of the lovely people who stopped by the stand would have guessed we were each running on two chunks of less than three hours sleep.
So, today I’m going to show you a few pics from my stand and show you the one thing I bought myself – yes, even though I was running a stand I still managed to buy something!
All these pics were taken early in the morning just as we were finishing setting up (we arrived just after 7.30am and were set up by about 9am), so there will be other folk in the background setting up their stands, and lots of bags and boxes around.
A few vendors were unable to attend due to illness which meant there were some spaces. I ‘cheekily’ offered to take a larger space if it would help fill a gap and surprised myself by filling up a lot more room than I’d anticipated!
The classic bunting across the front of the stand and Calon Cariad at the end in Wool Local. Other designs on this table were Beth March Shawl (which was a lot more popular than I’d anticipated and I ran out of printed copies), Little Orme Hat and Mitts and Heart in my Hands Collection. I love how the covered heads look – so much better!
Nubble Mitts on the top of the mini table were also popular – I sold two kits of that design. They were the first Mystery Knit-along that I did with Yarn O’clock! Next to the mitts is a head wearing Nubble Hat (which you can’t really see) and Mirror Mirror Möbius. At the end of the table is Maid Marion Shawl with another sample of West Country Gothic overlapping it.
Propped up against the second (!) table is a framed set of sheep photos taken and edited by Sue. Aren’t they cute? This table has Anne’s Jubilee bunting across the front and some bunting kits on the end of the table, along with Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary lavender bag kits. Much of this table was used for patterns and for my portfolio, showing the requirements for each of my (50+) designs.
The right hand side of the second table has our bare stem tree behind it with the Mini Socks Advent Calendar displayed on it, along with my hand burnt wooden hanging hearts and some beautiful hand turned light pulls that were made by a friend’s dad. In front of the tree are the Advent Calendar kits, coasters and some more stitch marker pots. And, of course, a bottle of hand sanitiser just in shot.
Another sample of Calon Cariad is at the end of the second table (this one in Socks Yeah! that I made during the KAL in February) and in front of that is a folding table I borrowed from Anne. Drifting Leaves is tied on the left and Nos Da is draped over the top. Yarns for these designs fill the ‘shelves’. And what is that to the right…?!?!
It may look a bit as though wash-day has become very fancy, but I wanted to display as many shawls as I could and, without wall space (or any ‘gridwall’), this was my solution – and it worked! (In my defence I did see another stand which was using a clothes airer for the same purpose.) There was a lot of interest as people rounded the corner – they would stop and pick up the corner of a shawl or turn over the brioche scarf to see the reverse side – and often enough that interest turned into a lovely conversation and sometimes even a sale. It was a huge boost to my confidence to hear people’s comments as they looked at my designs too.
My purchase was some incredibly vibrant Bluefaced Leicester fibre to spin. I bought this braid of gorgeous neon green from Wild Field Fibre – do look them up!
I can hardly believe there have only been three days since Saturday! I’ve launched the Mini Socks Advent Calendar pattern online, written a newsletter for subscribers with a discount code, completed an application form for NEXT year’s Pop Up Wool Show, re-printed patterns, reorganised stock, been to IKEA and got some boxes to help create clearly defined kits and allow me to exhibit almost the same amount of items with one table instead of two, reorganised stock again in light of new boxes and knitted some more of nibling’s sock (finished the heel gusset now!).
Tomorrow I have to crack on with my secret knitting project and double check / correct some patterns that have just come back from my tech editor!
Social media posts are going to focus quite a lot on this in the next couple of weeks, in particular showcasing each of our vendors in turn – today it’s Trevor Blackburn’s turn. We’d love to see you there.
That’s all for today – it was quite a lot, wasn’t it! And it was quite a show. Take care, K x
