Wow, what a show! East Anglia Yarn Festival on the outskirts of Norwich was the furthest we’ve travelled for a yarn show, but it was worth every mile. My amazing wife, Sue, has been the most enormous help and support throughout the lead-up to the show and during it and makes a splendid booth babe! Ronnie wanted to join in too, so we made sure he got into some of the photos.
The organisation of the show was fabulous (thanks to Laura and all the volunteers) and everyone was so friendly and helpful. One of our neighbours, Folkestone Harbour Yarn, even let me hang two shawls on hangers from the top of her gridwall! Some of Suzi’s yarn is dyed with natural dyes and some with acid dyes and the range of colours is super – there are even some proper fluorescent neons!
Speaking of stall neighbours, everyone near us was lovely and although I didn’t manage to take photos of anyone else’s stand, I highly recommend giving their websites a visit. On the other side of us was Felt Fusion whose colours are amazing and included some funky zebra striped yarns, whilst behind us was Coastal Colours who also have gorgeous hand-dyed yarns and great needle sets too. Opposite was another designer, Victoria Marchant Knits, who specialises in size-inclusive designs with patterns where you can mix and match the body and sleeve sizes – I’m going to have to get one of these for myself! Next to her were Alex Collins who makes lovely bags and Skein Queen with even more wonderful hand-dyed yarn. It was great too to catch up with Charmaine from YarnTings who was at Wool-in Garden City and Tanya from The Woolly Tangle who had also travelled from North Wales!
One of the helpful things about vending at a yarn show rather than going as a visitor is that I tend to spend less! On this occasion I bought two things! Some rather wonderful buttons from The Button Box Devon for – you guessed it – the adult version of Honeybun, and a sweater pattern from An Caitin Beag which I saw Marna wearing at the show and just loved the way it moved and swayed with her. I haven’t sewn the buttons on yet – that’s a job for tomorrow.
Last week I picked up a lot of yarn from Yarn O’clock for kits, including yarn for new Meg March Shawl kits! This is my only kit that won’t come in a tin as the six skeins of yarn wouldn’t fit, but look at that lovely squishiness! The kit includes 6 x 100g skeins of hand-dyed Fyberspates Vivacious 4-ply (100% Merino Wool) in Blush and Verdigris (the original colours for the design), a printed copy of the 16-page pattern and a lockable stitch marker. There will only be 5 of these kits available, priced at £120 each, so if it appeals to you, don’t forget to visit us in Hall 3 at WonderWool Wales, April 27th & 28th!
I’ve done a lot of knitting this week, but sadly I can’t show you any of it yet! Sorry! I must try to include some knitting or crochet this week that isn’t for publication – maybe I’ll start my Catnip sweater…?
Whatever you’ve been up to this week, I hope you are well, safe and warm. Too many folk out there aren’t. As well as being a fabulous booth babe this weekend, Sue also helped with the hosting of a Zoom launch of the poetry anthology To Light The Trails, Poems By Women In A Violent World, published by Sídhe Press and available from Amazon. Sue was one of the editors of this anthology. It was a powerful evening listening to all the poets read their work. The book is important and worth a read.
Take care all, K x
