Saturday 4 October 2014

Yarndale

Yarndale is an annual festival of wool filled knitting yumminess.  Now in its second year, I went a wee trip to Yorkshire to see what all the fuss was about (and to visit a lovely friend).




The yarndale exhibitor list was wonderful, and browsing through had me panicking about my budget before even setting foot in the venue.  And as I disembarked the train, setting foot onto the special service yarndale bus, the feeling, I imagine, was akin to stepping on board the Hogwarts Express.    Certainly, as we drove up the hill toward the venue, the ever increasing amount of knit/chrochet bunting made me feel like I was spiralling down a yarny rabbit hole.




Lauren bought one of these amazingly cute little guys, but because I had run out of cash moneys this was sadly not for me (probably best, how many more owls do I need??  Yes, you're right, many of them).



Yarn!  So much yarn.  MMMMMM.  smooshy.  nommy.  yarn. *faints*

There were some particularly gorgeous yarns at Easyknits stall, which I was going to buy before I spotted his sushi roll.  Where these skeins would have knitted up variegated, the sushi roll knits up as one big gradient, which I really had to try.   My sushi roll is in the 'Peach Pie' colourway, and you'll probably already have noticed a theme in my love of all things copper.  




There were very fluffy bunnies.  Oh goodness were they fluffy.  Lauren wrestled a three year old child for a photo with this hairy guy at Bigwigs stall.  




My favourite stall (because it was so pretty! and also because they are such nice vendors) was Eden Cottage Yarns.  It was so busy on the day, I didn't manage to get my own photo of their stall, but this one was posted onto their twitter feed after the event.  I couldn't get enough of their metallic colour yarns.  


The Silver is on the Pendle 4-ply base, which is 100% superwash merino, in Ash colourway.  The coppers are on the Titus 4-ply which is 75% merino 25% silk, in Copper Bucket and Falling Leaves.



Sparkleducks stall wasn't to be bypassed.  Since seeing the yarn she had dyed up for The Golden Skein yarn club, I had to get my hands on some.  Also, I've never owned a sparkly yarn!!  Of course, this had to be rectified, and I left with these two blue beauties.  On the left, Sea-Quine colour on Galaxy base, which is made up of 75% superwash merno, 20% nylon, 5% stellina.  The single on the right is Neptune on Solo, which is 100% merino superwash.  

  

Gotland seemed to be popular this year, with several stalls stocking Gotland fleeces and yarns.  I bought some matching 4-ply mini-skeins from The Little Grey Sheep stall.  I've never thought I'd find a use for mini-skeins, but found it more daunting to choose between the lovely colours available in this yarn.  I guess there'll be a colourwork hat on the needles soon :)

Recently, I spun some gotland fleece; it is gorgeous though heavier than I'd have expected, the yardage was far less than expected, but the drape and halo are great.



As ever, the Hilltop Cloud stall was mobbed.  Looking only for one thing, I headed straight to the silk section and picked out this bundle of nommyness.  Katie was lovely too, braving the Yarndale masses to bring us the prettiest of fluff.  I've spun yarn from Hilltop Cloud fluff before, it's always so nicely prepped and easy to spin.



At SkyBluePink designs, there were mountains of handspun yarns.  All were wonderfully evenly spun, and definitely to be admired!  However I already have too much of my own (slightly less even) handspun.



I couldn't leave the venue without a souvenir mug, and this Herdy one fit the bill perfectly.  It's also a little special, as it's the same kind of mug I was presented with when I went walking with my partners family earlier in the year.  I coveted these sheepy mugs, though didn't make an effort to find them.  But here they were!  All lined up and waiting for me.



Yarn going to our little heads, we escaped for an hour into Skipton itself, where we lunched in The Cake 'Ole.  This cafe was an ecclectic mix of tearoom and hipster art gallery, with plastic animal heads mounted on the walls, mannequin lamps & toilets decorated as plush red throne rooms.




They've already set a venue and date for next year too!  It'll be at Skipton Auction Mart on the 26th & 27th of September 2015.




Were you at yarndale?  What did you buy?


:)



7 comments:

  1. What a drool-worthy post! Love all your purchases, the colours are stunning. Makes me wish I could've been there as well.

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  2. Am intrigued by the sushi roll.... It comes already knit? Or have you speed knitted?

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    Replies
    1. It comes already knit! And you knit straight from the roll, unravelling that knitting as you go

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  3. I can't believe I didn't spot the little owls! I'm also a massive fan of Victoria at Eden cottage and Emma at the little grey sheep. I bought the gold colour at Woolfest in the Aran weight and just knitted a cowl in one skein from a tin can knits /pom pom mag.

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  4. How do I enter the yarn giveaway?

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