Harrogate

Harrogate was fab! Totally exhausting, probably because I still wasn't 100% but there were plenty of places to sit and have a cup of tea to recover from all the excitement every so often. I also got Mum to do all the driving which helped a lot! Where should I start? This is going to be a post full of pics so apologies to anyone on dial-up. I'll put the pics on the smallest size to make it easier for anyone with a slow connection - if you want to see more clearly just click on the picture.

Yes, the place was stuffed full of yummy yarns, and loads of other yummy yummy stuff, but I thought the best bit was meeting up with other knitters, especially fellow bloggers. It was great being able to put faces to names and to have a chat. I met up with Andrea and Blueadt almost as soon as we got there, in the basement hall having a cup of tea. This is me and Andrea:



(Thanks to Andrea for the photo as mine didn't come out very well!) Andrea and Blueadt had been to a class (crochet) and had also stayed over the night before - something I think would be a good idea for next year (woohoo!) as it gives you more time in Harrogate and at the show.
Having lost Mum and Auntie Jan ASAP we ventured off to the Knit and Relax stand where we met Yvonne and Fred:

This pic shows Yvonne, Andrea and Fred (sitting down) all oohing and aahing over Blueadt's Secret Pal parcel. You can hear Yvonne talking about the Knit and Relax stand at Alexandra Palace on Knitcast here.

I wandered off to do some shopping (more later) and also to take in some of the exhibitions. I only really got a chance to go round Knit2Together - something I'd been looking forward to seeing as I missed it when it was on at the Crafts Council. This is a link to a BBC radio 4 gallery from the exhibition, along with some listen again items about knitting.

This is Picknit by Donna Wilson - look at the cake!
The following three pics are parts of the same exhibit - Domestic Interior by Janet Morton (made from found, collected and altered furniture and appliances, recycled sweaters, wool and thread). I can't decide which part I liked best - they were all so cool.




And, finally, this one is Knit Chatlines by Kelly Jenkins.


And onto the shopping! I headed off first to Getknitted - whose stall I'd spotted in the show guide. This was crowded, as you can see from the pic below so it was hard to get to see everything. They mainly had Fyberspates, Cherry Tree Hill and Lorna's Laces yarns (and I think everything was either sock or lace weight), I was a bit disappointed not to see some Koigu as I'd not seen any before and had been hoping to (after seeing that they had some on their stall at Alexandra Palace). Think they may be waiting for a delivery.

I managed to resist the temptation of Lorna's Laces, even thought the colours were lovely. However, I did acquire 100g of Fyperspates 4ply sock yarn in beautiful colours (on the left in pic below). This colourway is called "September" and I hadn't seen it on the GetKnitted website and the Fyberspates website is being updated, although the blog is still active.

Then it was off to the Kaalund yarns stall where I bought 100g of Nimbus (on the right in above pic) in the "anemone" colourway - absolutely gorgeous. I hadn't seen Kaalund before, even though they're stocked at various UK online yarn shops.

In hall B I found two stalls I really liked. One was RKM Wools, a company I hadn't heard off who seemed to be selling a variety of yarn on a slightly chaotic stall. I went here first with Blueadt, who found some Maya yarn reduced, I came back a bit later when I'd seen a bit more and purchased these:

7 balls of Louisa Harding Kimono Angora and 1 ball of Kimono Ribbon, in a matching colourway. These are intended for a cardigan pattern I've already got.
My final purchases were made at Web of Wool, another stall I'd been looking out for, as I love the sock yarn on their website.
From l-r on the top row are:

• 150g Fortissima Socka 6ply (for thick work socks for me)
• 100g Regia Canadian Color 4ply (why's it called Canadian Color?)
• 100g Fortissima Colori socka color 4ply in a beautiful patterned colourway (they had some knitted up on display).
• The two balls on the bottom row are Regia silk color 4ply - very soft.
  

That's the end of the purchases I can display. There were a few more intended for Christmas presents. Other stalls I also enjoyed but didn't indulge (not sure how as it was all very tempting) were:

• Tajcrafts - sparkly needles and lots of funky yarn.

• House of Hemp - beautiful hemp yarns in gorgeous colours. The patterns were all quite summery, so I might go and look at their website in the spring.

• Deco-blue - not knitting, but items and kits made from recycled denim. Beautiful and soft and very inspiring.
• Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop - lots of lovely yarn from lovely sheep.
• Alpaca Select - yummy yummy alpaca yarn.
• UK Alpaca Yarns - more yummy yummy alpaca yarn.
• Button lady - loads and loads of buttons.
• Jamieson and Smith - very tasty Shetland wool.
• The Wool Clip - farmers' cooperative which I also visited in Cumbria in June.
• DT Craft & Design - hand-dying kits and equipment.
  

Wow what a day...