A lovely box arrived from my SP9 pal as I was leaving to go to Harrogate.
As I opened the lid there was a mini explosion of goodies that had been crammed inside
As I unpacked I kept finding more and more goodies
can I just say that I feel totally spoilt!
Thank you
Well I'm finally home after a horrible journey, not helped by the train running out of food before I got any!
I'm not impressed with the York / London journey and have to do the whole trip again next week there and back in a day - with planned engineering works. I'm trying to work out how much knitting I will need for a day out!
The first hour of the journey was spent in silence as everyone was reading the papers or dozing. In an effort to stay awake I got out some knitting - a lace shawl and had to keep stopping to read the chart. Before long the older couple from across the aisle where chatting to me, then the young man opposite joined in intrigued by the chart so I ended up giving an impromptu lesson on chart reading and an explanation of the stitches.
What is it about knitting in public that helps to breakdown the communication wall with fellow passsengers?
Elaine Jamieson has agreed to sell me yarn!!!
Now all I have to do is decide......
between the kit for this
or the yarn for this
or both?
Wibbo - you do not have to buy if you click on these links!!!!
Added Later
Oops sorry about the links!
I bought both - enough yarn to make Willow from Jamieson's Book 2 and Kaleidoscope 2 from Simply Shetland 1
Journey home is a nightmare - a power failure north of York meant nothing was coming through. They tried to tell me to go back through Harrogate to Leeds and then home from there. I decided to stay put and was rewarded with a train about 30 minutes later! I'll miss my connection in London so will look to be arriving home after midnight - think positive though I get some knitting time!
I love this show! There is more space to look around, it doesn't seem as claustrophobic as some others, the traders seem more relaxed and the town is such a nice venue.
People ask questions politely, they wait for you to finish conversations, they queue in a quiet and orderly fashion and listen intently wanting to learn.
You still get the same comments - you hold your needles funny; nobody knits / crochets these days; why haven't you put up better signs for the toilets etc
Fed up with being asked the question "What can you do with finger knitting?" we got the visitors to demonstrate!
Not to be outdone Nell decides to commandeer the sticks and gives a virtuoso performance.
I had a lot of volunteers at this show, many who had travelled substantial distances and treated the whole event as their holiday. Other stall holders dropped by for a chat and a break - the atmosphere was great and we had fun.
Some people chose to come and sit on the comfy chairs, others relaxed on the wool pile
Having plenty of volunteers meant that some dropped out of volunteering mode for a quiet spot of practice on new techniques
How many stitches were there on that mobious cast on Fred?
Some discovered kindred spirits
No trip to Harrogate is complete without a trip to Betty's
where Wye Sue and Sue S. indulged their chocolate cravings
I went for the fruit option!
I'm on my way out of the door to go to Harrogate when the post man arrives with a large box from my SP9 pal.
Due to my lack of will power I went back in and ripped it open! I can't believe how much was crammed into that box - I'm stunned so will post photos on my return home.
Thanks to the post I missed my first train which meant I ran late all day. Still Wye Sue went yarn shopping for me on her way to Harrogate and has promised to post it to me next week (so I won't have to try to fit it in my case!).
The setting up went well and then I saw the Jamie Possum stand and hijacked a possum and silk shawl and long wristwarmers which I promise to pay for tomorrow.
There are lots of yarn stands and some fascinating work in the students showcase - I think I'm going to enjoy this show!
I haven't unpacked the suitcase from Cardiff and I'm now packing another for a trip to the Harrogate show. I'm trying a new tactic - a smaller case - in the vain hope that I will not buy more yarn!
In the meantime here's some pictures from Cardiff
Part of the KCG display was these beautiful crochet daffodils by Lynne. Her work is fantastic and we spent ages talking about how crochet doileys can be expanded, with a change of gauge, to make stunning shawls
Finger knitting hit Cardiff and a new group of addicts were formed!
Meet Morgan - the newest recruit to Knit and Natter. Morgan is a helping dog and was fantastic to have around, great at collecting the dropped balls of yarn and needles. He made sure everyone was greeted as they arrived and that they all got personal attention.
His personal addiction wasn't yarn but squeezy cheese!
I'm stashed away in a hotel room miles from a wet and windy Cardiff. They told me it was only 3 miles out of the town, I'm on an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere and the views are beautiful - I'm looking out on a stunning example of autumn foliage
I did stop by the CIA before I headed out here. The knitted garden is looking good and I can't wait to hear the views of the visitors tomorrow. There are a few stands selling yarn, namely BB yarns, Black Sheep and Web of Wool, There are 2 bookstands and at least one fabric stand that I will have to keep away from!
I'm spending the evening surfing the net and found the link to the Guerilla Gardener who planted the bit by "my" bus stop. I'm fascinated to see what else they have been up to and many of the sites mentioned are in the area that I work in.
I'm trying to get my act together and pack for my final show with the Knitted Garden for this year - I'm off to Cardiff on Thursday for a show at the CIA which runs from Friday - Sunday if you are in the area please come along and say hello. I really must try to get a list of who knitted and crocheted what and take more photos to share with you.
There's been an interesting gardening development on my journey home each night. The place where I change buses has, for years, had a raised garden bed that has never seen a plant - it's usually decorated with beer cans and chicken boxes. Some time in the last week a group of guerilla gardeners descended on it after dark. They cleared it and planted shrubs and other plants - Thank you it has made my waiting time far more pleasurable.
A blah week at work has been removed from memory - thanks to the arrival of this
Now where did I hide my Jamieson's stash?
Don't you just love blogging at this time of year when you can't show any wip's as they are all xmas gifts.
Tomorrow is back to work and time to face reality. So for tonight I thought I'd share just a few more photos.
This was the start of the sunset on our last evening at Arduaine, the sky changed so rapidly the camera couldn't keep up and I just kept saying I didn't want to go home.
We had made no plans for where to stop on the journey back. Matt drove until he felt tired and then set the Tomtom to find a hotel. We ended up with this
Matt is shattered but still proudly showing off his "Pollysocks"
I finished the unpacking today was was rather amazed at how much yarn I had managed to acquire - I really do not remember buying all of this (and there's a hat on the needles from some handspun that's not even in the picture!)
Wonder what I could have bought if I'd planned the trip properly!
It's been a wonderful week - first the fun in Glasgow at the SECC - it's always good to see my friends again even if we don't get much time to talk! The show was busy and we only just managed to make it to the end with the yarn. It wasn't really a show for knitters more of a craft show with some very tempting items for sale and I will confess to collecting a few business cards - just in case I win the lottery!
Matt joined me on Saturday and on Monday, to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary, we set off to explore the West Coast of Scotland - I won't bore you with all of my holiday snaps - just a selection of my favourites.
Matt discovered these Timber Ponds when he was working in Greenock a few years ago - he'd told me how beautiful they were and I had to go and see for myself - the place was magical
We spent a night in Dunoon opposite the Ferry Terminal where Matt was able to watch the boats to his heart's content and then we drove to my choice for a few days - Loch Melfort. The hotel gave us an upgraded room to celebrate our anniversary - the bedroom was larger than our entire flat and the view from the window was stunning - I watched it for hours, when I wasn't eating gourmet food and knitting by the log fire
We explored up and down the coast, ventured into lots of little roads, found some wonderful hideaways, small breweries, gourmet cafes and found very little wool! (Though I did manage to by some Jamieson's in Oban). One afternoon we got windblown onto the Isle of Seil and spent time watching the Atlantic crash over the rocks
A trip to seal sanctury found this fella - very inquisitive over what was happening in the next pool where the staff were trying to catch 5 babies for release back into the wild
A slow journey home via Ripon and another great hotel room - this time a four poster bed and then it was back to reality.
Not a huge amount of knitting done - I cast on for the Wedding Ring Shawl and managed about 6 rows of garter stitch and that's it!