I Knit 2008: What a Great Day Out!

I suspect that I would make a rubbish photo journalist - I get so distracted by what is going on around me that I forget take photographs!

I Knit Day 2008 was a chance for me to spend time with my mother before I take off to Canada - so it was more about enjoying the day than being up with the sparrows and camping outside the venue in order to be first through the door to bury ourselves under knitting purchases.

So when we arrived and spotted the long queue of people waiting to get in, we nipped around the corner to a taxi-drivers cafe to wait it out over a mug of very good coffee. By the time we emerged, the queue had vanished and we were able to stroll leisurely into Lawrence Hall where the fashion show area and the market stands were set out.

The hall was busy with people sitting, knitting and browsing wares. In fact, I couldn't get anywhere close to the Purlescence, Socktopus or Fyberspates stands to say hello to Robynn, Alice or Jeni. People were swarming, at least three deep, around each one.

As it was so busy, so we headed over to the displays in the charity project section, which included some enormous knitting plus a knitted and felted kitchen area.

It is amazing yet if you do ever find me sitting at home, knitting myself a chocolate éclair? Please - I beg you - flush my Diet Dust rations down the nearest toilet and take me out for a real cream tea!

The only think that I did in the market area on Saturday was pick up two sets of vintage glass buttons, then risk life and limb by tackling the knitterly elbows at the I Knit stand to purchase a copy of Knitting Rules...

...we-ell, you know - as much as I try to pretend to be a cool, detatched London knitter? Deep down, I knew that I was going to stand in line with everyone else, to have a book signed and do my best not to gurn like an idiot while saying hello to the person whose blog I read and enjoy so much.

(Actually, it is worse than that. I didn't tell my mother but in fact, my first ever, so-freshly-washed-it-was-actually-still-wet sock, was neatly folded and stowed in plastic, ready to show and tell!)

As I was an usher at the Yarn Harlot talk, I missed the Stitch in Time Fashion show. So I really hope that someone else managed to snap some photos because I hear that it was very good! While that was on, I was over at Lindley Hall with a group of other knitters putting badges out on chairs.

Actually, when I first went into Lindley Hall? I was thinking quietly to myself: Good grief, doesn't Stephanie get nervous when she sees big venues? Um.... I am not sure that this is going to go down well?

When we were able to open the doors for people to come in, there was this almost un-British rush of people, crowding to get in through the doors and to their seats. I was a bit taken aback. Then I realised that they were all totally drenched to the skin - they didn't just want to get inside to secure the best seat, they needed to get out of the rain, strip off wet clothing and get themselves as comfortable as possible before the talk started!

Mind you, see that very big space with all those seats in the above photo? That room was filled with chattering, excited knitters in minutes, with people standing at the back as well. It was quite something. But the very best thing about being in a room full of other kinesthetic people for a talk?!

Look! Noone bats an eyelid when you get your knitting out. Just look at the rows next to me - yup, that is evidence of the people in every single row: knitting, knitting, knitting!

Then, the talk began...

...suffice it to say that it was good - very funny! I won't spoil it, just in case you get a chance to hear Stephanie speak in person for yourself!

However, what I will say in a roundabout reference to Stephanie's talk - if you are a Canadian knitter who is fond of Rowan Yarn? It seems that it might be an idea to make friends with a few British knitters? After all, what better way to cement an international friendship than via a small exchange of gifts containing locally sourced, reasonably priced yarn?!

Also, it is possible that I might be moved to comment that if this Well Known Knitter (WKK) had heard Stephanie speak on Saturday, she might have thought twice about taking up this knitting photo opportunity?!

Maybe, maybe not?! Now I did queue and I did get my book signed. Mind you, not until the queue had gone down - that took some time, let me tell you.

I kept going back but the queue was just the same, just comprised of different people!

This knitter had the perfect, book signing, queue solution. Yet I feel mildly intimidated by the organisation at work here - I do not know anyone who is so well planned that they would have the presence of mind to arrange travel into central London equipped with a large beanbag?!

At that point, I took off to watch the Erika Knight fashion show. She has a new book of man knits coming out. Not all of the pieces were to my taste but it was a fabulous presentation as she took time to talk through all of the pieces in the book, explaining the trend behind each and why the garment would make a good wardrobe staple.

At the end , I turned around and spotted Erqsome and WanderLustKnits in the book signing queue - I joined them as there's just no way that any queue could be an insufferable experience in the company of such great people! It got even better when we were joined by Yogic Knitter and KnittingNrdFightr.

By the time that we'd started to close the gap between us and the book signing table (chatting to Gerard on the way) I have to admit - we were all a bit on the raucous side.

What I loved about it though? We all seemed to pull it together for our few moments at the book signing table with Stephanie. See, here's Emms with Stephanie?

And then?

Heheheh...how's that for the reality of our (lack of) composure?! We were such groupie, knitting nerdles!

I wonder if Stephanie was cursing the length of her name by the end of the day? By the time we got to her table, she had been signing books for almost three hours. If it had been me? I think that I would have been looking at my writing hand like it was an alien being. It would have felt like one. She must have been really tired but even so, she was absolutely lovely to all of us.

What a fabulous day out, surrounded by such nice, like minded people. Y'know?

After that, it was a quick tour of the knitted aliens before we headed out into the gloomy evening for a glass of wine and some nibbles at the South Bank before clambering onto a train home.

Click here for the slideshow of my I Knit Day 2008 photos.

Or, even better, click here for the offical I Knit Flickr Group photos!

Please go see, enjoy and either add your photos to the group pool or let me know where you have stashed your own photos of the day!

I Knit Day 2008: Pretty Damn Fabulous

What can I say? I am sitting here at home, with my mother asleep upstairs, in the knowledge that I have had a very good day. Actually, I have had such a good day that I almost feel bad about it.

You see, I know from personal experience of being a part of a Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony once, that when you are the organiser or the performer, you are the entertainment and you do not get to experience an event in the same way as the paying public.

That day, I spent hours and most of the ceremony sitting in a very hot, airless, sports hall, in the height of summer, in my number 1 uniform (almost 100% manmade itchy, heavy plastic fibre - yes sweat did trickle down my back) waiting to be called out to march around the stadium.

Most of us had come very close to passing out (either through boredom or dyhydration) before we were called. When the moment came, we were marched into the stadium, were coralled briefly in the centre where none of the acoustics made any sense (they were projected into the spectator stands) and then? We were marched back out almost straight away, under the cover of the finale fireworks, to be put straight onto buses and returned by train (6 hour journey) to our university accommodation pens bedrooms.

All those hours of waiting and we must have been in the stadium for no more than 20 minutes, where we didn't get to see or hear anything. Days later? I got to watch some of the Opening Ceremony on TV. The event that I saw on screen was breathtaking - it didn't bear any relationship at all to the event that I had experienced as a part of the show.

Opps - I have rambled again. It is just that from experiences like the above, I do realise and appreciate that those people who organise or entertain on a day like I Knit are working and they do not get much any opportunity to enjoy the event itself.

So to Gerard, Craig, Stephanie, Erika, Jane, all of the other presenters, every single stallholder and all of the other helpers - thank you - I do realise how hard you worked to make it happen and what a long day it was.

Do you know what though? I saw a lot of people taking photographs. Like this one:

So I am sure that blogland will show over the next few days how much we all truly appreciated it. What a bloomin' great day!

I am off to bed now. I will blog properly about today, in pictures, at some point in the next 24 hours or so.

Just because it does not appeal to me...

...doesn't mean that I do not get it.

I haven't mentioned the Hyperbolic Crochet exhibit at the South Bank to date - simply because it does not appeal to me. I feel tentative about posting this as a lot of people I know have been very enthusiastic about it and contributed to it. So maybe there is something important here that I have missed?

No mathematically impaired explanation from me could possibly outdo this Online Exhibit from the Institute for Figuring: Hyperbolic Space. Read it - honest - even to a "no numbers" brain like mine, it's good.

I need to say that I really like the way that it has been possible to express a 3 dimensional realisation of ideas and research in crochet because it is difficult to create an equivalent model or surface in another way. (Crikey that sounded very arty farty.)

Also, it is very cool that the resulting forms look like a coral reef - no really, it is cool. I do realise that this is quirky, interesting plus makes a really good, valid point about pollution and global warming. I appreciate that all sorts of people have worked really hard on it, even learning new techniques in order to contribute to it. It is just that...





...what can I tell you? It's just not my sort of thing. I have tried to like it. I have - honestly. I just do not. Um. I am really sorry about that.

However, if you have not seen it yet and would like to make your own mind up or contribute to it, then you need to get along to the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank before Sunday, 17th August!

Wonderwool 3 (Mid Wales Mouthful)

Sunday at Wonderwool was much quieter than Saturday. This gave me the chance to stroll around the Mid Wales Mouthful part of the event with the Fella.

Last year, Wonderwool was paired with the Smallholder Show and somehow, I suspect that this might have offered families a little bit more to see and do than the Mid Wales Mouthful?

While there were a couple of fun, food things on offer, I did not really think that there was very much for younger visitors. The two things I did spot were:

a bicycle powered smoothie maker

the fruit art lady contemplating...her fruity layout?

So, gently putting families to one side - what counts as a gourmet, Mid Wales Mouthful then?

You know, I am not sure. The food fair part of the event was a sort of large farmer's market. There were plenty of preserves, delicious cheeses, homemade cakes, nuts, chocolate, cider plus other British alcohol on offer alongside produce from organic butchers and veg suppliers.


There was also a stand selling excellent bread and a patisserie stand where we picked up some apple strudel and brownies as a Sunday afternoon treat. Yum, yum, yum:


Then, there was a stand selling 26 of their 37 varieties of scotch egg. I hate scotch eggs...shudder.

There seemed to be a lot of stands selling large packs of sausages and there was also someone selling Welsh jerky, including vegetarian jerky. Yes - Welsh jerky. Don't look at me like that, I have no idea why one would need jerky in Wales - for the long arduous hikes between home and the village pub, perhaps?!

Now the Fella led our purchase of jerky yet I notice that he did not take any of it home to Canada with him! Actually, writing this has reminded me that it is sitting in my cupboard, so I have just taken a photo, opened a pack and now I am sitting here, writing this and chewing long and hard on something which describes itself as "Blackbeard's Buccaneer Jerky".



I take it all back - I have no idea why I am chewing on something that looks like it's been hoiked out of an Egyptian tomb or why it is being made in Wales but d'you know what? It's not bad - salty, spicy and it tastes totally of that welcoming wood fire smell you get when you walk into a good pub with an open fire, on a bitterly cold winter's night.


During the course of the weekend, the Fella did some wandering about on his own. Once he returned triumphant with cider. However another time, he returned with a bottle of Elderflower wine - um, not so successful! However, on Sunday we did pick up a trio of Herefordshire wines which were...


...alright! I was surprised as I am not a fan of British wine at all. To be honest, I thought that those might have to quietly exit the house via the same route as the Elderflower wine.

To finish off my account of the food fair, there were stands selling Bara Brith and Welsh cakes. Now these are both very bright memories from my childhood (warm and buttered) and this photo may tell you why we thought that this man deserved (and got) some of our business!



Otherwise, here are my Mid Wales Mouthful photos and below is our food haul!

In terms of Wonderwool on Sunday, it got very quiet towards the end of the day and, despite one very wonderful 'pick me up' moment when I got back to the stand to find that Dee had popped by with a present for me (grin...more on that another time), our energy had completely flagged and there were signs that, at least for some of our party, some of the excitement had started to wane:

Um, perhaps it was time to go?!

It seems only right to wrap up my account of the Wonderwool weekend with the main protagonists for the weekend - Anne, Tony, Aria and that sort-of-new business venture, Artisan Yarns.

In terms of Artisan Yarns, I think that my mother was pleased with how the weekend went - raising both profile and awareness of what she is doing, not to mention everything she learned about having a stand at this type of event. (I know that I learned a lot too.)

Actually, if we hadn't all been so tired, I think that I would have been sad about packing away the stand at the end of Sunday. As it was, once it was all dismantled and packed away, the Fella and I headed the 3 hours home, where we pretty much collapsed.

Anne and Tony, on the other hand, did something far more sensible. They loaded Aria and headed back to their campsite to conclude their weekend together in the peace and quiet of rural Mid Wales.

A sunny Monday morning near Builth Wells!

Wonderwool Weekend

The End

Wonderwool 2 (Yarn-Fibre-Stuff)

My camera battery died at Wonderwool, so my photos all became a bit piecemeal. I have played with photo time in this post, just to keep topics logically together (with thanks to my mother for some of the photos in this post and in my Flickr set).

Usually, I go to knitting events on a yarn and accessories stalking exercise. Two weeks ago though, I was at Wonderwool as an exhibitor - a lot of fun and a completely different experience to being at a show as a consumer. Naively, I thought that:

• being there before the show opened would give me the chance to get in quick and make off with all of the best yarns and bargains. Nope, it didn't...
  
  


• I would have some calm, structured time away from the stand to potter about, meet people, take photos and study carefully everything that was on offer. Um nope, that did not happen either...
  
  
  
• About ten minutes into the show, I would emerge from my virgin exhibitor show chrysalis as a confident doyenne butterfly of yarn stand holding. Nope, I was terrified. Every time someone asked me a question (invariably one that I could not answer), I half froze and found myself opening my mouth, to squawk inarticulately, 'Mu-uum...'

In fact, the whole weekend seemed to be one mad rush of set up, poking a camera about, rearranging the stall to give things a chance to be seen and fill gaps after sales were made plus trying to keep an eye on whether my parents and the Fella had coffee, water and occasionally, food or a chance to sit down. It-was-all-pretty-much-non-stop!

The very first thing that I did after the Artisan Yarns set up on Saturday morning, was race over to see Posh Yarns. I had hoped to get there before the show opened to take photos of their stand before the hoards descended. I was too late...

...a bunch of knitters had beaten me to it! Yarn purchases were in full flow and here's Starry Starry Knit (right), with her hands happily full of yarn:

Now just in case you have not met the very lovely Dee and Tony, here they are demonstrating their clear mastery of twisting hanks into neat skeins – I think that the movement in this image makes it look like they are twisting in time to music!

Here is a close up of some very splendid, posh and soft yarn:



Dee and Tony won't realise but it's actually very lucky for them both that I had a couple of close calls with a trestle table while setting up my mother's stand. This taught me that their table would never take my weight.



Well, I had never seen so much posh yarn in one place before, nor in such a wide array of colours. I just wanted to throw myself onto their table, into the middle of all that glorious colour and just sort of, you know, cuddle all of that gorgeous softness. (Phew, another faux pas fibre moment avoided!)

Below is a mosaic of some images of some other stands and familiar faces from yarn, knitting and craft companies that you may recognise - I need to say that a nicer bunch of more tolerant people (of me with my camera) you would be hard put to meet:


There were so many things to see that I didn't manage to take pictures of it all. However, here's a little bit more yarn eye candy from the long established Natural Dye Studio:

Now, for those of you who prefer their fibre in a less spun state, I came across these in my travels around the show and I thanked my lucky stars that I have not yet been bitten by the spinning bug otherwise my bank balance would have been in serious trouble:

Opps, how did Gerard and Craig from IKnit end up in this section...?!

Well there's a lovely link, handed to me on a plate - fibre mixed with two of London's most fashionable knitters and knitting shops owners?

Well, it might not be the catwalks of London but Wonderwool at Builth Wells did have a sheepwalk and a fashion show for people to show off their exhibits and wares to the gathered crowd:


On Saturday, Anthony Worrell-Thompson (celebrity chef) headlined the fashion show. However, I was too busy freaking out about walking onto a platform dressed like a weirdo to take any photos of him in action. You see, I am not exactly sure what my mother had in mind when she volunteered me and the Fella to represent her Saturday - personally, I think that we could have doubled as extras from 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'!

Scary! Others managed to pull off their outfits and accessories with a lot more aplomb:


Suffice it to say that we did not volunteer to do the sheepwalk again on Sunday!

Now in reality, this next picture belongs in the stall holder section. However, this lady had two coats, both of which should definitely have graced the sheepwalk. One was green and gold but this is the one that stood out from everything else that I saw at Wonderwool:


This, ladies and gentlemen, is a peach, eyelash, fashion yarn version of a Kaffe Fassett coat pattern. Now - just who among you would have had the knitting balls to make that, eh?! I am completely and utterly awestruck - what a completely inspired, gutsy, free from convention project.

After all, what would you do if you liked the shape of a coat but did not have 15 years to work your way through all that artistic, complicated colour work, in very expensive yarns? The answer to your problem has to be as simple as the coat on this lady's back: you shrug off any preconceived notions about a Kaffe Fassett design and then, whip up your own version of the Chinese Rose coat (just guessing), crocheted in a bunch of out-there fashion yarns, in a very unexpected colour. Why not?!

Frankly, the rest of Saturday whizzed past in a blur. By the end of the day, we were all dead on our feet and looking forwards to dinner and a good night's rest.

We trailed out and trooped back tiredly towards Aria and our car. At which point, I saw one of the nicest family scenes of the day:

A stand holding family, camping at Wonderwool and unwinding at the end of a very busy day with their knitting - now, just how cool is that?

Here are my Wonderwool During the Show photos!

Wonderwool 1 (Before The Show)

This post is really about two people called Anne and Tony, a camper van called Aria and a fairly new business venture called Artisan Yarns.

Now just in case this sounds entirely random, I should explain that Anne and Tony make up one half of my four parents. Here they are - Anne (Yarnartisanne), Tony and Aria:

Without a doubt, my mother is my family’s true textile artist. I do not fib - when she is not textile printing, quilting, embroidering, sewing, knitting, dyeing or possibly, spinning - you will find my mother at her textile gallery, The Small Gallery, in Hereford.

My memories of growing up in my mother’s house are rich with the inherent disorder of works in progress, art supplies, fabrics, threads, wool (as we called it then) everywhere (needing to be heaped out of the day so we could eat at the dining table) and the smell of natural plant dyes heating on the stove.

Opps, I digress as usual. Last Autumn, I showed Anne around the hand dyed yarn stands at Alexandra Palace (she was really there to see the exhibition work). It seems that this trip helped to crystallise some ideas and Anne started to introduce some artisan yarns at her Gallery, just before Christmas. Since then, the yarn collection has been expanding and Anne has started to dye yarns again as well. In fact, here are some of her hand dyes in a box (alongside a pink Knitwitches silk yarn scarf), ready to go off to Wonderwool:

Except not many people know about what my mother is doing yet, as a Gallery website and blog are still pending...

...so enter Wonderwool as an opportunity to start raising awareness about Artisan Yarns at The Small Gallery!

As an aside, just in case you think that Tony is the long suffering partner of an overtly creative person (he is, but still), I need to tell you that Tony holds his own on the creative front -he is currently the oldest Art Foundation student at Hereford Art College.

The third character in the photo above is Aria - a brand new camper van, manufactured in Brazil to the original VW specification - very cool on the outside, very plush on the inside and apparently, no power steering so a bit tricky to drive!

Now it turns out that taking to the open road in a camper van is something that Anne and Tony have always wanted to do, so they hired Aria for the Wonderwool weekend. Just on the basis that their accommodation for the weekend would double as a decent yarn transporter.

They were right too.

This is Tony’s study before the yarn was loaded into Aria:

This is Aria after the yarn was loaded for the drive to Builth Wells:

You will note that my parents were careful to provision sensibly for the weekend:

Aria loaded, Anne and Tony set off for Wonderwool. The Fella and I caught up with them at 7pm, when we helped them to set up the stand. By the time that 10pm had swung around, we were barely able to speak we were all so tired and the stand still had a few things left for us to sort out.

Now I haven’t been to a Knitting Event as an exhibitor before so I was very curious to see how things really looked before it opened its doors to the public.

You know, it really was a bit like, 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse':

So we crept out quietly to collapse - my parents at their camp site, the Fella and I at our B&B (a pub). However, we were all back by 8:30am on Saturday to finish off the stand and prepare for the 10am opening - fanfare please...

...so this, for those of you who were not able to make it to Wonderwool this year, is Artisan Yarns, set up and sorted for the start of the show!

The rest of my Wonderwool Before the Show photographs have been uploaded to Flickr and I will post about the rest of last weekend in the next day or two!