On the 20th and 21st of November Mummy and I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at the International Halls in Harrogate. As has now become our tradition, we had a day at Texere on my way up North. I am obviously having a tools phase, since I didn’t buy any yarn at all, but did manage to buy some nice small sewing up needles, and an interesting tool which has a crochet hook at one and and a needle-eye at the other. I’m afraid I can’t remember what was the proper name for it, but it looked intriguing, and might be handy for weaving in ends.

The show itself was good fun. Smaller than the version at Alexandra Palace, and with some of the same exhibitors, but I think some different, and those that do do both shows sometimes bring different stuff.

We had a very enjoyable time looking round at everything, seeing what is new in the world of knitting, and chatting to everyone. One of the things I enjoy most about these events is the opportunity to catch up with everyone, and see what people are working on, what they have finished, what they are selling. Also since we went back for a second day we had a proper chance to look at the exhibition. Very interesting and varied. As with all art things, there are some things more to my personal taste than others, but the quality of work was very high, and it was particularly nice that a lot of the artists themselves were there and we could talk to them.

Within minutes of entering the show Knit N Caboodle had cured me of my new-found yarn buying reticence and a few little goodies were stashed in one of their lovely purple bags.

Firstly a nice un-subtle sock yarn, this is Schoppel Wolle Admiral ombré in colour 1564, ply weight, 75% wool, 25% polyamide.

Another Schoppel Wolle Admiral Ombré, slightly more subtle, this is colour 1960.

And this one is for Mummy for Christmas. This is as close as I am getting to Christmas knitting this year. Again Schoppel Wolle Admiral ombré, colour 1563.

This one is also by Schoppel Wolle, and is the same yarn weight and fibre, but it is a singles yarn and dyed with long stretches of colour, and is called Zauberball. I am really looking forward to seeing how this knits up. The colour I have is called Tropical Fish, I rather fancy the one called Fuschia too 🙂

In a departure from all sock yarn all the time, I also bought some lace weight. This is Mamma Ocllo, 100% Baby Alpaca in Deep Purple, and you have to feel it to believe how soft it is. I have enough to make a largeish shawl I think, but haven’t yet worked out what pattern to use.

Although I tried hard to give all my money to Knit N Caboodle within minutes of getting into the show, I did manage to save enough to buy the following Jawoll sock yarn from Art Yarn.

And to finish up I bought some lovely postcards of knitted wire shapes on a theme of evolution by Anita Bruce. We were fortunate enough to be able to chat with Anita while we looked at her pieces, which are very interesting and beautiful. I am definitely inspired to do some wire knitting soon.

All in all a lovely if rather tiring couple of days. I don’t know how the exhibitors manage to do 4 days of it. I was exhausted after only two!