On Saturday I got to attend my very first yarn ‘show’. It is called Fibre East, and it was brilliant. I met some amazing fibre artists and had a royal day out with my friend Lynnette and her mum (while Christiaan pulled his hair out trying to entertain the boys).
The first thing I saw when we walked in was a stall selling Blue Heron Yarns. As part of the ‘Say Thank You with a Ball of Yarn’ initiative for Sophie’s Universe, I received two skeins of this gorgeous yarn. I was surprised at the weight of this skinny scarf, which was made from Blue Heron, and I am now even more determined to make myself something very special with the two glorious skeins I received.
The next thing that caught my eye was the amazing knitted creations by Belinda Harris-Reid. I bought a simple knit pattern from her, which I am hoping will inspire me to pick those knitting needles up again.
After that, I got to meet the lovely Louise from Spin City (Etsy). I had been looking out for her because I remember Sarah Knight (Crafts from the Cwtch) and Marinke (A Creative Being) buying spindles from her earlier this year (you can read more about that HERE on Marinke’s blog).
Next up was this tempting display of weaving.
I am convinced, now more than ever, that I will be buying myself a (small) weaving loom in the very near future! Just look at the awesome textures!
And this brings me to one of the two highlights of my day: meeting the lovely and talented Jane Crow (you can see a photo of Jane and myself HERE). Most of you will be familiar with Jane’s Lily Pond CAL. If you are not, do yourself a favour and go and have a look! Her stall was spectacular, and her work is absolutely gorgeous!
After that, I was introduced to John Arbon and his Knit by Numbers yarn.
I have already earmarked John’s yellow shades for an ombre blanket. Now I just have to figure out which pattern I want to use (or make up).
The next stop was Jenny Barnett and her amazing felted creations. My favourites (by a mile) were the dalmatian and the sheep.
By this time it was already 3:30 and we hadn’t eaten yet (or seen the other 3/4 of the stalls), so we grabbed a quick snack and ran through the rest of the stalls like lunatics.
Jenny (in her absence) and I acquired some of this gorgeous knobbly, super-colourful yarn from Taylor Made Yarns.
And then I met Daisy from Devon Sun Yarns ( the second highlight of the day). Her hand-dyed yarns are amazing! And I also scored this cute little ‘All You Need is Yarn’ bag :) Daisy hosts ‘Yarn Retreats‘, which sound like so much fun!
So after a busy weekend (and a busy Monday back at work), I am off to watch Season 2 of True Detectives and put my feet up for an hour.
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Belinda Harris-Reid says
Lovely images… let me know how you get on. Love to see what you make.
xxx B
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Belinda. I wish I’d gotten some photos of your work, but I was way too busy squishing that Rose top to be able to focus on anything else. I adore your work and you are an absolute gem. I am so pleased to have met you. I think I will reward myself with a bit of knitting time tonight. Just hoping I can remember how to work with circular needles, because I don’t have large enough double pointed ones. Keep well :)
Norah says
Great article! Dedri, many thanks. You sound as if you had a whale of a time.
Sophie’s Universe, is there any chance you will be producing a written book with this pattern? I am plodding towards the end but wanted to make sure I saved the pattern In case it disappeared from your site. It has so many unique elements, such as the flowers, that I didn’t want to risk losing it.
Dedri Uys says
Hi Norah. We are working on a book, but it is slow going between other commitments, work, and my family. I’m glad that you like it enough to want to hold on to it!
Joy Costello says
Oh so envious I so wish I lived in UK. We don’t to my knowledge have anything like that here in Ireland except for the Yearly knit show in RDS
Its all the different yarns. I just want to touch them :)
Dedri Uys says
Joy, that is exactly what I did: touch them! Numerous times!!!
San says
Ohhhhhhhhh this looks like an incredible day out! Sooo much lovely yarn! :) Glad you enjoyed and now you made me even more wanting to go to a show myself!! :) xx
Dedri Uys says
So come!!! Come to the very next one. You can stay over with us and get thoroughly kids-ed out.
san says
haha you mean training for what’s to come at some point ;)
Dedri Uys says
Exactly :)
Odalys says
Thank you for the resources you listed. I will likely be ordering some yarn from “knit by numbers” for a project I’ve been putting off because I cant find any one company that offers various shades of a color. ☺
Dedri Uys says
Odalys, the yarn is great! If I didn’t have so many other things already planned, I would def have bought myself some. But now I know where to find it when I need it :)
Samantha says
I actually got into “yarn” through weaving but due to having babies and toddlers, I was unable to dedicate the proper time to weaving. So, I took up crochet to fill the gap. Now, though, I’m definitely hoping to get back to it since my kids are not babies anymore. I think you’d love it!!!
Dedri Uys says
Thank you for your comment, Samantha. I think I’d love it too. I’ve done some weaving, but on a very small diy scale. I am going to make that my mission for next year :)
Sherry Mueller says
WOW!! What a show..makes me wish I lived in England…Glad you had a wonderful time; thanks for sharing!!