I’m not going to lie, I was a little disappointed not to be able to attend Yarndale this year, after having gone last year and the year before.  In addition to seeing all the lovely goodies on sale and making a few naughty purchases, it gives me an opportunity to catch up with my best friend, who moved back to Doncaster a few years ago.

These things can’t be helped and on the weekend of Yarndale, I did manage to spend some time with some of my other lovely fibre friends – more about that in the next issue of Olann and.  At the same time, my best friend, Sandra, traveled from Doncaster to Skipton, where she met up with a few people and reveled in all the festival had to offer.  We’d spoken earlier in the week, about the things I wanted her to pick up, if she saw them and unbeknown to me, my husband (who was also in the UK), had asked her to pick me up a couple of goodies.

Sadly, Sandra told me she hadn’t been able to find what I’d mentioned, so you can imagine how thrilled I was, when he returned home and bearing gifts of the woolly persuasion.  Surprise pressies are always the best aren’t they?

My pressies came in two parts, yarn plus an accompanying pattern, will I share?

This scrumptious woolly heaven is the Sock Yeah by Coop Knits.  It’s the Beryl colourway, which is actually a little darker than it came out in the photo.  The 50 gram hanks each contain 212 metres of yummy, supersoft yarn.

Sandra had spotted a rather dashing pair of socks on Rachel Coopey’s stall and thought I’d love them.  She wasn’t wrong either, the Thornfield socks are just beautiful, I can see why she picked them for me.  The yarn is so lovely, I think I might be a little loathed to use it for socks.  The colour is almost the same as one of the versions of the If I Was Your Girlfriend Shawl I’ve knitted, so maybe I should stick with the socks.  What do you think?

This lovely, is a sock blank from Rosie’s Moments.  Can you guess what the colourway is called?

Perhaps this photo will help…

It’s very appropriately named Sergeant Pepper and is 100 grams of 80% Superwash Merino/20& Nylon.

As you can see, the blank wouldn’t make the best pair of matching socks, but it would be ideal for a shawl.  Maybe something like Clara’s Shawl, which is the design Sandra picked up for me to accompany the yarn.

The triangular shawl designed by Rosie herself, is a great simple knit, worked on 4mm needles.

Sandra told me she was completely blown away by everything on Rosie’s stall and spent a good while chatting to the lady herself, whom she said was lovely.

This might go some way to explain how these two extra patterns ended up coming home with my husband too.  The Lavender Buds Socks are on the and the other pair are Smeaton’s Pier Socks.

Not a bad haul, considering I didn’t even go this year.

If you’re interested, the organisers have already set the date for next years festival.  It will be taking place on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of September, so make a note in your diary now.

I’m itching to cast on one of my new projects, but I’ve soooo many wip’s on the needles and some of them have self imposed deadlines.  If that wasn’t bad enough, I really do need to get some of the Christmas gifts I’d like to make, started too.  Maybe I’ll just write a few IOU’s instead 😉

Happy Making

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