I’ve had a cold for over a fortnight now and I’m getting rather fed up with it at this stage. It’s one of those horrible ones, that mutates almost daily and lingers forever.
Category: Festivals
Yarnfolk Swag and Knitting Gaffs
I’m not going to bore you all, by going over my Yarnfolk Festival of Wool experience last Saturday. I rambled on about it for fourty minutes on the video for the Olann and You Tube Channel.
Needless to say, I had a great time and made a couple of purchases. A very modest haul, even if I do say so myself.
Goodies From Yarndale 2016
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.
Fancy a Little Yarnporn?
As you probably know the Sheep’s Head Yarn Festival took place in May and 8 of us piled into two cars and headed down to West Cork for the day.
As we’ve already told you all about the wonderful day we spent in the glorious, sunbathed location in the magazine, I won’t go over it all again.
Instead, how about I share my naughty purchases with you?
A little yarnporn, don’t tell the hubby will you?
Yarndale 2015
I can hardly believe a whole year has passed again, Yarndale 2014 seemed like only yesterday and I almost missed it this year, due to the distraction that is Olann and.
Hubby needed to take a course in the UK, which we were able to time beautifully to coincide with the annual pilgrimage to Skipton and we’re lucky to have family in Yorkshire too. Handy for staying over and availing of all the Yorkshire bargains, my family are obsessed with bargains – 25% off a meal here, a free coffee there. It’s really funny and the subject of many a jest, but every little helps after all.
We caught the ferry in the wee small hours of Friday morning to give us a couple of days to spend in Yorkshire with the family. Saturday included a road trip around the dales, exploring some beautiful places and happening upon the Holmfirth Food Festival too.
Rising bright and early, we made our way to Skipton on the misty Sunday morning, stopping off for breakfast on the way (as you do). Despite arriving by 11am, the marts was already filling up and parking was at a premium.
Heading straight in as we’d pre-booked, we were handed our Show Guide, which contains details of what’s on over the weekend, all the exhibitors and a few lovely little knitting & crochet patterns. This years programme also contains a great interview with John and Juliet of John Arbon Textiles who won the best stand award at Yarndale 2014.
Having just closed a yarn shop, it’s fair to assume that I might have a few balls and hanks hanging around the house, so purchases could seem just a little extravagant. There’s so much to tempt you though that resistance is futile. I did buy a couple of books and some fibre to spin. I also bought some good old fashioned rug wool to use with my stash of weaving yarn. There were a couple of books and magazines too, but my hubby has it all with him in the UK to save me carrying it on the plane and he’s not coming home for a while yet. So it will be like Christmas when he does 🙂
You really have your pick when it comes to Yarndale, there’s stalls selling everything from fibre and spinning wheels to yarn and patterns. You can even enquire about purchasing an alpaca or two if you want. Setting a budget, is probably the safest option and then leave your bank/credit cards at home too. Bare in mind that there are bargains to be had, with many of the vendors offering ‘Yarndale Show Deals’ and ‘Special Prices’.
There are classes and workshops, but it’s better to book ahead as they fill rather quickly. Grabbing a bite to eat will no doubt involve queuing and seating near the food area is very busy. There are chairs set up in pens on almost every row throughout the marts though. So you can stop and rest your tootsies or even eat your lunch.
There’s a great atmosphere, with many attendees bedecked in their woolly creations and many of the stalls have garments on show for you to see in ‘the flesh’ and try on before choosing.
I could rattle on for ages about the things to see and buy, but maybe I should just let the photos speak for themselves? I took so many, but the lighting has meant loads of them are unusable 😦
The day went by all to quickly ⏰ but not before we’d managed to head back into Skipton town for a walk around in the gorgeous late September sun ☀️
With so many lovely places to stop for a bite to eat it would have been criminal not to partake of a cup of tea and a slice of cake before heading back down to South Yorkshire.
L👀k at that cake.
We took the scenic route back to South Yorkshire, enjoying the stunning views and beautiful Autumnal sun.
Happy Knitting!
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 