A fantastic time; a definite haul

I think perhaps Yarndale is going to become my favourite yarn festival. It's close to my parents and friends, it's full of friendly stallholders and knitters, it has amazing goodies, and even the weather seems to be smiling on it.


This year, we decided to make the official journey from Skipton Station to the auction mart through the park - which was much less far than I had felt it was when discussing lunchtime options last year! Instead of the 30 minute hike to the edge of town which I had anticipated, it was a 15 minute saunter in the sunshine, reassuringly accompanied by yarny signage all the way to site.


We'd packed a picnic, and I am glad we did - the queues for the Café (which was sensibly sited in the space adjacent to the marketplace itself) were long throughout the day. It also meant we could enjoy some fresh air as we ate the pasta salad I managed to cobble together!

Our plan was to make one exploratory loop of the vendors, and then return on a purchasing spree. That way we could make our decisions in a level-headed and sensible fashion, rather than simply running off with yarn and squeeing madly. We were, largely, successful.


[Left to right: Eden Cottage Yarns Pendle 4ply in 'Copper Bucket', EasyKnits Slink in 'Upstairs', Handmade in the UK by Emily of Tincanknits, Fivemoons Comet MSY in 'Lowering Sky Ooak' and Fivemoons Artemis in 'Can You Hear the Silence?']

I didn't know that I was going to buy a patttern book, but I have heard some fabulous things about this collection, as well as Emily's interview with A Playful Day, and was won over by Bonny, which is going to be knit in the turquoise laceweight from EasyKnits.  TwinkleMou5e (who is the other half of the 'we' in this post!) was even wearing Raindrops for Yarndale! So you see, it had to be, and Emily was very lovely and charmingly signed my copy for me, and then Jon sold me some laceweights... and Eden Cottage Yarns is always a favourite... and Fivemoons had some wonderful stock at Unwind which I didn't buy, and have regretted, so I made up for it. I didn't have planned projects for all the purchases when I made them, but I do now, which has to be a good sign, doesn't it? Now, if I can just stop myself casting on All the Things...

[Gratuitous distracting photo of Alpacas]


The best thing about this festival was just how lovely the people were, and the fact that I was meeting internet friends not for the first, but for the second time. Unwind had given me that opportunity, with its fantastic podcaster meetup, and I'd been attempting to be a bit braver on Twitter and in saying hello to people I know of, so I actually got to chat with Aimee from KnitSpinCake / Harbour City Yarns, Louise from KnitBritish, Jo from Shinybees, Nic from Yarns from the Plain, Jon of EasyKnits and Vicky from Eden Cottage Yarns.

So thank you, everyone, for being lovely, and thank you particularly to the organisers of Yarndale, for creating such a fantastic event somewhere I can get to relatively easily!


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