Thursday I ventured to London's Ally Pally for the annual Knitting and Stitching Show. Excited was an understatement! Thursday couldn't come soon enough for me, as I prepared myself for my first real 'day out' since becoming a mum. I was sad to leave the little P behind for a whole day, but the sheer excitement of what lie ahead outweighed any bad feelings! Plus I knew the little monster would have a great day with my parents, who she loves to bits! I was just concerned for them as I knew she would not stop all day as their company is much too fun!
So Thursday finally arrived, and it was a fairly early start for me, on the train by half past 7. After catching the connecting train, it was time to whip the crochet out. I had been deliberating hard about which project to take on the train, and after much thought I decided to start a rabbit I have been 'commissioned' to make.
There were 3 of us, 2 crocheters and one knitter (who really wants be be a hooker!). We spent some of the journey trying to teach the knitter to crochet, and she actually was very good! She had produced a nice little green amigurumi ball type thing by the end of the lesson. I made 2 rabbit ears, but there was a major issue... nobody brought scissors, thinking the other person would have them! Oooops, so I had the great pleasure of (discreetly) chewing through my yarn, thank goodness it was only cotton!
We arrived at the Ally Pally late morning, and it was already fairly busy. It was the first day of the show so we were hoping to get all the good stuff before anyone else!
Those of you who know the Ally Pally will know it is huge inside. That's an awful lot of stands to get round!
I love looking at yarn, and other craft related items, but there came a point when I just couldn't look at any more. It is an amazing show, and I'd love to go back year on year, but it is huge, and very tiring! It's quite warm in there, and busy, which makes getting around it slow work. You also have to add walking sticks into the equation - I got one to the shin from a lady fighting her way to look at some buttons. But what a great show! There were so many excellent stands to look at, a few of my favourites included the Hooplayarn and Zpagetti stands. This giant form of upcycled crochet is something I have been looking at and wanting to do, so to see it in the flesh and examples of products was very interesting. I did get tempted into a purchase here... the lovely ladies of Hooplayarn had some leftover oddments of yarn in lots of bright colours.... these had my name on them! The problem with me is I like to use a lot of colours, and it would be very expensive to buy 5 or 6 bobbins of yarn at once, so these small oddments were perfect for me.
I love these colours so much, and am very pleased with the purchase. I love how stretchy the yarn is, and I'm excited about using it... maybe a colourful rug?
My other favourite purchase was that of a super new hook. The creme de la creme of crochet hooks. My friend had told me about these but I'd never seen them... introducing me new baby, Tulip Etimo Rose...
Photographs just don't do it justice, as you can't feel it. It is amazingly soft to touch and I can't wait to use it....only wish I could afford the set (currently retailing around £90 if anyone would like to buy them for me?)
I bought a couple of other bits, as much as I could carry anyway. In answer to the previous post's question, the answer would be no, a suitcase would not have been excessive, in fact very resourceful. A few show-goers were indeed wheeling them around. I topped up on my favourite Rico Creative Cotton which I'm using at the moment for a project, and also got a couple of Clover Soft Touch hooks to extend my ergonomic hook collection.
And here is the whole bunch together.... doesn't look much, think I should have had more!
You may also notice a couple of books, not from the show but a little present to myself earlier in the week. I have wanted both for a while so I treated myself....again!
So all in all, a great day was had at the show and I'd highly recommend it to any crafters out there. By the end of the afternoon we were on the floor. Exhausted. I needed a day after to gather my energy back, but no such luck, back to the bouncing little P!
I haven't had a great deal of other crochet time this week, but am managing to put together a doll for the little lady. I have made the legs, body and one arm so far...
I'm happy how she is turning out so far, the biggest challenge will be the hair, which I'm not looking forward to. I'm using the good old Rico Creative Cotton Aran and a 4.5mm hook, so she is nice and big and cuddly. She also has a separate dress and shoes to wear once I have finished the body.I am using this pattern. That's all my news for this week.... see you soon!
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