Swag!

As you might expect I had a thoroughly nice time at Knit Nation this past weekend. Really, a huge room full of incredibly beautiful yarn, needles, books an other goodies, how could it possibly not have been wonderful?

As well as mooch, fondle, occasionally spend – and of course knit – I also got the chance to chat with lots of folks I rarely see (being tucked away in deepest darkest Suffolk!) but feel I know… albeit only via the strangely-cropped-top-left-corner-of-their-head/their pet/their favourite knitted project as captured in their Ravelry/Twitter/Facebook avatar! It’s funny how seeing someone’s entire face can sometimes be a bit of a shock 😉

As well as the marketplace I paid an extended visit to the ‘Knit-Tea-Salon’ where refreshments were plentiful and comfy seats available in which to knit and sip and chat and star spot! Lots of conversations revolved around purchases and projects and quite honestly I’ve never seen so many people (of both genders) wearing shawls & shawlettes in a single room!

Ysolda was holding fort with her new publication ‘Little Red in the City’ and her now infamous photo-booth whereby visitors were able to take home a self portrait sporting an Ysolda knit and if lucky, the lady herself in the shot! We’ll be taking delivery of the new book in the next couple of weeks – fingers crossed!

MSF were there with their fabulous P/HOP stand and looked to be doing a roaring trade and I was easily tempted into a Selvedge subscription which I’ve been promising myself for years!

But down to the nitty-gritty… I promised I would be restrained, considered and particular with my purchases and after 3 circuits of the marketplace (the first one was so crowded it was difficult to see anything, the second was to weigh up the options & consider the possibilities and the third was with the purse out & open!) I made some delightful purchases…

Well Manor Farm

This is a skein of Shetland 2ply (with a 4 ply gauge) from Well Manor Farm. I was keen to hunt down this stand as they are a small farm based in Sussex who have a wonderful flock whose fleeces are locally spun before going back to the farm for dying. This is a brown/grey shade which I was on a mission to find to team up with this…

Auld Gold

Not technically Knit Nation swag, this amazing skein of Babylonglegs Semi Precious was an impluse purchase from Sarah last week. One of those serendipitous moments where I just happened to be looking at Twitter just as Sarah posted her ‘5 minutes to shop update’ tweet and so I dutifully clicked through (would’ve been rude not to, eh!) and saw this hank of amazingness! It’s called Auld Gold and it’s really an almost grungy muted gold with a brassy hint of green about it – very difficult to do justice in a pic or with words!

It will be teamed with the Shetland to make one of these:

© Veera Välimäki

It’s Different Lines by Veera Välimäki, of whom I am a big fan… watch this space!

I haven’t quite decided what to do with the rest of my booty…

At the front you can see a skein of Scheherazade from the Natural Dye Studio. This was kindly pressed upon me by Amanda so that I can experience it’s delights for myself before duly stocking the shop full of it! It’s an amazing blend of Silk and Baby Camel and it is soooo soft and soooo shiny I will have to come up with a very special project to do it justice!

Tucked away behind it are two wonderful skeins of Organic Corriedale 4 ply from Old Maiden Aunt… the colours (Pumpkin Pie & Moody) are a rich marigold and a deep teal. I’m thinking maybe stranded mittens?

Finally, I indulged in a cone of Habu 100% silk. My first Habu purchase but surely not my last. Their stand was a treasure trove of colour, texture and I was completely hooked and I’m really hoping that Habu might be part of the Meadow Yarn range very soon!