So much squish!
Hello to you my crafty friends. As promised I am writing up about my visit to Yorkshire Yarn Fest’s in person event on the 30th October at York Auction Mart.
Luckily for me, I only live about 40 minutes from the auction mart in York so I was really looking forward to visit this time. I last visited an in real person yarn fest back in August 2019, then COVID hit and I’ve not been able to visit since then.
It was a wet windy drive over to York but I made it and was warmly welcomed by the lovely staff who directed me to the different parts of the site, including where to get tea and cake! (Which was well received). I did make up a list of things I wanted to get if it was available, but that didn’t necessarily go to plan.
I started off with a quick wander round the vendors to get my bearings and then I dived right in to the yarn!
Truly Hooked
First off I went to see Verity from Truly Hooked. There was some delightful yarn at Verity’s stall and it was great to have a bit of a chat about the different bases and what to use them for. I’ve bought a few of Verity’s yarns in the past and I love the way she dyes her yarn. They’re was a new base called the Angelic base which is an alpaca, silk and cashmere blend- oh my days it was so soft and the colours are beautiful and subtle. She had some Yak sock yarn which I have had before and it’s lovely to work with.
She also had a bargain bin which I delved into and found a lovely yellow tonal with speckles of black called “beekeeper” on her beautifully soft hi-twist krypton sock base.
Verity also had a few samples knit up and I was really drawn to her version of the Magpie Tendency pattern by Skeinanigans, knit up in her bobble slub base, so I also picked up a skein of that base in the light fury colourway as I thought I could combine it with some of the leftover pink from my Shawlography project to make my own magpie tendency top.
Adventures in Yarncraft
Next up I went to see Laura from Adventures in Yarncraft . There were some gorgeous yarns here. Laura’s yarns are always extra soft which we chatted about- she likes to use very fine merino as she, like me, has quite sensitive skin when it comes to yarn. I have watched Laura’s live videos on Instagram for a while so it was nice to see the her and her yarns in real life.
I picked up a couple of things. One was a beautiful skein of merino singles in the colourway “cocktail sunrise”. It has lovely soft speckles of pink and yellow. I have had my eye on making a Doodler shawl by Stephen West, and I have a lovely blue with pink and yellow speckles and a solid yellow yarn (from truly hooked as well). I wanted something to match and this yarn from Laura was perfect.
I also picked up a sock set and pattern for the strawberry cheesecake socks which I am going to get my husband to put away for me for a Christmas present. (Image below is from @adventuresinyarncraft Instagram page)
Ducky Darlings
I wandered round a bit more and came to Ducky Darlings stall I have had my eye on her sister sock sets for a while, they have 2 skeins of 50g to make co-ordinating or odd pairs of socks ( I love a pair of odd socks). SoI managed to find a lovely turquoise and yellow/pink variegated set. On my list was also some red Suri silk fluff to maybe use for my Batad project, so I also picked up a skein form here in the colour “fuschia”. I’m not sure it’s quite the right colour for the other yarn I have picked out for the Batad but I will make up a swatch and see how it works.
Lockwood Fibres
One of the reasons I wanted to visit this yarn fest was that Lockwood Fibres was vending. Emily and I have been chatting on Instagram for a while and I was looking forward to chat to her in person finally. I have been getting Emily’s mystery sock club every month since March and the colourways have been absolutely stunning without fail. Let me show you some examples-
It was so nice to have a good old yarny chat with Emily. And I also picked up some lovely solid minis (also on my list) to use for heels and toes in socks and also a truly gorgeous denim look merino singles which I think is called industrial steel. I think I’ll use it to make a lightweight hipster Shawl by Joji Locatelli
Noodle Soup Yarns
My next stop was to Charley from Noodle Soup Yarns where again I had a lovely chat and also picked up this absolutely gorgeous sparkly speckled sock yarn! I believe the colourway is Gulfweed Cosmos. I think this is my favourite from the haul. I’ve caked it up already but I’m not sure what I want to make with it. I think I like it too much for socks, so maybe a hat?
And finally- The Woolly Tangle and The Crafty Bird
My last 2 purchases were from The Woolly Tangle and The Crafty Bird. I picked up a skein of grey dk to use for a The snuggle is real cowl by Maxim Cyr for my husband from The Woolly Tangle.
I also picked up 2 of the fantastic faux fur Pom poms from The Crafty Bird to use for hats for me and my daughter.
So that’s it…
So that’s it, that was my Yorkshire Yarn Fest Haul. I really splurged, but it was so much fun to talk to other yarny folk and squish all the yarn that I just couldn’t help myself. I feel like I do have projects picked out for most of the yarns but who knows when I’ll actually get to it. All in all I had the best time but I think I will have to wait a while for my bank balance to recover before I attend another one!
I’ll hopefully do an FO post for my Westknits Shawlography (view previous posts here) in the next week. I am so close to the end now. I’m also working on a test knit for a sock but I can’t post about it yet but I will add details when I can.
Well, it’s bye bye for now. Take care, stay safe and happy crafting.