I have to be honest: I’m still reeling from Edinburgh Yarn Festival at the weekend. I know it’s cliched but it was just so nice. There were so many different accents/languages being spoken and yet it felt like everyone was happily sharing this wonderful experience and so it didn’t matter that there might be a language barrier. In all the people we had through our stall we only had one person be rude – I think that’s a record, particularly given how insanely busy it was. If you’ve never been to EYF it is well worth travelling and queuing for – I’m not just saying that as a stallholder, but from what customers/visitors have said too. I have a few pics and vidoes to share with you anyway so I’ll crack on.
Here’s my stall. I spent months thinking about what I wanted to do with it this year; and as the show drew closer I was pretty nervous that my new layout idea would totally fail and look awful. During set up (which took three of us 5.5 hours straight) I was about the most stressed that I get – I had to give David and Laura instructions but found it so hard because I kind of needed to decide where stuff was going as we were putting it out – it’s hard to describe but it wasvery stressful and felt overwhelming. Anyway, it all came together nicely and I was for once pleased with the outcome. I’m sure I’ll find things to criticise before next year though! Many people were surprised to learn that ALL of the hand dyed yarns (so all skeins except the chunky) were hand dyed by me in my kitchen sink.
And here’s a video I took during set up:
Of course the show wouldn’t be on if it wasn’t for you, the customers and visitors – and we thank you for coming along and bearing the tsunami of people. One of the great things about shows is seeing all the knitwear in the wild – it’s so inspiring and I’m sure many of you, like me, go home thinking you want to make ALL the things. Here are a few lovely customers showing off ECY makes (if you see yourself and you want tagging please just shout!).
You may recognise the bottom right photo – that’s Justyna aka Lete’s Knits wearing her beautiful Picadilly shawl which she designed for Loop in my Hayton 4ply.
Talking of Justyna – her stunning new shawl Royal Mile (I kept thinking people were asking for Royal Mail – apologies if I looked at you funny – we were very tired!) debuted at the show. Creating a shawl together has become an annual EYF tradition now – our styles go so well together, plus we’re good friends and I think it shows in what we create. It’s Justyna’s design talent that really does it – she has an eye for things that are pretty without being too frilly, if you know what I mean. Anyway, here’s Royal Mile (credit to Justyna and Whiteberry for the photo). Once our shiny new website opens on Monday the 20th of March we should have kits, yarn and patterns for this in stock (assuming we have any left – I haven’t got to that bit of the stocktake yet).
EYF also wouldn’t be what it is without its amazing organisers Jo and Mica. So this year we did a flashmob to thank them – this was organised by La Bien Aimee and given how busy it was they did well to make it happen!
Before I move on, here’s a video that Sparkles (aka Laura) took on Friday..
Three days after getting home I’m still being tagged in so many stash photos on Instagram; here are a few:
Finally, before I go I’ll post the video that I posted across social media on Saturday as we closed the show. I hate doing audio and video – really really hate it – but I couldn’t think of a better way to say what I wanted to say. So here you go: