Saturday, 8 October 2011

Knitting and Stitching Show Haul

Hello! Yesterday I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally (that's Alexandra Palace for those not in the know, a fabulous Victorian expo centre in North London) with my sister-of-the-stitch friend Clara. By the way, her name is pronounced like Clairol, not like "lava". This is easy to remember because she has nice hair. So now you know!


Anyway, I am now poor. And not just because I blew a lot of cash on this stash, but also because my beloved bicycle was stolen while I was out! I am more than a little heartbroken over that, boo. What can you do? Until everyone on the planet has a bike, there will be bike thieves (and even then, people will steal the better bikes).


The show itself was pretty cool, there were a lot of stands, but it was packed, a little hard to navigate and a total clam bake (I have decided that "clam bake" is the term for the opposite of a sausage fest). Some cool bits and bobs include a completely freehand quilting machine and a company that sell leather bag kits pre-punched that you can assemble yourself. Stupid things I saw- a die cutting machine for quilting where the dies alone were in excess of £30, and an "artist" trying to flog a framed square of ribbon for £250. Ridiculous!


So here's what I got:




Okay... here we go.


Fabric
1 panel with space images
5 Japanese cotton fat quarters: koi, sakura flowers, Japanese customs stamps, geometric pattern, geometric pattern with bunnies in circles
2 cotton fat quarters- strawberries, ice creams


Yarn
20 balls of Noro silk garden lite in 2 shades
10 balls of Sirdar Tweedie in a cream shade
2 packs of hand dyed mohair roving


Everything else
drop spindle so I can learn to spin
Tape measure shaped like a tiger's head
Sewing machine needles for leather
Bag handles
Brittany wooden 5mm needles
Plastic pony 9mm crochet hook
Postcard of a weird skull thing
Di-Stix fabric transfer crayons
2 patterned rollers- fish scales and something geometric
circles stamp


I think that's everything. The Noro was an amazing bargain, I think it's something like £15 in the shops over here, and each pack of 10 was £50.


Big thank you for Clara for helping me out and making the day a great experience, even if she did keep suggesting purple yarns! I'm not very into purple.


Right, looks like I need to find some uses for some lovely Noro, and learn to spin.

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