Introducing Yarndale

I have been waiting patiently, oh-so-patiently to share this woolly story with you all, and am soooo excited that finally today is the day to tell. It's been six months actually, yes Half A Year that I've managed to keep this whole thing under wraps, and I have to tell you dear readers that it has been a devil of a job to keep shtumm. I don't do Secretive things very well, I am much happier with the Share Everything approach, so it is with some relief (phew!) and a huge amount of excitement (yippeeeeee!) that I am finally able to spill the woolly beans.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you will probably know of my Thursday morning routine. You will have heard me talk about jaunting off to the cafe each week for some sociable hooky time. The cafe in question is rather gorgeous. It's light and airy, decorative and happy. There are scrubbed pine tables, mismatched chairs, old wooden church pews piled with crochet cushions. And each Thursday morning it is filled with the noisy sound of chatter and laughter when the Knit n Natter group is in full swing.

Any gathering of like-minded woolly folk is always a good thing in my opinion, and the enjoyment of sharing a creative passion with others is not to be underestimated. There is such a lot of fun and pleasure to be had when solitary crafting finds it’s way into a social situation.

When the group first began, there was only a small handful of us that met regularly, but these days we are a rather large bunch who take over half the cafe. I would say the mix is fairly evenly spread between those who crochet and those who knit, and it's always a real joy to see what everyone is working on.

So....shall we chat about the knit and crochet squares in the top picture?

Here they are look, all handmade with love and ready to be put to good use. The whole of the Knit n Natter group helped to make these squares over the course of last Summer, and it was wonderful when we finally gathered them all in and laid them out.

....what a happy, woolly jumble!

The joining of the squares was undertaken by my wonderful yarny friend Carole who runs the Knit n Natter sessions at her cafe. She and I have been hooking along together for five years and we were both so excited to see this project coming together.

Whilst Carole was busy stitching up the woolly patchwork, I had a very important hooky job to do. I had to set aside my colourful yarns and work in shades of grey. With black details. I know!! I actually worked with BLACK yarn!!!

As you can see, the black yarn was needed for a pair of eyes. Cute eh?

When the grey and black was finished, I got started with the other part of my task which was to design and crochet a rosette. You know, the sort that gets dished out to Very Fine Animals at agricultural shows.

I so enjoyed making this rosette, it came together really well.

Time to attach the rosette to the woolly grey animal with the cute black eyes.....

Baaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! I crocheted a Sheep's Head!!! Did you expect that??!!

I realise that at this point, you are maybe feeling a tad confused, I do apologise. First there was the cafe, then a pile of knitted squares, and now a sheep's head?! EH???!!!

Well what we were trying to do was to create a delightful, fabulous woolly version of the sheep logo in the above picture.

A handmade Patchwork Sheep no less.

Would you like to see how it turned out when the legs and face joined the body?

OK!

Look......................

Ta-dah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I do love, love, love, LOVE our Patchwork Sheep!!

As you can see, we had a very definite job for our Patchwork Sheep. We needed something fun and colourful to adorn some postcards.

Postcards that tell folk about an amazing event due to take place in September this year.....

....introducing YARNDALE 2013. A festival of creativity, celebrating all things woolly and wonderful!

Yarndale will bring together a fabulous mix of retailers, manufacturers, craft workers and artisans from all over the country who are passionate about beautiful yarns, threads and textile treasures.

There will be beautiful yarns, materials, haberdashery, books, kits and hand crafted goodies for sale.

There will be creative exhibitions, demonstrations, displays and workshops.

Did I mention the yarn?

And did I mention the creativity?

There is lots more information about the event on the Yarndale website, oh and Facebook too....

http://www.yarndale.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/Yarndale

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to being at Yarndale. It promises to be an exciting and inspiring affair, with a great mix of things to do and see. There are already a good number of amazing artists and craftspeople who have booked a stand, but the Yarndale committee is looking for more. Would you like to take part? Do you know of anybody who would love to come and sell/demonstrate their wool/textile passion? There is lots of information on the Exhibitor page of the website, so do please spread the word and get in touch if you are interested.

I will be taking part at Yarndale, oh yes, I will most definitely be there. I'll be sitting on a chair surrounded by crochet blankets with my back resting against a crochet cushion, hooking and nattering the day away in the "knit n natter lounge". I hope very much that some of you might come and join me there as it's going to be whole lot of woolly fun. Can't wait!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Mellie]

I have dedicated my blog today to Yarndale ... I am soooooooooo excited!!!!!! xxx

[Beate]

I need to find my own knit and natter group! The festival sounds really fun and I wish I could be there. Love the sheep!

[Sue]

Love the sheep! Yarndale sounds like a festival of fun for us yarn lovers - hope to join you.

[Sarah Tarrant]

That sounds very exciting! The sheep is GORGEOUS! PS When are you going to let us have the Bower Bird pattern please? I'm dying to make one! xx :o)

[Wendy]

oooooooooh I shall add this to my calendar. :)

[Sonia Petitpoint]

Very good news for you ! This sheep is really cute !

[Anna]

I wish I could join you people in such a wonderful event! :) I'm very happy for your small successes!
I was also planning to have some kind of get together of crocheters in my city :) who knows, may be some day we will organize international crochet gathering!
loved the sheep you made, gorgeous!

[Julie Wyer]

Sounds great - would love to come. I wish you lots of luck with the organisational side of things - it sounds like you have a great energetic team - and shall watch out for you there and come and say hello.

[Maja Iversen]

Hi Lucy – I’m an editor on some of Scandinavia’s leading craft magazines and I would like to get in contact with you.
Is it possible by email or…how?

Maja
Denmark

[wafa]

Hi I'm wafa from Libya
You are so sweet and I love you so much and you inspires me ....
I loved ur sheep it's nice and colorful
And I love your colorful life
I hope to communicate with you
I want to talk to you a little bit
This is my email
wafa_redrose12@hotmail.com
my skype is
wafa_redrose
wish to be sent ur Skype......
pleeeeeeease

[Rose Petal (Happy Ramblings Blog)]

I love the sheep, it has so much character! You are all so clever. I am so excited for you. I hope that you are saving the pennies for a big spend-up there!

[Margaret]

so so glad I have found your site, even more thrilled to see you are in the north of England, where is it you group met, maybe I could come along? Not sure if I have become a follower of your blog seemed to have trouble registering, fingers crossed it has gone through okay

[Dana]

Holy Cow!! The sheep is amazing!!!!!!! Well done!!!!

[jeanie]

Oh, my!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

[claudia w]

Now I really wish I was on that side of the pond, alongside you and your knitty & crochety friends at Yarndale. It looks like soooo much fun!

[Carolyn]

Wow, that is so great. I love the combining of knitting and crocheting together.

[Robyn]

Lucy, how I wish that I lived in England, let alone Yorkshire, but sadly I live in Australia!!! Not even close! Will stay posted to see how much fun you have in September this year. Loved the sheep! Just wondering how big the couch with the cushions will be! Have fun!

[Vanessa]

So great! If only I didn't have an ocean to separate me.

[Sarah west mids uk]

Dear Lucy as I have a very good friend in Yorkshire who might let me stay the night I am plotting and planning a visit. Train fair fund and some pocket money! I would love to come.

[Lynne]

Oh. My. Goodness. Almost worth moving back to Yorkshire ;)

[Brenda]

Congratulations Lucy it looks and sounds wonderful, I'm a bit cross through (Smily face) I was in the UK last September all the way from Australia, I even visited a relative in Draughton! But I'm not there this September!!! xxBrenda

[Rachel Thurlby]

I can't tell you how happy I've been the last few hours, planning my escape to Skipton for Yarnfest! Your blog never fails to lift my spirits and largely thanks to your blog, crochet has got me through lots of grey days, only problem now is deciding whether to come by myself (no distraction or explaining why I neeeed yarn and yes, more hooks) or bring Mr, Miss and Master...

[Haylee]

how exciting.!! love your the sheep , it turned out so cute and is adorable. well done! Baaaaaaa! I couldnt resist that lol

So close to my birthday (3oth september) and not too far from sunny scotland. I love yorkshire. I hope I will be able to come because it sounds like so much fun :)

[PinkCatJo]

How fantastic, it sounds wonderful! I'd love to be able to go but I'll hopefully be in the first few weeks of a teaching job then. But I can't wait to hear all about it on here. And I love the sheep too - the perfect mascot! x

[Janet]

If you can't wait til September, for anybody local, there's the 2nd Yarnival in Trawden on 16th March. It's only on a fairly small scale but it's a great fix for yarn addicts. Fab homemade cakes too:-)