Monday 10 February 2014

Crafts4Crafters, Jan 2014

One of the things I've noticed since I started blogging is that when I get fatigued, writing is the first thing to go. I've had a busy couple of weeks ( by my standards) and haven't been up to writing much. My last entry was going to be about the Crafts4Crafters show held at the local exhibition centre, Westpoint, at the end of January. I'll start there.


The plan had been for myself and Katharina, her mother, and our friend Julia to go together. Due to oversleeping on someone's (cough, Kat) part, we ended up going separately, taking two cars. This was ideal for me as it allowed me to take my electric scooter along. It would have been a squeeze if we had all gone in one car. I went with Kat's mom and the other two joined us a short time later. We had a great time at the show. I met Sara of Sara's Texture crafts and got some fibre from her. I had recently started following her on Twitter, and when I found out she was going to be at the show I made a point of searching out her booth. The multicoloured on the right has sparkle fibre in it, which I've never spun before. It will be interesting to see how it spins up. The other is a Hebridean which will probably go into a cushion or something else not close to skin.

I also bought a little bit of yarn. I wasn't going to shop for yarn, as I already have plenty, but I saw a booth selling Drops yarn at a very reasonable price and have been wanting to try the brand for some time. I got these two little beauties. I thought about getting the same colourway, but getting different colourways and playing with the two skeins together seemed more fun. It's a 4 ply wool, and with two skeins I might be able to make a little shawlette that will dance with colour.


My last purchases were entirely naughty. I have a perfectly good handbag, but passing a leather stall, I couldn't help but look in. The vendors were Leatherwise, and they currently have no online presence, so their goods are only available at shows like these. They design and handmake all their leather bags, sourcing the leather from the furniture industry locally. I was incredibly impressed with the quality of the craftsmanship and the designs of the bags, and finally settled on one I think I can live with for a long while. This one is large enough to hold my things as well as a small knitting project.

We were just about finished when we found the booth I bought from last. Despite already having bought a new handbag, I saw a stand selling all kinds of satchels, craft bags, and baskets. Several of the baskets were on sale for £5 each - large, lined baskets. They were being snatched up like the bargain they were, so I got one myself. I already own one large basket, but it's full of fibre, and with the lining I thought this one would be a good addition to my collection. Now that I've seen how useful it is, I'll probably line my other big one as well. I currently keep my crochet work in the new one.

I also got a new project bag. I've been admiring the plastic cloth (not sure what it's really called) bags with the gorgeous prints that everyone seems to be carrying around these days. I've looked at buying one myself - places like Cath Kidston do them  - but they were minimum £25 and I just didn't want to part with that kind of money when I already had bags I could use. I saw this one on sale for less than half that, and snapped it up. Roses are a favourite flower of mine, so the design is apt. It's roomy enough to hold yarn enough for two sweaters, my box of accessories (box'o'tricks) and a few crochet hooks for fixing problems.

Overall, we had a very nice day, and stayed at the show far longer than I've stayed anywhere, including Alexandra Palace last October. I was dead tired by the end of it, even with using the scooter, but it was worth it.






1 comment:

  1. I wanted so much to go, mainly to check out Sara's stall, but I had no money and a Guide training that weekend. No money on it's own isn't enough to put me off so it's a good job I had the training. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

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