Yesterday John and I visited the Knit and Stitch show at Alexandra Palace in London. We travelled by underground and train, and then a walk up the hill to the venue. The walk isn't that long but the hill is steep and I had to make a short stop half way up to get my breath. The wind was also blowing head on which slowed progress a little. Fortunately it didn't start to rain. Once at the venue we needed coffee before we started looking at the various stands. I didn't have a shopping list for the event but I had allocated funds in case I saw any fabric or yarn I liked, and needed to take home. I had an urge to buy some yarn to knit a pair of socks. Ive never knitted any before but they would be perfect for use on winter walks.
Having rehydrated we were both ready to look round the show. We have a system we use so we don't miss out any areas. We always walk all the way round before we buy anything so we identify the stands we want to revisit later to make purchases. This reduces the need to carry bags around with us. We met several people we knew and of course we stopped to chat. It's always fun to catch up with folks you don't see very often. The show has both fabric and yarn and a good range of embroidery patterns and floss. Having looked round all the stands and identified the ones we wanted to go back to we headed to the restaurant for a late lunch. They always serve fish and chips on the Friday as one of the lunch options and it was well cooked and very tasty.
After lunch we needed to make our way back to the items we wanted to buy. We stopped at a stand selling sheffield steel scissors. I wanted some new embroidery scissors as my stork scissors have been used by various members of the family for things other than embroidery. They have been dropped many times and the points have been damaged. I was very happy with this purchase and look forward to using them.
Next we visited one of the wool stands. I seen their pretty sock yarn as we walked round that morning. I wanted to buy some of her sock yarn aas it was so pretty.
I opened the skein to roll it into a ball and this photo shows off the colours better.
My final purchase was some indian block printed fabric.
I was very restrained as there were a lot of fabrics I would have liked to take home with me. However I'm currently wanting to finish the cardigan I'm knitting, to make a couple of blouses that are cut out and waiting and to finish my quilted jacket. I also have a good stock of fabrics and yarn so I can start a new project when I'm ready without needing to buy more.
Today I'm working on one of the blouses and later today I hope to get on with the quilted jacket. I have a problem in that I can't remember where I put the bias tape I bought for finishing around the edges. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to start stitching that on I'll remember where I put it.
I also want to do some work on the Red Manor House quilt. Having re-sorted my sewing cupboard I wasn't sure where it was and it took time to locate it. The only time I can't find things in my cupboard is after I've done a good tidy up. How is it that I know where to find things when it's a mess?
Right I'm off to enjoy my sewing day,
Take care
Lyndsey
