Knit & Knot Fair
Mar. 19th, 2016 02:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzI had such a great time at the Knit & Knot fair in Tilburg yesterday. This is a new fair for yarn crafts, the self-proclaimed "Brei & haakdagen van het zuiden) (South-Netherlands knit&crochet days, referencing another very successful yarn crafts fair.)
After some trouble getting to park the car, I met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wannabe_bitch and HowlingMoon and we entered together. I had gifted Kat her ticket and she in turn bought HowlingMoon a ticket, so it was gifts all around! Last time we saw eachother was in November, so it was high time we got together.
The fair was very busy, which is good and bad at the same time. We were jostled quite a bit, as people wanted to get to the shops and the paths were pretty narrow. As yarn crafts also attract an older audience, not everyone can walk on their own steam, and it wasn't very wheelchair- and scoot-mobile friendly. But luckily, the mob thinned a bit after one o'clock and it was easier to walk around and look at merchandise.
We looked at yarn, drooled over scarves made with scrumptious lace yarns, petted sock yarns and fondled the aran-weight yarns. But there were also felting classes, sheep shearings to card and spin yourself -- basically every step from sheep to sock was on sale.
I sneaked off while the girls were test-driving a beautiful and luxurious-looking two-pedal spinning wheel, and sat down at the long tables in the centre of the hall to socialise with other Ravelers.
Since I've got a queue that is longer than a Long Island Ice Tea, and enough yarn to keep me busy for the next few years, I went easy on my wallet. I couldn't say no to two sock yarns that were on sale: 2 for € 6,-. Granted, the wrapper of one fell off and it's got the wrong colourway number on it, but Ravelry supplied that information very easily. I also picked up a Unikat!
Unikat is one of those famous yarns, just like the Wollmeise in the picture. It's so popular it's a little difficult to get your hands on, and since there are a thousand and one colourways it's hard to pick one that matches your complexion. Although I've been wanting to get my hands on one, I never took steps to actually order one on a webshop because I wasn't sure which colourway to choose.
And then suddenly I ran into this colourway, "Viola", in muted purple and blueish grey, which fits my colour scheme perfectly!
And that's just how it should go, isn't it? You want to buy it, but you just have to run into it at the right time.
The Wollmeise in the picture is one I picked up when a Raveler was stashbusting. She was selling it for 18 euro (3,50 cheaper than in the online shop) and I thought the colour would be right. I need greens with a blue undertone, so it's a "cool" colour. But this is definitely a warm, yellow green. So it will have to be traded in at some point, or sold on. I am absolutely thrilled to have bought it, it's just not something I can wear.
Eisirt said that if I make a shawl for his mother from it, he will buy me a new one/reimburse me. My queue disagrees with this plan, but we'll see. Maybe a swap will come along...
Last item in the picture is a set of sock needles (2.5 mm, 15 cm long so they don't snag on your sweater sleeves), because you can never have too many sock needles.
After the fair we walked into the city centre to look for some lunch and we spent a good two hours chatting happily away. We had such a great time together, that this is one we definitely want to repeat! Maybe we'll even start a stitch'n'bitch with Kat, just so we have an excuse to get together soon.
I know it sounds mostly like a "look what I bought" post, but the high points of my day weren't the euros I spent or the yarn I acquired. It was just the little things -- catching eachother's eye when seeing something really pretty, ooh-ing over pettable skeins of Manos del Uruguay, and the girls negotiating who will take the carded green shiny wool home to spin with. I love spending time with such good friends, and I hope to soon repeat it!
After some trouble getting to park the car, I met up with
wannabe_bitch and HowlingMoon and we entered together. I had gifted Kat her ticket and she in turn bought HowlingMoon a ticket, so it was gifts all around! Last time we saw eachother was in November, so it was high time we got together. The fair was very busy, which is good and bad at the same time. We were jostled quite a bit, as people wanted to get to the shops and the paths were pretty narrow. As yarn crafts also attract an older audience, not everyone can walk on their own steam, and it wasn't very wheelchair- and scoot-mobile friendly. But luckily, the mob thinned a bit after one o'clock and it was easier to walk around and look at merchandise.
We looked at yarn, drooled over scarves made with scrumptious lace yarns, petted sock yarns and fondled the aran-weight yarns. But there were also felting classes, sheep shearings to card and spin yourself -- basically every step from sheep to sock was on sale.
I sneaked off while the girls were test-driving a beautiful and luxurious-looking two-pedal spinning wheel, and sat down at the long tables in the centre of the hall to socialise with other Ravelers.
Since I've got a queue that is longer than a Long Island Ice Tea, and enough yarn to keep me busy for the next few years, I went easy on my wallet. I couldn't say no to two sock yarns that were on sale: 2 for € 6,-. Granted, the wrapper of one fell off and it's got the wrong colourway number on it, but Ravelry supplied that information very easily. I also picked up a Unikat! Unikat is one of those famous yarns, just like the Wollmeise in the picture. It's so popular it's a little difficult to get your hands on, and since there are a thousand and one colourways it's hard to pick one that matches your complexion. Although I've been wanting to get my hands on one, I never took steps to actually order one on a webshop because I wasn't sure which colourway to choose.
And then suddenly I ran into this colourway, "Viola", in muted purple and blueish grey, which fits my colour scheme perfectly!
And that's just how it should go, isn't it? You want to buy it, but you just have to run into it at the right time.
The Wollmeise in the picture is one I picked up when a Raveler was stashbusting. She was selling it for 18 euro (3,50 cheaper than in the online shop) and I thought the colour would be right. I need greens with a blue undertone, so it's a "cool" colour. But this is definitely a warm, yellow green. So it will have to be traded in at some point, or sold on. I am absolutely thrilled to have bought it, it's just not something I can wear.
Eisirt said that if I make a shawl for his mother from it, he will buy me a new one/reimburse me. My queue disagrees with this plan, but we'll see. Maybe a swap will come along...
Last item in the picture is a set of sock needles (2.5 mm, 15 cm long so they don't snag on your sweater sleeves), because you can never have too many sock needles.
After the fair we walked into the city centre to look for some lunch and we spent a good two hours chatting happily away. We had such a great time together, that this is one we definitely want to repeat! Maybe we'll even start a stitch'n'bitch with Kat, just so we have an excuse to get together soon.
I know it sounds mostly like a "look what I bought" post, but the high points of my day weren't the euros I spent or the yarn I acquired. It was just the little things -- catching eachother's eye when seeing something really pretty, ooh-ing over pettable skeins of Manos del Uruguay, and the girls negotiating who will take the carded green shiny wool home to spin with. I love spending time with such good friends, and I hope to soon repeat it!
