Edinburgh Yarn Festival
What a whirlwind of a weekend. I don't actually know how I am still upright after the insanity that was Edinburgh Yarn Festival. Our first foray into yarn festivals didn't disappoint. We spent the weekend teaching, chatting, meeting loads of amazing friends and customers and flying the flag for crochet.
In all truth, before this weekend I was pretty much ready to drop The Crochet Project. We were just never sure that there was a strong interest for the kind of crochet patterns we promote and we had some serious talks about what we were going to do. And then we stood at the stall for two days and were met with a flood of positivity and sales and encouragement. It was so incredible to see The Shawl Project fly off the shelves (we sold out!) and hear so many positive things about the work we do. I am a bit teary just thinking about it now!
The stall was so busy, there were times people couldn't pass in the aisles and many told us they had to circle a few times to get into the stall. My throat is sore from talking so much and I am certain an early bed time will be required today and the rest of the week. But, hearing about how so many of you have made our patterns and enjoy our work has added a new bounce to my steps.
It was also incredible to meet and talk to so many of the people I know and admire in the industry - Kate from A Playful Day, Helen from Curious Handmade, Katya Frankel, Karina Westerman, Dani from Lionness Arts, Renee from East London Knit, Joeli from Joeli's Kitchen and so many other as well as meeting the fantastic organisers Jo and Mica who I hope are still in bed as I type this.
Of course, what would be a yarn festival post without some yarn p*rn? I made a mad dash at the end of the festival to grab a selection of yarns for upcoming designs. It was hard to pick just a few, but in the end I went with some gorgeous alpaca sport from the Dublin Dye Company and some aran and 4ply from Rainbow Heirloom. I could have walked away with a lot more, but I was restrained and kept focussed on upcoming projects.
Anyway, off to start a new project in something squishy just to keep the high going and be reminded of the fantastic weekend that was with each stitch.
