One of the best things about attending knitting shows is the chance to be in the same room as so many of my favourite people. Working from home is absolutely brilliant, and exactly what our family needs, but it's also fantastic to get out of Frome and to sit and chat (and knit of course!). It refreshes and recharges my inspiration, and we get the opportunity to find out more about people's plans for the coming months, which is always fun!
A Year of Techniques
Left to right: Woolly Wormhead, Rachel Coopey, Sarah Hatton and me (Jen Arnall-Culliford)
Seven of our brilliant design team for A Year of Techniques were at Pomfest, and I didn't manage to corral everyone for a photo (so sorry Bristol, Emily and Ella!), but here are Woolly, Rachel, Sarah and I feeling slightly warm under the lights in the marketplace.
In other AYoT news, I signed off the proofs yesterday (hence this blog post being a little less timely than I would have liked!), so we're all set for the book to go to press now. Eeek! All very exciting. We are absolutely on schedule for copies to be shipping in September as planned.
Purchases
Clockwise starting at top left: My Antirrhinum socks in progress, sitting on my Canny Squirrel Puffin project bag (not purchased at the show). EasyKnits Dusted Dreams DK in Rio on Gris colourway. Cocoknits stitch markers in small and standard sizes, purchased from A Yarn Story. A copy of PomPom magazine for a friend. EasyKnits Gobstopper in the Killer Queen colourway for striped socks.
Who can resist the temptation of a few treats from a yarn show? The selection of vendors at Pomfest was excellent, and there weren't so many that it was overwhelming. I came home with two skeins of yarn from EasyKnits - a Gobstopper to knit into some striped Dave socks and a skein of Dusted Dreams DK to make a Keepsies Hat (a lovely simple design from Hunter Hammersen). I also bought a really adorable fox tape measure, but it seems to have evaded the photo somehow!
Catching up with friends
The chance to chatter and hear everyone's plans is truly one of the best bits of any show. I had the luxury of an extended conversation with Ysolda Teague at the start of the day, and I'm going to be publishing that shortly as a separate post - she has lots of exciting plans in hand!
There were lots of other friends around with new projects to share too...
Woolly Wormhead had her Elemental Hat collection on display at The Yarn Collective booth. These hats feature a brilliant combination of short-row shaping to create the sideways hat's shape, and also short-row colourwork. I am constantly amazed by the creativity of my peers, and Woolly's work in particular always surprises me by going in a different direction. I'm not ashamed to admit that when she showed me the photos of these hats I was a little bit overwhelmed (I may have cried a bit...!).
I spent some time trying on the samples from Bristol Ivy's upcoming book with PomPom Press (image above). I had the pleasure of working with Bristol on some of the patterns from this collection, and I can't tell you how excited I am to have the book itself in my hands later in the year! I know which one I'll be casting on first, but I'm also looking forward to reading the techniques sections too. Bristol's work makes me look at my knitting in different ways, and keeps me on my toes!
I also chatted with a number of designers and writers that up to now, I've only admired from afar, which was fun but also made me feel incredibly shy (which surprised me, as I'm generally pretty happy to talk to anyone!). I came home with a heap of new patterns to add to my Ravelry queue and a real sense of buzz about the future of knitting!
What's your favourite part of attending a knitting show? Is it the chance to buy yarn in person? To try on garments from your favourite designers? Or just having time to sit and knit with others who "get it"?