Knit and Stitch show

It's that time of year again, when the Knitting and Stitch show arrives in London. I had a free day and I was looking forward to going, especially with  the hope of seeing people I follow on social media.

I took in the smaller rooms first, as the the large market place with lots of goodies can be quite exhausting and I wanted to be fresh to be able to enjoy people's inspirational work. The first person I came across was Louise, and her fabulous knitted taxidermy animal heads, great fun and bigger in real life.

I was absolutely delighted to see some works of Sophie Digard a French ladies work I have admired from afar for awhile and something that I never expected to see in person.

The pieces were as outstanding as I expected, as the intricacy and colour palette are unique. Such tiny exquisite stiches in a beautiful blend of colours and array of patterns.

I also spotted Wool and the Gang, Katie's Plaice and Janie Crow

I stopped for a refreshment before starting to tackle the boggling mix of stalls. One that really stood out was Spin City, selling her spindles and roving, but it was her personality and passion that shone through in her demonstrations. She must be repeating herself 100s of times but this doesn't dampen her energy. She made it look so easy and so much fun, a spindle is definitely going on my Christmas list!

Picture courtesy of spincityuk.blogspot.co.uk

Of course I had to pay a visit to the Stylecraft stand. Unsurprisingly it was bustling with eager customers, and the bubbly ladies were eager to help. The stand was a mass of colour not only full of their yarns but the blanket displays of Sue Pinner and Janie Crow. Sue was also there in person, another good reason to stop by.

Of course I couldn't leave empty handed, but at least had come with a vague idea that I needed more of a range of pinks. I chose from colour shades rather than sticking to one style of yarn.

I didn't find it too overwhelmingly busy this year and I was able to walk around and browse with ease, the hardest thing of course is resisting temptation! As you can see from the above picture, I may have picked up a few other balls from other stalls!! 

Whilst I was away on holiday Stylecraft hosted a Blog tour. For 10 days a different blogger would write a post about a piece they'd designed using the new Stylecraft limited edition colours, and each day there was a pack of the yarn to win. Typical, it was to happen whilst I was out of the country. Of course all the posts were there to still be read,(and most of the blogs I follow anyway) and the patterns available to enjoy, but I only had 3 days left to enter the competition.
I couldn't believe my luck, I won!! A whole 10 balls of squishy yarn, in a beautiful range of colours, via Hand Knitted Things. I know it sounds cheesy to say that I never win anything, but I really don't, so this was really exciting news for me, plus of course the prize was yarn, and things don't get much more exciting than that! I can't wait to have a play with the beautiful colours!