Harrogate Knitting and Stitching

Margaret and Paul came to stay this weekend, mostly so Margaret and I could go to the knitting and stitching show in Harrogate. On Saturday we got up promptly and left for Harrogate just after 9. After a short wait to get in the car park we parked and headed to the International Centre, arriving just after the doors opened at 10. The show was fantastic, as always. I'll probably share our purchases in a later post, but I have to confess we spent a fair amount! (but not as much on our recent shopping trip in Solihul!!).

We decided to head to the back of the halls and work towards the front, in an attempt to avoid the crowds. Lots of stalls caught out eyes - for me there was the cross stitching and lace making, Margret is a knitter, and between us we've had a go at many of the other crafts! As always, I drooled over the wonderful quilting patterns and fabrics (especially at Monkey Buttons), but showed a great deal of restraint as I've not used the stuff I bought last year yet! The Spellbound beading stall caught our eyes - and our wallets - so there's a new craft on the horizon! We drooled over knitting patterns, wools (loved the Wensleydale sheep stall, complete with cushion made from unprocessed shaggy wool!), embroidery kits of all types, braidmaking, oh, and the workbenches and storage furniture were amazing - once we buy a house (mansion??) big enough for a large sewing room....

We saw some great displays too - these really caught my eyes:




It's a crocheted coral reef, which is constantly evolving, to highlight the plight of coral reefs and the creatures who live on them. (Apologies for the poor photos - I left my camera at home, so took these with my not-so-high-tech phone!!). We stopped off at the Lace Guild stall and had a chat with Phyllis (my Sheffield mum and lace teacher - Margaret hadn't met her before, which seemed odd!), then we met Sonia and Pam (from the stitch and bitch group) for lunch, where we showed off our purchases and discovered we were doing better than them for stall visiting - we'd managed 1.5 halls out of 4, they'd just completed 1!! I've still not had chance to ask Sonia what they bought in the afternoon as we didn't see them again all day. We dashed back, and managed another 1.5 halls before needing another break. We stopped for coffee in the Royal Hall:


We were amazed that we might have missed such a stunning theatre the previous year - until we saw the display saying it had only reopened in April, after years of refurbishment. Well that expains it! We watched a fun Millinery fashion show while we drank our coffee - amazed at the skill of the students studying at local colleges - then hit the stalls again for one final fling. We only just managed to get through all 4 halls, then had a final mad dash back to a few places for last minute puchases and leaflet collecting before heading home for a well deserved break, and takeaway curry for tea!

More later...