Unwind Brighton stash

Yesterday a friend and I paid a visit to Unwind, a yarn event in Brighton. I showed great self-control and only bought 2 skeins of yarn and 3 pairs of socks (which were for Richard).

The first yarn I bought was a John Arbon Textiles Hayward DK in blackberry marl. I thought I could crochet a hat out of it, and the marl idea intrigued me.

The other was a ball of Blacker Elegance. I’d heard of Blacker Yarns via the craftsy Know your wool tutorial and had looked at their website but wasn’t sure what to get. It was brilliant to be able to talk to Sue Blacker and get some advice and suggestions (and to be introduced to her book which I’m adding to my gift list). My intention is just to use this as a sample to get an idea of how it would weave up with a view to ordering some other yarns at a later stage when I have a project in mind.

There were a lot of wonderful yarns around. Lots of squishing and stroking happened. My mistake was that I hadn’t given any thoughts to projects I might like to do. So I didn’t want to spend such a lot of money on gorgeous skeins of yarn that I wouldn’t be able to make the most of. It seemed wasteful both in terms of money and of yarn. So, I limited myself to yarn for a hat. I enjoy crocheting hats although this is becoming a bit of a problem as I think I almost have a hat for all occasions now.

One of the things I liked most about this show was that a lot of the stalls had made up sample squares or garments from the yarns they were selling. Which meant that not only could we squish the yarn in skeins, we could also see and feel what a finished object would look like. I should have made notes, or taken more photographs. I’m half tempted to go again today.

All in all a good visit to a good show. And if Unwind returns next year, I’ll be there again, maybe with a few more plans.

Gift from Mitul

Whilst talking about yarns, I should also mention that a friend bought me a couple of balls of gorgeous soft yarn. She’d been to the Wool shop in Bath and brought me a gift of some Artesano Alpaca Silk 4 ply and some Cumulus. The Cumulus is so soft that it may just become something I stroke when I’m feeling stressed rather than something I make something out of. A great gift that I look forward to finding suitable projects for.