Iknit day 08

I had a good day at the Iknit day on Saturday, although my shoulders still ache from my shopping! The new venue, the Royal Horticultural Halls, was tricky to find, but much more spacious and comfortable.

I had good intentions of not adding to the stash, but was soon tempted. It's so nice to be able to feel yarns in person, rather than squinting at photos on the internet, so I ended up indulging. I got a copy of the new Debbie Bliss magazine. I'm not sure how many of the designs are new, as I definitely recognise some from earlier publications, but it was a nice collection.

I visited Socktopus to get a book I'd had my eye on, but they'd only brought yarn, so of course I ended up with both sock and laceweight.

I was impressed with the really fine work at this stand:



The Dutch knitters' stand was great, with lovely twined mittens and brioche stitch accessories, but I got distracted by the cake and forgot to take a photo...

George, the British wool sheep:



The knitted interior display from the Gingerbread House project for Great Ormond Street Hospital was impressive.



I didn't realise the fire extinguisher was knitted to start with, it was so realistic.







I've signed up for the latest big project - knitting an underwater tunnel.



I couldn't resist the Big Knitting concept





Lots of people had a go, including me. After a lunch break to ponder whether I really needed to buy 1 inch diameter needles and 2kg of yarn, I decided I really did, and bought the supplies to make a small rug. Ingrid was very charming and helpful, and full of infectious enthusiasm.

UK stitch n bitch day

Today was the terrific 1st UK StitchI Knit London day in Bloomsbury. Gerard and Craig from iknit organised the whole thing, and it was a great success. It had the excitement of Ally Pally, but a much better atmosphere. Everyone was a committed knitter, there was plenty of seating, music, a bar, speciality vendors, workshops and lots to see and do.

The centrepiece was the launch of Debbie Stoller's new book for men. We were very privileged, as apparently it's not even available in the US yet. There was a catwalk show from the book:

Debbie did a workshop on double knitting.

Some people knitted hamsters.

Or pompoms for peace.

More to come.