I had to do a blog about our weekend away as we had the loveliest time. We are lucky that we both go, which means that we can both have a wander too, although I’ll admit it’s me who does most of the wandering! We drove down on the Friday and stopped over as it’s a bit of a trek from us and saw this rainbow as turned up!
After setting up Saturday, we went out for tea. Our boys were having lots of fun at Grandad’s, so it was nice to be able to relax and enjoy some child-free time! After breakfast, I dropped Rich off and it was back to the hotel room for me. It was the first lesson for the last year of my uni course, so I needed to attend, but luckily it was online. I was done by half twelve, so I set off to join Rich on the stall. He’d met lots of you lovely lot in the morning, and I was put to work as we were close to running out of our business cards with a little stitch marker on them! I enjoyed chatting to those of you who popped by and came to say Hi whilst I did them, and later in the afternoon I had a wander too. Over the two days, I think I managed to get to most stalls and I really enjoyed seeing them all, (more!) chatting and of course shopping! There was lots more I could have bought but I had to restrain myself!
Here are my beautiful purchases! If you go over to my Instagram, I have tagged the stalls there that I could. I’ve met the lovely owners of Attic Spin Dye at a few markets now and always enjoy catching up with them. I love their selection of yarn, and when I saw this one I knew it would be perfect for my mermaid-y blanket (and it came with a cute little stitch marker too!). I bought the yarn used to make the granny square from another lovely yarn seller at a previous market and chose the colours on my yarn tags to go with it. I’m not usually keen on making squares that need joining but I fancied it for a change and am slowly making them to form a big mermaid colour themed blanket… eventually! When I saw this yarn by Attic Spin Dye I knew it was perfect, with a few more lilac -y pinks in to pull all my colours together.
I have my yarn ball and picture which will look lovely in my sea-side themed crafty room, along with my sweet little whale. I couldn’t resist the notebook, it is just so cheerful, and the little bunny keyring in a waistcoat was another “just because” purchase. Whilst looking at the cute felt shapes I got chatting and someone mentioned teacher gifts and I knew they would be perfect. I usually do a hamper style gift for the staff room but like to give a little gift to my boys’ key teachers too. These will be perfect – they can decorate them with the lovely thread I got and put them with one of our made with love tags that they can write their names on the back of. I should have some left over too which I am looking forward to decorating myself! Back to practical things – a yarn winder! My last one broke and so I reinvested because I love how yarn looks when its wound into little cakes. It lives on the topper of my Ikea trolley…you can see where I put a cup on it!! And finally, you all know I love a bag and this structured Yarndale bag with a magnetic fastening was one I couldn’t resist.
Finally, back to our stall!! I spent most of Sunday sat crocheting, chatting and enjoying meeting lots of you and hearing your thoughts and ideas. We were overwhelmed by how many of you came to find us and say Hello which we loved. Last year we had only been going a few months and were very new to it all and were so nervous! This year, we felt more relaxed and really enjoyed it. I also felt like I knew not only those I had chatted to before attending last year, but even more people! I always worry as I really struggle to recognise faces especially in a crowd, but the crochet/yarn world is such a lovely community that I needn’t have, and it is one that we really feel privileged to be a part of. For any of you who have met us this weekend for the first time, there’s an about us blog with a bit more information about us both if you’re interested, but I’m Lydia, blogger, crocheter and the one behind our social media. My husband Richard is the one with years of experience in drawing offices, which equips him with the skills needed to design all my (and your!) ideas and cut/engrave them on his laser cutter. We both work day jobs and have two boys (currently aged 4 and 6) who keep us on our toes, so Rich usually cuts, packs and posts on a Monday evening and a Friday but will reply most evenings to other enquiries and custom orders.
Here we are wrapped up on the Sunday! Thank you so so much for all your support, we cannot express how much we appreciate it. I really hope all of you who were able to go had a fab time at Yarndale, and enjoy your purchases!
