Yarndale

It's almost a bit late in the day to be talking about Yarndale, as it was back at the end of September. But I had such a lovely weekend that I'm going to talk about it anyway :)

Yarndale was a two-day festival of knitting, crochet, yarn and creativity held in Skipton. Two friends and I travelled up on the Friday afternoon and, after finding our hotel near the Yarndale venue, we wandered into Skipton to enjoy the small market town in the wonderful late summer sunshine. 

As we walked though the park, we came across some fab yarnbombing. It was obvious that a lot of work had gone into creating these pieces and they were really lovely to see. 

We walked along the canal into Skipton and soon came across the irresistible scent of fresh fish and chips. It was so irresistible that we had to go and treat ourselves for lunch. We went to Bizzie Lizzie's restaurant and had a very nice meal of fish, chips and tartar sauce :) 

Skipton is a lovely little town, with a nice range of shops. We came across a lovely little charity shop full of lots of creative things, like gorgeous fabrics and buttons, and knitting and crochet things. I also found a gorgeous dress for just £7 which I *had* to buy. I'm wearing it now in fact, with my trusty leggings and cardigan combo! 

As the afternoon went on, we walked back to our hotel for the evening. We'd booked into the local Travelodge as it was extremely close to Skipton Auction Mart, the Yarndale venue. In all honesty, the Skipton Travelodge is tired and could do with a good refurbishing. But it was cheap enough for the three of us, and adequate for our needs. If Yarndale is held again next year I think we shall be looking at different accommodation, but it was fine for what it was. We had taken a stash of food for the evening and had a bit of a pyjama/crochet party in our room. 

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and went in search of breakfast before making our way to the auction mart. As we got inside the venue, the first thing you noticed was the bunting! Strings and strings of gorgeous crochet bunting! 

The bunting triangles had been sent from over 30 countries around the world, following a request from Lucy, one of the Yarndale organisers and writer of the fabulous 'attic24' blog. They received over 6,000 triangles (Lucy's Yarndale bunting story can be found here... http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2013/10/yarndale-2013-the-yarndale-bunting.html )Anyway, it looked amazing.  

We first made our way to the stall of the lovely Lisa, who's business, For The Love of Yarn, sells gorgeous fimo-handled crochet hooks, stitch markers and beautiful hand-dyed yarns. My friends, Lisa and I are on a couple of Facebook crochet groups together so it was lovely to meet her in person. 

After wandering around about half of the stalls, we made our way to the 'Knit and Natter lounge', hosted by Attic24's Lucy. This was a cosy area in the centre of the building, with plenty of space and chairs for people to sit and relax and do a bit of knitting or crochet too. Lucy had decorated the area with her crochet items. Any follower of her blog would recognise some of the blanket and cushions she had brought along, especially the blooming flower cushion. And the yarnbombed lamp was amazing! 

We sat and crocheted for a while, then after some lunch explored the rest of the stalls. All too soon it was time to leave Skipton and make the two hour journey back down south. 

We all had a fantastic time, and I'm really hoping the Yarndale team decide to repeat the event next year. It seemed to be a huge success and I know I'd love to go again. 

Lazy Sundays

Today has been a lazy Sunday. 

Mr H got up at 6am when Lady A woke and let me have a lie in.  I got up at a more leisurely 9am and had most of my peanut butter on toast stolen by a very cheeky Lady A. We went food shopping.  Came home for lunch and Lady A went for a nap (two hours and she's still sleeping!).  Mr H has been busy in the kitchen making a delicious smelling tomato, chickpea and chorizo soup for our lunches this week. And I've been curled up on the sofa, devouring a chocolate orange, and making progress on my giant granny stripe blanket.

I love days like this :)

Hope you're all having fab Sundays.

Getting Started

So. First blog. I guess I'd better introduce myself. I'm Annabella, 32, wife to Mr H, mother to Lady A, crocheter of unfinished projects, cat owner/slave. Oh, and lover of cream cakes. I am writing this with a fresh cream scone waiting expectantly beside me. I do love a good cream cake. And sometimes even a bad one. But then there's not often such a thing as a bad cream cake.

Sadly I can't claim the above as my own, mine was just a standard shop-bought scone. But it was good enough. Looking at pictures like this always gives me the urge to bake. I think I need to make some scones in the not too distant future... I can just imagine, freshly warm from the oven, split and layered in proper butter... Mmmmmmmmmm :)

Anyway, I digress. I live in the East Midlands, in a standard 2.5 bed 1950s semi. It doesn't really lend itself to the shabby chic style I'd love to embrace so my home is currently a modge podge of random inherited bits of furniture and Lady A's ever-increasing stash of toys and stuffed animals. Oh the clutter! I'm such a hoarder. Something I hope to document over the months with this blog is the gradual declutteration of this house. We are trying to save up for a deposit to buy our first home and when that finally happens, I'd love to be able to only have to move about half of the contents of this house. So it is a work in progress. I managed to sort the Room of Doom when I was expecting Lady A, which was the box room and we wanted it to be her bedroom. We moved here in November 2009 and for the first two years it was a forgotten room, full of still-packed boxes, old paperwork, and random junk. The door stayed permanently shut and it was definitely a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. Being pregnant gave me the kick we needed to get the room sorted, I managed to chuck out a load of things I hadn't looked at for two years and it really felt good! But that was November 2011 and not much else has been discarded since then. Plus we've obviously acquired a nearly two year old, and all the stuff that comes with one! Becoming a mother has forced me to become a tidier, more organised person. Well, to an extent. I am still not particularly tidy or organised but I have more good days than bad. Like I said, it's a work in progress. Both the house and myself!

On to my hobbies. I only really have one, my crochet. I've been crocheting just over a year now and I love it. I just wish I was faster as there are too many things I want to make and not enough hours in the day. Not if I want to sleep anyway. I shall of course be sharing some pictures of my projects along the way.

I'm loving my giant granny stripe blanket. I've got a long way to go, I started this months ago but it was neglected for weeks as I worked on some gift projects, but now that the nights are drawing in, I really need to crack on. I've a few Christmas gifts planned, plus I've just started a spiral cardigan for Lady A but hopefully some time will be devoted to this gorgeous blanket as well, and I might even finish it before next summer...

So that's a little about me. I've got some other things in my mind I want to commit to blogdom, but I'll save that for another time... :) x