5 days in Harrogate...and a whole lotta knitting!

So,

If you've been here recently, you will know that I took my knits to The Knittting and Stitching show in Harrogate last week. The show opened on Thursday, but with 3 walls, a whopping 4 square metres and many crowds to wow...I needed some time to set it all up so we went over on Wednesday. The day was spent measuring, deliberating, screwing cup hooks into walls and eating...and this was the result...

I treated my assisstant to some tasty thai food then we went our separate ways. I checked in to my new home for the next 4 nights, a lovely bed n breakfast 5 minutes walk from the International centre (where the knitting and stitiching show was held).

Thursday morning was...eventful. The set up on Wednesday was so successful and I didnt forget anything, it was going so well, then...the shower was broken, hmmm maybe its me, i'm probably pressing the wrong thing, 20 minutes of switching it on and off and still cold water! Got to shower in nextdoor's room. La la la, all clean, ready to get dressed and put my....oh no, where's my make-up?!? In Chesterfield. I then managed to order a breakfast with bacon in it (no good for this vegetarian) but managed to tell the lady in time so I didnt get pig on my plate!

The next two days were a blur of giant breakfasts featuring egg and home made yogurt, young and old people oooh-ing and aaahhh-ing at my knits (and a good deal of getting told I'm clever by old ladies, he hee) ,seeing people I know from a variety of past knit related events, wandering around harrogate, bit of Gok Wan, explaining to people why my company is called 'Knit and Destroy' and sleeping.
The weekend saw the arrival of my new assistants/sales people, in the form of my Mum and sister. They both did a great job of looking after my stand for me, such a good job in fact 2 ladies asked if they could take my Mum home with them!

This meant that I could go and look round at the rest of the show and see other crafty things. The highlights were the Knitted Textile Student awards, as always this showed what the most innovative students are doing with knit at the moment, the 3D cross stitch stall with little houses and boxes all made of cross stitch and the knitted christmas display.

As you all know, it has been snowing here recently, and Harrogate was no exception. The show closed early on Sunday so that people could get packed up and 'beat the weather' but it wasnt quite early enough. By the time we got out the roads were covered with snow and traffic, we only just got up the hill from the car park with 2 helpful local men pushing and my Mum revving like she's never revved before! But we weren't getting any further, so we rang the B&B I had been staying in and booked an extra night! This meant that we could go to Betty's as planned, hooray...we trudged through the snow and sat by the open fire with hot carrot soup followed by cakes (caramel slice, chocolate torte and some christmas concoction) and felt like we had gone back in time!

All in all I had a great time at The Knitting and Stitching show, it was really good to see hardcore knitters who have been making stuff for years impressed by my work! The 3D knits went down a treat, especially with the teens, but the firm favourite was the friendly foxxx fur scarf, i think there will be a few ladies getting their needles out and knitting themselves (or their grandkids) a fox scarf this winter!

That's all, go on about all the lovely people I met and detailed every awesome thing I'd seen but I do have knitting to do!

More soon, Kandy x