It’s much easier to write blog posts when things are going wrong, or when nothing much has happened. Comic anecdotes come more readily when you’ve mistakenly put your husband out for collection with the recycling, or when you’ve spent an insomniac half-night pondering a mysterious chicken-shaped splodge on the bedroom ceiling.
Unfortunately,* things have gone catastrophically well this weekend… which was immensely fun to experience, but isn’t very funny to describe. I have lovely yarn/knitting/crochet-related things to show and tell you about, but it’s not going to be very funny. Aware of this problem and feeling desperate, I resorted to going for an extra-long run today, because my biggest idiocy generally happens knee-deep in mud and four miles from home, but even that went uncharacteristically well. I give up!
Anyway, to the point.
On Friday, I zoomed up to West Yorkshire at the wheel of the Blunderbus (replacement for the Stinkwagon) to join in with the second meet-up of the Stylecraft Blogstars at and around the Stylecraft mill in Slaithwaite.
Shall we do the introductions first? It’s a cliché to say so (and I write that as someone who likes to take clichés out the back and beat them mercilessly) but these folk really don’t need a whole load of introduction. Let’s introduce them anyway.
From the left: Jane Crowfoot, me, Sarah at Annaboo’s House, Heather at The Patchwork Heart, Julia at Hand Knitted Things, Lucy at Attic24, Helen at The Woolly Adventures Of A Knitting Kitty, Emma Varnam, Sandra at Cherry Heart, Lucia at Lucia’s Fig Tree, and Kathryn at Crafternoon Treats. (Sadly, Sue Pinner wasn’t there this time.)
And joining us via Skype at heaven-knows-what time of the night or day, was Angela at Get Knotted Yarn Craft (pictured on the laptop above), and Zelna at Zooty Owl. Phew, what a line-up!
So we met, and we shared ideas, news, over-enthusiasm, wine, a hotel, gossip, yarn, workshops, food, and a trip out to the Knitting And Crochet Guild historical archive. (More on the Knitting And Crochet Guild in a separate post, because it was fascinating.)
This was a gathering where nobody batted an eyelid if you pulled out your knitting during dinner or crocheted throughout a meeting, or if you talked about yarn for an hour without even pausing for breath, or if you were observed arriving at the hotel with luggage comprising only one toothbrush and 85 knits/hooks-in-progress. Obviously, we knitted/hooked throughout pre-dinner drinks:-
Someone kindly took a photo before the yarn came out at dinner:-
These are my kinda people, and they’re probably yours, too.
It would be fair to say that we were treated rather well.
We began with an update on what’s coming soon from Stylecraft. I’m sorry, but this really is a if-I-tell-you,-I’ll-have-to-kill-you situation, until the new batches of yarns are officially released. More news to come very, very, soon.
Saturday was a day filled with marvellous things at the mill, including a workshop on Tunisian crochet:-
It’s quite fun, once you get the hang of the strange knit-cum-crochet rhythm:-
At least they gave me exactly the right mug for my green tea:-
We admired each other’s work. Look at ThePatchworkHeart’s blankets!
And Lucia’s Fig Tree’s blanket!
(Maybe I should have brought my chair.)
It was all wonderful, inspiring, invigorating, and exciting, and I’m probably not alone in having come away with a whole hairy heap of ideas.
My only gripe was that it was all over far, far too soon.
Still, there was still a little time before sunset to run around the town getting shots of the magnificent viaduct that cuts across the town:-
And see?
And see?
And as the sun threatened with some sincerity (I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME!) to sink below the horizon, I grabbed a last few images of the countryside around Slaithwaite:-
All in all, a pretty good weekend.
*OK, I’m not really ungrateful.
OMG, so much talent in one room. I would have loved to have been there to meet you all. I really must plan a trip to Yorkshire some time.
Yup, you absolutely must! But expect rain. It is rather beautiful up there, though.
A room exploding of creative women, wow. Good to see you there x
Thank you. Creativity multiplies when it’s all together. 🙂
What a FABULOUS weekend you had…. thanks for sharing all the wonderful knitting news… back to my knitting now. I really should learn to crochet.
And thank you for your comment. (If you do decide to learn to crochet, enjoy. 🙂 )
Love the black and white photos – they gorgeous! It truly sounds like quite a tolerable weekend.
Thank you!
And yes, it was definitely on the acceptable side of tolerable. I’ve had worse weekends…
Phil, what terrific fun. It’s wonderful spending time with folks that share your passions, and in such a beautiful place, too. I loved your photos and found myself longing for another trip to the UK.
Thank you. And I so agree about spending precious time with people who completely understand and share your passion. (That’s one of the good things about blogging.)
PS: If you do come to the UK, may I meet you please?
Yes! I would love to meet you and hope to make it to the UK in a few years when both boys are in college and travel will be a bit easier. I visited once in 1989 and again, sadly in 2008 for my Aunt Alys’ funeral. She lived in London, Middlesex. My dad was from Oldham.
You make me wish to order some Style Craft yarn… Everything looks so emotionally rich….
Yeah, go for it!
Wowsa, sounds like a lovely weekend! And don’t worry about not being funny, this was plenty fun to read 🙂
Thank you (as always). You’re very kind.
What a fabulous read. I’m smiling from ear to ear. Thanks for including my mugshot. It was a fabulous weekend. One day I plan to be physically at one! I love reading all your posts. xx
I’m so glad that technology allowed you to be there, but if it’s at all possible, please please please come in person one day. You’d love it. I really enjoyed ‘meeting’ you. 🙂
What an excellent line up! Looks and sounds to have been a wonderful weekend.
It was, thank you. 🙂
Sounds as if you had a great time.
Yup. 🙂
I felt happy reading all of it. And bit jealous of not BEING there. And I marveled at your ability to tickle my funnybone even if there were no mis-haps or -fortunes. needing mishaps to write funny is very very funny and I love you
Thank you. I’m fairly sure that something will go majorly wrong very soon, at which point I shall write about it here.
You lucky lucky LUCKY Lady. Serious yarn envy from me. Thank you for sharing your wonderful weekend.
And thank YOU for your comment.
It looks like you had a blast Ms T. I will be expecting to see you have taken your helicopter license sometime soon. I am sure the twinage would LOVE that!
Yeeks – the very idea of even being a passenger in a helicopter scares me.
You had best hope that the twinage don’t decide to do double duty as pilots…
Looks like everyone had plenty of fun – but I want to know what that rainbow yarn is tucked in the bottom corner of the Stylecraft bag! You’re such a tease. I will keep watching this space!
Eek, I really will show it off as soon as I’m allowed to do so. (It’s gorgeous.)
Looks amazing!! Very jealous of such a creative weekend! And immensely jealous of that lovely bag of goodies!
It was lots of fun, I admit.
Great read! It is so good that I won’t even attempt to write my entry , I just link yours!!
Lucia xx
No, you must write! You’ll have a far wiser perspective. By the way, it was thoroughly lovely up meet you and I’m in awe of your colour wisdom.
Oooh, it looks like you all had so much fun! I’m totally jealous. I do need to get over to the mill and have a gander.
Brilliant post Phil and you got some great shots too.
S x
Wish we could do it all again this weekend!
It looks like it was awful but hey someone’s got to do it! Not even slightly jealous MUCH!
Oh wow, looks like an amazing weekend. I’ve been on quite a few knitting retreats but none arranged just for bloggers.
Looks like a great weekend!