PREVIOUSLY, ON THE TWISTED YARN… the Stylecraft Blogstars began their twice-yearly meetup in West Yorkshire with a visit to the textiles department at Huddersfield University.
Afterwards, we headed to our hotel. Everyone else was probably thinking terribly sensible, grown-up thoughts, but my mind was full of SNOW! SNOW! SQUEEE!

Granted, it wasn’t much, but the following morning it snowed a little more, and the needle on my over-excitement dial spun so far out of control that centrifugal forces launched it into space. Look!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Most of us were there for dinner on the Friday night. After quite a few meetups we’ve reached the stage where these weekends feel like catching up with friends, with the added bonuses that, (i) it’s considered completely fine to knit at the dinner table, and (ii) nobody yawns if you talk about yarn/knitting/crochet/spinning (or running) for fifteen consecutive minutes. Oops, there goes my over-enthusiasm-meter again. There is SO much skill and creativity amongst the folk you see here:-

Shall I introduce you? Clockwise from front left, we have:-
Sarah of Annaboo’s House, Helen of Crystals Crochet (sneakily hiding), Lucy of Attic24, Lucia of Lucia’s Fig Tree, Juliet representing Stylecraft and of A Kingfisher Morning, Emma aka Emma Varnam, Kathryn of Crafternoon Treats (sneakily hiding), Helen of Josie Kitten, mystery completely-hidden person whom I assume to be Annabelle (sales director at Stylecraft), Sandra of Cherry Heart, and Heather of The Patchwork Heart.
(Blogstars not present due to other commitments or due to inconsiderately living the opposite side of the world are Julia of Hand Knitted Things, Catherine of Catherine’s Crochet Corner, Jane aka Jane Crowfoot, Anne-and-Michelle of Crochet Between Worlds, Zelna of Zooty Owl, Angela of Get Knotted Yarn Craft, and Polly of Every Trick On The Hook.)
The wine flowed and the food was blimmin’ scrumptious. Next morning, we were off (through the snow! Did I mention the snow?!) Our destination was Stylecraft’s mill at Slaithwaite. No snow down here:-
But there was plenty of yarn. If you’ve never seen around the Stylecraft mill, take a look here.
There was great excitement about the packages laid out on each chair. This was mine. Could it be… yarn?
Please forgive me for not showing you the contents quite yet, as these are new yarns that will be released over the next few months. There is one forthcoming yarn in particular that had us drooling to a degree that was most undignified. When I can show you, I will. (The yarn, I mean, not the drool.) You’re going to love it.

PHOTO CREDIT: SOPHIE CROMWELL.
As we’ve come to expect, sales director Annabelle gave a presentation about what lies ahead, both in colour/style trends, and specifically in relation to Stylecraft. There are agencies that will – for a frighteningly fat fee – tell you the colours, styles, and shapes that we will be liking in the future. 2018 is all about pastels (not my thing, I confess), but also bleached-out brights (which I definitely like). Clothes will feature a nod to the sixties (get me, fashion blogger), and interiors will be botanical (yay!) with clean lines. I’m not entirely sure what a clean line is, but I’m pretty certain that my ramshackle old house doesn’t contain any. It is fascinating, don’t you think, that someone, somewhere, must be the origin of all this stuff. Somebody sits frowning into their second coffee of the day, pondering for a good while, before exclaiming, “CAMELS! That’s it! Spring-summer 2023 will be ALL ABOUT CAMELS!”

After lunch, Juliet Bernard gave a workshop on making Dorset buttons.

They’re surprisingly quick and easy to make. Here’s the first stage of mine:-
…and here’s a finished one by Sandra (Cherry Heart):-

Far, far, too soon, it was time to say goodbye and hit the road. The first part of my route homewards took me back up into the hills, to THIS view:
I may have briefly parked my car and had a secret little dance around in the snow.
Thank you for coming along for the ride!
Phil x
No pics of snow angels!
The ground was a bit uneven for that, sadly.
So jealous that you saw snow. I am a native west yorkshire woman currently amazed at the amount of fluids that depart your body when it is 40°AGAIN here in Australia. It is so hard to knit when you are melting and the extra warmth from your yarn could kill you.
I’m a native born Aussie and I assure you I struggle when it is 40 (again)! Bring in winter, I say.
Yikes! If I could post you some snow, I would. Wishing you some slightly cooler temperatures.
OOH synchronicity. As you were there, I was writing a 2500 word essay on Jane Eyre. You were so in Brontë country…….. Love the Dorset buttons btw
Woah, spooky! I hope the essay is going well. Would really, really love to see you…
Who indeed decides what colors I’ll like this year? I imagine it’ll be the same colors I’ve liked all my life, I’m too old to change too much, but not old enough just yet for a red hat and purple dress 🙂
There’s nowt wrong with red hats and purple dresses! *hides said items behind back so that Captelaine doesn’t see them*
Anyway, you’re the last person who should be letting anyone else influence your colour choices, given that you spend your days doing the most incredible work with colour.
Your excitement over the snow is very entertaining. I used to feel the same, as a child living in the south of the US. I am now in my 60’s living in Michigan and don’t feel quite the same. I am only writing now about snow because over the past few days we’ve gotten about a foot of snow and it doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon. I’m not even sure I can get out of my house without having someone come over and shovel my doors free. If I could, I’d send it all to you.
Eek, I hope that my post doesn’t come across as insensitive. I do realize that snow can cause real problems and real dangers for people.
I hope that your power is on, you have plenty of food, and that you have no urgent need to leave the house.
(We never have significant quantities of snow here, hence the excitement.)
Stay warm.
Aww, lovely to see you all together and enjoying yourselves. I’ll look forward to the yarn reveals over the coming weeks/months 🙂
Thank you!
Right, I’d better get on with writing the posts, then!
Thank you for sharing your lovely weekend. I do like a dorset button, they make smashng brooches.