These really are my top picks of the amazing craft products that I was lucky enough to see on show at
Alexandra Palace last Friday. I could not leave these purchases there to go home with anyone else, they were made for me, me, MEEEEE! I'll let you look though (but not touch!!!).
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| It was a really lovely day on Friday - we were uncomfortably warm after hiking up the hill to the show. |
Well I came with my Mum. We both decided to take out a very specific amount of cash to keep to a personal budget. Unsurprisingly, it didn't last. First foot through the door (literally), we dipped into the
Colinette stand. Likely rubbing our hands, gleefully.
I don't rightly recall.
At last years' show, we started at the very same stand and I spotted the yarn I wanted, an instant attraction. Shade name;
Adonis Blue.
I contained my excitement and announced that if the blue was still there waiting when we'd walked the whole show, I'd buy it. Take it as a sign. A dabble in the art of self control.
Having exhausted every inch of the show and with aching feet, we returned to the stand and I was gutted. Lost - my cool blue had clearly gone home with the WRONG person. Although Mum did find this lost yarn for me for Christmas, I learned a lesson from this experience. I realized that self control is not all it's cracked up to be (not if you're a knitter, anyhow). So this year, I started my spree with a cheeky purchase, a pair of skeins of Colinette Point 5 for a chunky snood.
Two skeins of Colinette Point 5 in colourway Mardi Gras. Dyelots don't match but hey, it'll make life more interesting.
Mum had treated herself to a rather large bag of Colinette scraps (on her debit card I might add - budget out the window, and early on!) we moseyed down the centre aisle and stumbled across a stretch of sparkling beads, at a stand called Ilona Biggins.
The staff at this stand really didn't want to sell me anything. It was very disappointing actually.
Everything I touched, they barked at me,'far too expensive for you'. Disheartened, I sheepishly asked for a string of beads for one of my trademark chokers that were less 'Pat Butcher' in size than those on display (not in those words, obviously). That was when they took great pleasure in informing me that 'just because they were smaller wouldn't make them cheaper'.
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| My string of freshwater pearls. Can't wait to learn how to turn them into a necklace! |
After a few more minutes' prickly awkwardness I eventually got it out of them - they didn't have the beads I wanted. Regretfully however, money did change hands as I'd feared they'd be the only place at Ally Pally selling freshwater pearls (they weren't).
I fell in love with a beautiful pearl necklace in Jersey a few months ago (selling for around £80) and refused to believe that I wouldn't be able to string my own (brave words I know, but I'm sure the Twitterverse will support me).
After Ilona, we hit the Coats fashion show - more about that another day.
Lots to talk about there.
They weren't the only beads I bought - as beads were my main agenda.
Every time I attend a craft show these days, I manage to squeeze in a casual stop at my favouritest bead designers,
The Spellbound Bead Co. This trip was no exception.
I'd dug a real hole in my purse - browsed their website constantly for 2 weeks and called ahead with a thoroughlly considered order for a great many bauble kits. On the day I made an instant beeline for them and didn't even need to browse. It's lazy, I know. But I got want I wanted.
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| Probably too many bauble kits for any one mortal. Note the smashed one at the front. D'oh! |
Well, almost. One of them smashed on the way home. The prettiest one, too. Hopefully Spellbound will take pity on me and send me another bauble. Fingers crossed!
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| Picture from spellboundbeads.co.uk |
The beading madness didn't stop there.
Oh no. Next stop was trusty
Bead Spider for the choker beads Ilona Biggins' staff had convinced me didn't exist (ahem, they do) and some goldstone beads.
Goldstone is cheesy once you know that it's just glittery glass - but the beads sure do look pretty, and I'm a magpie for sparkle. The ones that caused all the trouble were a string of Lapis Lazuli beads - a delightful naturally occuring royal blue stone peppered with veins of real silver. Gorgeous. Can't wait to string those.
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| All that glitters - The darker goldstone beads contain synthetic sparkle where the lighter natural Lapis Lazuli beads contain flecks of real silver. |
Couple of other knitting buys - I had to try the KnitPro Zings. Why 'have to'? THE COLOURS! Gorgeous.
These colour-coded chrome delights look to be my salvation from their snaggy cousin, the KnitPro Karbonz DPNs. I don't usually go for mustards but actually that golden shine should contrast nicely wth the dingy manly-coloured yarns I knit most often. Here's hoping.
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| These cost-effective colourful chrome needles are a bright and fun addition to any knitting project. |
The final bit of kit I bought, I had to hunt for. And there's a story to explain why.
A few years back,
Vicki Walker taught some workshops with the Woman's Weekly team, and made quite an impression on them.
Legend has it she was knitting socks (magic loop free) with teeny, tiny circular needles. And making it look very easy.
Tooting my own horn here, but I have taught sock-specialist workshops for over a decade now and swear blind that DPNs are
the way to be. Those teensy weensy flimsy 2-inch tips from Hiya Hiya are surely a complete and utter nightmare to work with. They appear distinctly anti-ergonomic.
In the office we've debated the subject a great many times so Woman's Weekly Technical Editor Tina asked me to hunt some down for her to settle it. once and for all. I'll keep you posted. God help me!
I didn't manage to get a pic of those fiddly needles, but instead - here's my haul.
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| The blue thing is a beading mat that cost 90p. No, you may not have a chocolate. Mine. |
I think that's all I got - I think. There is chocolate (you are obliged to buy some snackfood at craft events of this magnitude, it's the law!) and one of the Spellbound kits is most definitely NOT a bauble, but a pretty beaded choker in 'Scarab' oily blue-black hues. That'll be a lovely treat to make!
There is an awful lot to say about my experience of Ally Pally this year so please be aware this is a blog post simply unveiling the contents of my shopping bag. I'll write others about some of the other delights I had the pleasure of seeing while it's still fresh in my mind, in the hope that the invigoration I'm currently feeling can be shared with those that weren't able to be there.
Thanks again for reading, happy knitting everyone! Or urm... beading!
Bye! xx
