Unravel 2017

I can’t let February slip away without sharing one of the highlights of my month, a knitting show that left my heart soaring and my fingers itching with creative energy. My most knitterly of friends, Emma Anderson, and I drove around London to Farnham Maltings to attend Unravel 2017 as a joint celebration of our February birthdays and our shared passion for knitting. Oh my! It was pure magic from the moment we drove into town…

As knitters, we were well-welcomed; the charming venue oozed with character and good taste, and artistry and humour were apparent everywhere you looked:

Just beyond the entryway lined with beach huts, there was a delightful knitted aviary where most of the pieces were available in a silent auction with the proceeds going to charity – a reaffirming of my growing awareness of the good that can grow out of a dedicated knitting practice.

I even found something for Jeff, but my budget didn’t quite stretch to purchasing this lovely sequined lobster by Kate Jenkins – although it would have been worth every penny! I enjoyed her entire exhibition in the Long Kiln Gallery, which you can experience here.

There was a nicely curated schedule of classes and workshops and presentations, but we only attended one, the taping of an interview with Nancy Marchant, the Queen Mother of Brioche Knitting, for a Pom Pom Quarterly podcast (which you can download here).

As it was my birthday weekend, the great marketplace that held the greatest allure. The delight for me was that these were small independent artists/designers/dyers/entrepreneurs – no big name acrylic yarn producers to be found. I have recently decided that life is too short to allow myself to spend time with the squeaky yarns or boring construction techniques that typify the offerings of mass production. To be honest, I have always felt this way, but these wondrous little indies are fairly new to the British knitting scene, and this is the first time I have been to a show like this. (This was the Hill View Farm stall – Natasha offers her lovely hand-dyed wool in different skein sizes to fit our varying pattern demands. An amazing woman, she’s so new to this particular business scene that she was using hand written cards that her daughter had made. To learn about her retreats and the story that lead her to them, click here.)

I was so busy looking and touching that I didn’t manage to get many photos, but I might have found time to purchase a few mementos to keep me knitting until at least this time next year: And who doesn’t need a set of mitten blockers? And a leather ruler bracelet? And stitch markers… consider them essential knitter toys to accompany the scrumptious yarn!

Ten days on and I’m still flying high, still stroking my precious fibres!

4 thoughts on “Unravel 2017

    1. I am going to choose a date to visit Margate and put it on my calendar in INK! Sounds wonderful, so thanks for the tip-off.

  1. Such fun to see, oh to have been there, of course I would have wanted to start knitting again. I’m back to some embroidery and just special needlepoint project. (You will hear more)there is something, for me and I think you, that a well done “Craft ” feeds my soul. And that it continues in your area is so neat. In the whole Bay area and east to my area there are only about two or three needlepoint shops left! Oh the walks are fun! XO Nydia

Comments are closed.