Knit Nation 2011

Last Saturday I went up to Knit Nation in London with a friend from my knitting group. I had so much fun!

I am so sad that they're not planning a Knit Nation next year (due to the Olympics), because I had so much fun this time around. I met so many cool people, including several I've conversed with only online before! Some of the people I met (though not everyone, because I got to meet so many) were Asti from Juno Fibre Arts, Stephanie aka TinyOwlKnits, Ysolda (who was wearing some rocking pale blue nail polish), and Debbie from Skein Queen.

So what did I get?

At the Loop stand I grabbed a humongous skein of Wollmeise Lace, in a nice deep blue called Dora. One 300g skein is enough for a whole cardigan, which is what I'm planning for it.

I got a skein of Sirius Lace from the Juno Fibre Arts booth, in the color Dreams Come True, which is a lovely pale blue. Unfortunately I haven't been able to photograph it well enough, but the yarn has silver streaks of sparkle in it as well. It reminds me of the early morning just as the stars are starting to fade, it's really beautiful.


At Ysolda's big booth by the canteen, she was running a Lucky Dip - at worst, you could get free pattern coupons, and at best there were some smashing prizes. Since there are several Ysolda patterns in my queue already, I went for it - and got lucky! I won a project bag (an adorable design with a horned sheep wearing a Damson shawl) and a copy of Whimsical Little Knits 2.

I also got:
- A giant bag of Gotland fleece from Well Manor Farm (my first time working with raw sheep fleece - should be interesting, but I am a little nervous).
- A needle envelope and bag from The Bothered Owl, both were great deals and I love them.
- And not pictured, because I just couldn’t help myself grabbing some before it ran out, 200g of heavenly baby alpaca from the barrels of top at John Arbon Textiles. This is, by far, the softest alpaca I have felt. It measures at 23 micron and below, but felt softer (to me) than the <21 micron merino at the same booth. It's like touching clouds.

So I had, basically, like the best time ever. It was so nice meeting people and being surrounded by knitters!

~Joyuna