We went to Yarndale! Actually we nearly didn’t! Having arrived at the entrance around 1pm we were waved away by police blocking the road! I was horrified and stuttered – ‘but we’ve come to yarndale…’ – this only evoked a shrug and the words ‘it’s full’ !!!! We had driven for 2 hours, been stuck in traffic jams and really wanted a coffee by now, and as I continued to stare at the policewoman in a daze of disbelief, she added we should ‘try again’ in half an hour or park in the town.
Well not being from around there we weren’t quite sure which way to go! OH drove off down a road with me nearly in tears – how could it be full? It was advertised as parking for 1000 cars so I hadn’t thought there would be any problem. But alas no woolly welcome waited for us and so off we went, parked in a layby, looked at the map and decided to head back towards Skipton. The sat nav lady took us past the entrance again and now there was no block! It was only 20 mins later but we were allowed in! There was no queue inside and we found somewhere to park fairly easily so I am still mystified as to why we were kept out beforehand!
So all ended well – we had a half hour wait for the café but the food was good and plenty of room to sit down and eat. Feeling much better I set off to explore the woolly wonders ahead while OH retreated to the car to ‘read’ (sleep), leaving me in peace to wander, sniffing the woolly aroma and stroking the woolly goodies everywhere!
The place was heaving with serious Yarn addicts and in some cases their bored OHs but I managed to see all I wanted to see and chat to some stallholders as well! I bought quite a bit of woolly rovings for my felting, some ‘not quite fat quarters’ for my quilting, which at £1.95 were very good value, and a big cone of Hooplayarn from The Chunky Hooker! I am now hooked on hooking with Hooplayarn! It’s really easy and very gratifying as it grows very fast. Here is my half finished first attempt at a crochet bowl! I chose the red so that I could make some xmas items for my stall at the 02! Surprisingly (to me) they said the most popular colour was cerise pink!
It would have been lovely to have met up with craft bloggers at the event but I didn’t know anyone else who was going and didn’t have time to linger in the knit and natter area. Maybe next time..? Now though I am going to meet up with some lovely bloggers in the online world of Handmade Harbour! See you there?
I didn’t manage to get there as too many other commitments this weekend 🙁
but I’ve heard from lots of others who went how fabulous (and how busy) it was
I am sorry it was such a stressful start to Yarndale, but really glad you made it in the end, because it sounds as though you had a great time. Hope you have a good week.
I’ve not heard of Yarndale before but is sounds amazing! It must have been so tempting to over spend, i can imagine how exciting it must have been to be surrounded by all that lovely wool! 🙂
So jealous!! I would love to have visited Yarndale but living in Devon it’s rather a long way to go. Maybe I shall have to plan for next year 🙂 Glad you enjoyed yourself. I quite like that Hoopla Yarn (or the Hobbycraft equivalent!) although it can be quite heavy if crocheting a bag, but it works up beautifully 🙂
Your bowl is coming along nicely – what a beautiful colour. I went to craft event with my Mum and Dad last year (Great British Craft Fair or something like that) and it became so busy they had to shut the doors. They were totally unprepared for the popularity of the event. We’re all so keen to get out and look at new crafty goodies – crafters are single handedly propping up the economy I think!
It sounds like you went to yarn heaven and came back after a fantastic day. Oh how I wish I was there. Thanks for sharing with us.
Oh Yarndale, lucky you! Love the colour of the bowl.
Oo, never heard of Yarndale before – sounds fun