Tuesday 14 October 2008

Alexandra Palace and Urban Cross-Stitch

Since I didn't make it to iKnit Day, I decided I definitely had to go to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. I've been for the past two years with my mum, but she was away on holiday this time, so I decided to go with an old friend. However, in the end she couldn't make it, so I ended up going alone. And you know what? I had a really good time. It's silly, but if I hadn't thought my friend was coming I would never have gone alone, but once I got there, I really enjoyed myself.

I was pretty restrained on the yarn front. Having been before, you get to know which stands will be there and so less overwhelmed by it all. I bought some gorgeous alpaca/silk/cashmere laceweight yarn and some black alpaca blend to make a cowl for the bf (yes, another one). I was most excited that there was a Habu stand. I've heard so much about their yarns but never seen/felt them in person. And all I can say is wow! I wanted to buy all of it just to see all the different types of fabric I could create. I eventually decided on a dark blue/purple shade of their wool/stainless steel mix and some buttery yellow silk. I can't wait to knit up the wool/steel mix. I'm going to do either a scarf or a cowl. Something sculptural.

My last purchase was of the non-yarn variety. I bought a little urban cross-stitch kit. I haven't done cross-stitch since I was little, but I always enjoyed it. I just didn't want to crochet pictures of flowers and puppies and things. But this one is a little mini-kit of a pacman with a ghost and cherry. And the ghost glows in the dark! I just love it. I bought it from this company. They also do lots of kits of Banksy prints. My little one only took me a few hours so I'm thinking of getting a bigger one to do. I really enjoyed it! Even the bf thinks it's cool and that doesn't happen very often with my crafting.