Time flies when you're having fun! ( part 1)

Well, after the flurry of excitement that was Edinburgh Yarn Fest, along came spring and....it's almost over already! We've been so busy here at Midwinter - we're doing many more shows than last year and have already attended another two since, with a third one just around the corner!

First up was Wonderwool - a show very close to my heart. Situated in the Brecon Beacons just over an hour from Caerphilly, it is our "home" show: one of the very first I ever attended as a customer and, of course, the one that started us off trading last year. Yes, Midwinter Yarns is already a year old!

We've grown a little, of course, carrying a wider range and more colours, and I was so flattered when, this year, we had a whole rush of customers come to us first thing in the morning, telling us that we were on their list of stalls to visit. Compared to last year when we literally were complete unknowns, that meant an awful lot.
Some shopping, as always, did occur. This is me, pretending I haven't just spent a three figure sum on a ball winder from The Threshing Barn ...

but what a ball winder it is...

Solid wood, no skipping cogs, so smooth to use, and it looks so pretty with the industrial red accents!

There was a little yarn, too:

My mother's haul: space dyed blanket pieces for embroidery, the obligatory threads from Oliver Twists, a hank of delicious something from Knitwitches, a gradient ball in Silk and Camel and Angel tears (or something) from Natali Stewart and some chunky art yarn that I hope to make her a hat with...I just love the colour!

My restrained lot looked like this:

Left to right: rainbow bright pure camel yarn for some very fine fingerless mitts, aran weight yarn from Little Owl Crafts from their own sheep reared on Dartmoor, to be combined with the lovely neutral from Five Moons to make a New Caesar Shawl . I spotted this pattern on a customer and it's just so unusual and apparently deceptively simple: it looks like complex colour work but apparently this is all made up of slipped stitches, so now tangling and no carrying yarn! I haven't had a chance to cast it on yet, but I am really really looking forward to it. 

picture by Susan Ashcroft

And whilst I agonised and counted the pennies over the ball winder, there was one thing I dropped everything to go and buy, including possibly a couple of customers: this little sheep brooch from Coastal Colours .

I spotted it on a visitor and just had to have it!

At the end of the weekend, we were exhausted but so thrilled to have come back to where we started, caught up with some of our incredible supporters that have rooted for us from that very first day and met lots of new fans and introduced them to our yarns. There are still many shows to come this year, but I'm already looking forward to next year...when I will hopefully manage to eat something more than just birthday cake during the day...