The theme for my Yarndale this year was...

It's funny how you can have waves of shopping, isn't it? There was a year when everything I got was black... or red... or had squares or circles on it. I took Sarah off to Yarndale again this year, so I suppose it shouldn't have been too surprising when the shopping ended up having a common theme to it.

But first... Yarndale.

Sarah and I were both shattered after a week in school/work (and following on from a weekend away last week) so we cancelled the planned weekend away. We were due to Yarndale (that's a verb, it means spending time browsing yarn and stroking a lot of alpaca) yesterday, but had a pootling day at home instead. My living room is clean and smells nice again now. That only lasts until tomorrow, when the guineas will do their worst.

So we decided that today was the day. We were up and out at 10.30, and at Skipton for 12.30. Last year we went on the Saturday and it was packed, like standing room only packed. The fact that we drove straight into the Skipton building society and got parked really close to the bus should have told me that today was different.

Please don't go to Yarndale on  the Sunday ever, ever, ever. It's quieter, has a nicer feel and demands less elbows and shoving to get to where you want. Also, the roads are clearer and we can get there and back within the three hours and a half it takes to watch Muppets' Christmas Carol and The Holiday. We borrowed Peter's car and my phone connected to his car via Bluetooth so I could listen to the films as we travelled. I have to say, the Muppets' Christmas Carol works in the audio version as well, which might be a sign of watching it too much.

I have had a lovely time, I have hugged The Lucy of Attic 24 fame, hugged Christine of Winwick Mum (who only actually lives 10 miles away from me!)

and seen Janie Crowfoot who RECOGNISED ME!!! I have been recognised by a crochet Goddess, people; I am nearly famous! Woohoo!

And I have spent all my money (again) on blue wool and owls. I had Sarah with me, so the owls were a given and most of the purchases were for her anyway, so the blue wool made sense as well. I apologise for the quality of some of the photos but I'm keen to get them on the interweb.

So, top row from the top left we have;
L: Blue wool 80% superfine merino and 20% alpaca Plump DK in Bonbon from Mrs Moon. This is so soft and destined to be a pair of fingerless owl mittens for Sarah.
M:  Handmade buttons from Injabulo. They stock handmade baskets and ceramic buttons, and we (The Sarah and I) couldn't resist these owl buttons. We don't even know what we're going to do with them.
R: A random Yarndale shot. You can see from this that it was much quieter today, because you can see the stalls.
Middle row L to R
L: The cards and business cards we collected.
M: Drops Nepal from a random yarn stall... that sounds terrible; we saw, we bought and we never looked to see who we were buying from, so this link is to Wool Warehouse!
R: Stitch Markers from Watercolours and Lace. These are actually destined to become earrings, since Sarah and I both have pierced ears and a need for more earrings.
Bottom row L to R
L: Lucy and me. She smiled all day long. Her feet must have been killing her, and all she did was smile. It was lovely to see. She well deserves a rest for a week and a lot of praise for a good event.
M: More stitch markers (again destined to be earrings)
R; 70% wool, 20% silk, 10% cashmere yarn from Triskellion Yarns in Wales. This colourways is called Cove, but I can't see it on their website. I want to make a scarf for me, but I only got one skein and I hope I can find a simple, effective and fast pattern that hooks up fast.

We parked for £2.50 for the day, which goes to charity via Rotary which is excellent value and good to feel that the cash goes to a good cause. With £3 meal deals from Morrisons, we had a really good, cheap day with all the spare cash spent on wool etc. I'm looking forward to next year already, and planning what I need and what I'll want. And a massive thank you goes out to my handsome husband who let me take his car for the day. Not only did it have diesel in the tank, but it connects to my phone via Bluetooth so Sarah was happily occupied there and back again with Christmas movies, giving me the excuse to pop in a gratuitous Christmas picture just because I can.