See, no look of an egg cosy here, I thought it would look gorgeous on my friend. The slouchy beanie with pom pom is a success. It’s a Birthday present and definitely lives up to the book’s name: Hook, Stitch and Give. It’s all come out of the marvellous brain of Kat Goldin. No, I’m not being paid to promote. I’m simply a happy reader / maker.
We’ve just had a day out at Excel, London at the Stitching, Sewing & HobbyCraft show.
It was too hot during the morning, before the air con was turned on, crowded and overall we felt it was crammed into too small a space. I don’t think the Knitting & Stitch show at Olympia has any serious competition, but we had free tickets, so didn’t feel we lost anything. We probably won’t be going back though.
I took a few photos….
Menai Bridge by Liesbeth Williams
Horizons
Layers of the Anglesey landscape, the colours, lines, details and the ever present skyline inspired this quilt. Liesbeth overlaid sections of strips, highlighted by deliberately messy black stitching. The fabrics were hand-dyed, mono and screen printed, then painted.
I love the colours of this quilt – as you can imagine, they look even better with the naked eye than in these photos. It’s also given me hope. Perhaps I could also overlay sections of strips and do ‘deliberately messy stitching’ with my sewing skills, that definitely seems doable!
The Little Room of Rachell 
Thankyou for those beautiful photos :-)
Glad you enjoyed, thanks.
Phenomenal work back in the day before sewing machines. The beanie looks good on your friend.
They are contemporary versions inspired by original designs I think. I saw both costumiers there, spoke to one. Very impressive work even with today’s technology.
It looks like an interesting trip to the past. You friend looks lovely wearing the beautiful hat you made for her. I’m sure she loved it.
She is very pleased, I’m glad. You never know with handmade gifts, they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea….
That’s what I like about your reviews your honest.. your hat is lovely! x
Thank you. I would hate to write patently untruths for the sake of it and think craft bloggers can sometimes finds themselves on the ‘Oh it’s all soooo lovely’ track. But I hope I show both sides. There were some good craft sellers and lovely work on display, as pictured, but it just wasn’t spaced out enough, the lanes between the rows were too narrow with some chairs for people doing workshops jutting out into them – so making it even narrower. Other visitors were definitely finding it uncomfortable too.
I know what you mean. I want to write more reviews about yarns, shops/places I’ve visited but I will only write about ones that I really love. It doesn’t help that the organisers make the event more claustrophobic than it is already… For me Woolfest. I done think I’ll go again. I love the show at Alexandra Palace. Although busy but manageable. I hope wonderwool wales will be good.
Why only the ones you really love? For me taking a new yarn or place to visit and seeing what I think – both positives and negatives is more interesting. If I love it, I already tend to mention it often and/or use it.
True maybe i’ll learn from your example and just try being honest.. ;)
I think the mark of a good review is that it’s balanced and honest, but without being over the top either way. The reader needs information (wool content, weight, meterage, or prices, website for the attraction , event etc) then they also have the wherewithal to try for themselves and make their own mind up.
The above wasn’t actually a review, or trying to be, it was a comment on an outing. I do enjoy doing the proper ones, though occasionally there aren’t that many constructive comments to be made and it’s tricky!
messy can work very well, but there’s messy and there’s messy. sometimes when one tries too hard, one gets the wrong kind. happens to me frequently :-) –although, like many things, it also depends on the eye of the beholder.
Those dresses are amazing! I also love all your crochet projects! I’m starting a bag and am having fun with it. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
Hooray for the finished hat , looks lovely and glad it was well-received. Interesting to hear what you made of the show, too. :) X
The next time I do some uneven hand stitching, I’ll have to remember to say I did it on purpose! I love the hat – your friend looks very happy with it.
Sorry the show was such a disappointment. The name of it makes it sound so interesting.