Ally Pally/KnitSpeak Competition

Well, last week was National Knitting Week and I celebrated and did my bit by going to Ally Pally on Saturday for the Knitting and Stitching Show. I really felt that I ought to have applied myself in other ways such as helping organise something in the area but time always seems to be at a premium. Next time though, I'd like to do more. There were lots of events going on around the UK such as City Knitty in the Daytime's Extreme Knitting in Edinburgh on Saturday. The plan was for knitters to climb up Arthur's Seat and knit (whatever the weather) with supplies of a picnic lunch, tea, hot chocolate and brandy to help them along. The point they wanted to get across is that there's no such thing as a typical knitter or typical knitting. The sponsored charity for this year's event was Help the Aged and the Edinburgh knitters were asked to knit hats, scarves and gloves, etc, to give away to older people during the roadshow based on the Help the Aged campaign 'Cold can Kill' planned for mid to end November. On Saturday evening, Craig Hill was to join the knitters on top of Arthur's Seat as part of Craig Hill's Out Tonight from the BBC and was to learn to knit himself a fashionable skinny scarf with their help.

In York, the LYS, Sheepish, organised a knit cruise to celebrate National Knitting Week and the owner of Sheepish decided to make this particular event of benefit to breast cancer charities. All the ladies were asked to wear pink and when they arrived at the cruise boat at the side of the Ouse they discovered that the crew had also been kitted out in pink scarves and the boat was decked with pink balloons. Local radio and press photographers saw them off and, en-route, they were waved at by other boat passengers and people strolling beside the river. Everyone was invited to select two balls of knitting yarn from the enormous pile that had been donated from the yarn spinners and cast on 20 stitches to knit scarves which are to be sold at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate to benefit breast cancer charities. It all sounds very benevolent and fun into the bargain and next time I definitely want to do my bit.

For now though, all I have to show for National Knitting Week are the spoils of my visit to Ally Pally and my growing reputation for being a yarnoholic! So, here's the booty and really I think I managed to be very restrained under the circumstances.

On the right is Helen's Lace from Get Knitted. In the centre is Hip Knits Silk and on the left are two skeins of Touch hand painted yarn.

I haven't fully decided yet but, with the Touch yarn, I may make this.










A pack of lovely heathery Shetland yarn in various colourways from Jamieson's to make the Charmain Capelet and some Jamieson's Ultra Laceweight.






Simply Shetland Books 1 and 2, the Colinette Akashya booklet and, from the Knit Tin, a needle gauge in a tin and 2 pairs of rosewood knitting needles. Also, a bag of mixed red and green buttons from the Button Company aptly named "Christmas Pudding"!














Here's a close up of the buttons.
I think they're great!












But my firm favourite, and that which I'm really looking forward to playing with, has to be this gorgeous 100% silk tweed kasuri from Habu Textiles. Feast your eyes on these babies!


Finally, for those who have entered the KnitSpeak competition - good news! Kerrie, of Hip Knits, has noticed the competition on the KnitSpeak blog and has offered to donate enough Hip Knits Silk so that, with my contribution, there will be enough for the winner to knit a full size clapotis. This means that the winner will now receive 400g of Hip Knits Silk and, as if that's not enough, Kerrie has also offered to custom dye the silk for the winner! How great is that?!! Thanks, Kerrie!

If you haven't entered yet, why not take a look at the KnitSpeak blog for details of the competition. Another entry was submitted over the weekend which will be put on the blog tomorrow along with details of the deadline for submissions, etc.

PS Sorry I didn't get to say hello to any UKHK members at Ally Pally but I can get quite claustrophobic in crowds and especially when it is hot and airless . . . . . which it was.