Unravel 2014

This past weekend was the weekend of Unravel, a knitting festival held annually at the Farnham Maltings centre in Farnham, Surrey. I've been for the past couple of years, but this year was in two minds about whether or not I should go. There was no pressing need to buy any particular yarn and for the most part, I reasoned that most of the vendors would be the same. In fact, there would be large gaping hole in the list of vendors, since A Stash Addict took a break and isn't dyeing yarn at the moment.

It was Sarah over at Crafts from the Cwtch who convinced me to go, with a very lovely "it wouldn't be the same without you" comment on her Facebook page. So, I ordered my ticked and said to myself that I would go for a couple of hours, treat myself to a nice skein of yarn if one caught my eye and just say hello to the folks I know from last year.

I actually ended up staying for six hours, and had an absolutely fantastic time. The yarn stalls were almost incidental to the whole day! Sarah said it quite well herself last year in her post about Unravel 2013.

The main hall towards the end of the day

I got there pretty early, which meant I had a chance to wander round on my own in the relative quiet before the crowds really arrived. It seemed more spread out this year, although I'm not sure if that is a result of fewer vendors or the Maltings using more of the space available to them.

The other big difference between this year's festival and previous years, was the lack of large quantities of yarn bombing outside the venue. Last year, it was everywhere, with road signs and balloons among the many decorations.

This pigeon was one of the only pieces I found
outside the venue this year

I met up with Sarah fairly early in the day; she was there with the lovely Wink from A Creative Being who had flown in from the Netherlands to come to Unravel. It didn't occur to me on Saturday, but I have today been giggling about our rhyming names. Wink and Tink! We should team up and fight crime, or something. Armed with crochet hooks. Anyway... we were joined by Tanya from A Yarn Loving Mama, and as we wandered round we spent far more time saying hello to fellow Ravellers, Instagrammers and bloggers than we did shopping. Sarah's mum, Lynda (star of the Great British Sewing Bee!) popped along for a bit as well, and then our walk around became even more entertaining. It was like hanging out with a celebrity!

Everyone was stopping her to say "OMG, you're Lynda from the Sewing Bee! Can I have a picture?". We joked she should have brought a pile of signed photos to hand out.

Of course, in-between the many hours of chatting and giggling (and there was a fair amount of giggling), I did find time to do a little bit of shopping.

I just love this year's logo

This year's bag is a bit sturdier than last year's. I keep my knitting needles in last year's bag but this one I think I will use to store projects in.

I can't believe I spent less than half of the money I took with me! Aside from the project bag and those two gorgeous green vintage buttons, the only stall I bought anything from was Easyknits! I spent a long while lusting after their yarn last year, but didn't buy any, so decided this year if I was going to treat myself, I would treat myself to some Deeply Wicked sock yarn.

The green will become a shawl, because I don't have a green one (as I gave Wingspan away). The other skein, with it's wonderful combination of green, pink and purple.. I think that will sit in my stash for quite a while until I decide what to do with it!

I also picked up three of Jon's patterns, as he was selling them on a really good offer (3 for £5!). Only Orbit appears to be listed on Ravelry though. The Traveling Ammonite shawl looks awesome, as it's knit in a spiral so you're only ever knitting a few stitches at a time, despite it becoming a giant circular shawl. I think, for my birthday later in the year, I may treat myself to one of his Sushi Shawl Along Clubs.

All in all, it was an absolutely excellent day, although I was extremely tired by the time I got home! I am very glad I let Sarah convince me to go, and will definitely be heading back next year!