Tuesday 13 March 2018

Unravel 2018



Edit: I thought this had been posted a week after Unravel so apologies for the delay! I blame my revision brain.

Now that the yarn fumes have faded a bit I thought I would mention my recent trip to Unravel in Farnham. What a great day! Farnham is in Surrey which is the opposite side of London to Hertfordshire where I live and takes around two hours to get there. So I hopped on a train around 9 and made my way down there. It was only three stops down that I realised I forgot my train knitting - oh no! Luckily I had updated my podcast app and instead listened to some great podcasters on the way. I would definitely recommend the Pom Pom Quarterly podcast from the magazine of the same name, Curious Handmade with Helen Stuart and The Knit Girllls. 


After a lovely coffee on the train I arrived at Farnham! To get to Unravel, the quickest route was through a local park and it was a rare day which almost felt like spring (if only we knew about the imminent snow!). There was a little stream to walk over:






And the flowers were blooming by the banks:




At the edge of the park, I spotted the first clue I was in the right place:








Unravel Yarn Festival was held in a beautiful building next to a continuation of the stream that I walked over. I don't know what the building was originally built for but the inside was a warren of rooms, each one filled with a host of vendors. I was very grateful for the map included in the festival booklet given out at the entrance! 



Another clue I was in the right place was all the people in obviously hand knit items. I was trying to work out why something looks hand knit and I realised it's because hand knit items usually look properly fitted and made for that specific person unlike shop bought items. I spotted a few familiar patterns and I knew it was going to be a really good day.

In this post I'm going to put the photos I took while I wandered around the various rooms. I'll post about what I bought in my next post. I loved the rabbit warren of rooms at Unravel as I kept discovering new vendors and places. The only downside of this layout was that I couldn't find one or two of the vendors I was looking for despite the map.  


Above and below are from Janie Crow's stall. I couldn't walk away from the bold colours! It's refreshing to see block colours amidst the speckles. 


Beautiful sari silk from La La with Love. I wanted to get some but didn't know what to make with it.



Fiber from John Arbon. His Knit by Numbers range was even more stunning in person and on my list for future knits. Doesn't the fiber on top look like a foaming river to you? Maybe that's just me.



Pom Pom Quarterly! Let's just say I may have bought something from them...



Little Grey Sheep. All the colours have a lovely muted feel and reminded me of heather and the outdoors. It was very soft.


Buttons! From Textile Garden. Small, large, medium and lots of different shapes. 


And last but certainly not least - amazing felted animals from Fudge and Mabel! I fell in love with every single one and wanted to take them all home! They're on my birthday wishlist so fingers crossed one might appear in my house at some point. 



That's all the photos! There was so so much more to see at the Festival. I was chatting to a fellow knitter at the Easy Knits stall and we agreed that every festival needs a yarn recovery room. Preferably with plain walls!

I would like to make a special mention to the Surrey Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. They were given their own room down the end of a lengthy corridor. I spotted a room on the way which would have been perfect for a yarn recovery room (I think the people inside had a similar idea). The guild had set up two spinning wheels, a range of different looms and a display of their work. Two guild members were showing three women how to use a spinning wheel in the centre of the room with great enthusiasm. It was really nice overhearing that the women trying out the wheels were all related and had been raised with knitting. After going around the room, I spotted a 4 shaft loom at the back. I've only ever seen one and never tried it before. After asking for a bit of information, one of the older ladies in the guild happily sat down with me and not only showed me how to use the loom but also how to read a weaving pattern and how to set up the threads for the warp. I think her name was Jill, I need to get better at remembering names! The friendliness of all the guild members I met made me feel so welcome and I wish I could have stayed longer! The blue weaving towards the top of the photos was my weaving attempt with the very patient Jill. Once I know where I'm moving to (more on that later), I will definitely keep an eye out for my local guild.


Charlotte and Harvey x

1 comment:

  1. Just popping over here to say hello and reply to your comment on my blog. No, I haven't ever made shirts for my self! A serious omission which is odd since I have been on the hunt for an oversized white shirt for ages! I love all your photographs from Unravel (I was there on the Friday) all my favourite things pictured here!

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