Tuesday 29 May 2018

Woollinn!




What a weekend! In case you missed my last post, I flew to Dublin this weekend to attend Woollinn. Woollinn is Dublin's first yarn festival run by the lovely ladies from This is Knit, a yarn shop in Dublin. The event took place just outside Dublin, right next to the airport in ALSAA, a sports complex. The marketplace was in the main hall with classes running in various other rooms including a squash court.

The entrance!


One of the aisles

Another aisle of yarn goodies!

The tea area for knitting and yarn recovery zone

Bilum. Beautiful gradient yarns

Dublin Dye. With some now in my stash!


I had the best conversation about alpacas with the stall holders of UK Alpaca. Not only do they sell alpaca yarn in multiple colours and weights shown above, they also keep and breed alpacas. I can't remember the stall holders name now but he was more than happy to chat about how to look after them and how much land and upkeep is required. Completely coincidentally, their farm is based near Plymouth where I'm moving in July. With an invite already offered, I'm looking forward to a visit! 

Unbelieva-wool

Yarntelier. I love the cream jumper on the left. Everything was so soft!

Ysolda

I think this was Finulgarn at the Ysolda stall. Perfect for colourwork.

One of the wonderfully detailed samples at Ysolda's stall.

I will do a separate yarn enhancement post once I have photoed all of my purchases. One of my favourite moments at Woollinn was to do with Mum. She's not a knitter in the slightest and prefers painting. She enjoys the colours of the yarns but that's about it. However she likes being able to share the experience together because she can see how much I enjoy knitting and all the shows. As we walk around, Mum treats the samples on show a bit like a clothes shop. I already have a Pom Pom pattern request for when I'm a bit more experienced. At Woollinn, she spotted a gorgeous cardigan at the This is Knit stall in a mustard yellow. 


Maureen, one of the shop's full time staff, noticed Mum's interest and happily came over to give any help or advice we might need. She even encouraged Mum to try it on!


Another project to add to the list! The yarn is Studio Donegal Darny which is a new line. It felt lovely and sturdy and was very reasonable - 3 100g skeins cost 34 euros. I'm hoping to get this knit for Mum's birthday in September. 

After that, I think we were both yarned out! My only stop before we left was to say hello to Grace from Babbles Yarns. She has a great podcast available on YouTube call Babbles Travelling Yarns and she is just as friendly and bubbly in real life as she is on the podcast. A truly lovely person! Despite how busy her stall was, she was so happy to have a photo with me - thanks Grace! She was wearing a lovely woven shawl she made herself. 


Tomorrow I shall write about the sights we saw in Dublin City but for now I will leave you with this sign from I think the an Caitin Beag stall which made me smile.


If you were at Woollinn, I would love to know what you bought or your favourite thing to do in Dublin!

Charlotte and Harvey x

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