Spring K&S show

The October Knitting & Stitching show, held at Alexandra Palace, is one of the highlights of my "creative consumerism" year. Now there is a spring show, held at Olympia - more spacious, lighter and brighter, but not with the same buzz. Maybe these things take a while to get going.

Before: Setting up the Quilters Guild stand

After: The area in action

 Thames Valley Contemporary Textiles had made a model of their stand

...and here's the real thing, the exhibition "Halfway Between"

By stewarding in the Contemporary Quilt exhibition, I got a chance to examine the quilts closely and talk with visitors about them. And to wait for those little moments of "the person who matches the art"... No sooner had I snapped the colorful jacket in front of Christine Restall's colorful quilt

 than I realised my own garments, or at least the necklace, matched my own quilt nearby  -

These lovely scarves (the little circles are velvet) were at the Selvedge stand -

 and the linen yarns at Namolio -

The highlight for me was a long chat at the rare breeds wool stand -  Black Bat - a Yorkshire company that's been going for four years, getting fleeces from all over and having them processed at a small mill. They know their suppliers personally, and they even know the sheep by name. The sheep that produced the brown wool will be on Countryfile on 30 March -

 and the grey on the top shelf is from a herd of Ronaldsay sheep in Lincolnshire -

You could definitely feel a difference between the wools - some very soft, good next to the skin - others rougher, good for outerwear. What a pleasure to knit with these!