Knit Nation - Part 1

Last weekend was Knit Nation in London, this was the second year this event was hosted and this year was every bit as good as last year. The shopping was great, the classes were fantastic but what really makes the whole thing is without a doubt - the people. The people who organise, the people who attend, everyone is so friendly, at various points in the weekend I just sat down next to people I had never met before and chatted.

I met new friends, caught up with old ones and put names to faces/ravatars/twitter personalities. One of the highlights (apart from the classes I took, which I'll blog about separately) was the charity Bingo on Saturday, although it did require concentration and I couldn't chat during the games and there were maybe a few too many games, there were lots of giggles and a great atmosphere. The Bingo caller was very funny and charismatic, especially impressive when we found out he was only 15 - if he doesn't end up on the stage or television, I'll eat my (knitted) hat.

The Marketplace was a delight, so many lovely vendors and their beautiful wares, here are my very favourite purchases:

A lovely card from TillyFlop
A bag from NicsKnots - a vintage William Morris print and a bag design that hangs from your wrist while you knit to keep your yarn ball off the floor
Some Chiaogoo needles from Loop - I'll do a proper review when I've used them but I'm excited by their pointy tips!
Lego Head Stitchmarkers from The Bothered Owl (who are no more but their new companies The Undercover Owl and The Quizzical Owl will be up and running soon)
Some very cute duck stitchmarkers from StephCuddles

Some lovely Sokkusu sock yarn
Gorgeous Milly Sock Yarn from Juno Fibre Arts
2 skeins of Wollmeise - the grey for man socks (cabled so I will be glad of the extra yardage) and the blue/green for a Lintilla



My favourite new discovery of the weekend was NiMu yarn - I love the colours and the unusual dye techniques, the top one is Eclipse which is a dark grey with tiny flashes of colour which will knit up in to little flecks.

When I got home on Sunday night I was exhausted - too exhausted to knit on the train but I did spin for a while. It's Tuesday and I'm starting to feel normal again, who knew that chatting and knitting was such a energy sapping activity?