Sunday, 9 October 2011

Ally Pally


On Friday, 21 of my sewing ladies, Elsa and I travelled up to London to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace.  It was a first for me and I was very pleased to go especially in a group on a coach as I wouldn't have to face driving in a city, abandoning John or the horrendous train journey.  I don't do cities very well and London has always struck fear and dread into me.

We were quite early and made our way into the relatively quiet side halls that were filling fast.

Plenty of stands to visit and people to watch.  I even managed a sneaky pic of Elsa!! (The blonde in the foreground :-) ).
                                      

There were plenty of exhibition stands...

Many of which we could not take photos of.


The work at this exhibition was very fine and must have been laborious.  This is a section of the arc of a circle seen in the whole cloth below.


We met with Dale and Ian Rollerson from The Thread Studio, Perth, Australia.  (We're both rugby fans and Dale is a New Zealander in Australia so plenty to follow at the moment!!)







I wasn't sure about this one!

But I loved these knitted cranes!

I'm very pleased we made it and didn't spend too ferociously.  We also met with Liz from the Cotton Patch and talked about extras for the longarm.  The amount of catering at Ally Pally was superb and the venue itself is rather magificent, worth a visit just for the views over London.
  
Meanwhile back at home the grape vine in the courtyard has been slowly turning colour.  These leaves have been shielding the study from the afternoon sun all summer, when it shone, and the grapes have fed the blackbirds superbly.

And Chris found this happy chappie when he was shifting all the logs after a delivery on Saturday.

Have a wonderful week!

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