Spinning Yarns Festival Part 2…

Last week I wrote a blog post about the first part of our weekend trip to Northern Ireland back in September, when I was invited to speak at the ‘Spinning Yarns Festival’.

You can read Part 1 here: Part 1-The Causeway Coast

And now I have the second part for you… this blog post is Part 2 and it’s all about the fabulous yarn festival itself… 😃

I’ve also put together some video footage from the whole weekend and I’ve recorded a new video for my YouTube channel… there’s a little crochet chat at the end too! 🙂 It’s been a while since I recorded a video for you all! 😃 Here’s the link to my YouTube… enjoy it!

Yarn festivals are simply fabulous events… gatherings with fellow yarn lovers with so much inspiration and gorgeous things to see. Admiring many stalls from independent sellers, seeing yarn bombs pop up everywhere and immersing yourself in a workshop, talk or demonstration. It’s a wonderful way to spend a day… and the ‘Spinning Yarns Festival’ in Northern Ireland was simply brilliant!

It’s events like these that have been so missed during Covid times, so it did feel extra special to be enjoying a yarn festival again.

And I felt so very honoured to be speaking at the event…

I had two slots for my talk… one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. So there was plenty of time in between for me to enjoy the yarn festival.

So much work and effort had obviously gone into organising and decorating the event which was held at the ‘Theatre At The Mill’ complex in Newtownabbey.

It’s a really wonderful location…

And we were very fortunate with the weather… a lot of the stalls were outside and the weather was very very kind to us!

There were little yarn bombs everywhere!

Even on the toilet doors! 😄😁

And crocheted or knitted creations adorned every conceivable place…

I was made to feel so welcome by all the members of the Hookery Craft Group, as were my husband and daughter, and everyone who knew I was coming along to the festival was so very friendly and kind… so THANK YOU if that was you! ❤️❤️🥰

Heather talked about how the festival had come about and it sounds like it’s through the determination of a local group of craft lovers being very persistent with the local council… a great example of what can be achieved!

There was an area hosted by the Hookery Craft Group for their own drop-in for people to come along and knit or crochet…

And their crocheted and knitted map of the local area which was on display is truly incredible!

There was lots of help at hand to pass on the joy of yarn crafts… Margretta and Alice did brilliantly at showing people what to do. New crocheters and knitters must have joined the world that day!

And how fabulous it was to see so many of my ‘Tropical Shores Blanket’ designs hanging up on display… that was very special indeed!

And Alice made my ‘Festival Sun Mandala’ and attached it to the back of her t-shirt… what perfect ‘yarn festival’ wear and I loved it so much!!

There were lots of other mandalas hanging on display too…

I love that people will often wear their own creations to yarn festivals… this cardigan was fabulous!!

And I wore my ‘Coastal Dreams’ dress whilst my daughter wore a poncho she crocheted herself from Cassie Ward’s book ‘My Crochet Wardrobe’.

There were some lovely stalls… and even a pair of adorable alpacas to admire too!

My first purchase came from the ‘Ashtonelle Alpacas’ stall. They are a family run alpaca farm based in Northern Ireland and I got myself a gorgeous 100g ball of 100% alpaca! 💚

I’d love to crochet a hat with that!! 😄💚

And then my next purchase was some gorgeous hand dyed yarn from ‘Woolly Adventures NI’ called ‘Walk Along the Beach’!

Henryettas Hooks were there… oh how I’ve learned so much about crochet hooks! 😃

And the charity ‘Octopus for a Preemie’ had a stand with gorgeous little crocheted octopus to admire… I really must make one of these for the charity to send in… https://www.octopusforapreemie.com/who/

There was various music throughout the day too… from bagpipes, to pop music and a brass band too… something for everyone!

And my talks went well… I was of course a little nervous before taking to the stage… but yet again everyone was so friendly and helpful, from the crew backstage to the audience themselves that it truly was a pleasure to share all things ‘Coastal Crochet’!

I talked about how I became a crochet designer and also talked through how I go about designing my blankets and the processes I use. I shared a lot of photos and there was a chance for questions too. Some brilliant questions were asked! 🙂

And chatting with people afterwards and showing my blankets was just fantastic…

Meeting so many of you was a BIG highlight of the day… too many names and faces to mention you all but please know that each and every encounter was very special to me indeed. ❤️❤️

Here’s Alison who kindly gave me a beautiful handcrafted seaglass gift which is already hanging on a wall in our kitchen at home and I’ll always cherish it…

And Pauline brought two of her blankets to show me… here’s her version of my ‘Beachcombing Blanket’ in just one colour. It always amazes me to see the textures shine through when my patterns are crocheted in one colour!

And David Heatley certainly needs a big mention…

David took so many wonderful photos from the event including these of me (I’m often behind the camera myself so these were nice to see)… 😃

Even on the way out, there were more yarn creations to admire… I can’t even begin to imagine all the hours it must have taken to not only crochet, sew or knit these things, but to put them all up on display too… just fabulous! 😍

It really was fantastic to see…

It was a wonderful day at a truly wonderful yarn festival with so many wonderful people… I really couldn’t have wished for more! 🙂 ❤️

I do hope you are able to enjoy a yarn inspired event near you, wherever you are in the world! Gathering together with other yarn lovers is simply a joy…

Happy Crocheting Everyone… 😃😃