What a day we had

My first ever yarn crawl! I know it was over a week ago and perhaps I should have reported back last week but... well... it was partly that last week was mad, so much to do and partly because I wanted to be able to share the amazing totals with everyone. so here they are

90 people, guided by 17 volunteers, travelled 9 different routes, visited 12 shops, knitted 149 items* and raised £812 for the charity Refuge.

Isn't that amazing? However, the official blog leaves out one crucial figure - How much did everyone spend?? But perhaps that is best left a secret between the yarn crawlers and their banks!  I was guiding Team Jacob along with Kate .  The first thing I noticed when we met for breakfast at a lovely cafe called The Kitchen Table, close to our first stop The Village Haberdashery was the lovely hand knits everyone was wearing

Elanor and Lucy in The Village Haberdashery, wearing their hand knits

Kate our other leader, with Lucy and one of the lovely ladies at The Village Hbberdashery

 At each shop everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  Our next stop was the Handweavers Studio. I must have been so distracted by the wonderful colours, spinning and weaving equipment (not to mention the coffee and biscuits) that I forgot to take a photograph there.

I loved the yarn Rhona was knitting into a baby jacket

If you are going to Prick Your Finger in Bethnal Green and happen to be a little peckish, there is a fab little place called The Larder right opposite. The menu is amazing, I had bruschetta with a spicy ratatouille and a little pot of mixed beans, Although I resisted pudding, it was a very tough choice, the Red Velvet cake looked fab

Putting my knitting down to eat lunch at The Larder 

Prick Your Finger has some wonderful unusual yarns and quite a vintage theme going on

Moira and Steph checking out the 70s patterns

And - look! how they wrapped my yarn purchase

Last stop, Knit With Attitude. Amongst other things I bought were some gorgeous stitch markers.  Then left them at the after party!! Thanks to the power of twitter I found them again!

Loved their extensive stock of yarn by Wool And The Gang

Of course we had goodie bags with beads and badges, skeins and soak and much more

about half of what I found in my goodie bag!

OK, I'm not going to tell how much I spent but here are a few photos of what I came home with...

Destined to be a very traditional shetland ring shawl but shall I dye it or leave it natural?

Malabrigo Sock, just because the colour is gorgeous

Patterns to knit up and sew

Sheepie spots, just because...

Like it?  Save the date, next year it's on 5 September

xx

c

* 150 I have just finished my contribution