Anyone going to the knitting expo at Ally Pally today?

[ILoveAFullFridge]

I'm quite foolishly excited about this!

I can't quite believe that I'm making a 2h+ train journey with multiple changes to go to a show where I won't be able to afford spending gazillions of £££ on all the lovely luscious yarns and tools that I never knew I needed.

Anyone else going?

I went last year and it was brilliant. I bought a bit of yarn and an advent calendar kit to sew. I was unusually restrained! There was also an MN meet up which was daunting but brilliant.

Have a great day.

Last year was great - and meeting up with you was great too, TheWoollybacksWife. I did find the halls got very crowded very quickly, and there was so much yarn, it was overwhelming - but in a good way!

I went thursday it was absolutely packed but really good. Although most of the lovely wools were still out of my budget price range I got some lovely fabric

I live in Devon but can't bring myself to take train journey for 2.5 hours to go...

but still, .

I was there on Thursday. It was great - I completely get the excited thing - i was too .

I spent too much (as always at these things) but got some wonderful yarns...just need to sit down and knit them now ....

Enjoy your day.

aaargh - I didn't even know this was on...what kind of knitter am I?

don't worry whatdoes there's more later in the year

OMG it was heaving!

So lovely to handle yarns I've only heard about before, like Malabrigo. And play with all those marvellous machines.

Luckily I'd allowed myself £60 in cash spending money and left the credit card at home, as otherwise the flatbed quilting machine might have got the better of me - only £9000.

Some of the work on display was utterly gorgeous.

Exhausted.

So glad you had a lovely time, it is exhausting though, isn't it?

Perhaps we should arrange a meet up at the next London one?

Oo yes, and everyone could bring something she's working on, and we could have a Stich 'N session when we stop for a cuppa.

I would definitely make the trek down on the sleeper for a meet up like that, ILoveAFullFridge!

If anyone is interested in doing the next London one then PM me - I'll put together a little spread sheet of those who are interested.

Show is March 13-16th 2014 at Earls Court Olympia.

If you do PM me, please indicate what day/date you prefer - we'll go for the most popular day.

People can buy their own ticket and we can decide on time and place to meet. And we can all wear a knitted carnation .

"And we can all wear a knitted carnation"

Or patchwork or embroidered - as long as it is in MN blue!

I was there on Sat, I went last year too and I have to say, I love it! There was a phenomenal frame-thingy for turning your own sewing machine into a long-arm quilting machine for a mere £700 that I seriously coveted. And I did a brilliant workshop and made two wash bags with zips in for the kids.

I got some quite good bargains too, big-ish liberty print scraps for pound a pop and yarn for a cardie for dd at half price.

Lots of very nice people too - although to my knowledge didn't meet any MNers!

I can do either the 13th, 14th or 15th, but not the 16th (there's no sleeper down frae Glasgow on Saturday nights.

I went Friday and yes it was v busy - didn't even get in the carpark this yr - we had to drive to Wood Green and get the shuttle bus. It does start emptying quite early I find. We left at 4 pm but it was a lot less busy by then. I think, if I could, I would go at lunchtime and stay until they kicked us out.

I saw the long arm frame and machine too although the one I saw was £1,620 ( on the Cotton Patch stand). I got to have a go too!

The man gave me a leaflet - yeah like I am going to get one but I suppose a girl can dream. Problem is, I could save up and buy the machine one day but the big costs would be buying a new house to find room for it!!

This year was our fourth year and I love it too. There weren't so many quilt displays this year I thought but there were still plenty of quilt fabric retailers. I was actually quite restrained except for 20 balls of wool and so bits and bobs.

I know! I had a go too, it was so cool - I'm no good at machine quilting except in straight lines and too impatient to hand quilt so it would be just fantastic. in my dreams

I' m crap at machine quilting on my machine at home but I reckon I could get quite good on one of those machines. If only....... Sigh

I wanted to go this year and promptly forgot about it until I saw your thread yesterday It's my dses birthday tommorrow so things have been a bit busy, but I'm gutted to have missed it.

I would definitely be up for a meet up next March, I could do any day except the 16th. I'll have to get saving

I figure that if I sell a child I could not only put the proceeds towards a quilting machine, but also free up the space for it. Sorted!

There was another, smaller machine which looked like an over-sized ordinary sewing machine positioned with the main body of the machine furthest away from you. That one was less than £2K. If I'm going to make space for the bigger machine, I might as well get the smaller one, too. Or would that perhaps be a bit extravagant?

now why didn't I think of selling a child I think go for both ILove, it would be wasteful not to take advantage of the extra space!

pmed you rogue

Sell a child! Inspired!

There really is a solution to most problems if you look hard enough, isn't there.

By the way, not sure if this is necessary as we all talk on here but is anyone interested in starting a MN Yarn Club on Ravelry? Their criteria states that 3 people need to join in order for it to be a 'go'. Am happy to have a go at setting it up if there is enough interest.

Also, will get back to you all re: Olympia.

Or maybe a FB page? To be honest, I go on FB more often than I go on Ravelry.

Can't do FB!! Don't understand it at all.