Given that its been
nearly a month I think its about time I finally shared some of my trip to
Unravel this year. For those of you who don’t know, Unravel is a festival of
knitting held at The Maltings in Farnham, Hampshire. It’s not a large event,
but its big enough to occupy you on a drizzly Sunday afternoon when you need to
nourish your creative soul. I went with some of the loveliest ladies I know
(which always makes things better doesn’t it?) and generally had a jolly good
time :)
I only had my phone to
take pictures so apologies for the poor quality, but there are some gems
amongst the photos I took and hopefully you’ll be able to see past this flaw!
Neither are my photos a very even, or extensive, account of what was on show
because generally I get very caught up in things and easily forget to stop and
capture it. I’m not going to apologise for this because I think it’s proof of
having a really good time! So, in no particular order…
Hanging in the
Undercroft (a neat little corner packed with character just before the entrance
to one of the main exhibitors halls) was a large knit(ted?) art installation
named ‘Blue Jumper.’ The artist, Sarah Filmer, began making this piece after
seeing a homeless person wearing one of her late mother’s blue jumpers, that
she had donated to a charity shop. It brought up many emotions for her and I
believe she started it as a jumper in memory of her mother. Over time it has
evolved into a community art project, travelling with her everywhere she went
at first, and now only to very specific locations, where anyone who knits or
crochets can add their stitches into the mix.
A lot of the piece is
made up of simple knits or purls, but some parts have grown into more unusual
shapes (including a scrotum!?). The most exciting being a ukulele knit by a
woman who worked at one of the venues hosting the project. She went home one
night, wrote her own pattern for it and spent the whole of the next day
knitting it into the piece. I love to hear stories such as this, where someone
has really understood the artists intentions and vision for a project and spent
time investing themselves in it; its such a selfless and beautiful act.
The main hall was
packed with buttons and yarns, but these were the most beautiful (to me); Hand
Dyed by The Natural Dye Studio.
They did a great job of showing off their
colours by having three HUGE blankets stretched out in all their glory.
The
colours shone, and the yarn was SO soft BUT (bad news) the yarn at the show was
the last they would ever produce :( Obviously this made me want it even more,
but it was no good just having one or two hanks, I would have needed one of
each colour (yes, needed) and I just didn’t have the £3-400 it would cost to
hand! (Phew! thinks my husband as he reads this).
One of my favourites
(last year and again this year) was Jenny Barnett’s stall. She makes felted
animals and brooches and things. Her stall was full of felty-inspiration and REALLY quirky
and cute; I see things like this and imagine myself actually living in such a
world…ahhh, perfect!
One day I will felt a
little critter just like those. I’m especially drawn to the snail!
Running with the
animal theme, I found it difficult to pull myself away from the equally quirky
knitting-kit stall; Sincerely Louise (Seriously regret the lack of pictures here, sorry). They design and sell kits to make all
kinds of faux taxidermy knits: from crocodile purses to fox scarves, all animal
friendly and super trendy! (Did i really just use that word? hmmm...) Again I was faced with a basic problem; I cannot
knit. ‘It’s easy’ she says, ‘it’s just knit some…purl some…then decrease here…’
STOP!! It’s already too much, I only just learned how to pearl- don’t talk to me
about decreasing!! But, still, I think I went back TWICE!- my creative soul
doesn’t want to listen to my rational mind; the soul says ‘Yes you CAN do it’
and my mind says ‘No, Hayley, you CAN’T knit!’. *sigh* One day.
Inspiration-wise I
snapped this tea-cosy and a granny square bag made of rug yarn. Both of which
looked really simple and I might attempt soon.
I was really good this
year and only purchased a small number of items; some lovely coloured linen threads
that I wished I’d bought last year, and a beautiful pair of scissors. Both from
Namolio. I’m not sure whether these are destined for crochet or embroidery yet,
when I have some time to play I’ll see!
I hope you enjoyed my trip to Unravel! Have you been anywhere that fed your creative soul recently? I'd love to hear about it if you have!
Thanks for stopping by,
See you Soon,
Hayley
xx
