Visit to the Black Sheep Wools

I feel like I haven't had much time to craft lately. I was away last weekend - 12 of us spent the weekend in 2 cabins at Sherwood Forest. It was brilliant! We did axe throwing, archery... and did quite a lot of relaxing in the outdoor hot tubs. Absolute bliss.

Before I went away, I went to an event at the Black Sheep Wools in Warrington. This is perhaps my favourite wool shop - they are always really friendly and helpful, and the yarn choice is amazing! Plus they have cross stitch supplies. The event was called "Behind the Scenes with the Sirdar Design team" and was fantastic. Upon arrival I was given a raffle ticket, glass of water (there was some lovely looking fizz but thought I'd better not as I was driving, and there was also orange juice - which I'm allergic to, so water it was!) and a goody bag. The goody bag was a lovely tote bag with the Sirdar brands on it, and inside was a new pattern book for the Giselle yarn, along with a pen and a retrostyled notebook.

They let everyone wander around the shop for a while, waiting for everyone to arrive, and then took us into a separate room in groups to learn more about the design team processes. It was really interesting to learn how the garments are designed and produced from start to finish and then photographed. There were some fantastic garments, and I fell in love with a jumper knitted in Giselle yarn. When other groups were in the room people were free to browse the shop and food was bought around by the staff (lovely sandwiches and nibbles). To end the evening, a raffle was drawn, and there were 2 lots of new Sirdar wool to be won. The whole evening was fantastic, and I'm hoping they do more events like this that I can make it to!

And yes, I did end up buying more yarn. Only 3 balls of Giselle in a beautiful blue/green colour though-and it has brown/copper sparkles in it, I couldn't resist! And some cross stitch supplies... And a new posh crochet hook... The Giselle is already on the needles, and I'm making the cowl from the pattern book using Purse Stitch, which is a new one for me. It's knitting up quickly and I'm excited to wear it already!

Poor photo, but you can see the copper sparkles! (I will start taking photos with a proper camera soon I promise - until then, I'll keep using the camera on my phone)

 

I will try to add some pics next week... but if you want to see the Black Sheep Wools, check out their website http://www.blacksheepwools.com/craft-barn