My Sewcial Weekend

If you follow me on social media you might have seen that I had a rather lovely sewcial weekend last weekend! I was extremely lucky to win tickets to the British Wool show in an Instagram giveaway from Botanical Yarn. So on Friday last week I spent the day walking round lots of inspiring stalls, squishing lots of lovely yarn and talking to lots of amazing small business owners.

I spent much of my time talking to the lovely Sophie of Botanical Yarn and she is just the sweetest! As well as the tickets, included in my prize was one skein of yarn and a project bag – after much deliberation I finally made my choices and when I wanted to buy a little something from her too, I chose this amazing Yarnivore Pin, she didn’t let me pay for it and included it in my prize! I tried to pay her or buy her a coffee/cake to keep her going and she wouldn’t accept anything! If that isn’t the sort of small business you want to support then I don’t know what is! I know when I want anything yarny in the future I will be checking Botanical Yarn first from now on!

I had a lovely time visiting the show but found it to be a bit overwhelming. I struggle with social anxiety and I found it to be busy and loud and a bit overstimulating. There was LOTS to look at and as soon as I walked in I completely forgot anything I was after. I took myself off for a cuppa to calm down and enjoyed an awesome slice of cake as a reward to myself for being brave! I was also super grateful to Sophie for chatting to me – I can talk nonsense when I am nervous so her company was very appreciated! Nevertheless I really did enjoy my visit and while I didn’t buy much (one skein and the pin I failed at paying for!) I came away with lots of new indie yarn dyers to follow on Instagram and bear in mind for future purchases!

Anyway, that was Friday, then on the Saturday I hopped in the car for a short drive over to Harrogate to visit gorgeous fabric shop Bobbins and Bolts, they have an online shop too if you aren’t local! Once a month they hold a social Saturday where you can spend the day using their sewing machines alongside other sewists and drink as much tea/eat as many biscuits as you like for £5!

I had a lovely day meeting and chatting with the other sewists as well as Gem who runs the shop. It was a lovely atmosphere and I could hardly believe how much sewing I got done with 5 hours uninterrupted (seriously when else does that ever happen?!) I totally forgot to take any pictures because I was too busy chatting and sewing but I’ve already booked on to go again next month so that should tell you what a good time I had!

I just love it when my hobbies of sewing and knitting can intersect with meeting new people. Even though I am a huge introvert I do like the times when I can share these hobbies with people who are as passionate about them as me! This was a fab weekend and I am looking forward to more meet ups in the future!