An evening of woolly squishiness

I went to the Sirdar Open Evening at Black Sheep Wools last night.  It’s been quite a while since I last went to the Craft Barn and I’d forgotten how lovely it is to be able to walk around such an extensive display of yarns and squish away to my heart’s content!

There’s something about walking around a store outside of normal opening hours, and it’s even nicer with a glass of wine and some nibbles in your hands!  I don’t normally get to meet that many knitters in one place and knitting can be quite a solitary hobby, so I loved being able to talk to other people as we browsed the shelves.  Some of the displays, it had to be said, looked good enough to eat – just look at all the fabulous colours of this Regia baby yarn!

I was very tempted by it – and especially when I saw it set out like this!

The colours of the picture don’t really do it justice, but they looked like tiny balls of woolly sweets!

The point of the evening was a brief talk and question and answer session by the Managing Director and sales staff of Sirdar, who were previewing their latest yarn collections.  Sitting at home, clicking away in front of the TV, it’s easy to think that you’re the only person who knits, so I found it fascinating to hear that they sold enough Snuggly baby yarn every year to make three quarters of a MILLION baby clothes.  That’s an awful lot of baby clothes – and reminds you that knitting isn’t reserved for grannies and maiden aunts – even with the best will in the world, they could never knit that amount of wool!

Two hours passed very quickly, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to leave without at least one squishy purchase.  I really don’t need any more yarn, but Sirdar provided the perfect excuse:

The eco-friendly goody bag!  I love these eco bags, they’re just right for packing with yarn and pretending that I haven’t broken my own rule of never buying yarn if I couldn’t fit it into the storage boxes bought specially for the purpose.  Besides, if it’s got the name of a wool company on it, what else would you put in it?

So I browsed for a bit longer.  I lingered for a long time by the sock yarns:

but then felt that I really couldn’t justify any more sock yarn until I knit a few more pairs with the yarn I’ve already got.  So instead, I bought the yarn to knit a winter cardigan.  Yes, I know it hasn’t got any sleeves in it, but I have finally been converted to the art of layering so I know it will be a welcome addition to my winter wardrobe.

Finally, it was time to leave.  With a last goodbye to Sara, Black Sheep’s Marketing Director, I headed home to show my treats and my purchases to my husband.

“No sock yarn, then?” he asked.  “Had they sold out?”

He knows me too well!

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4 Responses

  1. Helen says:

    Is this woolly ecstasy for knitters

  2. Winwick Mum says:

    It could be – we do like to squish! x

  3. Gillian says:

    Love the new sock pattern

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