Saturday, October 13, 2007

The Great Knitting and Stitching Disappointment

Sigh.

I'm back.

It was not great.

I always do this. I have a doctorate in doing this, ask my family and friends.

I SOOOOOO look forward to something, and I build it up in my head, and then, when it finally comes around, it's SOOO big and fantastic in my head, it can be nothing but a bit shit in actuality.

I shouldn't have been surprised really. I must try to stop doing it. I blame my optimistic nature. See, if I just thought everything was shit, then it would always be great wouldn't it. Oh well. You can't change how you are.

First of all, it was PACKED. When I say packed, I mean, if you'd have fainted from the intense 90 degree heat that it was in there, no one would have noticed. You'd have just been carried around for hours in a slow moving crowd with your toes scraping the floor. Now, I'm not great in crowds, or at moving slowly, or in indoor heat. Imagine my great joy at being in all 3 at once. Oh yeah.

I do have to say, the work in the textiles exhibition from the colleges and universities was amazing. You know, the sort of stuff you just walk round staring at with your mouth by your knees wishing you'd thought of making something that beautiful. I'm not sure if I'm breaching copyright, but I took a couple of photos. There were a lot of places you weren't allowed to take pictures at all, but my ones were at least legal.








The big felted granny square blanket I loved, from a student at Birmingham University, and the bags from Buckingham and Chilterns University. Fantastic stuff.

At lunchtime, we decided to go to the bar for lunch and have the most expensive and least appetising jacket potato with 4 bits of grated cheese on it. Wow, that was lovely. We sat at a table completely by accident with Lyndsey and her mum.We didn't see any other Ravelers who "came out" to us. It turns out, from being on Ravelry last night, that there were 3 bars. So saying meet you in the bar wasn't the greatest of plans. Now that we know that we all want to meet up, though, I think we'll try to get together sometime else.

Here's us in the bar we thought it was! My friend, Dawn on the left, Lyndsey in the middle and me.



The great hall was full of stalls.

Which was great.

If you liked embroidering. Or sewing. Or beading. Or felting.

Yeah, I know, I've done some of that stuff. But remember. I had a shopping list for stuff I NEEDED for knitting projects. URGENT stuff, people. There was nothing much to buy. And believe me, I looked. As much as the intense heat and the slow moving crowd would allow. That was the other thing. You'd get to a stall you liked the look of, and then have to gaze lovingly at the needles/beads/books from 3 meters away because the hot and sweaty slow moving crowd had also decided to stop there.

Appreciate my frustration please reader(s)

I had withdrawn good money to spend here. Wanna see what I got. Don't bother getting yourself ready, it won't take long.



Yes, that's IT!!!!!!!!! Nice needles, some cashmere and a book. Wow.

While I'm here, I want to moan. I would like to know this. How come I pay £12 to get in and then the prices of the stuff I bought is the same as the normal price. No show discount, no thank you for driving 75 minutes to get here, no so sorry we didn't bring much for you to buy, NO NOTHING. I may as well have gone internet shopping.

Which is precisely what I did when I got home. I bought online, all the things on my shopping list I went to get at the show.

Oh well, it was a good day out. We stopped on the way home to spend some money that the exhibitors missed out on, and Rob likes the look of the cashmere for a scarf.

In the meantime, Basil likes it more!



By the way, if you're heading there today or tomorrow, have a great time. Smirk. Don't bother taking more than a few pounds. Smirk.

I'm not bitter.

14 comments:

Janey said...

Oh Liz, I'm so sorry but your post made me giggle out loud! I had a feeling there wouldn't be alot of knitterly stuff but I'm sorry you were so disappointed!

Just think of all that money you didn't spend..... still waiting to be spent! Get online now and get spending! You know that will help you feel better!

Rosie said...

I'm so cross that I couldn't find you at lunchtime...but at least you got a jacket potato; they'd run out while I was queuing for them. Sigh.

Food apart, I actually really enjoyed my day there (far more for knitters than when I first went, 6 or 7 years ago).

Have fun with the riple stitch book and enjoy your online spending spree. As a matter of interest, what sort of thing were you looking for? Much as I enjoyed Ally Pally I think that I'll try out fibrefest next year.

Linda said...

I know how you feel, I have had experience like that at shows. Its nice to see the arty side of it.

gilraen said...

Ah well, a nice drink, peace and quiet, no pushing or shoving and online therapy will make it all better!! :D

I hate crowds too...............I wonder will the RDS be like that too. :)

Anonymous said...

I had a similar experience. I think the organisers are missing several opportunities here. We want to spend but can't! We've spent 12 quid and can't get a decent cup of coffee without growing a beard waiting! Too many stalls selling ready-made tat! I could go on, and on... and on....

Anonymous said...

What a bummer! I hate hate hate crowds so something like that would not appeal to me at all!

Anonymous said...

We did have a lovely time eating minstrels and drinking coke in the car on the way home !!!
Plus, the added opportunity of retail therapy at any randoms shops we passed in the car....

Dawn x

Cass said...

Oh that just sucks! I'm so sorry you were disappointed. But that pic is cute as can be- hottie! :)

chookie said...

Oh what a disappointment! A lot of the crafty type fairs here in Perth are a lot like that . I've learnt that it's better not to go but rather, to just splurge on something you like outside !

Virtuous said...

Dang! I am sorry the exhibit sucked and your 3 hated factors (and mine too!) made it miserable.

But at least you had great company!!! :oD Right!!

Well I am glad you still got what you wanted, but it is a shame that local vendors couldn't benefit from your economic buying power!

Hopefully your cute needles will make you feel a little better! :o)

Robin said...

Sorry it was a disappointment! The meetup picture is so cute though!

Roobeedoo said...

Some things never change! I last went there when my son was in his baby car seat(and had to be lugged around all day in the heat and crowds etc - aargh!) He is now 14 and I see that it is exactly the same as it was then - what a shame!

lomester said...

booo..what a stinker!! but at least you had some nice company!

Carolyn said...

I've wandered over here from Clarabelle's blog, and had to comment on this post. I couldn't make it to the show this year and felt I'd really missed out. Your post has made me much happier ;)

I remember last year was horribly packed and made it very difficult to get a good look at anything, added to which I didn't really see anything I couldn't have bought online without troubling to get off my a**e. Shame it wasn't any better this year.