Date night!

What do you get if you put forty knitters and crocheters in a yarn shop, show them the gorgeous new stock that's filling the shelves and let them play with it? Why, you get Yarn Dating! Let us tell you about Friday night! It was such fun! For the first time, we hosted the whole event in the shop (well, and a bit of it outside, thanks to our neighbours at the Pepper Pot). So at half past seven, there was an impatient queue of people outside, eagerly looking through their information sheets and waiting for the doors to open... What better time to get a second opinion on a swatch of stunning beaded lace? (The consensus was yes, the larger beads work better!) Inside, the swatching stations were all set up, with samples - knitted or crocheted - of new yarn. No casting on required - all you had to do was pick up and stitch! But this was speed-dating, so everyone got to meet all the hopefuls, moving from one numbered station to another.... And then we were off! Swatches to examine, and pattern books to plan with, and stitching to try... Each date passed by in the twinkling of an eye, and before you knew it, the bell rang to move you on to your next assignation. The bell? Yes, a proper school bell, wielded by Lisa from her post on the mezzanine! There were sample garments to try on, with pride of place given to Carol Feller's Mithral (have you read about Carol's September knit-a-long?) There's going to be a lot of these this winter, if Friday night is anything to go by - the picture at the very top is Fyberspates Cumulus for a Mithral, gleefully gathered up. And if you needed help deciding which colour to choose, what better place to ask? There were spot prizes too, and one very sneaky competition: Guess the Mystery Swatch! Behind the curtain hung three swatches, so you could feel but not see them. By guessing what yarn they were made from, one lucky person won a fantastic bundle of goodies (congratulations, Maria!) It was harder than it looked, and only four people guessed all three correctly. José the Alpaca insisted on standing guard to prevent peeking, though we told him our customers were far too honourable for that sort of behaviour. And there were old flames to meet too, like this delicious pile of Dublin Dye Company sockweight! We hope you enjoyed Yarn Dating 2015 as much as we did, and we honestly can't wait to see what you'll make this autumn and winter. It's a privilege to be a part of such a creative and fun-loving community, so thank you all!