A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to the In the Loop knitting conference, which I went to in 2010 as a college student. This time around I am a business owner (scary) and working pretty much full time so it was so nice to be able to have a few days off and fill it with inspiring talks and networking (again scary). There was A Lot of information to take in. I reveled in my lack of need to take notes (one of my worst skills at college) and tried to just soak it in. It also made me realise how lucky i was to go to the first Shetland In The Loop in 2010, which at the time knitting was not a big thing in my life. We did it at college and i liked it but it didn’t seem like a real thing to me that i could spend my life doing, discussing and working with.. well.. i got that wrong!
The week culminated in an event at Mareel called Meet Shetland Textiles, in which i was asked to have a table to show off my work. i brought along some of my cushions and had a really good afternoon talking with people i had met throughout the week and seeing other makers work, i was pretty tired as i had been judging Knitting at the Voe Show (ooh, get me..) in the morning but it was a really good way to round up the week.
i had printed off some of my instagram pictures so i took them along with me, i think it worked quite well and you can see best on the grey cushion at the front – new labels! not ones printed by me on cotton but real grown up woven ones.. :)
Even though i look a bit manic and the hair is terrible i had to show this picture to show off my dress, it is by House of Holland and i have coveted it since it was released, of course im not in the usual habit of buying designer clothes (much) but i spied it on eBay and i bought it, it is an XS, now i am not and extra small but my true love of this dress meant i was able to squeeze into it and it looked pretty nice! its a digital print of crochet granny squares and i had people touching me all day to see if it was real crochet.. slightly inappropriate but never mind.
It was a very inspiring week and got me into the mindset of thinking about and planning for the Christmas Craft Fair, and although my crofthouse cushions are my first loves (haha) it has started the ball rolling and thinking about other things i like to make. Not last week but the week before i was on holiday from work and spent the week redoing my knitting room. Ill post some pictures of the room when i get the finishing touches done.
Summer has ended i doot here in Shetland and the nights are getting darker earlier and earlier each night, although i knit all the time, winter in Shetland is THE time for knitting so i will be starting to post more hopefully and show some new things soon!
ella gordon 