Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2017

3:18 PM

Edinburgh Yarn Festival attracts knitters from all over the world to Scotland for four days in March. Class program ran Thursday-Sunday March 9-12, and market place was open Fri-Sat. In addition, there was a kick off knit night on Thursday, and a ceilidh party on Friday. Unfortunately, the popularity of the festival meant that both evenings were fully booked: the Friday night party sold out in less than a minute! For Thursday night there was a sister event, though, and many suggestions for finding another ceilidh on Friday, so I'm sure that everyone was able to find something nice for both evenings.


We arrived in Edinburgh on Thursday and the sun welcomed us to the city. We had a lovely day sightseeing. My flight from Helsinki was delayed due to poor weather in Amsterdam. This meant that I had to run through Schiphol to make my connection, but unfortunately my suitcase didn't quite keep up. I was a bit afraid that they might try to deliver the suitcase while we were sightseeing, but it was only after dinner that the suitcase was finally delivered, so no big hassle there.

Ipana cardigan at Tukuwool stand
First thing Friday morning I took a couple of samples with me and brought them to the market place: Ipana cardigan for Tukuwool and Sylphide sweater for WalkCollection. Later I spent some time at the WalkCollection stand to meet with knitters. I was really happy for the feedback and interest in Sylphide. I was wearing another Sylphide sample, and many people approached me asking what design it was. Hoping to see many Sylphides knitted later on!


Of course, one of the main reasons for coming to EYF is the opportunity to buy yarn. I didn't have anything special in mind, so at first I was only looking at what there was on offer and thinking that I might not buy anything because I have enough yarn at home. Silly me! Luckily I came to Skein Queen stand and found some lovely sock yarn to take home, and after that I started noticing other interesting yarns, including a gradient kit and a couple of other treats from Easyknits.co.uk and a sweater's worth of Old Maiden Aunt merino fingering. On Saturday I continued shopping with a gradient skein from Bilum and after spending more time at WalkCollection stand I couldn't leave the awesome Koi colorway there, and paired it with Limestone in Delicate Merino. I believe this is a good enough haul considering my initial I'm-not-buying-anything plan!

Spin City stand
There was also a big knitting area in the Corn Exchange bistro, so taking a break with some coffee and knitting was always an option. And then, of course, there are all those pubs for pub knitting!

Pub knitting at The King's Wark (Photo: Vuokko Laaninen)

On Sunday I returned to the Corn Exchange with my suitcase for a class: Making the cut by Renee Callahan. Another blog post on that to follow! After the class it was time to head to the airport. The flight to Amsterdam was full of knitters. A lady in front of me wanted to take pictures of knitters in front of her and behind her, but when you looked around it wasn't only that corner - there were knitters everywhere on that flight! On the flight to Helsinki there weren't as many knitters, but the flight attendant was interested in the Ipana cardigan I was knitting, and told me I had 25 minutes to finish it before landing. Well, I didn't quite make it, but I read half of my book and almost finished the body of the cardigan, so it was a productive journey home.

Awesome dress at Woolyknit stand
What a perfect weekend! I would highly recommend EYF for anyone interested in knitting. Thank you to the organisers for making everything work so smoothly and for making such an awesome festival happen!

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