Rockpool Candy's Big Crochet§

My friend Inga is just the most marvelous crocheter in the whole of Norn Iron, and probably beyond. Inga, or Rockpool Candy, had a lot of work in last year's crochet coral reef exhibition at The Royal Festival Hall's Hayward Gallery. In fact much of the exhibition was her work.

I was astounded then by her work; it's so amazing that I just stood dumbfounded by the creative energy that obviously went into doing them as her work is often pretty big. Creative energy comes easy to Inga. It oozes from every pore. I loved seeing them for real as up to then I'donly seen them online.

You can catch Inga doing her big thing at a craft show last weekend in Leeds.

The Knitting and Stitching Show...

It was our day for the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally yesterday. Our main reason for going was to collect our certificate for winning the Editor's Choice Award in the inaugural Let's Knit magazine awards. Here we are collecting our award and looking well cheesy. We'll have it framed and it will sit alongside our Blankety-Blank chequebook and pen and our Alan Titchmarsh Show National Treasure 2007 Award!

We also did the rounds, dodging most of the non-knitting stalls and making a beeline for our favourites. There seemed to be less yarn than last year, or maybe it was just more spread around the three rooms? Still, we met up with a few friends and we ate some chocolate...

Knitting for the Wallace and Gromit Foundation's attempt at the World's Biggest Tea Cosy...

Elaine Jamieson and Mary MacGregor from the Shetland Islands. Mary's new book of Fair Isle knitting charts is due out in January...

Wyesue shows off the gorgeous Orenburg shawl at the Knitwitches stand. Just noticed how G gets himself hovering in the background of most photos!Big budget yarn mountain. (I was going to write 'wool mountain' but that might be stretching it a bit!)

Cheryl at Cherry Tree Hill displays her wares....

Hyperbolic Crochet in the main foyer...

...and some new bits being added.

We spent the best part of the day at the show, and our feet were killing us by the time we finished. It's so big that we didn't get to see everyone and fighting through the crowds can be just a little wearisome after a while. We got to say hello to some friends along the way and we stocked up on Cherry Tree Hill and Habu, otherwise our purchases were very modest. See above...three hanks of Knitwitches Baby Camel which Gerard bought to make a shawl for someone special, plus some rejuvenation cream, which is really what we need, not more yarn! And, of course, four bags of Linden Lady chocolates.

Here's the shuttle bus back to the station. Can you spot the odd one out?

Craig