Ahh, Yarndale. It's taken me a good long while to find pockets of time to choose, edit and upload these photos, then to put words with them, but I wanted to make sure I recorded our experiences this year.
We set off, this time VERY well prepared for the journey with snacks, a packed lunch and plenty of toys and books for Little R. The journey was much better this year, because Little R is old enough to enjoy playing with his toys, colouring, doing his sticker book, chatting to his baby doll etc. No angry crying from him this year! He was relaxed and I was relaxed as a result.
We stopped off at a service station and found time to play...
... and eventually Little R fell asleep.
After a rather confusing but eventually successful shopping trip in Shipley, we dinnered at The Cow and Calf, which we'd decided looked a lovely place to eat last year (we were right), then made our way to Chevin End Guesthouse. We LOVE staying here. The rooms are all around a little courtyard in the middle of a cow's field, so there are always cows and their calves around to admire. This was possibly Little R's FAVOURITE part of his stay. When he wasn't sitting on a windowsill watching them, he was trying to put on his shoes to go outside and see them...
... and this tractor. How this boy loves a tractor. Twice a day we had to examine this lovely red tractor carefully. And twice a day we had to explain that no, he couldn't go in it!
Anyway, skip forwards to Sunday morning and our little family clan were gathered outside the Auction Mart, admiring the beautiful yarny decorations.
I'm afraid I didn't remember to take any photos of the stalls. I was too busy stroking yarn, chatting to Little R and enjoying myself to think of doing it. I did, however, remember to take photos of the Mandalas. My word, they looked amazing. Lucy explain that she and a few others attached them all individually with little metal hooks, while standing on the raised walkway. That is dedication to the cause!
I was staring up at them, talking to little R about the colours, when lo and behold, I saw one I distinctly recognised! It was Rosy's Beautiful rainbow Mandala! With the red petally border and the lilac flower in the middle - do you see the one? I'd seen it on the Pinterest board and we'd got talking about it. I loved the design and Rosy was kind enough to send me over the instructions for making one of my own, which I did! It was like seeing an old friend!
A little later I was admiring another bunch of Mandalas, when I actually spotted my own! I hadn't expected to recognise it even if I saw it, but I'm so drawn to my own palette of colours that it caught my eye. It was the pale yellow row that I spotted first. It was fantastic to see it up there surrounded by the other beautiful creations.
Shortly before we left, we completed the hat-trick by spotting my Mum's lilac, purple and grey Mandala. She used Made in K-town's Little Spring Mandala pattern. It's a lovely design and I like the effect with just a limited palette.
Having spend a good deal of money, chatted to Lucy and Winwick Mum and picnicked in the picturesque carpark out back, we went to explore some more.
I just loved these cute little sea critters that some school children had created. I really should have checked which school it was. Oops.
We very much enjoyed our sun-soaked wander through the park and our bouncy ride on the marvellous Yarndale bus. We missed this part of Yarndale last year, so we were happy that we fitted it in this year. We even had time for another lap round the stalls before we headed back to the car, our arms heavy but our hearts singing.
I had a little moment of Yorkshire love. It came hand in hand with some camera irritation, because I couldn't get the settings right to pick up the sun streaming through the clouds as well as the fields. I've had to tweak it a bit and it still in no way does the beautiful moment justice.
We completed our day with a carvery at a nearby pub, which was just perfect. Well, nearly perfect. The "bread sauce" I dolloped onto my plate turned out to be horseradish sauce! What a shock! The jam roly poly was so amazing though, that I forgot to photograph it! I just gobbled it all down.
On the Monday, we walzed merrily over to Harrowgate where, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, we continued our shopping spree! Clothes, this time. In fairness, I did need some new trousers, since all my patched jeans were falling to pieces.
Of course, a Yarndale post would not be complete without a photograph of our haul. Somewhat more retrained than last year. I still have plenty of that coloured yarn left for lounge-decorating projects. I'm currently working on a wreath and a mini-cushion for Little R's chair.
I invested in some metre squared pieces of sari material, which I plan to turn into some patchworky hareem pants for myself.
Some sock yarn, so I can knit some cosy socks to match my winter jimble-jambles.
Some fabric, which might suit a little person I'm thinking of.
As well as: a dishcloth knitting kit I'm looking forward to using, a crochet brooch kit, a Bert teatowel to match our Betty and a Yarndale calendar. Rachel purchased Lucy's Coastal Ripple yarn pack from Stylecraft Yarn. She's already made a good start on it, actually! It's going to be for Little R's big boy bedroom, when he's ready for it. And she got four colours of yarn to make a new hat to replace one that she lost.
Mum's haul was possibly bigger than our combined haul... and that's not including all the bag fabric she bought the day before in Shipley!
Yarndale provides the perfect little holiday for us. Three days in a beautiful county, enjoying the landscape, the shops and the wonderful Yarn festival itself. My highlight this year, I think, was chattering to two lovely ladies who I follow in the online world. It's special when you get to meet someone you admire in real life to share your interests. Long may Yarndale reign.
