To Yarndale and Back with Love.

 Early on Saturday morning Wonderful Man and I loaded up our car and set off for Yarndale.

 We couldn't have asked for better weather.

Or a more scenic journey to the pretty market town of Skipton. Luckily I'd been able to set up my stand the day before with the help of my lovely parents, so there was only a bit of twiddling and pricing up to do when we arrived on Saturday morning. 

I had good intentions of taking lots of photos for you all but it turned out to be far too busy, in fact I didn't manage to escape from my stand to the loo until about 5pm! Luckily we hadn't been able to drink too much (just one cup of tea that my Dad had queued for) as the queues for the cafes were huge too so in an odd way it worked out quite well, lol.

This was the entrance hall on Friday when I went to set up looking fabulous. Festooned with some of the crochet bunting sent in by all of you lovely crafters. I'd been told that over six thousand crochet flags from over thirty different countries had been hung up. I received a lovely welcome from members of the Yarndale team when I arrived and I was very surprised that they already knew who I was when I walked in. 

This is Lucy's (Attic24) corner in the knit and natter lounge looking colourful and cosy and  ready for guests.

 And she had plenty of those! 

And there she is, the lovely lady herself. 

 The auction mart at Skipton is huge. That wooden structure behind the orange flag is the knit and natter lounge and this is only about half way down the mart.

 It was certainly busy on Saturday. We heard reports of the traffic tailing back from the auction mart to the A65 blocking the roundabout. I don't think the organisers expected it to be quite as successful as it was, I believe several thousand people turned up on Saturday and by 11am I felt like they'd all visited MarmaladeRose! lol. 

 I was overwhelmed by all of the lovely bloggers and blog readers who turned up to say hello to me. It was wonderful to be able to meet you all and put faces to some of the names that have been popping up on my comments list over the last 6 years.

(picture couresty of Yarndales face book page)

Talking of MarmaladeRose...would you like to see my little stand?

 The response to my felt art work was amazing! People seemed completely bowled over by it...which was wonderful to see and hear! I met so many lovely people and many of them eager to tell me where else I should try exhibiting my work. I was invited to two or three Embroiderers Guilds to give talks or do workshops. In all it was a real confidence booster. 

Wonderful Man was kept busy all day with sales and did a wonderful job of manning the stand single handed while I escaped to buy some wool. In fact I did wonder what he was doing as each time I came back he always seemed to be surrounded by women, lol. Unfortunately we did loose a couple of large sales as there was no cash machine at the venue and there wasn't enough Internet connection for mine and other stall holders card machines to work. We decided it must be all of the people outside tweeting that they were stuck in the traffic queues! 

Here's Wonderful Man brewing up on Sunday. We'd learnt our lesson after Saturday and made sure we had a flask with us. lol.

OO... it's looking a bit dishevelled and empty here but it was the middle of Sunday when I took this. 

As I sit here tippety typing away on my laptop and looking at my MarmaladeRose banner in the photo I've just realised something I'd completely forgotten about. 

About eight years ago I visited the Knit and Stitch show in Harrogate for the first time. I remember looking at the trade stands and reading their business names above and wondering what I would call my little business if I had one, not that I ever dreamt for a moment that I would. You know one of those little flights of fancy. Well it's just dawned on me...I've done it! I've realised my little dream without realising it, if you know what I mean. 

Gosh! 

Somebody pinch me! teehee!

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head home. We may not need something the size of the Yarndale shuttle bus but we certainly need something bigger than our little Volvo if we're going to do this again!

The journey home was just as stunning as it was going.

We headed home tired but very happy.

We had a wonderful weekend in so many ways. The team at Yarndale did a fantastic job on their first Festival of Craft but most of all, it was all of you who made the weekend special. 

Thank you for joining us and making it a truly magical experience.

You were all lovely.
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If you like to see more lovely Yarndale pictures visit Linda's Crafty Corner blog here