This is the second of a three-part series about Guild members’ experiences at The Knitting and Stitching Show of 2023 in Harrogate, UK. Naturally, the exhibitions and vendors may be different this year! This year’s event in Harrogate opens on Thursday, the 21st and runs through the 24th of November. For more information, visit the Show’s website – https://www.theknittingandstitchingshow.com/harrogate/

By Lorna Cady

Feltmakers visit to Knitting and Stitching Show, Harrogate

Four of us – Annika Berglund, Lorna Cady, Dee Crofts, and Breda Fay went to the Knitting and
Stitching Show 2023, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. We were there as visitors – rather than having a stall or running demonstrations.

We set off on Wednesday, 15th November, on a small Aer Lingus Regional plane departing Dublin at 06.40am to Leeds Bradford Airport! A bus journey took us to Harrogate. This is a beautiful spa town with elegant Regency houses, a Pump House to take the excellent Waters of the town, tea shops, parks, antique shops, and charity/secondhand shops whose wares rival the contents of Brown Thomas. On this first day, we saw Harrogate itself, as The Knitting and Stitching did not open till the next day. A glorious day was spent seeing a lot of the lovely town and finding some wonderful bargains, bearing in mind that we still had Knit and Stitch to come and considerations of baggage allowance on the way home!

That night, we dined in an Indian Restaurant, which was like a Mughal palace with dishes to match. We had a mixture of hotel accommodation and a neat little Airbnb near the town centre.

The Knitting and Stitching Show

The next morning, it was Knit and Stitch!! The Conference Centre, where it was held, was open from 9 AM – 6 PM, and we were there for every minute! Annika and Breda had booked workshops for that day, and the next, Dee and Lorna went around the show all day, albeit we could gather for refreshments from time to time, to ensure we did not collapse.

The stalls were many and varied, selling fabric by the yard, wool, exotic buttons, embroidery
materials etc. In addition, they had a large exhibition space where artists, weavers, and other makers could exhibit their marvellous works. There were also displays of amazing works from students at local art colleges. We were all tempted to buy a few lovely things!

Some of the Artwork Seen

More Fun

We were about the last to leave the show and went to a lovely pub across the road from the Conference Centre with its own microbrewery. We then ate at an excellent Italian restaurant next door, which had Venetian cuisine, which was really good and quite different from most Italian Restaurants. That night, back at the house, we just about had the energy to have a glass of wine – the first night, after the early start – we were dead on our feet at 9 PM.

On Friday, Annika and Breda headed off to more workshops at The Knit and Stitch, Dee to
explore more of Harrogate, and Lorna headed to Leeds to begin the grand tour of restored Mills in the North of England to get ideas for Kilmainham Mill at home.

Thank you, Lorna, for sharing your experiences at The Knitting and Stitching Show 2023 in Harrogate.

If you are a Feltmakers Ireland Guild member and have recently attended an interesting textile-related event or exhibition that may be of interest to our readers, please contact the blog – feltmakersie@gmail.com

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