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Morsbags at Ally Pally
When I arrived at Kings Cross to catch my train to Alexandra Palace I was met by two trains destined for the nearby train station. They were ram packed with women of all ages making me think that it was good that John had detoured to a cycle show instead. It’s not that there were no men visiting, it’s just that the the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace (affectionately called Ally Pally) is highly favoured by females. As we rolled in to the station I could see the daunting palace up on the hill. There was a courtesy bus to take us up there but the long queue convinced me that I should walk instead. Arriving exhausted I was met by the Morsbag workshop and exhibition. What a great idea! Together with you and me they wish to save the world from the evil plastic bag. I would like to take this opportunity to ask everyone who reads this to visit the Morsbag website, download the instructions and make one yourself. I certainly will!.
The show is impressive. It’s huge! So many stalls and so many people (this was a Saturday). I particularly enjoyed the guild exhibitions and the stalls focusing on natural fibers from buffalo to Wensleydale. What I didn’t particularly enjoy was the very commercial stalls selling all sorts of junk. But then again I wasn’t there to get a good deal on mops.
I decided to try and get into the one hour demo on machine knitting by Amy Twigger Holroyd from Keep & Share. It was a great decision and I now feel ready to go home and have another go on my three knitting machines. I also stumbled upon the Guild of Machine Knitters who could direct me straight to a stall where I could buy the essential sponge bar needed to make my machines working.
I am not sure that I really saw all that Ally Pally had to offer. In the Great Hall I intended to get around all the rows in an orderly fashion. This was very optimistic! Too many people and too many stalls. But I did find some great stalls, meet some lovely people and best of all gathered material for several posts I will be writing this winter. I took the courtesy bus back to the station exhausted but saturated with inspiration and I got to buy some essentials to play around with when I get home.
