Wonderfully Woolly Yarndale

Next day was Yarndale … and having learned that giddy is a good Yorkshire word, I think that perfectly sums up how I was feeling! During Covid, I took up slow stitching, particularly following the textile artist Anne Brooke and have taken part in her year long tag and flag projects. She is exhibiting at Yarndale which will give me the opportunity to meet her, but also to shop for bits and pieces to add to my slowly expanding stash of stitching goodies!

After breakfast, Chris decided to spend the day driving round and about, taking photos while I set off on foot to find Yarndale by following the woolly trail of crocheted markers along the Yarn Walk …

… which took me over the canal …

… and through a park to the Auction Mart, a huge shed decorated with woolly bunting …

… and separated into pens, usually occupied by livestock, but today all things woolly instead.

I wandered round and found Anne’s pen and it was lovely to meet her properly after all this time, and her friend Jane who often joins the online Stitch & Chat sessions. I was able to see some of her stitching on display and also share some of mine, and left after a little retail therapy well as the offer of a coffee at The Shed, her workshop in Brighouse, if I had time to stop on our way home.

Slowly I worked my way through some 200 exhibitors, quite a lot selling wool of one sort or another, maybe raised from specific breeds or hand dyed, or specially for felting/weaving/knitting.

I was very successful in my search for woolly bits and roving for a new macraweave wall hanging and it was good to have purpose to my browsing.

Once I was done, Chris picked me up and we drove to Grassington for a quick look, mainly as it is the filming location for Darrowby in the current production of All Creatures Great and Small. Once you look carefully, you realise how different the place looks when the film crew dresses the location for filming, adding pillars and fencing and removing the cars.

Nonetheless, we did spot the pub and the vet practise and a couple of premises getting in on the act! We had hoped for a cuppa somewhere but we’d left it too late, so had another excellent mug of Yorkshire Tea back at Highfield House. Chris told me he’d had a good day driving around the dales enjoying the views, taking a short walk to Linton Falls and sampling cake but he’d left his photo head behind!

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