Tickets selling fast for the Scottish Wool Producers' Showcase

Culross Yarn's stall, 2024

Hello! I know that I have readers all over the world which is amazing when I stop to think about it! I also know that I have a good cluster of readers who are much more local, and this week's newsletter is specially for you.

It was announced this week that there are less than a third of tickets left for this year's Scottish Wool Producers' Showcase, to be held in Perth in the Civic Hall & Council Chambers on the 22nd of March. This annual event has sold out in the past and it looks likely that the same will happen this year, so if you haven't already purchased your ticket, please don't delay!

Lammermuir Wool's stall, 2024

What can you expect at the Scottish Wool Producers' Showcase?

The event is centred around the Scottish wool producing industry and consists of multiple stalls packed to the gunnels with good quality Scottish wool. It's probably the most tactile yarn event I've been to - in fact you're encouraged to squish and sniff the various types of wool on offer. There's a very relaxed atmosphere which enables discussions with the stall holders, many of whom run small holdings and farms (raising the animals which produce their wool) to take place.  After last year's event I recorded and uploaded a podcast special to YouTube which you can watch if you'd like to hear me talk about my day and show off my purchases.

As I've mentioned in previous emails and in my regular podcast, I'll have a stall at the showcase which is super, duper exciting and I'm working hard behind the scenes on the details of how it's all going to look and what I'm going to sell.

I'm going to do two things: 1) shine the spotlight on the many crochet patterns which I've designed in Scottish wool and 2) sell paper copies of 2 of my patterns which call for Scottish wool. The physical copies will be my Perth Beanie pattern, designed to be crocheted in one skein of The Scottish Yarn Festival Clan DK and (all things going to plan!) my River Never Sleeps Cowl, designed to be crocheted in two colours of The Scottish Yarn Festival 4ply.

An update for you: the River Never Sleeps Cowl (above) has now been tested and is currently with my tech editor (Ruth at Orchard House Editing in the USA). Next week I'll be out and about doing the photo shoot with my eldest, which is one of my favourite final steps! Once I'm happy with everything, I'll prepare it for printing and selling on the day of the showcase, which will be a special pre-release day! I will launch the pattern on my website and on Ravelry the following week. So, if you want to be first to get your hands on a copy, come along to the Scottish Wool Producers' Showcase!

Stay tuned for more upcoming news from me - the best way to do so is to subscribe to my mailing list and have it delivered straight to your inbox!

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx

My Day at the Scottish Wool Producers Showcase

 

Scottish Wool Producers Showcase

Well, the event last Saturday in Perth was a blast! I enjoyed every minute, from wandering around squishing wool in the morning to chatting to crochet fans at my stall in the afternoon!

This was the second time that this showcase festival had been run by Eva Christie and the team behind the Scottish Yarn Festival, and it definitely deserves its sell-out success! The upstairs area of the Dewars Centre in Perth was a wool lover's dream!

I arrived in Perth by train and had about an hour to wonder about, look at the stalls and chat to the stall holders. It was so good to see and feel all the different Scottish wools available. 

At midday, myself and the other designers who had been invited had half an hour to set up our stalls to display our designs. I'd brought with me a few samples which used Scottish wool, including my Gorse Cowl and Saturday Beanie.

In the morning, I'd picked up 2 very different types of yarn and I displayed them with large sheets of paper, asking my fans what they thought I should use them for. 

I'd bought 4x 25g cakes of Balgownie Wool from Culross Yarn (above). It's 4ply, spun with wool from their own sheep and beautifully dyed up with the most dreamy plant based dyes! One of the most popular suggestions was wrist warmers/ fingerless mitts/ mittens - so I think I will go along with that. The quantity will be just right and I can work some pretty colour changes in.

My second acquisition was 8x 50g skeins of Ethie Yarn from Lunan Bay Farm (below). This yarn is 10% cashmere/ 40% Shetland/ 50% alpaca and it feels absolutely gorgeous! The most popular suggestion from my fans was to make a tank top/ sleevelss top which I feel would work very well in this drapy wool.  

I'd also brought along printed copies of my Perth Beanie crochet pattern to give away. It was an appropriate one to give away because the Clan DK wool needed for the pattern was available to buy from The Scottish Yarn Festival stall, just down the corridor! This design is free on my blog if you fancy the pattern for yourself, link below.

I made a short podcast episode all about my day which has now been uploaded to YouTube. Go take a look if you'd like to find out more and see extra photos and video footage.

If you have enjoyed my blog today, please consider signing up to my mailing list, when you do, you'll automatically be sent my PDF with 25 top tips that every crocheter should know! 

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx