Yarn Love! International Trade Fair for Handcrafts and Hobbies

Happy Easter Weekend everyone! 

I hope you have wonderful days with your loved ones ahead of you (and some time for crochet!).

The last weekend was spent in Cologne at the International Trade Fair for Handcrafts and Hobbies. You might recall my blog post about it from last year. This year, I wasn't a visitor. Instead I worked for Stylecraft as a translator (German to English). 

I arrived on Friday morning and fortunately the wonderful ladies from Stylecraft spotted me straight away. The show opened at 9am but we could go in earlier. It was quite lovely to walk past the stalls without visitors there. The Stylecraft ladies took me into their team straight away and I had such a lovely time! Plus as a yarn addict it is very cool to see the new yarns and colors (not just from Stylecraft) ahead of their release. Ladies and Gents - I can tell you: Some wonderful yarn-y goodness is on its way to us! Can't wait!

Just as last year, there was soo much too see! Yarns, fabric, buttons... A crafters wonderland really. I kinda wish, I could have stayed there over night and play with all these things!! On the other hand... I wasn't too sad to put my feet up in the evenings either. ;-)

There were a lot of interested retailer at the Stylecraft stall and I really hope that some German retailers will stock the yarn as well soonish! I wish there was a store in Dortmund which stocked it, so I could just pop in whenever I need yarn instead of ordering online and waiting for the delivery! Oh well... till then I should use up my stash I guess (Hello, I am Anne and I am a yarn hoarder/yarn addict).

What really caught peoples eyes was the Frida's Flowers Blanket. Or rather blankets. There were 3 (!) Frida's Blankets on the stall. One in each recommend yarn. They each look wonderful but also very different depending on the yarn. The stitch definition is best with the cotton but the lightest version is the Special DK. I will crochet the blanket with cotton myself.

While waiting for retailers to come (they came in waves!), I managed to crochet two quick Elise Shawls with the Stylecraft Cabaret yarn. I am no big fan of glitter but the sparkle in this yarn is actually quite nice and great to work with! There was quite a bit of frogging involved though because it seems I made mistakes whenever I put the work down to do something else :P I finished the two shawls by Sunday evening though.  

I kinda hope that Stylecraft needs a translator again next year... :D I had great fun!

So now off to get some pattern translating going!

What is on your hook this weekend?

Take care

Anne