Ann Pawley

Well, the first Discover Original Art Fair was a great success! Very many thanks to everyone who came along to Ivinghoe and supported us. We couldn’t have asked for a friendlier or more enthusiastic audience – you’re all wonderful.

But for now, it’s time to pack the exhibition kit away and get back to stitching.

I’ve been promising myself a trip to the The Handweavers Studio in London for months, and yesterday I finally managed to squeeze it in.

Over the last few years, as I’ve experimented more and more with alternative yarns for tapestry stitching, I’ve constantly been on the look out for suppliers who can offer yarns that will suit my style of stitching, in a range of colours that gives me the total palette I want. Every so often I find something wonderful – mainly dyed by artisan dyers, who create some astonishingly beautiful effects, but as these tend to be designed predominantly for knitting, they’re rarely available in quite as large a range of shades as I’d really like to have, and so I end up delving into the dark places of my yarn stash, hoping to find complementary tones.

My search for some elusive colours for my newest piece was getting pretty desperate, so I was really hoping, as I braved the grotty weather along The Seven Sisters Road yesterday, that I’d find something suitable at The Handweavers shop.

And I think you can see from the picture above – it was a very successful trip.

Apart from seeking specific colours, I was keen to spend time looking and crucially feeling the different yarn bases available. Although their website is very informative, I find that I have to touch a thread to know if it will work for me. Which is why I spent such a long time, studying every option and writing notes for myself for future reference – at least now I should be able to order online and be certain about what I’m choosing.

So, a very happy and successful few days all round.

Too soon to show you the new piece – but now you know some of the colours that will feature…

Happy stitching.

❤

Don’t forget to pop over to my blog dreaminginstitches.wordpress.com for stitchy and occasionally non-stitchy updates on life around here.