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Knitting Life

P/hop at Fibre East 2016

I love Fibre East, it’s my local show and always has great vendors, real sheep and lovely ice cream. This year I ended up manning the p/hop shawl all Sunday. P/hop is a knitting fundraiser for Médecins Sans Frontier: designers (including me) have donated patterns which are then sold in exchange for a donation of the customer’s choice online and at shows all over the UK.

Oscillating Socks
Oscillating Socks, my p/hop pattern ©Rachel Gibbs

I’ve helped out for a few hours before and found it really fun, getting to chat to people about knitting and making money for charity. Heidi, the current p/hop coordinator, asked for people to run the stall as she would be unable to be there due to an inconveniently timed pregnancy (she ended up giving birth on Sunday morning, so good call not to try and be there). I volunteered to be there for one day and three other volunteers also stepped up, so we were able to split the weekend between us.

I spent the day with Julie, who was great company, especially when we weren’t entirely sure what we were doing. All the stallholders we talked to said that Sunday was quieter than Saturday but we still had quite a few visitors to the stall and hopefully made a lot of money for p/hop.

The p/hop sock tree
The p/hop sock tree ©Rachel Gibbs

I did get the chance to look around and buy a few things. Sock blanks seem to be all the rage at the moment and I’ve never used one, so I bought a gorgeous sparkly gradient one from Sara’s Texture Craft. I also bought some deep blue/purple sock yarn from WooSheeps, which is a new brand to me and I’m excited to try it.

I’ve talked about my love of 9″ circulars for vanilla socks before, and I want to see how metal tips compare to bamboo, which I usually prefer. It should also reduce the number of times I end up juggling needles when I’m working on three things at once! The only other thing I picked up was some Debbie Abrahams beads, since so many people are bringing out beautiful beaded sock patterns at the moment.

A very modest Fibre East haul
A very modest Fibre East haul ©Rachel Gibbs

I had some great conversations with people, including Fiona, my tech editor, from alittlebitsheepish, who I’ve never met in person before but was lovely, as well as being great at finding issues with my patterns. One of my favourite things about knitting events is all the people I get to meet.

By the end of the day I was absolutely exhausted, I nearly fell asleep on the coach home. I don’t know how people do two days in a row, although my stamina is pretty terrible anyway. I’ve just about recovered now, and looking forward to next year.