Olympia - Not quite

This weekend I went to the Stitch and Craft show at Olympia. I didn’t have high hopes for the show as I’d been a few years ago and it was underwhelming. Sadly this year it had not redeemed itself as I’d hoped. I’m not sure if it’s the venue doing the talking but the atmosphere of the show is less of excitement and more of being cramped. The yarn section was down in the dungeon or downstairs as I’m sure most people would say and this made it feel as if the knitting section of the show was a bit of an afterthought rather than the glowing attraction that I feel it should be.

There couldn’t have been more than 20 stalls and there was only one that was new to inspire me. Hoopla yarn takes the long thin off-cuts from industrial fabric reams and makes them into unique fabric yarns. This is part of the new craze of upcycling which Hoopla defines as 'the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value'. The yarn is beautiful and best used for projects needing structure such as bags, cushions, footstools, slippers and decorative crochet items. My friend Sarah bought a gorgeous cone of flower print yarn for just £5 which was bargainous to say the least.


Of the few stalls available the majority of them were regulars of the other big knitting shows of the year and so didn’t excite me into spending. The student exhibition pieces were interesting as always and I had to take a picture of this lovely knitted statue. The work that went into knitting the feathers on the wings was amazing.

The Milla Mia stand was showcasing its latest designs for a new book coming out very soon. The latest collection boasts their trademark cute dresses and cardigans for girls and there were lots of lovely cables for boys all in their delicious popping-out-at-you colour pallet. While I was chatting with the owners they told me that one of their knitted up designs had been stolen from the show. It completely flabbergasted me that the sort of person that goes to a craft show would steal such a thing from one of the stalls. The cheek!

Although disappointed by the show Sarah and I did have a lovely day. It was gorgeously sunny outside and we took a walk to Westfield to wander around the shops. It was nice to get out and about without having lots of errands to run or a strict time to get back for, which made for a lovely relaxing Saturday.