Pam Alison Knits

As a lady of leisure I was able to visit both the Autumn Pen Show and the Knit and Stitch Show this October. Whilst I booked my travel independently for the pen show, I decided to join a coach day-trip to the Knit and Stitch Show at Alexandra Palace. I’ve done this once before and I think it’s the best way to visit if you’re only planning on being there for one day. By the time you’ve taken account of travel through London from (in my case) Liverpool Street Station to Wood Lane then up to Ally Pally, the coach doesn’t really take much longer than the train. I set off from home at 7.15am to walk into town and catch the coach at 8.00am. We arrived at the show at 11.45am, having stopped for a half-hour comfort break at Birchanger Services. We left again at 5.00pm and were back in Norwich at 7.50pm. It was 8.20pm by the time I’d walked home (don’t ask me why the bus service to my home reduces to one per hour after 7.00pm – we clearly aren’t party people hereabouts).

There were plenty of people attending the show on this first of four days, but I still found it comfortable walking around inside. It didn’t feel like it was heaving, which has been the case in some previous shows. I’m not sure if that suggests there were less people there, or if there was more room between the booths. I think part of it was that we missed the first crush when the doors opened at 10.00am, but quite a lot was that I’m more relaxed in general than I was before I retired. I went in with the attitude that I didn’t have to see everything and do everything, if I missed something I’d see it some other time. As a result, I meandered around and when I saw a particular area was congested I just walked over to a clearer part.

Considering that I’ve not found much in the way of knitting inspiration at the show for the past few years, I thought this year there was quite an upturn. It helped that I’m edging my way towards the possibility of dressmaking so fabrics and patterns were also of interest this time round, but even so I thought the knitting content had increased a bit. All-told I found it an enjoyable experience and not too exhausting, as evidenced by my ability to walk home at the end of the day. It helped that there were plenty of spots where a dozen chairs had been tucked away into corners so we could sit down and take a bit of a rest, as well the more formal areas where food and drinks were being served.

I picked out a few highlights from the show to photograph.

Something I did for the first time was stop and watch one of the live “shows” which are a feature of the Knit and Stitch Shows. Sometimes these will be presentations of work by textile students, sometimes they will be a catwalk for ordinary punters to show off what they’ve knitted, some are panel talks. The one I watched was a panel of three contestants from The Game of Wool. I didn’t watch the show and had preconceived notions of what it consisted of, but these three provided an interesting discussion about their time on the show and what they have done since they appeared on it. It was a good way to spend a bit of time and to see the knitting world through someone else’s eyes.

All in all, it was a long, but enjoyable day. I was lucky to sit next to someone on the coach who was interesting to talk with. On the way back we saw the earthworks at Theydon Bois which were commissioned from sculptor Richard Harris in 2014. These are large and impressive and I can’t explain why I’ve never noticed the site before!

Now that I’ve been to both the Knit and Stitch Show and the London Pen Show, my conclusion is that Knit and Stitch is larger, but the London Pen Show is more sociable. At this point, both remain on my list of things to do again next year.