KAN2

Well its that time of year again, time to head off on a twin prop plane and head to the sunshine of Napier for KAN2 (Knitting August Nights). Yet again Maree hosted a wonderful knitting conference,booking the weather yet again and an amazing gathering of friends new and old. Don't forget a splash of colour in the form of yarn and fibre!

A group of 4 of us arrived in drizzle and wind at Welly airport just before lunch Friday ready for the fun to begin. As soon as we headed north the clouds

dispersed and the blue skies arrived. We landed in Napier to warm sunny blue skies and snow capped mountains - what bliss.

Straight to East Pier to check into Harbour View motel, dump the bags and head off to register and receive our goodie bags. Wow right there, a great bag of lots of treats, although the pink pen and Smiggle notebook soon caught the attention of little Kate (10). A deal was quickly done!!!! Then to assess the traders and their wares- good job I have been saving!!

Yet again there was a huge range of indie dyers with different colour pallets and bases. Some new dyers were also launching at this event. There was an increase in fibre for sale this year, no doubt with the amount of spinners among us and new spinners who took the drop spindling workshop!

Frances ( Spindles by Sourkraut) was there selling her beautifully crafted drop spindles, fibre and silver jewelry.

A particular mention to Sally and her new venture Verandah Yarns. A gorgeous range of predominantly solid colours on 3 different bases;

Alpaca Merino Nylon mix, Merino Koigu, and an adorable 50% Silk, 50% Merino base. I was very much taken with the River Cottage Alpaca mix and the Mr Darcy Blue merino.

Morag (Vintage Purls) was there again with a wide range of her wares, including a selection of the new DK weight Max, a couple of those fell into my shopping basket, along with a new set of tips for the test knit I had started.

Yarnz were there with their range of peaches and cream cotton for dish cloths. Also with a new range of products including the very popular puppy snips!!!!

Jess (Spinning a yarn) was there with a range of fibre and the very popular silk Merino 2-ply. yes one of those landed in my suitcase too! She took a very popular workshop 'knitting with unspun fibre' including the silk hankie trick and knitting a fruit bowl and felting it. We were all giving a sample of the lace 2-pl in our goodie bags too - Bonus!!!

Tash (Holland Road Yarn Company and Knitch) was there with a large range of her yarns and products from the shop, everything a knitter needs for a weekend away!

Margret (Impilia) is new to KAN this year as a seller of her own fibre and yarn. A lovely merino base with some stunning colours. And she also has some very pretty stitch markers- yes you guessed it, they came home too!

Matt (Wabi Sabi Fibre) came along this year with a range of lovely fibres for those spinners among us! He was often seen demonstrating his drop spindling or travelling wheel.

Polly (Little Country wools) was back again to lead us astray with the delicious range of Malabrigo, Madelinetosh and Shibui yarns.

James and Ian (Joy) arrived finally after some major complications with car and a flat tyre! But we are glad he made! Seeing Ian walk in with oil over his face made we smile with joy, that they had arrived safely. what would KAN be without James,his yarns,his kilt and a great quiz at the conference dinner!

We also had a wonderful range of printed t-shirts from Little Radiator,with some fab yarn and fibre related motifs.

How can we forget Skeinz!!!

They provided 2 balls of yarn in the goodie bags and once again ran the popular tour of the design spun mill, finished in the Skeinz shop - oh Heaven! you can see from the photo above the Prism, Harvest, Perendale , Moondance, and Vintage ranges that were acquired at the shop, plus some more single roving alpaca and wool mixes.

The workshops were varied and packed full of great learning! I learn't Entralac and drop spindling, but there was soo many great workshops to do - 10 in total, and just not enough time in the weekend to do them all!! Good job Maree is already planning KAN3!

The venue was once again great, and no one could fault the weather. Some of us even went for a swim in Napier's outdoor heated salt water spa - oh bliss... A group of us tempted our pallets at the Master of India restaurant and discovered that starters and mains are too much!

The Sunday morning ritual breakfast at Milk and Honey was just as good as last year - a must visit cafe for anyone in the area! this year were were joined for the Sunday morning treat by Genny (Aka GrannyG), author the the very popular Entangled magazine. Genny had mad a drive down from Auckland Friday night to join us for the weekend, arriving gone 11pm! Well worth the trip though and great to catch up again.

Well after all that eating and spending, I need to start saving again for next year, and knitting all my new stash up quickly!!!!