The North West Winter Wool Festival

In June 2024 I was bemoaning the fact that as an indie yarn dyer I found it difficult to get a place in some of yarn shows that take place throughout the year. At that point my DH suggested that I organise my own event. I figured that there would be other small businessess around that had the same issue and I really wanted to provide a platform giving them the opportunity to promote and grow their own businesses.

So I did it. I settled on a time of year that did not have any shows in the North West and booked the venue.

 I then set out to secure exhibitors. I spoke to numerous small business owners when I attended the shows I had managed to secure in 2024 and handed out thousands of leaflets and launched a consistant social media campaign to raise awareness over the coming months.

All too soon the weekend arrived and my exhibitors started arriving and setting up. It always amazes me to see how an empty space becomes the most beautiful Aladdins Cave of jewel coloured yarns and crafty treasures. 

It was so lovely to see everyone so excited for this event. There are not many events like this in the North West and really nothing between January and March so it was good to fill the 'hungry gap' for small businesses and visitors.

 I enlisted my family and we prepared to welcome all our visitors. 

Saturday was absolutly heaving! I could not have hoped for a better outcome. Everyone was so excited to brighten up gloomy February by spending a day squishing yarn.

Overall the show was a success and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I've never organised an event before and so I suppose you could say it was an ambitious or stupid thing to take on a 2-day large scale event however, I'm really glad we did it. There is nothing nicer than helping to promote small businesses and to provide something that makes people happy. 

I learned so much from this show and I have a list of things that I want to change and improve for our next event such as a different ticketing system, having show merchandise available, and a place for visitors to leave their coats!

You never know just how an event will be supported and what sorts of numbers you can expect but overall it was a success and I'm so glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone and did it. We will certainly be putting this event on again next February!

This past week has been very busy with numerous court appearances for clients so there was very little time to pop up here and give you a peek into the world of wool shows. It was only yesterday that I actually got around to packing away all the show bits and bobs. 

Next week is a bit quieter work-wise and I am grateful for that. I'm hoping to get some sort of clarity on exchange and completion dates on our house sale. I think we are now in a place to focus all our attention and efforts on moving back to the countryside and quite frankly, we are looking forward to the peace and quite!

We have a piece of land that backs onto our current home that has been undevelped for years. Shortly before winter they broke ground and while it has been so much quieter and less disruptive that I thought it would be, I am craving wide open spaces and views overy the countryside.

Anyhoo lovelies, I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend and are almost ready for the week ahead. See you soon!