Yarndale 2024 | Skipton Yarn Festival Vlog & Haul | My honest opinions 🧶

[@mlea79]

Hey everyone. Hope you enjoy my yarndale footage ❤

[@debbiebrannam8252]

Hi Marie thank you for taking the time to vlog Yarndale, all of your yarns are beautiful.

[@mlea79]

@@debbiebrannam8252 I appreciate you watching 😊

[@Christinar81]

Thank you for all the footage. It looks like it was lots of fun. That purple yarn is absolutely gorgeous!! 💜

[@mlea79]

@@Christinar81 thank you for watching. We had great fun and there was lots of laughter. Im a sucker for purple 😍

[@moragguthrie8930]

Thanks for the tour of the show. Nice purchases and great plans.

[@mlea79]

@@moragguthrie8930 thank you for watching 😊

[@ajborthwick7239]

Oh you were super restrained! The minis will be fun in your blanket and the purple yarn composition sounds wonderful!

[@mlea79]

@@ajborthwick7239 That purple yarn was meant to be lol I was very good. Even Mona only was too.

[@ajborthwick7239]

@@mlea79 the are great you got to enjoy it, got some goodies, but don’t have to feel overwhelmed now

[@dianebailey2480]

Yes, we agree bout the food and drink side. Came from Birmingham, had a coffee at services on way. Couldn't face the queue for drinks so just had our pop from home. Pie and mash was lovely. Waited for services on the way home for another hot drink. Enjoy Yarndale but a few more tables, chairs and different food trucks would be great x

[@mlea79]

@@dianebailey2480 glad to know it wasn’t just me 😊 Did you take home some nice yarn?

[@dianebailey2480]

@mlea79 , yes thanks and hooks I wanted xx

[@carlascrochetcrafts]

Hi Marie, thank you for sharing your video of Yarndale. I was there on the Saturday with my husband and we really enjoyed it. I need to do my video though. Absolutely loved seeing your yarn haul. 😊

[@mlea79]

@@carlascrochetcrafts I had a great time too and am really pleased with all my purchases. I was very restrained for me lol i will look forward to seeing your footage when you post it. Feel free to add the link to the comments here so we can all watch and don’t miss it xx

[@BrendieR]

Think you gave an honest opinion. Great service for the parking. Lots of vendors, but the food organisation has always been bad for queues. Luckily I had a bottle of water as after 1hr20min wait for Thai food (they ran out of chicken three people ahead of me) they had no drinks and I wasn't going to join another queue!

[@mlea79]

@@BrendieR Hope you had a great day besides the food issues and got loads of wonderful purchases 😊 Thank you for watching

[@knitting.in.the.north.]

Hello Marie, was so interesting to hear your views on Yarndale and agree, they need to make some changes to make it more comfortable for customers as we would stay longer and buy more! I’ve been to quite a few shows, over the years and exhibited as well and the organisers don’t seem to provide enough seating areas or refreshments and having caught Covid from Yarndale, the last two years, I don’t think I’ll return, other than, quickly see my favourite dyer, who is usually by the entrance, then leave! X💕

[@mlea79]

@@knitting.in.the.north. Will you be visiting any other shows?

[@knitting.in.the.north.]

@@mlea79 Probably not, as they all seem to have the same issues? Yarndale is the nearest to me in North Yorkshire, such a shame as it could be such a lovely event. Think they need to have a different venue that caters for everyone’s needs, just adequate seating and refreshments. When I was exhibiting, years ago at Olympia and Ally Pally, they were much better organised with plenty of seating and large tables to eat your packed lunch and plenty of places to get a drink, even a proper staffed cloakroom to leave your coats and bags! Something like a Covent Garden soup station as Olympia had, would be nice. X💕

[@mlea79]

@@knitting.in.the.north. that sounds really good. I wonder if any of the ones abroad are better?

[@Tinysavers]

I went to Buxton Wool Gathering in May. It was my first yarn show. The venue is small and in the octagon glass hall. It was a beautiful day so it can get hot with the sun peaking out. There was a small kiosk selling hot drinks and ice creams. There was another food café but was very busy. I'm diabetic so I always take my own lunch. There were plenty of toilets but they were up some steps and not disable accessible. I ate my lunch in Pavilion Gardens which are beautiful. Buxton has workshops but I would say nowhere to sit with others. The problem I found when I went into Buxton, there were no working public toilets. I went to a shopping centre that had no toilets. One arcade had toilets but they were broken. I ended up going back to the railway station. I went to Buxton on the Saturday so it was busy. If I go next year, I'll go on the Sunday. I've booked to go to Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show in November which is being held in Harrogate Convention Centre so I would think the facilities should be better. Kelly from Lay Family Yarn said on a podcast that they'd cancelled Yarndale and following on from making a loss at another show they're not going to be doing anymore shows for the next couple of years. Kelly said they're going to be offering different things from now on. She explains it on her podcast. ❤

[@mlea79]

@@Tinysavers thanks for such a detailed response. Im glad your first experience hasn’t put you off. I will have to watch Kelly’s podcast 😊

[@celticseahorsecrafts]

My 1st yarn festival that I went to this year was The Wool Monty in Rotherham, just outside Sheffield. In October I'll be going to the Glasgow School of Yarn. I found The Wool Monty to be a great 1st time event. Though I don't drive, I had to rely on public transport to get me to the venue, so I could not attend both days. But the event itself, I found to be a great atmosphere, people talking to complete strangers, places to sit and knit and really inclusive with all disabilities people had.

[@mlea79]

@@celticseahorsecrafts Thank you for that. Im going to compile a list of show and do some research xx

[@celticseahorsecrafts]

@@mlea79 You're welcome. My mother wants to attend one. So I think either the Waltham Abbey one at the end of January or East Anglia Yarn Festival will be good, as both are the closest to me. I believe mum will have sticker shock when she sees the prices of the yarn. Otherwise I'm thinking of Buxton Wool Festival, but only plan on attending 1 festival in 2025.

[@mlea79]

@@celticseahorsecrafts I definitely want to do east anglia. Don’t think I’ve heard of the others. Yes my mum would probably be shocked two. It’s quite nice my family having no idea how much these things cost though 😂🧶

[@debbiebrannam8252]

Oh and I forgot to add , I liked your thoughts on the food and drinks situation . I hope they have a feedback page for people’s opinions on the catering. I went to unravel this year and found the same there.

[@mlea79]

@@debbiebrannam8252 It would benefit them too as people would stay longer socialise and probably spend more money lol. Where is unravel?

[@debbiebrannam8252]

@@mlea79 hi , unravel is at Farnham maltings in Farnham and is on twice a year .

[@ajborthwick7239]

I’m a little envious you have options as we only have 1, maybe 2 shows near me each year. Unfortunately they are also shopping focused. I’ll be interested in hearing which ones you decide to go to next year.

[@mlea79]

@@ajborthwick7239 Maybe thats better then your not tempted. I think we are definitely going to the east anglia one. Probably have to do the train and an overnight stay for that though. I think Mona will always want to go to the Skipton one though as it’s so close and we can just do it in the day.

[@shewhocraftsandplans7736]

I’ve been to yarndale every year since it opened. You are giving it a bad review based on your poor organisation. There is a brilliant cafe indoors which serves hot meals at a great price. There is a coffee stand outside and a couple of food stands. There is ample seating throughout the venue where you can sit and eat a pack up or sit and knit. There are workshops through out both days. You can take the FREE bus into Skipton, there are countless eating establishments in Skipton. There is a bag crèche where you can drop your purchases off. I am disabled and know there were 6 disables toilets. It’s a great venue! Far better than it was 4 year ago! I always buy the 10am slot, I like the space to see what’s on offer! downfall of that is I spend £100 in the first 1/2 hour! It’s a great show!

[@mlea79]

@@shewhocraftsandplans7736 sorry if you felt i was giving it a bad review. That was not my intention. It’s just personal opinion that it would have been perfect with the additions mentioned. I like the social aspect and would enjoy it more if i could sit more, enjoying a warm drink and knitting. I also got the 10am ticket which was good because we managed to get a hot drink before walking round. From what people have said this is the same with a lot of shows and i just think they are missing out by not offering a more social event. It is true that we struggled to get a seat to eat our food and queued for a long time to get food/drinks. All that means is adding more seats and more eating places to accommodate the numbers. They do have a vast number of sellers and being organised in lanes makes it easy to navigate. Im really glad you enjoyed it. I had a great day too. It’s certainly expensive going to shows lol. Yarndale last year was my first and then the wooly good gathering in April. Crazy how fast the budget goes out the window. 😂 Thanks for watching.

[@BrendieR]

I have been nearly every year and it has always been the same for food. I queued for 40 mins at the Thai place only to be told they had run out of chicken so I opted for chips and satay sauce and had to wait another 40 mins after I had paid to get the food. Not good.

[@mlea79]

@@BrendieR oh golly that sounds even worse then us. Hopefully they will get more in the future 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@georginapreston4171]

Sadly I stopped going a few years ago after the tickets prices skyrocketing for no improvement in the accessibility. I don't think its worth paying to have an uncomfortable time with aching feet and arms and feeling like you can't stay long after you've travelled hours to get there because there's ques for the loo, I have a kidney transplant and need to be able to get drinks easily, the idea of having to cart food for the day on the train isn't appealing for me.

[@mlea79]

@@georginapreston4171 thats a real shame and i totally understand. Have you tried any other uk yarn festivals?

[@shewhocraftsandplans7736]

Your health requires extra care, sensible to take extra drinks but I am disabled and find no issues with yarndale layout

[@georginapreston4171]

@@mlea79 theres one in North York sometime soon i might try that one its at a hotel so hopefully will be better facilities

[@mlea79]

@@georginapreston4171 is that Yorkshire yarn fest? I quite fancy trying that. To be fair id got to all of them if i could. Well all the UK ones anyway. I want to compile a list of shows 😊 The problem is if i go to more than two in a year my stash would really be out of hand and my bank balance zero 😂