As we are unable to host an in person event this year we have produced a mini online festival.
Yarningham Online will feature an exclusive marketplace filled with products you won’t be able to get anywhere else, Q&A sessions with our online exhibitors, a classic game of bingo with a yarny twist hosted by Stephen West and a few surprises.
For more information please visit the website here.
We have taken the difficult decision to cancel the physical in person Yarningham 2021. This has again been a tough decision to make but we feel this is the right thing to do in the context of this ongoing global public health situation.
Whilst the vaccine rollout is a welcome tool in the fight against this virus there is still much uncertainty around how this situation is unfolding and this makes it nearly impossible to plan and produce a physical festival this July.
So what happens now?
We are planning to hold an online programme over what would have been our physical festival dates. We’ll have more news and information about that in the coming weeks and months. For now save the dates in your diary – Sat 10th and Sun 11th July 2021.
If you have bought a ticket for any part of Yarningham 2021 you are entitled to a face value refund. Our ticket partner WeGotTickets will be in touch with everyone to process refunds.
We know that this announcement will come as a disappointment to you all. We are just as keen to get back to our physical festival, but until we can ensure the safety of everyone who is involved and attends our events we cannot go ahead.
We want to thank you all for your continued support.
Stay safe, take care of yourselves and we hope to see you face to face very soon.
TEAM YARNINGHAM
Another subject that was mentioned in the feedback is signage.
Every year, we produce a brochure for the show to be given to our audience as they arrive. This includes a floor plan, as well as other information.
However, in our feedback, it became clear that we needed more signs within the venue and outside to help people find their way. Fortunately, we have our fabulous knitted arrows, created by the Yarningham team, that we could use both inside and out.
Another suggestion was to have a large floor plan on display at the main entrance – why didn’t we think of that??! This was put in place at Yarningham 2019 and did make a difference.
We hope to put more copies of the floor plan on display around the venue if we can find suitable locations. This is complicated by the fact that the Uffculme Centre is a grade 2 listed building, so we can’t attach anything to the walls. We will find a way!
We are very grateful to everyone for taking the time to send feedback – it really does help us to make changes to improve the show for everyone.
We moved to our current, larger venue Uffculme Centre in 2018. It was exciting to be in a bigger space with opportunities to grow and develop the festival.
We always measure the rooms to be used as marketplace and make a paper floorplan to lay out the stands. Unfortunately, our measurements weren’t quite right the first time.
This was reflected in the comments received in feedback – aisles too cramped, lack of space between the stands. We knew this before the show happened, but not until the day before when it was too late to change it. On paper, our plan worked perfectly. In reality, it didn’t.
In response to this and to the feedback received after the show, we went back to the venue and started again. We purchased a trundle wheel (pictured above, being pushed by Sara) and measured more thoroughly to try and work out where we went wrong the first time.
We discovered that the main hall wasn’t a rectangle, as we had thought. The two long sides of the room curve in slightly, making the room narrower in the middle than at either end. The curve isn’t visible to the naked eye, but is enough to make a difference to our original layout.
We redesigned the marketplace for 2019 using these new measurements and it was a much better fit. Lesson learnt – measure more carefully in future!
As mentioned in previous posts, feedback from our audience and exhibitors is very important to us.
We enjoy reading your comments and suggestions in the feedback survey sent out after the festival – even the negative things, as this helps us to plan and improve the show.
We love cake at Yarningham! For us, yarn shows and amazing cake go together perfectly. It was mentioned in the feedback that it would be great to have gluten-free cakes as well, so we asked our instagram followers for suggestions of a local, Birmingham based baker.
Paisley Immy Cakes was highly recommened and, after a tasting session, we agreed that her cakes are delicious.
We are delighted to have a wider range of cakes available at future Yarninghams, including gluten free and vegan options.
This Saturday (7th November) is Black Pound Day. Started on 27 June 2020 Black Pound Day is a monthly ongoing campaign to meaningfully alter the UK’s shopping habits to become more inclusive and, in turn, grow the Black economy and Black communities.
Black Pound Day seeks to make some noise about the brilliant stuff that the Black community is and always has been doing.
So this Saturday, if you are in a position to do so please support Black owned businesses like ours. If you’re looking for other fibre/yarn companies to support check out BIPOC in Fiber website for there fantastic searchable directory.
You can find our online shop here.
Are you a woolly blogger or podcaster? Would you like to receive press releases from S&H/Yarningham?
We are currently updating our press distribution lists. If you would like to be added please send us an email.
I want to tell you a secret. It’s that a cake can ‘buy’ you things when you don’t have any money.
Here at S&H/Yarningham HQ we have a DIY attitude. Most of the time this is a necessity rather than a choice. We don’t have the resources or budget of some other organisations so we have to use our creative nous to help solve our problems.
Let me let you in on what I like to call The Cake Economy. Like other economies it works on the premise of goods and services being produced and exchanged. However, in The Cake Economy rather than goods and services being produced and exchanged for money they are produced and exchanged for cake (or other enticing goods).
When we started Yarningham, we did so with absolutely no money whatsoever. We needed lots of work, goods and services to set the festival up. But how could we get a logo designed, for instance, if we had no money? Well what you do is think about what you’re good at – is it baking? Sewing? Gardening? Then ask someone who is good at the thing you need to see if they will do your job in exchange for your skill.
So that’s how the Yarningham logo was designed in return for cake (and some trouser repairs). We use The Cake Economy a lot and you would be surprised what can be ‘bought’ with your skills.
The secret to getting good results from The Cake Economy? Ask nicely and always make sure that you give the person(s) you’re asking a way of saying no easily. Make sure that the exchange is fair and two way. You have to do something of equal or equivalent measure.
In our last post about how we select exhibitors for the Yarningham marketplace I’ll talk a bit about the panel. The panel is made up of TEAM YARNINGHAM – myself (Sara Fowles), Helen Winnicott, Venetia Headlam and Lilith Winnicott.
Sara Fowles “I grew up in Birmingham and learnt to knit at school aged around 7. I then promptly gave up knitting and learnt to sew instead, crafting clothes for myself out of pillowcases and my mothers cast offs. I didn’t take up my needles again until a friend gave me a birthday gift of 2 balls of chunky Rowan yarn. Less than a year later I had started Stitches and Hos, a monthly knit night held in a pub. Over the last couple of years I have expanded my making repertoire to include machine knitting after buying a machine in a charity shop.”
Venetia Headlam “My mom taught me to knit when I was about 7 or 8 years old, I forgot it all then she re-taught me when I was 11, ill and needed something to do. She also taught me the basics of crochet when I was 14, and I have surpassed her in my skills, she will now call on me if she needs “help” with something (ie wants me to do it for her!). Over the past few years I have expanded my skills and added knitting machines and an electric spinning wheel to my arsenal of yarn crafting instruments. The spinning wheel doesn’t get as much action as the needles/hooks/machines but I am determined to make yarn that actually looks decent, and not like spun carpet fluff.”
Lilith Winnicott “I began knitting as a child and promptly forgot how to do it. I re-learnt when I was about 18 and chose the most complicated pattern to knit, on dpns! I also sew, bake and build things. My life seems to revolve around one craft or another but I love it all”
Helen Winnicott “My mom taught me to knit when I was 6 or 7, but I don’t remember making anything until I was a bit older. My cousin and his wife had a baby girl when I was 12 and I knitted bootees and a cardigan for her. I began knitting again in 1989 when I was pregnant with my first child and have never stopped since then. I knitted things for all my children when they were small and now for my grandchildren. Thanks to the internet, I found lots of indie dyers and gorgeous yarns and love to knit socks and shawls for myself. I have tried to crochet but am not very good at it and can only manage a chain.”
In this blog post about how we select exhibitors for Yarningham, we’ll look at what we are looking for.
The Yarningham marketplace is the place to find the best independent dyers, producers, designers, online retailers, brick and mortar shops from around the UK and beyond.
Once the application closing date has passed we hold a meeting to assess the applications. The Yarningham panel is made up of myself (Sara Fowles), Helen Winnicott, Venetia Headlam and Lilith Winnicott. We use a scoring system to assess the applications. Each member of the panel scores individually. The scores are added together and a mean average taken. Those with the highest scores are selected.
The scoring system we use is divided into categories with points given for each category. Points are awarded for uniqueness of style/voice, diversity of range and price points and quality of the products. We award points based solely on the application form for that year.
A point is given for applicants new to Yarningham which helps us to ensure that 50% of our marketplace is new to Yarningham each year. A point is also given to those who have followed the application guidelines and sometimes this can be the difference between being selected and not.
In the next blog post about how we select I’ll tell you a bit more about the Yarningham panel a.k.a. TEAM YARNINGHAM
stitches and hos blog 