When one goes to a yarn show it is always wonderful to see how lovely and colourful the stands look.  I think this is especially so when stallholders have to make the best of an agricultural building such as we do when we go to the likes of Yarndale and Woolfest.  I know you won't be surprised to know that besides all the dyeing that happens well in advance of an event,  a lot of thought and preparation goes into getting the stand look attractive and appealing.

Today I was packing stock and boxes to go to Yarndale towards the end of the week. Here is yarn, and lots of it, as you can glimpse in the grey boxes already safely packed into the trailer - you will also glimpse poles, signage, and bags that contain elements that make up my display stand.



But it isn't just yarn that has to find a storage corner, no no no! Here are some of the piles that were found around the garden and workshop today:

Boxes which contain parts of my stand, bags stuffed with clean table covers and bags containing signage:



(We have a new stand format for Yarndale this year, so there is always the added concern that we've not measured properly, or we leave some essential piece of kit behind.)

Dust sheets to cover the yarn overnight to protect it from the birds that sometimes find their way into the auction marts, as well as the bag which contains one single long piece of calico fabric to go all the way around the stand in order to have a "clean" background:



The much needed "Admin" box, which contains all kinds of things including hooks, note books, pens, hand cleaner, sample hangers, business cards, spare card machine rolls etc etc etc:



But perhaps the most difficult part of packing for a show is what has to get left behind.  Yarn that hasn't dried enough to label and pack:



or because there are multiples or singles of colours that I simply just can't squeeze in:



Tomorrow will be a day of making sure nothing has been forgotten, packing of personal stuff, and of course knitting for the journey.  Thursday and part of Friday will be spent on the road travelling south.  Friday afternoon is spent setting up the stand, and then it is back to our accommodation for a quiet evening so that we look bright and chirpy for 10.00am on Saturday morning when the doors open to the public  And I love it.  Every aspect of it.  And I'm looking forward to seeing many of you there.

I'll try and remember to put pictures up on Twitter and Instagram as the event unfolds, so you will find live updates there if you want to see how the stand looks once I've finished frou frou-ing it!