What I Learned at Unravel Festival 2020

Last week, I attended Unravel Festival in Farnham, U.K for the first time ever. I'm not sure how long the festival has been running, but it was the first yarn festival I have ever attended. Well, physically attended - I tuned into some of the Instagram live streams of Vogue Knitting Live in previous years, but I was happy to be going somewhere where I could actually squish the yarn. Exciting stuff!

I had only learned about the festival a few days before, but after looking at the list of workshops I immediately booked on to attend Introduction to Knitwear Design, run by Kate Atherley. At my old job at a well-known craft company, I was known for tweaking patterns and adapting designs to my own tastes - I think one person called it franken-knitting. After changing, altering and winging so many patterns, it was only natural that I had taken an interest in knitwear design. Designing and pattern writing would be a perfect next step, and a beginner's class at Unravel seemed like a fantastic place to start.

Unravel Festival Workshop

I learned a lot over the course of my 3 hour workshop. The first thing being that I was severely underdressed for a yarn festival. Somehow I had managed to walk out the house without putting on a single piece of knitwear - it was shameful. Nevertheless, my lack of knitwear didn't stop me from benefiting greatly from the class: I learned more about ease, pattern grading requirements, design originality and pattern writing, coming away with 5 pages of notes that I have now typed up as part of my own personal reference guide. I won't go into the entire content of the workshop, but I thought I'd share a few of the most interesting things that I learned:

• • Seams in flat-knitted knitwear provide structure and support to the garment, which prevents it from sagging over time. If you want a well-tailored and well-fitted garment, knitting flat is the way to go - it might take longer to seam but it's worth it in the long run.
• • The Craft Yarn Council and Ysolda have great sizing charts for knitwear designers
• • Nothing is really new in knitting, but you have to make sure your work isn't derivative of another designer's work - you can't just change the yarn & gauge and call it your own. That being said, if two people create similar work independently of one another, that's ok - it happens!
• • Instead of using upper-bust measurements, it's better to look at the torso circumference (or cross-back measurements), as a larger upper-bust measurement doesn't necessarily correspond to a larger frame (Dolly Parton is an excellent example of this).

Unravel Festival haul

I can't say that I got much at Unravel, but I did manage to pick up a few things. KnitPro had a stand and, being a huge fan of their metal 'zing' needle range, I picked up a pair of interchangeable needles, a cable and a smaller fixed circular needle for sock knitting. After eyeing up the incredible hand-dyed yarn selection, I picked up a skein of Dusty Dimples sock yarn. With its pink speckles and light brown tones, it looks like a slice of strawberry cheesecake - I love it! It's the first true hand-dyed yarn I've bought. I'm using The Yarn Collective fleurville for a top that I'm working on, and I have some Lion Brand hand-dyed heaven yarn in my stash, but neither of them really compare to speckled yarn from an indie dyer. I couldn't afford more than 1 skein, but luckily I can get 2 bralettes from it - there's definitely perks to being a petite knitter!

I wish I had stayed a little longer at the festival, but I wasn't feeling too well so I left after a quick browse of the stalls. It was probably a good thing too - my bank balance will thank me in the long run. That being said, I had a lovely time at the festival and I'm sure I'll be returning there next year for more crafty goodness.