A royal celebration in the park

Hurra for 17. mai!

Kari-Helene took the afternoon off, and here she tells us why.

This is going to be a slightly different blog post. I am, for those of you who haven't heard me go on about it, Norwegian, and today is a special day for everyone from Norway. I took the afternoon off and travelled to Southwark Park in South London to take part in the celebrations for Norway's National Day. It wasn't a very warm day so because my national costume is being kept safe at my parents place in Norway, I wore my trusted Duchess Cardigan and Camilla Hat and set off.

We celebrate this day as it is the day when the first constitution of an independent Norway was signed. We had been a part of Denmark for around 300 years and in 1814 we were passed over to Sweden, but with our own constitution. In 1905 Norway became its own country with our own Royal family. The first Queen of Norway was Queen Maud who was a part of the British Royal Family. Martha Louise is the great grand-daughter of Queen Maud.

We start the day by walking in a parade. Right at the front is the Norwegian flag, then follows the important people, usually someone like the mayor of the city, then comes all the schools carrying their individual banners and a selection of bands playing traditional songs. The special thing about the parade in London this year was that the Norwegian princess, Martha Louise, and her family recently moved to London and walked at the front of the parade!

There aren't that many Norwegian schools and clubs in London, but those who walked in the parade had made a wonderful effort. How adorable are the boys and girls in their national costumes?

After the parade we gathered at the pavilion in the park for speeches and musical entertainment. The Princess gave a speech, but the best speech of the day was given by Anna and Anna, two amazing girls with a lot of charisma. They proclaimed that with one Norwegian parent each, together they were a whole Norwegian.

After the speeches everyone chills out in the park. There were games for the children and most importantly, there were ice cream, waffles, hot dogs and Solo for sale (Solo is the Norwegian version of Fanta). When I was a child my dad used to say that I could eat as many ice creams as I wanted that day. I was always disappointed when I only managed three or four.

There were also a magician in the park, but I have to say that he was my least favourite part of the day. He really hadn't done his research very well when he proudly proclaimed that he was expecting to learn how to count to 6 in Swedish (!!) by the end of the day. Otherwise this was a perfect day to celebrate the 17th of May.

Wonders of Wool in Wales

At the weekend the Purl Alpaca roadshow went to Wales to take part in the wonderful Wonderwool! We drove from London thinking it would take us 4-ish hours and ended up not taking the straight route there but rather the scenic one and spent 6... But we got there at 6pm and had 2 hours to set up our stand. Luckily we have done it a few times by now and have the routine! We managed to get pretty much everything finished before heading to the local pub for dinner. 

On the way to Builth Wells we drove through so many idyllic places and scenery - this amazing village was one of the highlights!

Wonderwool turned out to be one of the nicest shows we have visited. Held in the Royal Welsh showground there were plenty of space for the 170 something yarn and textile related exhibitors with lots of lovely foodstalls in between. The Welsh coffee roasters, Preseli,  next to us was doing a roaring trade, not at least because the smell was making Kari-Helene crave coffee like nothing else and it was a good thing the Love Patisserie stall was so far away (and sold out half way through Sunday) cause their tarts would have easily found their way to our hips...

As with any good wool show there were plenty of fibre providers on display as well. Inside there were several breed of sheep and outside the fields where full of spring lamb running around. This little gang was running past the fence non stop with their cute little tails bobbing up and down. First one way, then the other.

As always we love it when we have people come back to show us what they have made, and Ceri stopped by the stall to show us her lovely Misty set. This lady has got some serious style and we are proud to have her showing our designs off! Beautifully knitted as well, Ceri!

The conclusion if that we loved our first ever visit to Wales and would be delighted to return for Wonderwool next year. How this show managed to escape us the last 6 years is a mystery! 

We all know alpacas are cute,

but when are they cuter? 

In rain

 or shine?

Top tip on washing alpaca knitwear!

I often get asked how I wash my alpaca garments - the answer is as little as possible... Without sounding unclean, I avoid washing my knitwear if I can and I'm not afraid to admit it! Alpaca has a self-cleaning regulating effect which means that airing or freezing can be all you need to do to make your knitwear fresh and fabulous! Yes - you read correctly, freezing! My freezer at home contains more yarn and knitwear than food!  Right - let's start at the beginning!

After knitting your garment, I recommend steaming your garment. This helps shape the knitwear and even out the tension in your stitches. I have written a blog on this earlier and you can read it here.

After a few wears you might want to refresh your garment. I place my knitwear in a ziplock bag and put it in the freezer. I leave it for about 24 hours. The reason for doing this is that it is the bacteria forming on clothes that smell and freezing kills the bacteria! After freezing I often steam the garment again to pull it back in shape.

You will eventually want to wash your knitwear. I always hand wash my alpaca garments. I soak them in the bath tub by gently pushing and moving the knitwear until it gets soaked. I don't rub at all as this can cause felting which we of course do not want! I then rinse to remove all soap before adding a little softener/conditioner to the last rinse. I use shampoo and conditioner to wash my alpaca garments as alpaca has very similar qualities to hair. Only the best is good enough for my beloved knitwear! You can of course use a good wool detergent and a fabric softener as well, but this is down to preference.

To remove excess water from my clean knitwear I squeeze the garment gently. I try to avoid wringing as this can pull the garment  out of shape. Saying that though, alpaca knitwear is very strong and it takes a lot before you break the fibre, so don't worry about using some strength when getting the water out. You can also roll the knitwear in a clean towel, but again be careful not to stretch or rub too much. Once as much water as possible is removed I take a clean, dry towel and spread it out on a drying rack. I place my garment flat on top and shape it. It is very important not to hang wet knitwear as this will certainly alter the shape of your garment. I usually leave my drying rack by a radiator or if it is a nice day I will place it outside on the terrace! Once garment is completely dry you can steam it to shape it should you so wish.

You will notice that your garment will soften and improve with each wash. Alpaca fibre is extremely hard wearing and durable and you will have years of joy from your knitwear if you look after it well.

Hope I have given you some pointers and that you find this post useful. I can't wait to wear this lovely Icon dress which will be even softer and more delicious after its Redken treatment this morning!

Alpaca Futurity

After setting up the stand for the Knitting & Stitching Show at Olympia, Tracy headed back to Cambridge to reload Bessie (our van) and set off to the NEC for the British Alpaca Futurity Show.

As well as having a condensed version of the Purl Alpaca stand, Tracy was showing six of her alpacas.  This number was quickly reduced to five when Happy decided that walking on a lead rein was far to boring and misbehaving was much more fun!  She then stayed at home.

George and Hero shared one pen, whilst Havana, Helene and little Inca shared another.  Tracy was busy showing people how to prepare a fleece ready for processing at a mill when one of the stewards rushed over and said that she should be in the ring showing her first alpaca... Pandemonium - George was first in the catalogue so Tracy rushed him to the ringside before being told she should be showing Havana.  The gate closed and that was that, Havana didn't get to be shown.

The judge as very complementary about Helene and Inca but chose the bigger alpacas as her favourites.  Hero too did well but wasn't in the final line up; George however came fifth.  Tracy was delighted, to get any rosette at the Futurity is an achievement particularly for a small breeder as this is a prestigious event where the top breeders show their best animals.  (Tracy now calls herself a collector rather than a breeder as she hasn't sold any of her alpacas yet!)

A lot of people don't show their animals, but do send in their fleeces to compete against each other for the coveted first prize... George's fleece from last year came 4th - yippee!!!

Needle felting with alpaca

When we went to Unravel last month we sold some alpaca fleece in various colours to a lovely lady by the name of Michelle Green. Michelle is a needle felter and a member of the Wessex Guild of Craftsmen and told us she would be creating animals from the fleece she bought. The dog is a portrait of her friend's Skye terrier, and the cat is a (according to herself not very successful) portrait of her long haired tabby boy.
We think that if this is unsuccessful we would love to see a successful one! They are absolutely gorgeous!
If you would like to buy fleece from us we have more available! Drop us an email on info@purlalpacadesigns.com

Knitwear in Paris Fashion Week

Paris is known for being the Mecca of the fashion world and everyone waits in anticipation for the last of the big Fashion Weeks to end the season on a high! This year I was in general not too impressed with the shows. It might be that a lot of it was just not to my taste, polka dot jump suits and one sleeved tops have never really been my thing, but it might also be that not many collections included statement knitwear! Nevertheless I have managed to select a great range of wonderful knitwear from the Paris shows and I hope you will enjoy them. P.S my favourite show was Valentino - but alas, no knitwear!... All photos from style.com

Dries Van Noten