Haló, a h-uile duine!*
So, last weekend the Edinburgh Yarn Festival took place and I was there.
The good thing about having your own business in a field which is your life anyway is that you can go to a big event and declare it a business trip (even for tax purposes). To get that out of the way: Yes, I met clients and potential clients. I run out of business cards and also my postcards on my second day at the festival with one more to come.
I won’t give you a full report about my time in Edinburgh but here are 6 lessons I learned.
1. I flew to Edinburgh on Wednesday very early in the morning. I have to change planes in Amsterdam and like last year that was when I spotted the first knitters. While I was waiting for boarding two ladies sat opposite of me, both wearing very elaborate hand knitted shawls and one was knitting on a very involved shawl too. I knitted a very simple sock because that is my go-to travel knitting project. Another lady in that row of seats knitted on a blue hat.
Some other knitters came over and talked to the shawl lady, very excited about her great knitting. I and the hat-knitter weren’t worth even a smile.
Lesson: Knitters are show-offs. Only very complicated looking projects will be admired.
2. When boarding was almost completed, a tall man with a knitted hat walked through the aisle. You could hear gasps, very excited whispering and then: “Steeeeephen!” Yes, it was Stephen West. He smiled and even was kind enough to listen to a very confused story about the friend of one of the fans who told her that she might be on the same flight as Stephen.
At the booth of the shop he co-owns, was an extra area for fans to queue up to meet him. Only the red carpet was missing.
Lesson: It can’t be easy to be Stephen West. Be careful what levels of designer stardom you dream of and want to achieve.
3. When we landed, we got an extra announcement after the usual stuff about weather and time and such. “And to all people visiting the Knitting and Wool festival: enjoy your time in Edinburgh.”
Lesson: EYF is famous and everyone knows about it - even KLM flight attendants.
4. If you knit the trendy patterns and know the right people, you might get into the in-crowds. But you could end up being seen as trying very hard and not worthy. You can try to meet all the people whose podcasts you consume or follow on Instagram and come across as quite a fangirl. If you’re lucky, they even remember you on the second day :-) Or you could just go there, enjoy your time, buy the yarn and talk to like-minded people you meet at the table you have to take refuge at because it is all a bit too much.
Lesson: The knitting community has the same structures as every other community, it’s quite a bit like school. I was always the alternative girl and except being a woman now, nothing has changed. But you can have a lot of fun nonetheless :-)
I don’t judge: Choose the way that suits your personality.
5. Actually, that isn’t entirely true (except the fun part, obviously): If you have a business in the knitting industry, you can’t just wait for people to notice you. You have to brag a bit (see 1.). You have to show off your own designs, tell people that you work with Kate Davies as her tech editor, have an opinion in classes you take so people will remember you, taking a class which fits with your goals as a business is a plus (guess what? There are a lot of new-ish designers in a class called “get published!”).
Lesson: A yarn festival/show is full of colour, designs, flashy stuff. If you want to be seen, you have to be special in some kind of way. And you have to talk about what you do and about how good you are at it.
6. On my last day, I spent some time in Princes Street Gardens, sitting on a bench and knitting my socks. A lot of people stopped and talked to me: “That is like a superpower.” - “Those are the best socks.” - “You are very industrious.” - “Are you foreign? British people are much too lazy to knit.”
Lesson: Obviously, EYF isn’t that famous and not all people know about it. Outside our very small bubble knitting a plain sock is impressive. Perspective is the magic word ;-)
I had a great time and calling it a business trip is justified.
There are two or three more topics I’ll go into in the next newsletter(s).
But now I want to know: Who is your knitting designer superhero(ine)? Who would you look at with heart - eyes and call their name like a teenage girl? - tell me, I won’t judge :-)
Talk soon,
Frauke
P.S.: I couldn’t meet her this time, but I got to Skype with my knitting superheroine several times already. I even work with her, which is a dream come true. And it is Kate Davies.
* Hello together