Way back in October last year I posted in the Shed on ravelry "Maybe we could have a Shed meet up somewhere..." (post 11174, if you want to see it).
And somehow, that innocent one-liner grew and grew until it became "The Sheddite Gathering".
After much discussion and lots of local knowledge assistance we plumped for the last weekend in January (neatly forcing me not to leave my tax submission until the last possible minute) and we decided to go to York because it was easy to travel to, on a mainline rail station, and within reach of a good number of day-tripper Sheddites as well.
We decided to stay at the Bar Convent, which far from being oxymoronic was a truly fabulous place to stay. A simple, no fuss B&B which crucially had a recreation room and a kitchen available to guests.
This is the main entrance and coffee area. It might have been made for us.
Just look at those fabulous colours! And that floor...
There were no unnecessaries. No TV's in the bedrooms. No Full English Breakfast unless you wanted to pay extra for it (the continental alternative was just as good). No frilly flowery bedlinen. Single rooms (mostly). Shared bathrooms. I think only three rooms had en suite facilities.
Even the towels were appropriate.
We arrived in a very ad hoc manner, off various trains and from as far as Aberdeen, Bath and Brighton. In fact ad hoc describes the whole event rather well. No real plan other than to relax, knit, talk, spin, tatt, walk, eat, crochet, admire... and listen to the Archers (almost) en masse on Sunday morning!
Everyone had their own weekend, we formed into groups, meshed, separated, wandered off, bumped into other people, and then moved off to try something else. People Knitted in Public, tried on half finished socks in public (you know who you are), bought dinner at Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer, the local Chinese takeaway, and the fish and chip shop. We drank tea in the Convent cafe, Costa, Browns, Betty's and Cafe Nero.
The only think we did together, really, was where to go to buy our buttons! (And we didn't even do that at the same time but in mini-groups so we didn't scare the staff. Well, there were (I think) 24 of us!
Duttons!
Not just buttons though...
It was like a little bit of heaven.
The ceiling was stunning.
The display cabinets were beribboned.
And the Fire Evacuation arrangements were...
... unusual.
More tomorrow.
n
