After being invited by Rowan to their A/W10 Press Day up at the mill in Holmfirth, Emma and I decided to visit Sirdar whilst we were in their neck of the woods, and so began a three-day, fun-filled, Sat Nav-reliant trip to Yorkshire. (no seriously, without the Sat Nav we would have been done for)

Part 1 Rowan

It all began with picking up Erika Knight, who was hitching a ride up with us as she was actually presenting the Rowan Press day, and five hours later (having planned world domination and discovered how AMAZING the Sat Nav and google earth on my new iPhone are) arriving at our hotel to the sounds of silence, the odd sheep baaing and this view. Not bad huh?





The next morning we were off to the mill. Somehow on a supposed 7-minute journey we got lost. (This will become a recurring theme)





What a gorgeous place to go to work to every day. You can't see it but the stream is trickling away just behind me.

It's lovely inside too, with wooden floors, exposed brick walls and garments exhibited everywhere...



...which Emma couldn't resist trying on. Brand new Gedifra! Texture is going to be BIG this Autumn.



The tea and biscuits never stopped flowing and it was great to meet some of the other knitting magazines' representatives. The presentation by Erika was great. Trends for this A/W – cables (huge sculptural ones), shoulders and sleeves get interesting, texture is going to be quite out there, and colour, lots of it (the more clashing the better). You heard it here first!

Sneak peek of these textured yarns I speak of...



We got to try them all out too!



The press day was finished off with a wonderfully funny catwalk show modeled by varying-levels-of-enthusiasm members of staff...



...and a nice goodie bag to take home!

Well, I can tell you, Rowan won't disappoint come Autumn. I think they translated the catwalk trends into beautiful, wearable garments incredibly well. And with 4 new Rowan yarns, 5 Gedifra, new Regia and Patons, you won't know where to start come the new season.

After an unsuccessful attempt to find the picturesque town of Hebden Bridge (interesting fact no.1 home of Alan Dart, no. 2 self-proclaimed lesbian capital of Britain, no.3 outstandingly pretty) we got lost (told you, recurring theme) and went back to our hotel.

We finished off the evening in a gorgeous village pub, eating outrageously expensive food and being amused by young, enthusiastically camp waiters with broad Yorkshire accents. But that was with Sirdar so will be continued tomorrow in Part 2 Sirdar...