Yarndale Theatre Talks 2025 | Creative Conversations at Yarndale

13.30
Creating a Colourful Life

with Sue Maton, The Mercerie

Join Sue as she guides you through her journey in textiles; why she learnt to crochet and how this craft has been fundamental in finding her own creative voice.

Using examples of her designs, and course members work, she’ll explain her design process, what drives her, and why she thinks crafting has a role to play in helping people feel and stay connected.

Sue trained as a knitwear designer and spent 30 years working in design education. She now creates beautiful crochet courses that seduce the maker into a colourful world of slow making and creativity.

Learning with Sue is not just about making a crochet blanket, it’s about colour theory, aesthetics, confidence building, mindfulness and being part of a dynamic global community.

15.00
Clapdale Wool – From Farm to Yarn

with Edward Sexton, Glencroft

 A step by step guide to how Glencroft took wool from first two, and then seven local farms in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, then sorted, scoured, carded, spun, dyed, and wove or knitted it within 50 miles of the sheep it came from.

Edward Sexton is a partner in the family business, Glencroft. They produce a range of products all from British Wool, including creating their own fully traceable wool – Clapdale Wool – in 2021.

Edward is passionate about making Glencroft as sustainable as possible and locally sourced wool, entirely processed in Yorkshire and paying farmers a decent rate, is a key part of that.

13.30
Yarn Care, for now and into the future

with Sharon King and Fiona Burks

What next? You’ve bought the precious yarn, how do you get the best from it? 

Sharon and Fiona will share their years of yarn care with you so that you get the best from your yarns now and into the future. They’ll go through understanding different fibres needs and hand dyed yarn, how to store your yarn, beginning to work with it and what to do once you’ve finished a project, washing and blocking. Finally, a little on how to store items and then answer your questions. 

Fiona Burks is the owner of Yarn Etc in Harrogate and Co-Founder of the North Yorkshire Yarn Trail.  Fiona is also the creator of her own exclusive range of Yarns under the brand, The Harrogate Yarn Company which specialises in British yarns, both commercially dyed and Fiona’s personally hand-dyed yarns. Passionate about colour, texture, and fibre care, she loves helping makers get the best from their yarn. Fiona is excited to share her tips on caring for yarn at this year’s festival.

Sharon King is the owner of Ewe & Yarn in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and Co-Founder of the North Yorkshire Yarn Trail. Former secondary school teacher, Sharon set up Ewe & Yarn in 2017 after a shift in career saw her move away from working with curious teens to interact with adults in a calm, creative and colourful environment designed to put people at ease, facilitate skill sharing and learning, and build an inclusive creative community. Passionate about natural fibres, colour and design, she wanted to share this passion with others. Sharon is looking forward to sharing her knowledge about yarn care, before and after use, at this year’s Yarndale festival. 

15.00
From Waste to Worth: Rethinking Wool in the North

with Bryony Richardson, Palava

Palava is a small clothing company with a big mission: to make less, but make it better. Bryony, founder of Palava will share their journey so far in rethinking clothing — exploring how  problems can be turned into into solutions by reusing, recycling and working locally with wool — followed by an open Q&A and debate on how, together, we can find better ways forward.

Based in North Yorkshire and London, Palava creates colourful, lasting clothes from natural fibres, produced in small batches with UK makers. Wool plays a special role in their work — a material valued for its quality, durability and heritage in the UK.

From working with local mills and weavers to developing new projects with wool blankets and yarn, Palava is committed to supporting the UK wool industry while building the Palava Hatchery, a new micro-factory in North Yorkshire dedicated to exploring better ways forward for clothing.