Walking Through a Wooly Wonderland!

Wowee! What a fantastic time we had at WoolFest even though we were all thoroughly exhausted by the end of it. I'm so glad I was staying in the van with Mum and her DH as the weather was so wet and windy that there was a tent on the site that blew away. But other that that everyone survived the night if not a little bedraggled.

Friday morning brought sunshine and blue skies and felt just like Christmas morning when you were a kid and seeing all the delights once in WoolFest itself did nothing to clam me down. To say I was hyper and manic would be putting it mildly and I would say that I've been hanging round 2 year olds for too long and got rather over excited! Mum didn't help by giving us a picnic dinner of Pain aux Chocolat and Coca Cola. Anyway I shall move on to tell you all about the delights! It was full of wonderful colours and textures, fibres and fleeces and it was really nice seeing all the livestock as well.

Herdwick Sheep

And on top of all that we met so many lovely people throughout the day. Before we even left the camp-site Kath came over to introduce her self to us and introduce us to Carrie-Anne, Becky and Bev who are all so lovely and instantly feel like old friends.

There was so much to take in that I don't think I really know where to start in describing the atmosphere there. Everyone was so friendly and didn't object to wide loads like Mum and me laden down with fleeces and other bags of goodies and trying to squeeze through the crowds.

Laughing Hens Knitted Sofa

There was certainly a lot to be tempted by as well which is why we only managed one day of madness. Both Mum and I grabbed loads of goodies, so much so that we'd spend our weekends budget in the first day. We just about managed to see everything but there was at least one aisle that I know I didn't manage to get down but we were just so tired by the end I couldn't really care or not. Anyway the goodies...

I did get some yarn as you can see - (clockwise from bottom left) some stunning lavender blue alpaca sock yarn from Fyberspates and some kid mohair/silk blend from MoBear which is beautiful. But the main purchases were fibery goodness such as the firey shades of the alpaca roving's which are again from Fyberspates and then some sparkly Sock-stuff from Freyalynn. Mum and I had a discussion that evening about what colours we chose when shopping and we both decided that we do seem to get a colour stuck in our minds when we are on a spree and I can certainly see a trend in the above photo and could even say that it goes back to the last lot of yarn I bought in the closing down sale. And like my green phase before that (and I could still happily pick up the same shade of green and buy it without thinking!). Mum did the same thing and bought fibres in the same colours as she was currently knitting! Has anyone else done this?

Right on the the natural bits! I got myself some Wensleydale curls to play with as well as some silvery grey angora fluff, a Turkish drop spindle (not sure how I'll get on with it but I'll give it a go!), some Bamboo staple and some baby alpaca rovings. All this in addition to the fleece I got in the sale which was some Moorit Shetland first cut and some Blue Faced Leicester which was a bargain! All of which will keep me busy for a good while! And as the fleece was a bit smelly we had to think of somewhere to store it overnight...

Handy Fleece Hanging Rack

All in all a great weekend and we shall have to go back next year and try to meet up with everyone again but for now I'll have to content myself with keeping busy with my spinning! See you all next time!