Don't Panic but...

I'm posting again!! That's twice in one month! It is amid a post-WoolFest excitement that I'm posting but never mind! We had some fantastic weather all weekend and the Thursday night on the campsite there were some lovely clouds and the sunset was truly lovely and kept us all entertained for ages - at one stage it seemed streaked with almost fluorescent pink. And there were shapes in the clouds for us to try and identify too - top left below I sure is a footballer leaping to head the ball!

We started off well with a large group gathering without organisation on an empty pitch next to Mums camper van and this photo shows the evening off well! It was lovely to meet up again with so many familiar faces especially Kath, Becky and Carrie Anne who I'd not seen for 2 years - we will definitely have to do better next time and meet up sooner! The last ones finally called it a night around 11pm - wonder who they were? ;)

And of course we were all excited and woke up early the next day ready to hit the show!

Clockwise from top left: Tony learns Long Draw spinning,

Skye in the van, sheep shearing, the Happy Weaver,

Nadine learns hand-carding, spinning on a Great Wheel, Nadine spins on a Lendrum.

As always there were a load of animals to see and I finally managed to see the sheep shearing which was worth the wait. The lady doing it had a pen full of Rough Fell sheep (the ones with the speckled faces and horns in the feeding trough pictured below) four of which were Hogs (one year olds) and the fifth a large ram with huge spiraling horns who unsurprisingly she left until last! She really did seem to wrestle with the sheep and managed to give a full commentary with all of them other than the ram - definitely a tough job to do. There was also a lady from Denmark doing a workshop on 'Knitting directly from Spelsau fleece' who was fascinating. Pity we couldn't get on her course but we did end up leaving with a bag of raw Spelsau fleece ready to be knitted up at the next Knitting evening - I can't imagine the reaction with myself, Chris and Nadine all sat knitting from bags of fleece but it'll be fun!

Top row, left to right: Angora Rabbits, Rough Fell sheep, Katmoget

Shetland sheep, Herdwick sheep;

Centre Row, left to right: Manx Loughton sheep, Gotland sheep, Hebridean sheep;

Bottom Row, left to right: Angora Rabbit, sheared Alpacas, more Gotland sheep.

The stalls as always were a riot of colour with plenty to inspire and temp you with as always. 'Oliver Twists' were there and after seeing them at WonderWool I knew exactly what I wanted and got it - a sumptuous dyed silk brick in toasty burnt reds on oranges, yummy! I was pretty restrained with my spending coming home with only 1 fleece, some more dyes, a shetland batt, some dyed merino for some felting projects and the softest grey Alpaca/BFL lace weight from 'UK Alpaca's bargain bin - at 70p and 80p per hank I couldn't say no! The only downside to the day was the heat (I was stupidly pig-headed and insisted on wearing my hand spun Green Gable - it was not the day to wear wool!) and the crowds. The aisles do seem narrower than at WonderWool which seems to make the difference in being able to get around the show with ease but at least I wasn't hampered with tonnes of shopping - see being frugal has it's good points!

Clockwise from top left : Wensledale lock Wedding dress,

WoolFest anniversary cake, Freyalyns handspun exhibit,

Shetland 'chocolates' and 'cake', weaving, FeltStudioUK, handknit waistcoat, Oliver Twists,

WoolFest 'shed', handspun yarns.

Nadine and Chris were there from the New Brighton Knitters and I ended up going back to the show on the Saturday with Nadine before picking Chris up from her course. Its was fun going round the show with a 'novice' spinner (she is improving daily!) and seeing her face light up with it all and pointing out all the bargains and stopping her unintentionally shop lifting in Winghams although it was pointed out that most people would try to steal cashmere rather than light grey herdwick!

But for me the bits of the weekend which were most fun were spent sat at the camp site knitting and spinning with like minded people and making new crafty friends even if it did involve late nights!

All in all a really fun weekend which I'd happily do all over again as long as the temperature was turned down a bit! There has been more knitting completed and started but I'll not go into details with those now, after all that could be the basis on my next post!

Of Gables and Socks.

Well I've only just realised that I've a Finished Object that has been waiting to be shown to you all for about two months now. I'd finished 'GreenGables' in time for WoolFest and just wanted to get a good photo for you. Well I think we'd still be waiting for that so you'll have to make do with a not so good photo instead!

It's not brilliant I'm afraid as I took this myself in the mirror. And I'm not that tall really - I'm stood on a box so that you could see all of the top! I love the pattern even if I did mess up the lace pattern as I kept forgetting which row I was on of a simple 4 row repeat - so mindless I didn't even think enough for it and only realised when I'd cast off! I don't mind as I love it so much and I'll definitely be doing this again - hopefully accurately next time!

I've been thinking of WoolFest lately after listening to the latest BritKnitCast and it reminded me that I'd filmed on of the sock knitting machines which were just brilliantly clever machines so I thought I'd leave you with this little film whilst I try and finish some more WIP's! Enjoy!!

I should also add that I've been nominated for a Schmoozer award by Mum.

Which to quote from her blog is:

Schmoozing is the natural ability “to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection. Good schmoozers effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogsphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship".

So in return I nominate the following:

Sarah who always has a kind word;
Badger who always seems to have a friendly word to say;
Carrie-Anne even if she is away house-sitting she still manages to comment and keep up with the outside world;
Piglottie who again always seems to have a friendly word to say;
and finally Jo another one who never seems to fail to reply to comments.

It has been very hard narrowing the nominees down again as there are so many people out there who are so friendly and generous with their time on-line and always seem ready to encourage and support and offer words of friendship. I really do cherish the camaraderie within blogland and thank you all for your support and comments and will try my best to return the favour!

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!

HOORAY!!!

I'm Going!!!

Well after weeks of mopeing about the house fed up because I wasn't going to get to WoolFest I have been bullied into going last night by DH, my Mum and her DH.

Finances be blowed - there's Fluff to be found!

Hopefully if you're there too I'll get to put some faces to some names!

Anyway, got to dash, there's a train to catch!

Oh, and by the way, the name out of the prize hat is.....

ArtyfartyKat!

WoolFest!!!!