All wooled up

WoolFest was excellent. Before we arrived I was epecting there to been loads of yarn stalls, some exhibitions and some sheep. I had in my mind and ammount I wanted to spend and the sort of thing I wanted to get. I wasn't prepared for how overwhelming the whole thing would be. Having spent the entire rest of the year making do with a couple of yarn shops (or departments) a whole market full of yarn, needles, hooks, roving, fleeces, dyes, spinning wheels, books, buttons, handles etc. comes as a bit of a shock. It was loely but I found the whole thing emotionally draining. I was so overwhelmed I forgot to take any picture of the stalls and just ended up with this one, which doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

I did manage to take a lot of photos of sheep. I was impressed by the curly haired ones (I'm not good at recognising the breeds).

They looks like they've got dred locks and they must have terrible trouble seeing through the fringe. I thought the alpacas were majestic looking. Untroubled by the frantic yarn-buyers saying 'Ahhhh...' over them all day.

Once we'd looked around everything I did manage to buy most of what I wanted. I'm not a very good shopper and I don't like crowds, so by the end of the day I was starting to flag (and my debit card was smoldering). Becca and I decided not to go for a second day. I wish now that I'd bought some dyes, some knitting needles (larger sizes) and looked more at the books. I'm sure most stuff can be bought online or ordered, now that I know what I am looking for. I don't think I could have shopped any more this weekend.

My favourite purchases are:

100g recycled banana fibre;


3 skeins of handspun, handdyed (onion skins) yarn;

4 skeins of Lopi roving;

and this drop spindle and roving.

I feel slightly intimidated by it all. My first impulse is to play with it all at once, but I think I am going to keep it all as it is for a while, while I contemplate what to do with it. I've got a couple of things to finish off first.

I should also say a big thank you to GlittrGirl for organising it all. The campsite was lovely and the views gorgeous. I really enjoyed spending time with the other knitters (Flossie, ScumKitten, PurlPower, Emily and Becca). Including Spinning Fishwife and Gourdon Girl, who'd come down from Musselbrough.

Yesterday Becca and I called into Cockermouth to look round the food market. We had a picnic next to the river and then set off home, calling at Birdoswald roman fort on the way. We got home just in time to see England going into extra time and loosing their penalty shoot out. Coming home yesterday also meant I got to have an indian takeaway with Graeme and spend his birthday morning with him. All in all a great weekend (aside from the sporting disasters).

For more WoolFest photos go to my Flickr pages.