But no, let's talk of jolly fibre-y things! And I just love British Wool Weekend: it's so lovely and full of gorgeous wools and crafty things and it's so close to where we live - Harrogate being just a few dozen miles up the road - and it's on over the whole weekend so I can go. I'd love to go to Woolfest but I think it takes place over Friday and Saturday. There's possibly an excellent reason for that, but if you have a one-man-band kind of wool shop, how do you get there without losing a whole day's takings?
I got sidetracked again. British Wool Weekend. Here are a few photos.
The Sheep Show man, with Nobby the ram.
The Clervaux Trust got into the spirit!
Aren't they gorgeous?
There was so much else to take note of..I loved the Teeswater Wools hand-dyed hanks and the lovely, muted colours of the wools on Woolly Chic's stand. Cuter still were the photographs of the individual sheep from Brough Lea Farm - how could anyone resist buying gorgeous British wool when they've also seen a picture of the actual sheep it came from? And when they've been told its name? That's practically forming a relationship.
I only bought 300g of tops and two end-of-line balls of 4 ply (I have a wool shop!!). But what I really wanted was a drop spindle. Very nice man selling them was doing a roaring trade but I was too anxious to approach - maybe he'd ask me questions about my spindle needs that I wouldn't be able to answer? Maybe he'd, even more scarily, offer me the chance to practise in public? Some folks would think that was a good idea - find out what suits you, make sure you have a chance of doing a half-decent job... Not me. I just want a spindle to play with in private, without embarrasing myself. I don't mind admitting I'm useless at stuff; I don't need to confirm it by public demonstration. Oh no.
British Wool Weekend will probably be held around the same time next year. I'd go if I were you.
Alpacas!! We're hoping to have alpacas rather than sheep when we get the croft next year, which means I'm going to have to learn to spin. I've tried my neighbour's spinning wheel and was absolutely useless with it, I'm wondering if a drop spindle might be easier?
ReplyDeleteI tried a customer's little spinning wheel and I too was useless - I felt I needed an extra hand to have a chance of making it work. Not sure whether a drop spindle's easier but it seems to be seen as the 'first step' in spinning and definitely a much cheaper option.
ReplyDeleteAlpacas are so lovely tho', aren't they?