Woolfest 2010

We have just come back from a fabulous weekend at Woolfest. Lots of great company, lots to see and with the added bonus of a full moon.
We took lots of pictures, well over 170, but don't worry you aren't getting them all:)

There were lots of animals, all shapes and sizes from rabbits, via Ouessant sheep to full grown sheep. These are but a few










This character was my favourite, just look at those eyes:)
There was also a large variety of textile sheep, these were auctioned off to raise money for Farm Africa
So many to choose from.

Apart from fleece, yarn and animals there was a great variety of spinning wheels, looms and other such tools.

The colours as always were very inspiring.
I think Mr Natural Dye Studio may have been scouting for Mrs NDS:)
Silk dyes the most fabulous colours.
Knitwitches Eirwen herself:)
This piece commemorates the floods in Cumbria and was very poignant.
This was the Ravelry/bloggers meeting point. A place for us all to congregate and chill out. Sadly we were moved at the last minute from the main area to a marquee. The hot weather made this a little uncomfortable. there was a real coffee stand in here and the very large almost continual queue made it hard for Ravellers to find space to sit. Added to this the route to here passed through an extremely busy cafe, another marquee and narrow doorways full of people. Wheel chairs didn't have an easy journey. I think a lot of people couldn't find us, especially as we had put lots of messages on Rav giving the stall position where we were told we would be. Despite all this quite a few people found us and it was good to meet up with friends old and new. The Wool Clip were kind to give us space to meet, I wonder if they realised the number of ravellers who would attend?

We raised £150 for the Northern Air ambulance from the sale of commemorative limited edition bags and t shirts. Plus magazines donated by a kind Raveller and of course Mr Mog wool winding. Anyone who purchased yarn could have it wound by Mr Mog for a donation to the air ambulance.
Here you see him presenting the money at the end of the show.

We didn't purchase very much at all.
Babylonglegs gave us this lovely fibre, I promise not to fight over who gets to spin it up:)
The 2 packs of fibre from Freyalyn were in exchange for a shawl I knitted. That leaves some gorgeous silk to be made into batts, a ball of Polwarth fibre from Spindlers and a roll of Ashford merino silk from the Yarnyard. Mr Mog chose all the colours except the silk, that man is getting way too keen on spinning.
We stayed with our friends on the Solway coast and were lucky enough to see the full moon rise over the Solway.

I felt very privileged to see it.

Wonderwool part 1the journey long

It was Wonderwool this weekend at the showground in Builth Wells. Last year we didn't manage to make it due to it being held 2 days after Mr Mog completed his radiotherapy. This year we were determined to go. A great chance to meet up with online friends and a possible chance for stash enhancement:)
This blog post is being split into 3 parts as it is quite long and full of pictures.
This covers the first part of the journey. I had never been to Builth Wells or the area, the nearest being to Welshpool and then on to Colinette Yarns.

I really enjoyed the journey down to the showground. The weather was kind to us and apart from roadworks near Newtown we did pretty well.

We decided to stop off for lunch at Lion Quay on the Llangollen canal. We both love the canal very much and also enjoy the lion Quay. Good food and lots of boats to watch -perfect. The grounds are full of colour, like this magnolia bush. Isn't that a great colour of pink?


Brides bouquet or spirea.
lots of boats,all narrowboats and not a cruiser to be seen. We do prefer narrowboats, maybe because we lived on one?


We had a delicious lunch, here you see the remains of mine, I suddenly thought I'd take a picture. It was rib eye steak with onion marmalade and stilton on foccacia. I only left the tortilla chips, I don't like them. Oh and the cucumber.

Have you seen the name of this boat? Ursula, it had to be photographed for a dear friend of mine:)
The bar/restaurant entrance to Lion Quay taken from the canalside table.
the moorings by the hotel.


After our lunch it was back on the journey to Builth.
Some fabulous primroses by the road side, sadly the picture marred by rubbish:(
Lush green trees all around us.
Almost at Welshpool when we saw this truck.

Just look at those hills
Lots of birds nesting on the journey and we also saw, but I didn't manage to capture, mistletoe. Clumps in the trees on the side of the road.
We went to the showground first to see where things were and to chat to stall holders setting up. Then it was off to stay with a very kind raveller and her husband. We had never met them before but Rebekah had seen my post asking about budget accommodation in the area for Wonderwool and very kindly invited us to stay with them. What a lovely couple and how kind they were to us. Rebekah had cooked an incredible meal to welcome us to her home and offered wine when we first turned up. I feel so lucky to have met so many people through the internet and especially through Ravelry but Rebekah and David have to rate high on the list. An added plus point was their having a cat:) I miss the company of a feline friend so it was great to see theirs.
Sadly due to awful ill health we had to curtail our stay with them but more on that later.
Thank you Rebekah and David for sharing your home with us. Don't forget, you are welcome here any time.
to be continued....
Stay tuned for the next instalment which covers stalls.

Woolfest = Ravfest very long part 1

Ready to go almost, there was more in the car:) I had elementals for gifts and to trade, I had shawls I had water. I was ready. Lets go.




It was misty but still good views to see.

Lots of trees and all in full leaf.

Nearly there, just a little longer. Don't be impatient:)
nearly,



Yes we have arrived:))







WOW, what can I say? Woolfest was incredible, so much colour and so much choice. But for me this year was all about Ravelry and meeting online friends. There were so many people I "knew" via email but met for the first time. So many friendships forged and strengthened. Ravelry made this years Woolfest for me.
So in no particular order I'll upload some of the many photos we took. And yes there was stash enhancement but not too much:)
I did however get some wonderful donations for the hospice sock year.
Jo you would have loved it, all your favourites were there including Wingham Wools. So much yarn and fibres. You must come over next year even if we have to come and kidnap you before hand:)
We arrived mid afternoon Thursday ready to help Wye Sue set up the Knitting and Crochet guild stand. I had met Sue last year at my first Woolfest when she kindly took me in hand after the overwhelming colour and busyness threatened to swamp me:) Sue gave me the first of my stash enhancement as you can see:)
Sue arrived with Rosie and her husband Graham. Rosie and I have chatted back and forth for a while now over email so it was lovely to meet her:)
It was so great to see all the items being pinned and placed on the guild stand.


Daffy is stunning but his little sister Rosy is just as gorgeous and can you believe Rosey took only 11 days? Wye Sue's knitting skills put me to shame. We had knickers(knitted of course) throws, socks, Ruths (Woolly wormhead) hats for people to try on. These were even better in the flesh.

Ruth is one talented hat artist and she was sadly missed. So many people asked about her.
Fran arrived then to assist . Fran and I have also spoken much by emails so another instant friendship:)
After setting up the stall we had to go and check out the various stands, purely in the interests of research you understand and not because we were making out our wish lists. No sir, not at all;)
We then went and had some tapas with Sue, Rosie and Graham before Mr Mog and I took ourselves off to our friend in Aspatria where we were spending the weekend. Several glasses of wine later we tootled off to bed. The idea was a good nights sleep before the excitement that is Woolfest.
That however didn't happen:)) Poor Mr Mog what a bad night I gave him. This time of year ,as you know, there aren't many hours of actual darkness. There wasn't a clock in the bedroom but I had my trusty mobile phone. One problem, I can't see the tiny screen without my specs. Mr Mog was rudely woken every hour it seemed, on the hour, to have the phone thrust at him and be asked what time is it. Yes I know I shouldn't have done it but I was so excited I couldn't sleep and I couldn't see the screen. . He was very patient,bless him and never said a word(except the time) even though the first time I asked was 4am I think. We didn't get too much sleep and were up before 8 getting ready. You know when small children are excited about going somewhere and keep asking "are we there yet?" that was me with the time.
We got to the auction mart at 9am and had wonderful bacon sandwiches in the cafe there. Plenty to keep one going if one was too busy chatting to all and sundry to go for more food.
We then checked out the stalls once more, as you do, in case things had changed over night. They hadn't except for the addition of one or two who were late setting up. Didn't buy anything but we looked, nay we examined the yarns. It was purely for research. After all folks coming to the K&CG stand may have wanted to ask where a particular stall was. Or they may have wanted an idea of what kind of things they could find. That was our excuse anyway and we are sticking to it.

There were animals(of course) and fleeces for sale.
Mr Mog will have more sheepy pics sometime on his blog but this is a wee taster for you.


After all I don't want you to think we concentrated on just the stalls:)



There was lots of fleece for sale. Not that I need any of that, no sir no more crafts for me . Although some folks tried to tempt me down the dark paths. I resisted, it was hard but I resisted:))



Then the people, the Ravellers. So many coming up and asking "are you amber? I am --"
I don't like to single out anyone as they were all lovely but I met Artis-Anne finally:)) We were going to meet up at Wonderwool but Mr Mog was in middle of his treatment. Anne had asked us to visit, he was in treatment. This was it our first meeting. Would we know each other? Would we chat to each other as much as we did by email? Readers we did, in fact we both squealed I think and hugged for Britain:))) Mr Mog and Anne's husband Tony stood back a little bemused. We introduced them to each other and more chatting, lots more chatting. Finally they tore themselves away to go and check out the stalls but we agreed to go out to their camper for tea and cake later. A good job we did because no lunch was forthcoming, we were too busy talking.
We are going to go and visit them soon, Anne has promised to teach me dyeing. Her yarns and fibre are such evocative colours I will be thrilled to learn how to create like her.
We met Ursula and Phil from the Laal Bear, their stand was full of must haves. See the plaque Phil made? Isn't that a great sentiment and they gave it me:)))





I purchased sock yarn from them. Well I had to because I was up to the heel turn on my blue sock and I just knew I couldn't concentrate with all that was going on. I love the colour, it is Pansy and it knits so well. As you can see I have got quite a way with it.
Mr Mog had a marvellous time. You know before hand how I said he would go and do his own thing and then wouldn't be bored? Well Friday he went off for a few hours to help a friend repair his cycle but the rest of the time he stayed. He learnt finger knitting from Wye Sue then taught many people how to do it. Several times on Saturday I couldn't actually see him for the crowds around finger knitting. From young children to others of a more mature persuasion he took them on and got them knitting. He wasn't alone mind, Wye Sue had us all doing it:) We finger knitted our way through the show.
Mr Mog does get on well with people. He chatted to everyone and he hugged lots of women, good job I am not the jealous sort. They all wanted to meet him and see how he was doing with his treatment.


As you can see he is looking well. Colourful no? I didn't want him getting lost in the crowds:))