I’m going to write up my Wonderwool post now, because I actually have 2 F.O’s to show for Friday! I am incredibly tired and a bit woozy so I apologise in advance if this makes no sense.
We travelled up this year on the Friday; we being my friends Angie and Michelle. I’ve known Angie since 2009-ish when we both attended the Guildhall knitting group in Gloucester, I’ve known Michelle a little less time, she was one of my very first crochet students when I started teaching in the shop, which I think was 2011. In a weird way it turned out that the two knew each other and had been friends for a long time before! So it was with great company we set out.
We stayed at the Old Station Caravan Park in New Radnor, about 15 miles away from the Royal Welsh Showground where Wonderwool is held every year. We were so impressed with the Caravan, it really felt like a little home away from home. Full facilities including a cooker and hob, fridge (with complimentary fresh milk!) freezer and all of the pots and pans you could need. We found a colander, a steamer and a cheese grater. They’d thought of everything.
I mean look at the Living Room! There was another chair, an electric fire, TV Unit and book case in here as well, and it never felt crowded.
After a nice leisurely get up on Saturday morning we headed off for the show. The trip through is always beautiful, with true rolling hills. Everything this year was such a vibrant green, perhaps due to all of the rain we’ve had lately. As you can tell by the sky it was overcast all day. There were several times when the sound of the rain on the shed roof was incredible. We were incredibly fortunate – it remained dry whenever we had to go outside. I get the feeling people on the Sunday were not so fortunate.
I didn’t take too many pictures inside the show – I was far too overwhelmed by the colours and the choice. Every year it strikes me how many amazing Fibre Artists we have in this country; talented Spinners, Dyers, Needle Felters and Knitters. Plus the people who raise the livestock that means we can knit with UK natural fibres. These are the Alpacas from Toft – I dare say you’ll see a lot of them on WW blogs this week! They were so cute.
This little one stole my heart – I think it’s a Suri Alpaca. I love her (I’ll assume she’s a girl!) purple head collar. I’d love one day to move to the country and have some livestock – I’m with a city boy though so I don’t hold out much hope of that happening.
This was Alison Murray’s Giant Knitted Dragon. He’s 12 foot and incredibly cute. It was part of a display that sadly I didn’t get much of a chance to look at. We hit Hall 3 at 4pm – with the show closing at 5 we only had the quickest of tours around.
Onto the important bit right? You want to see what I bought? One of my first grabs was some Chunky Wool from Texere Yarns. This is destined to be a Gwyneth which I might be casting on as soon as I hit post. Maybe 
. This is a good example of why I love shopping with other knitters. I love the yellow, but wasn’t convinced about the colour on me. Angie and Michelle convinced me to go for it rather than my default blue or green and I am so happy I did. It’s going to be such a bright cheery hat on the miserable winter days.
Next up was 2 skeins of EasyKnits.co.uk Big Boy in Plumber. I do love the video game themed names as this is obviously a Mario themed colourway. This is going to be made into a gift for a friend, and will be a long term knit. I’m not sure if they’re a reader so I won’t say who it’s for.
I made a point to pick up some rare fibres this year. Year before last I ended up with some Yak and this year I went for Banana, Milk Protien and Seaweed. These are all from Willo Fibres and at under £4 for 50g a fantastic amount to just try the fibre with no pressure.
I took a class (called a Wool School) for the first time this year. It was run by the lady from Fire and Fibre, Janet. The tool in the top right is called a Rake or Rattle Spinner. It works very much like a football rattle. The act of twirling it puts the spin into the fibre. I really enjoyed it and got along better then I ever had with a Drop Spindle.
In other fibre-y additions I bought this very pretty Shetland and Merino Silk Bat from Wheel Dale Woolcrafts. I’m learning to embrace spinning for what it is; I’ll probably never be incredibly good at it, and I doubt I’ll be dedicated enough to plan the weight of my yarn. That doesn’t matter though, for me it’s very much the act of spinning rather than the product and that’s great.
My fibre collection up to this point has been things I got with my wheel *mumble* 5 years ago *mumble*. I think because I chose natural fleeces I’ve been uninspired to work with it. That and the ideal of perfect yarn and just time constraints. I’m clearly hoping to change this this year! These colours are generally a lot more subdued then I would normally go for but they really appeal to me.
This – Oh this is much more my colour choice! Clown Vomit as Rhys so eloquently put it. Again I have no idea how I will spin these, but it’s going to be great to play and find out. These two are from Wingham Wool Works, the wonderful place I bought my Wheel to begin with.
My very first purchase at Wonderool was CoopKnits Socks. I admired this last year and didn’t buy for some reason. I would love to knit every single pattern out of this book. I’ve added all but the colourwork ones to my queue – and those miss out because I’ve not worked out how to make colourwork and my big calves play nice together yet. Rachel was amazing enough to sign both mine and Angies copy. She’s such a lovely lady, and I’m incredibly jealous of her hair!
I’d eyed up this cute fox bag from NicsKnots at the start, as she was sharing a stall with Rachel. When I realised I had £10 left in my wallet at the end of the day I was so glad he was still there! I’m typically an Owl girl all the way, but I’m just so in love with these dandy hipster foxes. I’ve used my Sheep one I bought last year (from Atomic Knitting) an awful lot, and a girl can never have too many project bags right? I just need her to do one in a Mouse or Rat Fabric (in Yellow!) and I’d be able to die happy.
PLUS She’s a Grimsby Girl – I only found that out today digging out her website for you lovely people. See, all the best people are from Grimsby!
Another favourite from the day was this Shawl Pin. Of course now I’ve learned how to use it properly. plan on making a lot of shawls in my future so hopefully this will come in handy.
Speaking of Shawls…. This is Artesano British Blue Faced Leicester mix. DK Weight and only £3 for 50g. I couldn’t resist and bought 4 of each. I’m a bit disappointed that my Camera shows it as Blue. It’s a rich deep Green. The Google Image bellow is much better. Hopefully when I photograph the F.O it will me much clearer.
I get the feeling it wants to become a Ledrada Shawlettte but who knows. It’s a sit on project for now, with no rush but looking pretty in my stash.
Anyway I’ve used up all of my chatter for the day. I need a set of matchsticks to prop my eyes open so I’m going to try and finish this episode of Fargo (not loving it so far I must admit) and then go to bed.
All being well, see you Friday for 2 F.O’s!
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