Having missed this last year due to other commitments, remembering how grand it was the year before, we made every effort to attend this year.
Despite my health being the way it is, and other outside pressures, it proved quite easy to juggle diaries and I am so glad we did.
It was a lot quieter than previous years,which meant that I felt less crushed and was able to savour the atmosphere and buying opportunities in more depth. Sarah and Dave from the Spinning Weal made a welcome addition, along with a few other really lovely stands, in amongst all the tables laden with first grade fleece. Nothing beckons me into a room more than the smell of fresh shorn fleece.
Having had a quick recognisance worthy of military intelligence, I decided that I needed to spin, and set up my wheel at the corner of the stage. I had a few 100g of Mandacrafts’ Falkland Island roving dyed in her Volcano colourway, which has been purchased from previous shows and got stuck into getting this superb fibre onto the bobbin. I am planning to knit another “James Bond” in blues and with a grey pure wool shoulder insert for the Great Man himself. I thought this would work well with Toby being in the wheelchair.
Patricia Ackroyd the spearheading, vibrant spokeswomen from Ackroyd and Dawson was there, and I had another one of those inspirational discussions which seems to show me perhaps another way forward in my life – I am holding that thought. You know the kind which gets me fired up and feeling that all our efforts to promote heritage crafts are a little less futile. I heard about her visit to Cheshire Guild in the Yarns from the Plain podcast (one of those podcasts I can highly recommend to newbie podcast listeners – eclectic mix of topics all yarn based and intelligently conveyed)
On my drop spindle at present is another Fibreholics – Rose from Sparkle Duck which looks like a Merino/Silk Colourway. It is a very sumptuous shade of deep rose tints..
Knitting has been very hit and miss lately. Before I start any new projects, I have to actually work out what I am going to knit! Everything I have is in skeins so need to do some planning about winding off, and there isn’t one particular project which is inspiring me.
That said, I saw a beautifully knitted jumper today at Guild, and am going to download the pattern, as it is constructed in a very different way from convention, and I suspect this would make it easier for me to a) match my size and b) allow me to blend some of the differing – matching but different colourways that I have in the ever burgeoning stash.
I am though concentrating on finishing off the my Barn Raising Quilt, using some of the tester skeins that are floating around.
When I get back home in the near future, I am really looking forward to spending some time with my stash…
DyeVerse 