Well I think I am probably the most late in doing a post about Woolfest . We had a lovely two week holiday, a week in Ambleside, then a week up around Hadrian’s Wall, and did Woolfest in between. I have just about caught up with my emails and blog reading now, two weeks after we got back!

I didn’t go last year since I only found out about it just before it was on, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was sort of cross between a knitting show and a livestock show, although the knitting yarn was definitely leaning towards natural yarns rather than sparkly man made stuff. Good fun was definitely had! Hi to Mary , it was lovely to see you, the new purple hearing aids are beautiful! Sorry my blogging still doesn’t seem to have sped up.

First off some pictures of the animals, first up the sheep:

I’m afraid I can’t remember what kind they are, but they were very photogenic!

More sheep:

and some Angora goats:

It was really interesting to see all the animals in the flesh, I was quite surprised by the variety in sizes of sheep, I think that the ones we usually see round here by the side of the road are all raised for their meat and so probably never get particularly big, since lamb is eaten more than mutton.

Now for the yarn, first from Wingham Wool Work , the loudest yarn you have ever seen!

My friend C (not a knitter but she makes jewellery and so understands!) was actually struck dumb by this – quite a feat I can assure you!
On the left we have the softest yarn you have ever felt, superfine merino in cream, and alpaca in black by Knit Global , bought from Spinning A Yarn . I think they are going to be hats, and I am going to have a go at dyeing the cream.

Then there is some Margaret Stove laceweight merino bought from KCG Trading . I also bought the new Norah Gaughan, Knitting Nature, and a shawl pattern and a circular needle (one size which I found I bizarrely didn’t already have) from them, but I forgot to take a picture.

The yarn on the right is Lana Grossa sock yarn, I can’t remember which stall I got it from and although I found a receipt in the bag it had no shop name on it either! Some one has missed out on a marketing opportunity!

Lastly the haul from Jamieson and Smith :

At the top we have hand dyed cobweb weight, and at the bottom two colours of their 2ply jumper weight. Sorry about the quality of the photograph, I still haven’t really got the hang of getting the lighting right.

Better go and have a panic now as the parents are turning up in about 15 mins and there is still stuff on the beds they are hoping to sleep on and a pile of yarn in the lounge. I doubt the pile of yarn will really be going anywhere but I might try and shuffle it round a bit to at least give the illusion of space.

I really will finish the write up of the Horst Schulz workshop (sorry Rosie!), I got half way through before we went on holiday and then accidentally deleted some of the pictures and then ran out of time. Things are calming down at work now though so I hopefully will have more blogging time soon.