Tag Archives: Sheep

Wonderful Woolfest 2018

Hello All

It’s the end of June (almost), the Solstice (almost) so it must be…

From the outset the day did not disappoint. The weather was perfect.

I set off at just after 7am in brilliant sunshine (field’s still there no houses…yet!) and the views from the 555 Stagecoach bus were a delight of green hills, glimpses of water and charming farmhouses.

Even the wait at Keswick for the X5 Gold (it was rather special!) Stagecoach bus to Cockermouth was a pleasure.

All this sun must have gone to my head.

A short free link bus from Cockermouth to the auction mart and I had reached the site of my annual crafty pilgrimage. Woolfest.

With its avenue of bunting

Gaily adorning the Wool Clip stalls only a little bit of searching was needed for me to find ….

My needle felted sheep’s head! I love trying to spot this little fella I made him over 5 years ago when the Woolfest cry went up for bunting. Once I find him I know I am home.

This year I came with a new mission in mind. My 2018 project was to find plant-based fibres that could be used for felting. I was successful too.

Uppingham Yarns also had cones of plant based yarns like ramie (nettle) on sale.

DT Craft and Design offered several plant fibres together with a good quantity of dye kits. The stall holder was very informative and had plenty of samples to show the colour ranges and which dyes to combine to achieve best results.

All the stall holders were exceptionally helpful and I was pleased to find Adelaide Walker had a good selection of fibres as she is based close to No 1 Daughter so won’t be hard to visit.

Yes I know there is a distinct lack of colour. But lucky for me DT Craft and Design offered a solution to this…

I foresee a steep learning curve coming up. Yikes. I will keep you posted.

To be honest. My finds were tinged with a little sadness. All those beautiful sheep and their dedicated shepherds. I swear my Cumbrian heart broke a little as I walked past the rare breed sheep so lovingly cared for and I had to will myself not to buy any of their gorgeous yarns and fleeces. As to our local Herdwicks a tear came to my eye.

Lucky for me that this year’s Carolyn Rawlinson Memorial Stall showcased Izzy Middleton (aka Wildflower Weaver) who follows the ‘Slow Cloth Philosophy’ and as part of the Green Cloth Collective works with vegan fibres, recycled yarn from other garments and up cycled textiles that would otherwise go to landfill. Izzy does use both plant and animal fibres but her wools come from slaughter free herds such as those made up of rescued animals. A very inspiring and interesting woman.

Happily for me Izzy is based at one of my favourite places, Farfield Mill in Sedbergh. They too had a stand,

And a woven hanging that made me smile.

All too soon Woolfest was over for another year. But there is always 2019 to look forward to!

Until next we meet,

Moke xxx

P.S. Next day I travelled to Penrith for a catch-up and making session with the Crafty Ladies. It seems at the moment that British railways are in meltdown (not one of the trains I saw yesterday were running on time) and the Lakes line has been abandoned by Northern Rail. But apparently there is an upside: the trains chartered to cover the route are so old that they attract hordes of spotters. Glad there is a silver lining for someone!

Well I couldn’t miss out now could I?! Mx

Winding Up

Hello All

Feeling a little touristed out I promised myself a woolly time today. Afterall I needed my Berlin ball of wool for the scarf-shawl-thingy didn’t I? The thingy is growing and the Leipzig mixed twist is rather splendid:

(Good grief hope Mr T isn’t ordering room service….) but I think it is ready for a calming influence. Where to go? A shufty on the Internet produced several candidates but from the pictures and website Wollen Berlin called to me. I was right to follow my instincts as near Ostkreuz S-Bahn at Gartnerstrasse 32, 10245 Berlin I found a haven of wooliness set in a lovely part of the city.

The assistant (who on checking the shop website was Caro) could not have been more helpful. She guided me to some German wool by ‘Hey Mama Wolf’. Looking at the Leipzig mixed twist we were both drawn to the same colour, not the most striking hue but spot on to stop the thingy being overwhelmed by a craziness of mixed yarns … the less is more.

Now while Hey Mama Wolf may call this Meadowsweet I have it in my mind as Berlin Senf (ignore my misspelling on the label, I couldn’t spell check while drinking tea at Hackescher Markt) as it reminds me of the colour of delicious German mustard.

Berlin Senf is created from German Merino sheep – not as soft as the Australian Merino but wonderful in it’s own Germanic way – and hand dyed. Like the Amsterdam yellow it is a bit finer than double knit so I asked if the 100g skein could be wound into two 50g balls so I could double up the strands. This was no problem and Caro was soon putting the yarn on the winder ready to make two neat balls of wool. While she set up I got busy snapping photos of the drool-worthy shelves of yarns. Note all the knitted and crocheted examples for customers to see how the worked wools look.

Skeins can be like life sometimes they get in a bit of a tangle and are then trickier to unravel. While I had been taking photos my skein had begun to misbehave.

Strange though this may be I like sorting out knots and tangles so I happily offered to hand wind my wool. What a pleasure to sit untangling the yarn and talk wool and sheep. Don’t you love woolly folk? It doesn’t take much to keep us happy. I managed to become happier still, not only did I finish my winding for the Thingy but I also got ….

Icelandic wool…I can barely contain myself ….. warm mittens…..ooooh yes…..you know you want some ….

With a halo that was now beyond wonky it was time for a church. Negotiating the S-Bahn (overground) I made may way to the biggest church available, Berlin Dom (Cathedral).

It’s interior was stunning

However I was distracted from my usual interest in the organ by the contents of the crypt. Berliner Dom crypt contains a macabre collection of sarcophagi containing the earthly remains of the Prussian royal family some dating back to the 1660s. I found it all a bit peculiar. Even though morbid curiosity overtook me – turns out my halo completely slipped – I couldn’t help but wonder if these aristocrats realised they were to become exhibits. It didn’t strike me as resting in peace. Bizarre.

Outside with a little sigh of relief I was on the island of museums. You can rest assured Berlin’s sizo-meter did not fail.

In my turn I made a sizeable decision. I would not visit them as I knew I would find it frustrating to rush around for a few hours and not completely enjoy the pleasure of taking time to view the artefacts. Oh well … I will just have to come back and spend a week in the Altes Museum alone!

Time to hop on a bus (love that German bus stops have digital updates of the arrival times of the buses and they are FREQUENT!!!!) and wend my way along my favourite route back to the hotel. Blimey they are breeding like ….

He was certainly not there last night.

Tomorrow I am off to Prenzlau. So for a while I must bid you adieu as I am having a little time out to meet family …. and I am likely to be without Wifi.

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin city of a big heart and mind blowing architecture.

Until next we meet

Moke xxx

Sheepfest …. spot Lorry.

Please note there may be one or two sheep in this blog.

Hello All

With 103 sheep dotted through the small Dales town of Sedbergh for its first ever Sheepfest taking photos of sheep became addictive. Somewhere among them there may be a small Frickel pig called Lorry. Can you spot him?

There were magnificent sheep in shop windows.

Sheep lest we forget.

Cheeky sheep.

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Shop sheep.

Literary sheep.

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The Baaaaaa-rd of Sedbergh (AW’s own work….isn’t he great?).

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Jolly sheep.

Realistic sheep.

Local historian sheep.

Estate Agent sheep.

(N)ew(e) – born sheep (the lady in this shop is expecting a baby any day, this was a lovely touch).

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Shopping sheep.

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Poorly sheep (in chemist’s window…where else?!)

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Farming sheep.

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Stone-wall sheep.

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Twin-town Slovenian sheep.

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Crafty sheep.

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Farfield Mill sheep.

Bell ringing sheep.

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Musical sheep.

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…the vicar even looked a bit woolly …

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I know this is impossible but incase you are a little sheep-ed out. Pride of place at the top of the aisle was this beautiful coat of many colours.

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Made of small woven strips

created by local school children with the help of community artist Donna Campbell the coat is a work of art. It was lovely eavesdropping on children proudly showing-off their strips to parents and grand-parents.

I am sorry that I couldn’t capture a picture of every sheep – some were let down by my inadequacies as a photographer – but I think even this little selection will give some idea of how hard the people of Sedbergh had worked to make Sheepfest such great fun. It was a real tribute to their town and them.

A super day out!

Until next we meet, Moke x

PS Did you spot him?

Farfield

Hello All

Who-hoo what I great day I had on Friday thanks to AW who kindly gave me a lift to the marvellous Farfield Mill on her way to work at Sedbergh Library.

Farfield is a restored Victorian woollen mill with four floors of displays and exhibitions. It houses a history of the local woollen industry – from the Terrible Knitters of Dent through to the restoration of the mill as an arts and heritage centre – and arts and crafts exhibitions. I of course started downstairs in the Weavers’ Cafe! One toastie and tea later I worked my way up through the building. But sorry folks no photos as I respected their policy of no photography inside the centre.

Leaving the cafe (noting the sign for their regular weekly Knit and Natter sessions) I tootled through the building passing the HUGE warping mill – my old warping board seeming very puny – and took a peak at the Dobcross Power Loom which came to Farfield in 1965. The centre is  lucky enough to have a weaver to operate the looms, if you want to see him and the loom in action I think he is there at weekends, and the mill sells beautiful blankets woven on site.

Scuttling upstairs I headed for the first temporary exhibition PagePaperStitch – Fold beautifully sculpted paper and books created by three textile artists – Annwyn Dean, Joan Newall and Elizabeth Shorrock – who love bookbinding.

Next door was a stunning exhibition Working The View created by brother and sister team Mark (photographer) and Sarah Butler (writer). Through photographs and interviews they have brought together something like 40 Yorkshire Dales landscapes chosen by locals along with the stories behind those selections. In amongst the names of the participants were two I know (so I got very excited!): Annie Hamilton Gibney Community Archaeology Project and Development Officer who chose Mallerstang Edge Ruin and said that she felt these views “take over a little of your soul” and Jan Hicks Textile Artist and small-holder whose choice was Howgill Fells from above Raisbeck where she likes to take her sandwiches to eat her tea and look at the view.

Finally visiting the Howgill Gallery I enjoyed a luscious selection of weaving entitled Metamorphosis by The British Tapestry Group (Scottish Branch). I loved these tapestries: the rich colours, textures and individual takes on the theme of change.

Of course one of the best features at Farfield are the artist workshops where you can watch artisan felters, weavers, knitters, sewers, furniture makers and more making their wares and selling them too. Many beautiful things to drool over.

Time for a walk and what a lovely stroll I had.

Following the path, passing pretty cottages, admiring the delicate hawthorn and looking down to the fast flowing river it was refreshing to be able to stride and trip (I am the most clumsy walker) along the short cut to Sedbergh. I looked out for the packhorse bridge DSCI0150

and with a backward glance to Farfield DSCI0154

and the fast flowing river that once turned its waterwheel DSCI0157

set off between hedgerows DSCI0166

remembering all the nettle stings of childhood and the cool relief of the dock leaf DSCI0161

tracing the beautiful patterns of the dry stone walls DSCI0162
and snapping quick shots of the ever present sheep (don’t these two look like they have just shared a joke?) DSCI0158
some of whom are starting to look ready for a haircut…baaaaaa!DSCI0167

All was going well until….I took it into my head to turn right when I should have turned left. I probably added about a mile to my perambulation. But I’m glad I missed my way as look what greeted me, DSCI0168

I was quite startled by suddenly coming upon this field of alpacas – further up the road I saw a sign saying they belong to Why Not Alpacas – and couldn’t help but laugh with glee at their beautiful faces especially when they all trotted towards me. Not I suspect my charm but rather the thought that I might be bringing treats. DSCI0169

What gorgeous animals they are. DSCI0173Having realised – I swear I was at least half way to Kirkby Stephen – the error of my way only the alpacas saw me retrace my steps. DSCI0174

Lining the hillside like the ‘Indians’ in an old fashioned Western I’m sure I heard them sniggering.

Eventually back in Sedbergh DSCI0176

I toddled along the narrow street DSCI0179

purchasing some cinder toffee en route to the library where I met up with AW and one of her regular patrons local author Jean Briggs (JC Briggs to her readers). JC’s latest book The Murder of Patience Brooke will be published in paperback by The History Press in August 2014 and features Charles Dickens as author turned detective. Talking to her was a real insight into the novelist’s craft and her impressive passion for her subject was inspiring. You always meet the most wonderful people in libraries.

Before I go, a t-arn update. I have finished all the lovely balls of t-arn B cut and wound for meDSCI0130

and made a start on my rug DSCI0133

its not gi-normous (this is a dinner plate)

but it has the makings… although a bit of rummaging through the airing cupboard looking for old t-shirts is called for.

Until we meet again. Moke