Woolfest! (a belated report...)

Before I start this post, let me introduce you to Ewan. ("Ewe"-an, get it? I swear, he came with that name, its even on the nametag on the bottom of his foot!)

Ewan is from Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland. He came to live with me last September, and has been carefully guarding all of my loose change ever since. Last weekend, right before we went to Woolfest, Ewan reminded me that it was about time I put all that spare change to good use:

£5.84 - enough to pay for one day's entrance into Woolfest, with a little change left over! (that was after the 47p cut that the coinstar machine took).

So, with cashed in money in hand, off we went to Woolfest. (Ewan stayed home. Other sheep scare him. Frobisher stayed home too, but only cause he overslept, and missed his ride).

After spending Friday 'just browsing', I decided that I had to buy something on Saturday. The goal was just to get one jumper's worth of yarn - trying to save money and all that...

But then, as we wandered past the first row of stalls, a giant skein of blue Teeswater yarn caught my eye! 500g, all in one skein - that's a whole (smallish) cardigan, with no ends to weave in!

Hand-dyed yarn by Teeswater Wools from Higher Gills Farms

I didn't get a photo of it before I wound it up - but here's a picture of Frobisher playing with the giant ball of yarn that it turned into! Thanks to Claudia for sharing the 'human-swift' duties with me! (my wooden swift is in Ottawa). I think I will make this into BingeKnitter's Chloe cardigan...

I also decided that I wanted a 'real wool' jumper, in a natural brown wool colour... then I saw these colours and decided to make it a stripey jumper, à la Carolyn.

Pure Jacob Wool from Woodpark Wool, in Fawn and Dark Brown

I have since spoken to Lucy about it, and given all the sizing problems that she and others have had, I think I will forego the Carolyn pattern and do an EZ steeked cardigan instead... now, do I want a yoke neck, or a raglan? :)

After buying all our yarn, we were feeling a little tired (and broke!), so Claudia, Katya and I retreated to the show ring to knit. (we had kind of lost track of everyone else by then, but figured we'd meet up again after everyone was done indulging in fiber). As we sat there, we saw an auction for real, live, knitted sheep, and a display of various rare breeds of British sheep - and a few Alpacas!

What a great weekend! Can't wait to do it again next year!