Woolfest 2007

Wonderful Woolfest - here are the pictures, write-up to follow......
I hope a kind guild member will help me out with this as I am off to Malta to be birthing partner to my daughter. It's her first baby and our third grandchild.

Well, I am sorry to say no one came through for me with a write-up on Woolfest!

The guild members that made it up to Cumbria for the event all had a great time. We did wonder if Woolfest would go ahead because of all the rain and flooding we had. But up there they missed out on all the bad floods and although it did rain on and off over the two days, it did not put us off enjoying the whole Woolfest event.

For me it was a special trip because I went up to buy a new spinning wheel. I am now the proud owner of a brand new Lendrum (seen here in the top left photograph). It's the lovely white looking wheel and I have my mum to thank for it. A very special birthday present for me from my lovely mum. As for the rest of the Woolfest experience, the Friday night Spin-in had a great atmosphere. So many different types of spinning wheels and drop spindles in action. All whirling away to a buzz of chatter as people discuss the goodies they had purchases that day or where going to buy the next day. For our guild members the whole thing was rounded off with a get-together on the Saturday night for an excellent meal before embarking back to the midlands on the Sunday morning.

Derby County Show

All Wheels a spinning!

Was this Elvaston or Glastonbury?
In any event the Derby County Show on the 24th June was a complete mud bath. There were furrows in the field from before the 8am start-up time. Then a couple of hours later when it rained in earnest a river started running through the craft marquee. Straw had to be brought in to help with the water and mud problem. Then in the afternoon the temperature and the humidity in the marquee were nearly unbearable. In spite of this there was a high turnout of be-wellied visitors to the show. Duckboards were put down round the site, with tractors, vans and pushchair pushing parents juggling for position on them. Most of the beautiful polished tractors in the exhibition area had to be pressed into service tugging cars out of ruts and horseboxes across the fields.

Maxine, Frances and Mary turned out for the Guild to demonstrate their spinning skills. Frances braved the rain and cycled from her home in central Derby to Elvaston bearing her Louet wheel and Jacob fleece. Maybe Frances had the right idea cycling, because despite listening carefully to instructions Mary got stuck in the mud for an hour on leaving the show (car wheels a spinning) and had to be pulled out by tractor.