woolfest part 1

Ah, Woolfest 2006. So, the practicalities. I drove 360 miles. I went, with blueadt and Puplet. I met Piglottie and Ruth woolly wormhead (and some others, I am sure). I looked, I fondled, I had a shopping list, I talked, I ate, I bought. I even wore a new cardi - but not the one I was never going to finish in time, because I need to rework the sleeves (sorry Carrie K!), but the habu kit finally badly blocked and sewn up so it looks nothing like it is meant to look, but it is still a finished object. I took a camera, but absolutely no pictures (I'll just steal puplet's when he isn't looking.) And I came away saying how did I miss that, and that, and that. And why didn't I ask this, and talk to them, and see those. And the shopping list might have been forgotten, and other things found instead. And I spent the day after feeling hungover (was it the sun, the driving, or the heady aroma of lanolin and sheep bottoms that sent me over the edge?).

And Ruth is wonderful, and her knitting is so very beautiful and even and fondle-able, and even if she can't remember where she has put her phone, her knitting goes away just so (sweetly, she didn't thwack me for mis-folding the Hat in progress, just calmly unpacked it and put it away properly - such a perfectionist!). And I would have mugged her for her new Hitchhiker, but a) I don't know the first thing about spinning; and b) she looked so very, very happy with her (yes, the wheel appears to have found its gender, but is still unnamed), that I couldn't have been so mean.

But you want to see what was bought. Well, there were books, and needles, and chibis (yippee, a pink one, and seethrough one, to match the green), and I wanted to find presents, but didn't find anything just right, so I was selfish and it is all for me, me, me. And of course, the yarn. Cones from The Natural Fibre Company, in grey, greyer, and white (as it turns out, all from Sue Blacker's own sheep) - labelled as DK, without yardage but much, and I have no idea yet what to do with it. A skein of Jacob grey-brown chunky from Garthenor Organic Pure Wool, which will be the swatch for the 'at home' winter cable cardigan. And the Jamieson and Smith. I hear the Shetland accent, I see the pretty, pretty colours, and a rainbow haze comes down, the card comes out, and I am lost.


I am lost in a maelstrom, and the lace is still there, in my heart, but my fingers are delirious with the thought of fair isle (by the way, more colours underneath).

More to come - aren't festivals great for giving you something to post about. Meanwhile, I must find steal some space from the great yarn void, and re-order the stash.

For those of you who haven't been to Woolfest, do go, it is such fun. And for those of you who went, didn't you have such fun!