...A bag, specially made for the event which says " I ravelled at Woolfest 2008", filled with a survival package for the event, namely some paper face masks (To protect me from the wool fumes..I forgot and mayhem ensued!); A big bottle of water (for Hydration, used); A Kit-Kat (to keep the blood sugar up...also used); plasters (came in handy when I broke a nail loading up the car); funky tissues; a notepad and some wet wipes for after handling raw fleece (ah, Mel, you know me well!). There's a second part to this one but as I haven't pulled my finger out and photographed it yet, you'll just have to wait.2) In between preparations for Woolfest, we finished our first pair of socks for Summer of Socks. The slight problem is that they have been given away and although I took a photograph, I had to delete all the images on the camera and didn't have a back-up so I've lost it! D'oh. I have currently been wrestling with Rivendell, knitting, mostly frogging but hopefully we'll have one completed sock soon (and a picture!).
3)Whilst I was away, a catalogue of errors ensued where whilst no-one was actually injured (bar my wrists), one hell of a lot went wrong, including the fact that I could not hook up to the internet the whole time I was there. I tried everything I could on my laptop (which gets interesting when I get enough breathing/thinking space to go exploring menus/help options) and the only solution it came up with? Turn the wireless router off and on again! Nice idea, shame I had no idea where it was! I could have pestered the owners in case one of them was a tech head but as I'd already lost a key, found a key, broke a key, moved rooms, hassled them for hairdryers and batteries for the knackered remote control, I wasn't pushing it any further!
4) On my return on Sunday, somewhat battered from lack of sleep, I had a couple of hours before turning round and going out to a marathon family-in-law event which included picking up the in-laws, transporting them an hour away, off to a meal that started at 6pm and ended around 9pm; finally returning home about 10.30pm with a stonking headache and frantic dogs who'd been left in the dark for a while, not a good idea, any of it! If the same situation happens next year, I will arrange to have a migraine, forego the food and let them get on with it...
5) A combination of unexpected carting of luggage upstairs at 9pm+ on the first night (after aforementioned broken key issue), carting fleeces and goodies to the Wool Creche whilst at Woolfest and playing somewhat hazardously with my new woolcombs has well and truly knackered both wrists therefore reducing my typing etc. activities in the vain hope I can give them time to recover...A truly vain hope as the Tour De Fleece starts on Saturday and I am loving my new combs, even if they may fly off the table at any moment therefore impaling anything in its path (so farm, so good) and the fact that they produce much larger bumps at the price of my wrists...
Anyway, better late than never, here's a pic. from the event, many more to follow...
...And of course my stash...
The bottom layer is non-superwash Merino Bamboo sock yarn from Bluefaced.com ready for me to dye; above it is a 60% Alpaca, 20% Merino, 20% Nylon sock yarn from UK Alpaca at an incredible £1.50 a skein as it was underplied. Still suitable for a sweater though!
At the top (here's a better picture), 3 skeins of Fyberspates Faery lace, pure merino and Luurvely colours (and I got my Ravelry discount!).
This picture refuses to stay rotated sigh; never mind, my new Woolcombs from P+M with the Majacraft block that was meant to hold the clamp and keep it all stable. Unfortunately, it broke 2nd time I used it, hence the somewhat precarious situation as I have to clamp the handle directly which is not terribly satisfactory. I've got my fingers crossed for a handy hubbie somewhere who could help out by providing something more stable, so watch this space...
Also 3 Procion dyes and a pack of Citric Acid (saves me finding vinegar all the time) and a couple of Natural dyes to add to my Earthues set. And a flick carder which I can use on my pigskin apron so hopefully all my fibre preparation needs are catered for in the forseeable future.
Then there's my 2 plaits of gorgeousness (Merino tencel) hand dyed by the Yarn Yard...and yes, I cracked and signed up to the fibre club, D'oh! Also a small bag of Angora that I was 20p short on so Mel bought it for me (I DO take things to the wire!).
In addition, I picked up (somewhat unwisely), a BFL fleece (very mucky and definitely not skirted); a Teeswater (quite mucky, hopefully washed today); a gorgeously soft Bowmont fleece; a Castlemilk Moorit fleece (some spiky veg but washed okay) and a cheap but incredibly butchered Manx Loaghtan fleece. The label said 750g but I'll be lucky to get 300g out of it, lots of the fleece was shorn stupid short, like 1cm long and unusable plus the 2nd cuts were unbelievable. I also picked up 1kg of washed (cold water) teeswater 'cos I believed the blokes blarney but we'll see how much I end up with. I also got 1kg raw suri alpaca (niiice), and 500g grey raw alpaca as well as over 1kg of different coloured alpaca tops as well so I probably have around ten years od fleece preparation/spinning to do...whether this is wise or not is debatable right now...
Anyway, important lesson learnt, unroll EVERY fleece you intend to purchase, even if it's a bugger to get back, just because the butt end looks clean doesn't mean there could be hidden nasties rolled inside. And with that, I'm off to wash the Teeswater. I'm putting off the BFL 'till my wrists are a bit stronger as I know it'll be hard work (I've already discarded roughly 1/4 of it) but hope to have them all squeaky clean asap. Wish me luck!
2 comments:
Lovely! So sorry to hear of your sore wrists...hope they heal quickly. I don't spin so the fiber, although lovely, isn't as exciting to me as the yarn. But the yarn! Ah, the yarn. Good picks, Chris.
oooooh wonderful!
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