Edinburgh and Wool

We've just come back from a few days away in the beautiful city of Edinburgh.  My motive for going was to attend the Edinburgh Yarn Festival which I had found out about recently.  I lured my long suffering husband along with promises of lots of photo opportunities.  Actually he didn't take much luring and he even came to the Festival with me to act as pack-horse, but more of that in a bit.

We let the train take the strain and had a very pleasant journey up, enjoying the views of the Northumberland coast.

We caught a glimpse of the Angel of the North as we passed Newcastle and Gateshead.

We'd no sooner arrived at our hotel than we all had to troop out as the fire alarm went off.

Happily it was a false alarm but we still stood around in the cold for about quarter of an hour.

Friday found us at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, or rather, queueing to get in.  The organisation of the show was excellent and there was a good atmosphere in the queue with everyone being very patient.  I think it took about half an hour for us to get in but the queue moved steadily so it wasn't a chore.  The organisers did a great job all round.

Ironically, I went again on the Saturday, having a weekend ticket, and the queue for ticket holders was longer than the queue for non-ticket holders.  If you click on the photo above you can see the little finger post announcing the Festival.

Hubby, who has little interest in wool, amused himself taking a couple of videos,

Since I had Mr Muscle with me I bought the heaviest items on my list on Friday.  I bought an art flyer for my Louet Victoria spinning wheel and an inklette loom for making straps and narrow weaves on.

The art flyer is a different colour from the original wheel but I'm not bothered.  It is really simple to change over to this larger flyer and I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of it.  I've had a treadle with it this afternoon and it doesn't affect the stability of the wheel.  Happy, happy!

There wasn't a lot of fibre available at the Festival as it's set up with knitters in mind but John Arbon of Devon were doing a roaring trade as ever.

The cafe was extremely busy and I didn't bother fighting my way in.

Hubby very generously suggested that I go back on my own on Saturday so I gave up fairly quickly on Friday as it was very busy.  Saturday I had a lovely few hours browsing the stalls and getting way too tempted with all the beautiful yarns on offer.

Eden Cottage Yarns, Ripples Crafts, Watercolours & Lace and A Yarn Story all tempted me.

The lovely textured pack is by Añañuca and I'll enjoy either weaving or spinning it.  The mohair was a bargain at £2.50 and may get some dye added to some it.

The Threshing Barn not only sold me the Inklette loom but also tempted me with a sumptuous batt and some ribbons that will appear in some art yarns soon, to be spun on my new gadget.  I was delighted to find some Colinette bulky yarns in a shop on the way back to the hotel (as if I hadn't bought enough yarn already!).  Colinette no longer produce their beautiful yarns so once the available stocks have gone that will be it. (sad face here).

Edited to add a YouTube video of the show:


If  you're really interested there are several more on YouTube (you might want to turn the soundtrack off).

Once I'd worn myself out at the Festival on Saturday I headed back into Edinburgh to visit the Dovecot Studio and gallery.  To quote their brochure, they are "a landmark centre for contemporary art, craft and design built around a leading international tapestry studio."  I have an interest in tapestry weaving so I was keen to visit, especially as the viewing balcony was open.  I'll make a separate post of the visit so I don't bore you to death if you're not interested.  More to follow too of meanderings around Edinburgh and a visit to the Rosslyn Chapel.

Woolfest

I have a lot of catching up to do again as most of my time has been taken up with working on my quilt for Festival of Quilts.  More of that in a future post.  What I havn't had time to talk about is our trip to Cumbria at the end of June to go to Woolfest.  I've seen adverts for Woolfest for several years but never managed to go so this year we decided to make the effort.

Woolfest is held annually in Cockermouth cattle market and the stalls are all set out in the pens.  The setting is eccentric and as well as showcasing all things woollen and fibre-y it showcases many rare breeds of the wonderful providers of said fibres, sheep.

The exhibition fills two halls and it was lovely browsing up and down the aisles seeing all the amazing things people make with wool and fibres.  

If you click on the photo above you can see the name of these very cuddly sheep.

Sedbergh, Farfield Mill and Pagoda Arts of Liverpool were advertising an upcoming Sheepfest at Sedbergh in September with a variety of manmade sheep in amusing poses and a coat of many colours woven by 650 children, each square hiding its secret dream in its lining.
 

If you get a taste for a fibre festival from this post you can catch Sheepfest here.  

This weaving above is Saori weaving which is a very free way of weaving.  I would love to be able to do something like this.

These coats above, left to right,  are made by Linda Chapman (Cobble Coat) and Ruth Strong (Flora of the Fells) (I didn't get the name of the third coat, sorry).

I was tempted to do a little shopping with the Woolly Pedlar.

You'll have to wait and see exactly what my dear DH bought me from this stall.  It's far too warm to model it at the moment ;-)

The best part of going to exhibitions is the people you meet up with.  This time was no exception and I met up with the very lovely Jackie Cardy who had a stall selling her beautiful brooches and pictures.

I sneaked up on Jackie and took a photo of her while she was deep in conversation.
 

Her stall was kept very busy all day.  Sadly I didn't think to get a photograph of the two of us together.  Doh!

Before I finish I would like to refer you to the work of Iona Mackenzie Laycock.  I had a lovely chat with her about her stunning work but again didn't get a photograph.  Iona's work incorporates fibre and paint and she has spent a long time perfecting her technique.  If you get the chance to see her work it is well worth seeing.  It is so vibrant!