Wonderwool Wales

What a fabulous day! Glorious weather for driving over the Brecon Beacons to the Royal Welsh Showground at Builth Wells, and a show that was even better than last year. The bag creche is a great idea, as I was soon laden down with goodies...

It was good to meet Helen Melvin of Fiery Felts, down from North Wales - she is currently leading a workshop on the Online Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, and it was nice to put a face to a name (and buy some of her lovely wool).

Also finally met Carole Webb, whose hand-dyed Blue Faced Leicester I have been using for a while to make felt corsages, having bought a selection of colours at Erwood Station www.erwood-station.co.uk . She is also able to take commissions, which I shall certainly be following up with her.

Had an interesting conversation with Sue Blacker of The Natural Fibre Company www.thenaturalfibre.co.uk, in which she told me about the Woolsack 2012 project www.woolsack.org, which is seeking to make 20,000 cushions from British wool to present to participants in the Olympics. This is a fun idea which I definitely want to get involved with! It focussed my mind on sourcing British wools today, and I am already mulling over the possibilities of different colours of Blue Faced Leicester and Welsh Mountain...

I also treated myself to a peg loom - I really fancy making some tactile rugs and possibly wall hangings out of fleece. I have some scoured Manx Loughtan which I was going to try felting, but I think some of could be diverted to the peg loom. This might be something the Ouessant is useful for as well. (Note to self - the Ouessant fleeces are still stinking the garage out, and I really must do something with them soon!!!)

Altogether a very satisfactory day. Wonderwool is quite an experience - sensory overload, frankly, and one needs to be disciplined. And possibly the highlight of the day was meeting a very interactive Leicester Longwool sheep - I had no idea these were so HUGE! Stunning fleece, too - like a greying poodle. I want some...