Wonderful Woolfest

by Kate Makin July 10, 2016

I hardly know where to start with this post; it’s been a month since my launch party and so much has happened so forgive me if I ramble.

I should start in order but all my fingers want to type is Wool Fest!!!

I went with some friends I met last year at a knitting group and it felt like a proper road trip! We had all woken up to the knowledge that Britain had voted to leave the EU and were all a bit stunned. Added to that my eldest was refusing to get dressed for school so getting in a car and heading out of Lancaster for the day felt utterly fantastic. (Sorry Andy.)

I justified my jaunt by telling myself and others it was more of a business trip really, not pleasure at all. Haha. We walked in and immediately headed for the fleece sale, where I bumped into a friend who was loaded with 4 bags of fleece and almost too giddy to talk! We all delighted in having a peek and a feel of the woolly booty and then set off around the stalls. I’m sure Angela won’t mind me showing what she has already done with one of her fleeces...beautiful.

I was on the lookout for local producers that would be interested in me selling their yarn. I had already spoken to several lovely people over the last few months so it was great to meet and put faces to names. I loved the Wool Clip corridor, full of Cumbrian delights and plenty of Herdwick wool being used in lots of different ways. I caught up with Maria from Dodgson Wood (http://dodgsonwood.co.uk/farm/) and admired her Castlemilk Moorit rare breed wools and I spent a while talking to the lovely Jayne from Home Farm Wensleydales. I love the idea of her slaughter free flock and I met some of the sheep who adorned daisy necklaces. It doesn’t get much better than that for me.

I managed to get to 4:30pm without buying a single scrap of wool and was beginning to feel a bit smug. Yes! I was here on business and did not need to buy myself any more yarn. Then immediately (and I will thank/blame my friend Angela for this who directed me here) bought a jumpers worth of yarn at Baa Ram Ewe because I just couldn’t stop myself. I bought 3 skeins of Titus, (named after a Yorkshire Mill owner Titus Salt) a beautiful mix of Wensledale, Bluefaced Leicester and UK Alpaca and I’m going to make the Carpino jumper. I’m hoping to stock Titus & Dovestone from Baa Ram Ewe in the future, so Katherine talked me through their gorgeous yarns and I loved the fact that there was a story behind them and their names. When I’m at markets and customers are looking at the different wools I can tell them where it came from, what breeds make up the wool, why I’m stocking it, and I think that makes the whole process so much more enjoyable. You’re buying a product to make something with, a fabulous creation that will be loved and will naturally invite people to ask where it’s from, who made it, etc – but it already has a story.

Over the next few months, I will have a “Yarn O’ The Month’ and go into a bit more detail about some of the yarns that I stock and their story.

For now, I'm off to enjoy the small amount of dry weather available today to go and throw some stones into the River Lune. Small pleasures.

Kate. xxx