Yesterday morning, at the crack of dawn (OK a slight exaggeration since at this time of the year the crack of dawn is at about 330am but it was 6am) Louise, Laurence, Andrea and I left to make the 400 mile round trip drive to Cockermouth in the Lake District to go to the 5th annual Woolfest.
The location: Mitchells Lakeland Livestock Centre, Cockermouth
The reason: hundreds of mad keen fibre fanatics want somewhere to see an buy all that great yarn and fibre
It's a great place to see lots and lots of happy fibre fans and to see what's new in the world of knitting, spinning, felting and weaving. We saw alpaca, angora goats and rabbits, various breeds of sheep. You could buy sheep at the sheep auction (ok they were of the knitted variety and the auction was raising money for charity); you could watch sheep shearing; take classes and be inspired.
And if you bought too much to carry you could always leave it at the wool creche and collect it later - encouraging you to buy more than you can carry!!! Now that made me smile!
Our favourite yarn store Twist Fibre Craft were there with the best looking stall (we are not biased!) Their biggest seller was pre-felt....white, coloured and hand-dyed.
After our spending our money and before we headed home we took a little drive through the northern corner of the Lake District National Park. We thought it only fitting that we at least see a lake whilst we were in the Lake District.
Here's Louise and I cooling off our tired feet in Bassenthwaite Lake and some cute cottages in the village of Caldbeck - great local ice cream to be had and home of the Wool Clip (the organisers of Woolfest and Social Enterprise of the Year 2009). Definitely worth a visit for a wander along the bubbling stream, looking at the stone cottages and beautiful gardens, watching the local sheep and taking in the fibre goodness at the Wool Clip, housed in a restored water mill.
This is the home of the Wool Clip. There's also a jewellers, a second hand book shop and a cafe.
9 comments:
It was such a great day! Thanks again Diane.
Very colorful pictures.
It is a shame we forgot to take a picture of our picnic, it was quite spectacular too ;o)
Oh My!
That sounds like a great day! Could you post a bigger picture of the afghan in the second collage for me? Or do you have a flickr that I could get a closer look at? I LOVE that pattern! Thanks!
How lucky are you!!! Those bundles of colorful wool felt are scrumdidillyumptious. I hope you had a great time, and that you leared a lot. Anna
What fun, Di...Looks like fiver heaven...*sigh*...
Very beautiful ! I like your colors !!! And this nice place makes me dream !
diane, do you ever sleep?!
Thanks for the heroic driving effort Diane (and sorry I was asleep for so much of it!!), I had a brilliant day. Looking forward to seeing the creations made with your Woolfest bounty...
That's some serious eye candy! Looks like you had a fantastic trip!
Wauw, seriously considering making this next summer's holiday destination! A woolfest in the Lake District sounds like a perfect combination!
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