Yer bet yer life we are!!
Misty mountain was, well, misty when I set off yesterday morning with my oversized Cath Kidston tote and a big smile for my day out at this year's Wonderwool over at the Royal Welsh showground in Builth Wells. Himself made me a bacon sandwich for breakfast and then packed me a couple of ham, marmite, and tomato rolls for my lunch. It's about an hour and half's drive to Builth Wells, through lovely countryside and I'd arranged to meet up with three friends from the Stitch 'n' Bitch in Llandeilo at 9.30, so I off I went a few minutes after 8.45 looking forward to a good day out. Fortunately himself'd managed to locate one of the back seats for the car and safely installed it in it's rightful place, so after meeting up at the designated spot in Llandeilo my friends and I were able to journey on together in my car. (To explain about the car seats... The car was bought primarily for transporting himself, me and the dogs, so we usually remove 2 of the three back seats to allow the dogs plenty of space to be comfortable in the back. Ergo, three human passengers equals needing to find at least one of said back seats to allow everoyone to travel safely and in relative comfort.)
The journey over the mountains was both pretty and absolutely hilarious. Ten minutes in I realised that all was not well with my undergarments when my not inconsiderable frontage seemed to be travelling via resting on the steering wheel as opposed to being neately packaged out front in their usual place. A bit of judicious wriggling confirmed that we needed a short stop while I refastened the shoulder-boulder-holder in order to ensure correct movement of the steering wheel and a more comfortable ride pour moi. This would have been much easier to accomplish if my friend had not piped up from the back with her musings on what we would tell the police officer if we couldn't find a lay-by and had to stop roadside on the narrow country roads while I made the necessary adjustments. Fortunately an appropriate stopping place came along a few minutes later and any embarrassing explanations were avoided, thank goodness. Driving along we took in the beautiful scenery and continued our laughter right up until we parked in the show ground car park. I think we might have stopped laughing for about 2 minutes while we got out of the car but we soon started up again at the sight of our friend and her 'funky shopping trolley.' Although, as she rightly points out in her own Ravelry post, we were far more envous than laughing at the end of the day when our bags were heavy and hers was on wheels!
The show itself was excellent. Many, many exhibitors with truly scrumpleecious yarn and fibre to tempt us into spending our limited budgets. (scrumpleecious = word invented by Enid Blyton, a concatenation of scrumptious and delicious).
I began light with a couple of skeins of Artist Palette sock yarn and some of the latest more vibrant shades of Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. But then I saw a delux set of Knit Pro circulars with 15% off the regular price, so they had to be bought, didn't they? *nods head* Yes they did, they HAD to be bought, okay? Good.
Moving on I found a stand displaying a fabulous tea pot cosy with pom poms on top. I have been looking for a good teapot cosy patterns for a whle now. Sadly the pattern is not yet written out, but the lady had some gorgeous maple knitting needles with painted wooden ends so I bought a couple of pairs of those.
Aren't they pretty? I know, I know, do I really NEED another pair of 4.0mm and 3.5mm needles? YES! Especially when they're a pretty as these ones. After all I do knit a lot of DK so... so? *glares formidably at nay sayers*
Moving swiftly on I was tempted by a couple of balls of Noro. I've never used Noro before so these are an experimental buy to see how I get on with them. The yarn isn't cheap and I have heaps of impulse bought 'mistake' yarn that may never get used so I was being good, *nods*
After that I continued my wanderings and was quite restrained, until I found a lady with buttons to die for.
Aren't they absolutely scrummy? I love them to bits. Like sweeties in a sweetie shop. It's a good job I bought a new vintage button tin the other week. As you can see in the picture I also bought some pretty new stitch markers for both crochet and knitting. You can never have too many stitch markers, ever.
After the buttons I wandered further and discoverd that I could do a diploma in crochet. What a cool idea, so I picked up the leaflet to have look further into it. Apparently there's no time limit which is excellent for those of us that earn our living outside the fibre arena as it means we can work when we want to and fit in around our 'real lives.' This makes me much more inclined to take the plunge and spend the money.
Wandering further brought me to The Natural Dye Studio stand where I was truly entranced, not only by the yarn but by the patterns. I restrained myself. I bought 2 patterns and 3 skeins of yarn. I was good, I really really was. Honest!
By now it was time to meet up with my friends again for lunch so I went to our designated meeting spot and sat down to eat my yummy rolls and swap stories and admire our booty.
So far, I had only done the one hall and there was a second one still to go, so fortified by ham, marmite and tomato I set out into the other hall with still half my budget left in my purse.
This hall had sheep, honest to god real sheep. Beautiful, fabulous, wonderful, sheep. You can see them in the first pic above and again here...
Aren't they wonderful? Don't you just want to pick them up and take them home with you? And it got better, way way way better, because it didn't just have sheep. Oh no! It had goats too. Marvellous, wonderful, fabulous goats.
Isn't he magnificent? Don't you just love him? WANT! WANT! WANT!
Many people are surprised to discover that mohair yarn comes from goats, like him. Yarn like this...
Hand dyed into these luscious shades that give me all sorts of splendid ideas. The lady has a shop in Llandovery, so I think I shall be making my way there very soon, very soon indeed.
I have to admit that at this point the old bones were beginning to get a little weary, but I kept on trucking, only one half of this hall left to go and I found some beautiful hand dyed 100% merino so I picked up a couple of skeins. Had to, they were called 'Winter Solstice' there was no way I could leave a yarn called Winter Solstice behind could I? I mean, we're pagans, and himself's business was called 'Solstice' so they had to come home didn't they? *nods emphatically*
Now, I still had some budget left to spend. I know, no one was holding a gun to my head forcing me to spend all of it, but I had a pattern for a blanket from those lovely people at The Natural Dye Studio didn't I. I mean come on it's a blanket pattern. It needs 1800gms of mixed yarn. I had budget left and what's more, they had a credit card machine... I could buy 10 x 100gm skeins and get started could't I? With the 2 I already had that made 12 in total. I only need 6 more which I can get on line next week so... yeah, you guessed it... Off I trotted back to the stand to buy 10 more delicious skeins and they gave me one for free! Lovely lovely people.
It was only at this point I remembered the yarn I had actually been planning to buy and I hadn't even seen it. I returned to the lovely ladies at First 4 Yarns and there it was on it's own stand in the corner. So I bought a dozen colours of the Rico Creative 100% cotton. Fabulous bright colours, in aran weight cotton. Not sure yet whether it will be a ripple or hexes or squares but the colours are gorgeous and I can't wait to get started on something.
After that I really had had enough. I still had money left..\o/ go me, but no energy to even think about fibres, and yarn weights and colour palettes, so I bought a drink, phoned himself and sat down to wait for my friends.
In the car on the way home our discussion ranged from politics to work, to religion and family and was as funny as it had been on the way there. At one point I was laughing so much I could barely drive the car, but we all arrived back in Llandeilo safe and sound after a truly splendid day out!
So here it is...
My Wonderwool booty part 1
Yarn starting from the left.... Winter Solstice 100% Merino, Artist palette sock yarn, Peaches 'n' Creme cotton.
In the basket... Noro, Rico Creative 100% cotton, Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. Knit Pro circular needles, and lovely little Kaffe Fassett cotton bag for transporting crochet hooks and scissors etc around.
Wonderwool Booty part 2
The Natrual Dye Studio... unforunately when I took this picture I had lost much of the light so the yarn is not looking as bright as it is in real life.
So there you have it... Wonderwool 2010... and a good time was had by all. Now I have to work, all that yarn has to be paid for somehow. Love O. xxxxx
