Woolly Wild Adventures in York!

On Friday and Saturday I had a stall at the British Wool Show, which took place in York. Now as some of you might know, I live in Bristol. York is rather far away, but I had always wanted to visit it, so thought I could combine a woolly escapade with a holiday.

So off we went to York, with a car full of Woolly Wild Things, and almost with the cats, who desperately tried to pack themselves.

We had a couple of days to wonder around the city of York, exploring its picturesque winding streets and excessive number of pubs. We passed many a ghost tour taking place, but unfortunately didn’t have time to join one ourselves.

Then it was on to York Auction Mart, to set up for the show!

There were loads of other stalls there, all wool related. Many different types of wool, yarn, fleece. I spent quite a lot on restocking my wool supplies, and got rather overexcited! I promised myself I wouldn’t buy any more fleece but somehow went home with a whole beautiful grey shetland fleece.

I had a great two days, talking to people about my craft, and letting people try on my hats. I met lots of other people who were passionate about wool, and it was nice to talk to people who were as genuinely as interested in it as I am. I was given lots of useful tips on washing and dyeing fleece which I can’t wait to try out.

My stand at the wool fair

Ding some work.

Hats!

Sleepy Marcus hides under a series of hats.

I’m back in Bristol now, and have spent most of today washing fleece. I have a huge backlog as I got four whole fleeces from a farmer in Devon only a couple of weeks ago! So much fleece, so little time.

A garden full of fleece

Washed fleece drying!

Now that the wool fair is over, I’m going to focus on some big projects. All the fleece I have will be used in more hats and some other costume pieces I have in mind. The wool fair was a very inspiring setting, it has definitely encouraged me to make more!

Of cats and Carders

Sorry I haven’t updated this blog for a while

I seem to start every blog post I write with that apology. I have genuine intentions of updating this blog regularly, as I do have a lot to write about, and it would be nice to write about each thing as a separate post instead of lumping it all together, but hey ho. I’ve had a lot on (always that excuse)

I got a new job which I have been working alongside the old one, so I have had very few days off, and in those rare days I seem to spend all my time doing cleaning and laundry. I am also taking care of some rather beautiful cats for my sister, and they are very very distracting (pictures to follow)

My new job is in Tyntesfield, which is a National Trust property. Its really beautiful and I love working there, despite the 10 miles I have to cycle to get there!

But back to felting.

Fairly recently I made a triceratops, which was fun. I made up the colours because I think dinosaurs were probably really quite boring colours and that’s not very exciting. And also I had a lot of pinks and purples that I haven’t used for anything.

I am making this one a brachiosaurus friend, which is so close to completion, but I have been working on it for so long that I doubt it will ever be finished. I haven’t had time to sit down and focus properly on anything. I will finish him one day. I promise.

A more recent completion, but also something I have been working on for a while, is the hare hat.

This needs photos of someone wearing it to do it justice, but here it is being worn by a bowl.

I am please with this one. everything except the eyes and inside of the ears was made from shetland wool that I washed and dyed. The Shetland fleece was so filthy and greasy that I thought I’d never use it for anything, but I finally did! Which leads me on to something else.

I bought a drum carder.

Already fed up with hand carding fleece (which is quite hard on the wrists) I decided to take the plunge and buy one of the most expensive things I have ever purchased. Its beautiful and handmade, but it is probably the most specific thing I have ever bought. It only does one thing. It combs wool. I really have to keep processing fleece now to make it worth my while. Luckily my shed is full of raw fleece so I think I have no problem there!

I have also started doing more workshops. I have joined The Art Troupe, which organises workshops around Bristol and the surrounding areas. I did two days of wet felting workshops in a Bristol primary school, teaching nursery through to year two how to make wet felt. I had no previous experience of working with that age group. It was exhausting, but really rewarding. We stitched all the felt they made together into a huge wall hanging to go on the school wall.

The grey cat is Sandra. She loved the wool but had to be moved on as she started clawing at it!

Finally, I did another craft fair – Bspoke16 in Emersons Green in Bristol. I hadn’t really had time to make anything new, but I sold a few of my old things, and I even sold a hat! (one with mushrooms on it, which sadly I never properly photographed)

The next fair I will be attending is The British Wool show in York, which will be a bit of an adventure. We are going to stay in York for a couple of days too as I have never been there.

More info on that to follow.

Also, here is a picture of the other cat, Noel. He is sweet, he purrs like and engine and roles on his back all the time. When he arrived he was a bit stressed and hid under some shelves for a week, but now we are the best of friends. He is Sandra’s brother. She is the intelligent one. He is a bit simple but he’s very sweet.

New things

Well hello there!

And may I just say WOW, what a time have I been having! Its funny how everything in life happens all at once, and at lot has happened in the last few weeks.

I managed to prepare for and do my second market stall, whilst moving house at the same time. I am still in the process of moving house really, all our stuff is in the new house, but we have a lot to do to properly settle in. And we currently have no internet, so I do apologise for the radio silence of late, I am still felting, and I have lots planned for the future, I will be adding more posts and photos soon, when internet is sorted.

I am writing this in a cafe, borrowing their internet, though I probably need to buy another coffee if I want to stay here any longer.

I wanted to write a post about Rhiwbina’s Handmade Market, which I attended on 8th of March (one week before being evicted from our previous house) I had planned to make a lot more than I did, but circumstances being as they were, its a marvel I managed to make anything at all.

Me and my glamorous assistant were modelling (for the first time in public) my Woolly Wild animal hats, which attracted a lot of attention and has definitely encouraged me to make more of them, though the fox is a work in progress and still needs to be finished really before I move on to anything else.

I also had to say goodbye to the ayeaye, which was both a sad and happy occasion. It was nice to see him finally go off to a new home, but I had become accustomed to his presence on my desk, with his large staring eyes!

Another success in all, it was a lovely market to attend and I would love to do it again!

Now back to unpacking boxes…

My First Christmas Fayre

I did my first market stall on the weekend, and I enjoyed it so much that I think will indeed do many more in the future.

It was at Cwrt Bleddyn Hotel and Spar, near Usk, not too far from where my parents live.

It was a really good opportunity to design what my stall was going to look like, as well as labels for my felted things, and business cards!

I did of course have to make a lot of things to fill the market stall, but I didn’t make as much as I had intended. Originally I had 3 weeks before free, just for making things, but then work and life got in the way, and I only ended up using a few of those days for making. Still, I did quite well considering.

I tried to make a few Christmasy things – and I sold this whole family of polar bears! –

I had quite a range of stuff actually, from badges, to flat wall hangings.

In all, lots of fun, and I’m looking forward to doing another one. It was a wonderful way of meeting new people, and talking to people about felt!