Sunday was our day at the festival. We picked Sunday because:
– it’s when there was still room in the classes we picked
– more stuff was likely to be closed in Brecon on Sunday
– festivals are often a little less crazy on Sunday than Saturday. Since I can’t miss what I didn’t know about, I’m willing to take the chance on lower stock.
We took the first bus out of Brecon and arrived in Builth Wells with a bit of time to grab a coffee (our hotel only did instant coffee) before arrival at the festival ground about 10-15min after it opened. This was our view as we headed over to the fairgrounds (pics taken in the afternoon):
Since there was already a steady stream of people, and while not crazy, it was definitely not what you’d call slow or empty, I’m glad we did Sunday, not Saturday. There is lots of wool in the world, and I don’t really like fighting people just to see it.
The festival definitely held up to it’s promise of focusing on local to the UK vendors and brands. There were a lot of independent vendors. In the US festivals I’ve been to, there are perhaps more indie-dyers who buy undyed yarns and tops. Here, there were more vendors who own the livestock as well or are sourcing the fiber locally to make custom yarns. This meant in some cases a much larger focus on natural colors. Case in point: we’re planning an alpaca blanket, but it needs dyed yarns, and all the alpaca vendors sold almost exclusively undyed yarns. There were also more places selling fleeces from their flocks than many shows I’ve been to (some US shows also coral all the fleeces in one place, so you only see some locks or small quantities at stalls, not whole fleeces).
There was a nice variety in styles though, from classic/traditional to artsy and offbeat. Lots of people were interested in being sustainable and environmentally friendly, and food vendor plates, utensils, etc… were compostable or recyclable (no plastic).
We were also pleased to see that the show was making an effort to accomodate people of varying abilities, with a number of people in wheelchairs, with walkers, etc… and seating areas scattered around the buildings. They also kept the aisle spacing wide, which frankly makes the whole experience more pleasant for everybody. Racial diversity was much lower, but I also don’t know the surrounding areas’ population well enough to say if it was representative.
The show requested no photography of peoples’ work without permission first, so I stuck to photos of some of the sheep.
Ryeland was a new one for me – apparently they are a pretty old breed though. Just not something I’ve seen in the US.
I took a class on selecting fleeces, which will come in handy once back in the US. I’m not buying unwashed fleeces while here – no good place to wash them. Basically, what it comes down to is that the best part of the fleece is visible when it’s rolled up and you need to unroll it to get the full story. Also, big old rams are likely to have the worst fleeces. TheEnabler did a class on block printing on paper and fabric, something that appears to be big in the UK as there were several stands selling supplies for it.
And, of course, we did a bit of shopping. I’m pretty please at my restraint (and only regret one skein of yarn I pass up on). I mostly stuck to my list and predefined guidelines of what I should/shouldn’t buy (no uncarded locks for example, as I have quite a few of those already.
The haul:
– Upper left orange: Charollais roving from The Shepherd’s Hut
– Lower left green: Gotland roving from The Shepherd’s Hut
– Left purple and blue skeins: Wigglefingers Cambrian Foch yarn from Welsh Mule sheep
– Middle top grey yarn: Mohair and Hebredian blend from Blacker Yarns
– Middle bottom pick and dusky rose yarns: Falkland/linen fingering weight yarn from Blacker Yarns
– Right blue top and lower right multi-colored top: Falkland Merino from John Arbon Textiles
– Upper right white: Welsh Mule top from Gwlan Cambrian Wool.
For fiber, I focused on breeds I haven’t worked much with before (Gotland, Carollais, Welsh Mule) or which were locally sourced (Falklands Merino). Thus, some of my old standbys like BFL and Polworth were off the table. Even the Falklands Merino felt a bit of a stretch, but it feels amazing and the colors are gorgeous. TheEnabler has declared that the pale multi-colored one is going to be part of his next scarf (yarn for the scarf was on the shopping list). It was only after the festival that we realized the perfect contrast color for it. Happily, the vendor has it online so I’ll be ordering some soon.
The Welsh Mule seems like a fantastic combo of lustre (you can see how deep the colors of the Wigglefingers yarns are) and softness. Kitten agrees that the top looks like a lot of fun:
I’ve spent a bit of today cataloging my new treasures and fitting them into my stash. The Wigglefingers has been caked up because it’s the first thing going onto my needles. I just need to confer with TheEnabler on what order we should put the colors in.
All in all, it’s a wool festival worth going to and was a fair bit of fun.