a jaunt to Wales

After much umming and aghing on my part we finally made it to Wonderwool Wales which was part of the Smallholder and Garden Festival on Saturday. I'd had this bookmarked for months but as the weather turned miserable recently I started having second thoughts about going. The original plan had been to go for the weekend and camp as the show was in a lovely part of Wales that we'd never been too.

The weather forecast was for cold and rain so that put the kybosh on plans and then we decided on Friday evening that Tom and I would go for the day and the children would stay at home with their young babysitter friend. That was at 7pm. Then Amber appears at 10pm and tells me that her period has started and that she doesn't want to stay at home and go swimming and that she'll come with us. So in the morning Rohan decides that he might as well come too but Raj wants to stay at home but not on his own! Do you do this - best laid plans going completely awry?

In the end - we all went and we had a great day despite the torrential downpour that ocurred every hour or so. It really was a great event. There was a huge hall full of horticultural things where there was this lovely display of vegetables by some seed company or other:

There was a farmer's market; an auction for agricultural equipment; workshops and talks; sheep shearing, poultry for sale, pigs, goats and alpacas on show:

Sheep waiting to go in for prizes - some of them a bit too tired after all that tweaking and haircutting:

and then we finally got into the Wonderwool Wales tent and I was away. There were people showing their sheep breeds and some selling fibre. We just loved this Leicester Longwool:

and there was a French lady promoting sheep from different parts of Europe which was very interesting. Most I'd never heard of except for the merino which originated in Spain apparantly:

There were knitting and felting workshops and many others. Lots of stalls selling lots of stuff and I was incredibly restrained. I only bought two lots of plant dye - rhubarb root and madder.

On the way back we drove through Crickhowell which is a very pretty place:

I think next year we will definately go for the weekend. There was plenty to do and we could easily have stayed longer than the four hours that we were there - infact we missed quite a few things. I thoroughly recommend it and maybe next year we could have a 'bloggers meet up' there. What do you think, you UK bloggers? Go and check out the link at the top of the post to see if you fancy it. I guess we could have a blogger's meet, a group for their frazzled husbands and maybe one for offspring of bloggers too!  Husband 1 to Husband 2 - "so what's your wife's blog called then?" Child 1 to Child 2 "have you noticed that your Mum has less time to play now that she has a blog?"  Could be fun.........

So apart from driving across country for hours I spent the weekend washing more sodding fleece to dye. I say this with a tone of voice because the two fleece that I got recently have been SO dirty. I've had to soak them for a week, wash them over ten times in the bath and I even resorted to a cold wash in the washing machine. Finally, on Sunday afternoon I had a pretty clean fleece. Gosh, if I had to charge money for all the time I spent washing, dyeing, carding, packaging and posting - my fibre would probably sell for £20 a bag. Still, my bathroom was sparkling by the end of all that washing as I kept on my marigolds in between running out dirty bathwater and scrubbed the loo, wash basin, skirting, tiles and carpet. That's that job done for six months or so.

Yesterday morning was spent packaging and posting various owls I have sold on etsy and this morning I had an urge to tweak the pattern and I made a bigger owl:

He's gone a bit round and fat and looks more like Benny the Ball in Topcat:

Here he is next to one of the smaller ones so you can see how big he is:

He's up on Etsy and there are still three of the smaller owls left if you want one ................

* if you click on the link it should take you straight to a clip of Topcat on YouTube.

Comments

[Sue]

The show that you visited looks wonderful. I hope you dont have to wash your next fleece too much. Oh well at least it gave you the time to do your housework at the same time. I love, love, love your owls, so cute and adorable too. What a great way to make use of that fabric you had.

[little jenny wren]

Those sheep all look so lovely. Their beautiful soft wool and so clean. The Leicester long wool was gorgeous. Pity you had to work so hard to get your wool clean.

[Marie]

Loved this virtual tour of the festival you were able to go to, despite the weather gloom and doom. Thanks so much for sharing it so kindly with us all! I love your crafts and hearing about it all. You are a true artiste!

[willow]

Builth Wells is near one of our favourite places, Hay-on-Wye. We have stayed there several times, the main attractions being the bookshops of course.
The show sounds really great. Clicking on the links, it seems that they have separated the Wonderwool Wales from the Smallholder and Garden festival next year, the first in April, the other in May. What a shame, I would like to see both.

[Bitter Betty]

Wooly goodness and.. the owls are sooooo cute.

Your story about scrubbing the loo is funny. I usually have to invite people over for dinner to get that done properly!

[Jo]

Best photos of Wonderwool I've seen yet, I wanted to go but when K agreed we could go to Woolfest in June I just kept my mouth shut about Wonderwool, maybe we could have a meet next year!! I will look forward to it!

[Marie]

It looks like an interesting place to visit and a great show. I love alpacas - saw them up-close for the first time this year and I hope to own some one day.

Your owls are great and they look right at home in those trees.

[Sonya]

That does sound like a fun time and best-laid plans, what are those? I give up because what you described seems to happen at every outset! I have a fleece to wash and a bathroom to clean, ahh symbiotic relationship.

[Kylie]

How lucky you are to be able to visit such a beautiful place! And all that wool!!I don't think i would be able to to restrain myself.
Great owl too - love the fabric.

[Tracy]

Hi Simmy! After being away on holiday two weeks, and in that time not having time to read blogs, it was wonderful to return and see what you've up to--especially your trip to Wales(a place I've longed to see) Glad the time was a good one, inspite of weahter and thing...Love the sweet little owl! Happy Days! :o)

[Kelli]

Thanks for dropping in on my blog Simmy.I told my partner about your wool dying and how I want some sheep now so I can dye my own and he reminded me that not only can I not spin wool, I also can not knit or crochet! He is right you know but I have now joined the Grannyalong blog so now I have to learn!

[danielleroothooft]

waw, al this different kinds of wool. I love wool. I just finshed a pussman this evening & then I stuffed it with wool & I love the smell of it. Good luck !!!
Danielle

[Georgia]

Oooh...I loved all those different kinds of wools. I really should learn what wool is best for what (there's an article about it in the spinning mag I just bought) but it almost takes the magic out of it for me. My next big purchase is going to be a spinning wheel...I love the spindle but it just takes too long. I'll get back into the dyeing too when the kids finish school for the year. Love the owl, love your very real story about what to do with the family when it rains...sometimes you just have to get out and the day will unfold before you.