I really did. Last Saturday, I went to a wool festival.
Here comes the woolen bride
Not only that, it was in a place called Cockermouth. If you are native to this island, that’s pronounced “cock-a-muth.” Tee hee.
That’s in the lake district in the waaaay north of England. Apparently there are also two excellent and revered beer outlets there, but I didn’t make it there, and I think that Paul was a bit pleased since it means that we’ll get to go back and it will be new to both of us (that’s kind of a thing. not a big thing, but still a thing–99% of this stuff is new only to me, so stuff that is new to both of us is a pretty big score.).
Not only that, but I took a bus with about 25 other wool fans about 3 hours (each way) to get there.
Not only that, but I spent a *uckton of money on yarn. The good news, however, is that I stayed within my budget and about 40% of my expenditures were for gifts. So there.
Don't they look like father and son?
Things I learned at Woolfest 2009:
- Alpacas are closely related to camels and therefore are very cranky and spit when they’re not happy.
- Alpaca-stuffed comforters are 3/4 the weight and 100% of the warmth as traditional down, AND hypoallergenic.
- The trick to shearing a sheep is to keep it on its back so that it knows it’s powerless and doesn’t fight (ha).
- Sheep’s wool is a very sustainable, eco-friendly and effective alternative to fiberglass home insulation.
- Some wool dyes are very bad for people and the environment and so there are actually organizations to raise awareness about this issue.
- I really really really like purple.
- They make entire wedding gowns out of this stuff, and not in a good way (see above).
If you are a knitterly type and not my friend on ravelry, check out the flickr links to my unbelievably exciting new stash growing efforts. If you don’t care about yarn, I advise you to stay here.
