Fibre Fayre

My local Spinning and Weaving Guild have a Fleece Fair once upon a year in a little village hall. It's a passionate affair with lots of local alpaca farmers and fibre milling around amid bags full of unwashed fleece and baskets of brightly coloured roving tops. The buzz and burble of shared techniques and expertise, heads bent over a piece of work or bundle of fibre, is accompanied by the rhythmic sound of spinners' treadles and the clink of tea cups. In my exploration of this Aladdin's cave I discover the most generous portions of the most hedonistic chocolate cake are served up with a beautiful milky brew in return for a single gold coin.

I come away after many hours, head spinning, clutching my many prizes. Out into the bright sunshine that spills across the expanse of grass as if there never was a cloud in the sky.

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Treasure guide:

Top = 100g Falklands wool roving, space dyed in Victorian Velvet colourway, from Mandacrafts.co.uk

Left = Two 50g Merino tops, from Spinningweal.com

I also purchased half a Zwartbles fleece (Isn't that a fantastic name!) , which is naturally a beautiful dark brown and will sit with what's left of my other unwashed fleece until I get up the patience to clean them.

I should probably also mention, for the spinners reading, that I received some invaluable advice, leading me to realise I'd been spinning without using my tension thread since I first got my wheel. This was inevitably giving me problems with the way my yarn was being fed onto the spool, but since configuring it correctly everything has been running smoothly..