Yesterday I went on an adventure with Kate … over the mountains to Builth Wells and the magical land of Wonderwool.

Kate helped me to get to grips with crochet on a course last year and, since then, I haven’t looked back. It seemed very appropriate, therefore, for us to go to a festival of wool together. The most direct route between Kate’s house and Builth Wells involves a 20-mile stretch along a single track road over the mountains, complete with hair pin bends, plummeting drops and tiny bridges:

The road’s so small it barely appears on the map!

We were quite surprised, therefore, to meet an articulated lorry part way! Fortunately for us, he had clearly decided that he’d made a mistake and had pulled in to one of the very few places it was possible to pass such a large vehicle – a forestry track where, with some manoeuvering, he could turn around. He wasn’t still there when we came back, so clearly he’d managed it.

We got to Builth and the Royal Welsh showground without further incident but ill-prepared for the woolly assault on our senses. There was just so much to see and so many stalls. We spent at least the first hour wandering around, stroking things and saying ‘wow’ before we were able to pull ourselves together enough to sit down with a coffee and formulate a plan. This was quite difficult, because all the stands were so mixed up that it was not possible, for example, easily to compare all those selling alpaca yarn without walking about 15 miles back and forth. However, part of the reason for going was inspiration and there was certainly plenty of that… from felt quilling to interesting bags, from a dragon to an autumn woodland, as well as yarns in every colour and gauge. Not to mention a few of the most important contributors: sheep and alpacas!

Wonderwool Wales 2014

So, I know you’re itching to know what I bought! Well, I was quite restrained and only purchased a hand-carved lucet, a ball of yarn to knit socks for Mr Snail-of-happiness and a piece of hand-dyed cotton scrim to use for nuno felting:

Yarn, scrim and lucet

And then, I wanted some yarn to make a Bavarian crochet blanket (in the style of Teddy and Tottie). This is what I bought:

Yarn for my Bavarian crochet

I fell in love with this yarn for several reasons: it’s amazingly soft (a mix of alpaca, Blue-faced Leicester and Wensleydale wool), it comes from Yorkshire and all the yarn colours are named after places I knew as a child because that’s where I grew up. The three I chose are: Eccup (the reservoir a mile from my old family home), Filey (a seaside town we used to go to for the day in summer) and Bramley Baths (well, we used to go swimming at Meanwood Baths, but close enough!). I also love the company name… and the fact that the yarn came with a lovely cotton bag. It wasn’t cheap yarn and so it’s going to be quite a luxurious blanket, but I’m really looking forward to working with it. I was unsure about which colours to choose and dithered a lot about ‘Filey’ because it’s not a colour I would wear, but (as Kate pointed out), I’m not going to wear my blanket, am I?

Now, I think I was quite restrained, don’t you?