Month: Aug 2024

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Wool Show Fun

Posted on by Jackie B

There was a clash of events in Newcastle the other week. I ended up attending both Novum, the arts festival, to sing with my choir who were supporting Cirque Bijou (as I described in the previous blog post) and also the North East Wool Show

This is the second year of the Wool Show – I thoroughly enjoyed it last year so was glad it’s back again.

On the Saturday I joined some fellow members of the North Northumberland Spinners on our stand and spent a very enjoyable day demonstrating spinning.

One of my fellow spinners, J, in front of our stall

Our stall looked fantastic, with loads of lovely handspun and hand knitted items on display, some of them hand dyed too.

A, who runs the group (originally set up by her mother many years ago) was responsible for all this amazing work, including her lockdown project, a Fair Isle jumper (the handspun yarn is hand dyed too.

These sheep samplers attracted loads of attention. Each one represents a different sheep breed and is made from handspun yarn from that breed, with a needle felted head.

This was my first experience of demonstrating spinning and I absolutely loved it. Of course at a wool festival you are preaching to the converted! Spinning is a bit of a natural progression if you already knit or crochet – what could be better than making an item from yarn you have spun yourself?

Between us, we had three completely different spinning wheels: a traditional one, a modern folding treadle wheel and my e-wheel. A lot of our visitors had never seen an electric powered wheel like mine before and were quite intrigued. Without the need to work the foot treadles, e-wheels are perfect if you have limited movement or co-ordination in your feet and there was quite a lot of interest from disabled visitors.

We also operated a ball-winding service, for those who had purchased skeins of hand-dyed yarn at the show – there were so many to choose from in every colour imaginable. For a small contribution to charity, we converted the skeins into ready-to-knit balls of yarn.

I really enjoyed explaining the principles of spinning and showing people how my e-wheel works compared to the foot-powered ones.

At the end of the day I changed out of my handspun, hand-crocheted jacket and into the sequins to return to singing with the circus!

I was back to the Wool Show the following day for the shopping! I saw so many people I knew, including friends from my knitting and spinning groups and Amble Pin Cushion, so it was quite a social occasion too.

Of course I had to buy some fibre to spin! I bought more of this Siri alpaca and merino blend from Bettina of Tine and Floyd – I love that she always adds a lavender bag and tea to your bag! – I bought a skein of this colour way (it’s called Blackberry Fool) last year and was spinning it the previous day.

I also got some black Shetland tops from Adelaide Walker. I’m thinking of plying it with the pink/purple to make myself a jumper.

I also fancy making something in shades of green and I saw this. It’s hand dyed Leicester – look at those beautiful locks! It will take some preparation before I spin it but could make some gorgeous yarn.

As I said earlier, there was a massive selection of had-dyed yarn available from lots of traders, but I particularly loved the deep rich shades on Yarn Tings stall – this is a merino/yak/silk blend, sock weight and it’s so soft – this shade is Firebird.

There were some fabulous tools and accessories too. I bought some of my favourite Knit Pro Zing needles. I got the interchangeable circular set some months back but I needed some extra small ones for a couple of projects – the interchangeables don’t go below about 3.25 mm.

I got this wraps-per-inch gauge from Threshing Barn. I’m thinking of attaching it to the orifice hook on my spinning wheel, so it’s easier to find if I drop it.

Then there was this needle case. isn’t it pretty?

There were all sorts of kits and patterns available too. This shawl pattern caught my eye, though when I’ll ever get around to making I, who knows?

When I got home I downloaded a couple of other patterns that were made up on stalls . I certainly have lots to be getting on with.

What a weekend!

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Singing for the Circus

Posted on by Jackie B

I’ve been a member of a choir for several years. Originally, the Newcastle City Council Choir was formed as a staff wellbeing initiative. Over a decade later we have evolved into the Toonful City Singers (if you aren’t local, Newcastle is known round here as “The Toon” and we are pretty tuneful). We’ve done some interesting performances over the years. I even got to do some beatboxing in Newcastle Cathedral to accompany the choir once.

Some of us are currently taking part in Novum, Newcastle’s Summer Festival, providing backing vocals for Cirque Bijou, who are staging a mesmerising performance each evening until Sunday. Each short show includes acrobatics, aerial work with both silks and trapeze; juggled bowler hats, all performed to music from a fabulous singer (backed by ourselves and also Indigo Choir) with a brilliant pianist playing a flying grand piano!

Indigo Choir’s Musical Director, Jake, has put us through some vocal warm ups before each show, then we’ve taken up position on the Civic Centre Balcony, where we get a brilliant view. It’s reasonably sheltered too, though the performers had to put up with rain on the first night and gusts of wind on the second, which was not ideal!

The show begins with singer Alba perching on the piano as James begins to play the intro of Love and Hate in a Different Time.

As Alba starts singing, the piano rises up into the air, and a pair of disembodied legs appears underneath. They belong to aerialist, Rachel who has remained hidden beneath the piano until this point.

She moves down the red silk trailing from the piano, wrapping and unwrapping the fabric round her wrists and ankles to secure her position as she strikes each pose.

It’s stunning display of skill and strength.

There’s a heart-in-mouth moment as the material unrolls from around Rachel’s body and she drops suddenly – but it’s all part of the act.

They all descend to the ground again and James begins to play something with a slower tempo, but performer Gracie isn’t happy – she wants to hear something more upbeat, so James plays Do Your Thing (that’s the name of the show).

Alba belts out the song – she has a great voice – as she struts across the concourse.

Gracie juggles some hats and is joined by Rachel for more acrobatics.

The silks are replaced by a trapeze and the piano ascends again, with Alba and James on board again, performing Sinner Man. Gracie springs up, grabs the trapeze and begins her act, swinging and hanging onto the trapeze in a series of daredevil moves , rising higher into the air and moving faster as the music builds.

They descend just low enough for Rachel to join Gracie on the trapeze with their luggage for the finale: Rocket Man.

The piano, with all on board, rises up once more and swings away as they depart.

It’s a real spectacle, with great music and the performers were all brilliant – it’s been quite a privilege to work with them. With two performances completed and two more to go I think we are gaining confidence as Alba’s backing singers. We are all thoroughly enjoying taking part.