Tag: Sheep

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Retail Therapy at the Racecourse

Posted on by Jackie B

I had a lovely day yesterday. I went to the first ever ~North East Wool Show with two friends who are also keen knit/crochet/sew/crafty people. The event was held over two days at Newcastle’s Gosforth Park Racecourse. The main building is full accessible. I’ve been to events there before so I had no worries about getting round on my disability scooter.

Inside the building we found dozens of stalls, full of yarn, spinning fibre and all sorts of woolly paraphernalia .and spent several very pleasant hours, browsing and buying, with pauses for refreshment. As we went on the Sunday (Saturday sold out) we missed the sale of sheep fleeces, but it was not hard to guess this has been held in the tunnel at the back of the building that retained a distinct sheepy odour…..suspicions were confirmed as a stray wisp of white fluff wafted by!

I came home with quite a haul, though I think I was quite restrained when you consider all the lovely items on sale….and it was all so colourful, with all those gorgeous skeins of wool on display, There were also kits of every type (knitting, needle felting, hookwork, embroidery….you name it) and some beautiful knitted, woven and crocheted garments and softs furnishings.

We all end up with magazines and books we no longer need or want and a rather nice idea was the book swap table – people had donated their unwanted knitting/crochet reading matter – items could be taken in return for a donation to a local hospice. I donated to get this book about Fair Isle knitting – it’s full of information, pattern and design ideas, and even full instructions on methods of steeking -when knitting in the round you have a continuous pattern, but steeking enables you to cut into the finished knitting to create an opening – at the front of a cardigan for example – The idea of it has always sounded terrifying to me but this could give me the confidence to try.

My next purchase was this natural dye starter kit from Blotz Natural Dyes– something I’ve wanted to try for ages – it includes small quantities of three dye plants and three mordants along with protective gloves and a mask and items to measure out the materials . While I was buying this the loud reversing beep on my scooter may have drowned out a tiny bit of the stallholders’ interview on local radio. Sorry Blotz!

There were several stalls selling fibre for spinning in all sorts of sumptuous and soft blends and colours. It was a very difficult decision but I ended up with these:

  • From Adelaide Walker A Merin0/Shetland/Corridale blend in shades of green and teal with sari silk adding little pops of red – This colourway is named “Rainforest”
  • From Wooltops some undyed Corriedale roving – I’ve never spun sheep from this breed before but hear good things about it. I had an interesting chat with the stallholder about the lineage of the breed, which includes Merino for softness and Lincoln Longwool for lustre and staple length.
  • From Tine and Floyd, two braids , one is in a merino/suri alpaca blend, in shades of pink and purple, the other is merino and bamboo, in vivid pinks with streaks of shimmery white. There were some little thank you gifts in the bag too – herbal tea and a lavender bag.

I enjoyed a lovely long chat with Tine from Tine and Floyd. That’s one of the things I love about events like this – you get to meet the traders and ask questions, handle the wool and fibre – it’s essential with something so tactile. Online shopping is really convenient but nowhere near as much fun.

I also bought some knitting accessories – a short circular sock needle and some stitch markers – you can never have too may stitch markers – both were bought from Knitting for Fun

Finally, I couldn’t resist this. It’s a set of markers on a shawl pin – very pretty, and useful too, purchased from The Cocoon Tree.

I bumped into several friends from my knitting and spinning groups too so it became quite the social occasion.

With a sellout first day and great comments from the traders about how successful it has been, we’ll all be keeping our fingers crossed that the event will be back again next year.

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Sheep Show at Hadrian’s Wall

Posted on by Jackie B

We love going to country agricultural shows , whether they are big affairs like the Northumberland County Show or much smaller events, Like the Roman Wall Show at Steel Rigg, one of the most scenic parts of Hadrian’s Wall.

Although this is a spectacular location, where the Roman Wall can be seen on top of a sheer cliff, it is bleak and exposed here and usually pretty windy as it was today – though fortunately not raining!

It always amazes me how much of the wall remains, 1900 years after it was built. It just goes to show what a great feat of engineering it was, complete with protective ditches, a road so that soldiers could move easily along its length unseen from the other side and dotted with mile castles and forts this has to be one of the greatest defensive structures ever built.

This is sheep farming country and the show gives local farmer the chance to compare their stock with others competing in the sheep classes. Prizewinning sheep are sought after for breeding stock and enhance the reputation of the breeder, which could mean higher prices at stock auctions. It’s also a great social event where farming families can get together, by the sheep pens or in the beer tent.

There is also a fell race for human competitors…that’s pretty tough hilly terrain to run over. Dogs are represented too. A hound trail, where dogs race to follow a previously laid scent trail through the hills is always fascinating to watch, and there are rings with classes for terriers, hounds, retrievers and collies. Wren tried her luck in a retriever class.

What a lovely afternoon in this rugged part of Northumberland.

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Singing about sheep and celebrating the landscape.

Posted on by Jackie B

It’s been a busy couple of days with some knitting connections, though rather tenuous!

Yesterday I went to a choir rehearsal – my former workplace , Newcastle City Council, has had a staff choir for several years. I am a founder member of the choir and still involved since I retired. We have been practicing for a lovely civic event. Every year the mayor of Bergen, Norway, one of the City’s twin towns, presents the City with a beautiful big Christmas tree and this year we are one of the choirs who will be singing at the presentation ceremony. Here’s more about Newcastle’s relationship with Bergen and its other twin towns .

This year’s Lord Mayor is originally from Sheffield and has asked us to sing the Yorkshire version of While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night (sung to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘at) , so we were working on that. There are lots of verses to get through, but the arrangement is lovely (in four parts) and I’m enjoying singing soprano on this one. It’s not too high and we get some nice harmonies and echo the ‘flocks by night line’ I haven’t got a recording of us but I found this which gives you an idea of what it sounds like

After singing about sheep (or shepherds) yesterday, Today I saw lots of sheep while I was driving to The Sill – the amazing Landscape Visitor Centre, close to Hadrian’s Wall at Once Brewed. The Centre includes a youth hostel, cafe and gift shop and an interesting exhibition about the landscape and its connections to farming, leisure, industry and conservation. It also has the most stunning views across some of Northumberland’s hill country towards the Wall, especially from the roof, which is easily accessible up a fairly gently sloping path. On my last visit I spent ages using the augmented reality technology which enables you to “fly” over the local landscape and beyond .The Centre is well worth a visit.

I was meeting up with family and our friend M, who is herself a skilled knitter and has even knitted Fair Isle with the locals while visiting Fair Isle itself! We had a delicious lunch and then I sneaked into the exhibition, while the others were chatting in the lobby area – they noticed a lovely moving projection onto the floor of animal and bird footprints and birds flying by. The sheep in the exhibition weren’t very fleecy though!

Here in Northumberland the hills are steep and covered in poor soil. It’s hard to grow crops like cabbages and corn, but super for sheep, so…..without this landscape (and the sheep and their wool) we’d be cold!

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