Wonderful Wonderwool Wales

Last Sunday, the girls and I headed off to Wonderwool Wales at Builith Wells. I'd hoped to leave about 9.30am to ensure that we got to spend a reasonable amount of time there - browsing, drooling and enhancing stash!! However, I'd forgotten to take into account DD2's inverted daily life structure at the moment - sleeping all day and awake much of the night! So, maybe hitting the road at 10.30am wasn't too bad, all teenagers considering!

Here's what I bought!

Dream in Colour Smooshy ~ November Muse

Artist's Palette ~ 2 Smootherino 4 ply and Buttersoft DK Grey Crafty Angora and Peaches and Cream Cotton

The show was well worth the travel and had a wonderful array of yarn and fibre suppliers. A very brief roll call of honour includes:

• Fyberspates
• Artist's Palette
• First 4 Yarns
• Natural Dye Studio
• Laughing Hens
• The Woolly Workshop
• The Old Piggery...

For those who had nerves of steel enough not to further enhance yarn stashes, there were spindles, looms, needles, books, buttons, fabric, felted items and a lovely selection of stitch markers. DD1 bought a lovely set of Russian Doll stitch markers, made by Atomic Knitting, for my birthday. There were alpacas, angora rabbits and sheep there to keep the younger folks happy (Truth be told, I reckon we ALL oohed and ahhed over the livestock!).

And for those who would not yet be converted to yarn love, a food fayre was sharing the same venue - with a wide range of delicacies available, including cheeses, sausages, scotch eggs, luxury steamed puddings. And a stall selling a range of ciders ... a couple of which are chilling in the fridge at the moment!

Unfortunately we missed the fashion show and the workshops (teaching a range of knitting, crochet, embellishment and button making techniques). There's always next year...

Gardening, not garter stitch!

There's still no knitting of mention going on. However, DD1 and I had a wonderful time last Sunday at the Royal Horticultural Society show in Cardiff. The weather was glorious, and matched by the beautiful array of plants we saw.

Knight Rider tulip

We were able to buy all 19 stems at the end of the day for a bargain price of £5 and split them between us.


Stunning Clematis in full bloom. I'd recently bought the dainty purple one on the top right of the picture. It's still to be planted in the back garden and am really looking forward to seeing it become an established climber.
The bronze and golden colours used in the displays below were stunning. The flowering plant is a Hellebore (I think!).

There was a beautiful display of bonsai trees. The Japanese Maple (below) was planted in 1955 and still less than 2 foot tall. The colours and form of the tree was stunningly pretty.

Spring blooms...

And, of course, the obligatory Welsh rugby player, scoring a try - completely planted out!

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Tomorrow promises to be another wonderful day out. I'm off to Wonderwool Wales, a yarn and fibre festival held annually at Builith Wells, Powys. It's a 2 hour drive each way from Cardiff and the girls' eyes are bulging at the prospect of being ready to head off at 9.30am on a Sunday morning! I think the only reason they've agreed to come is they've caught wind of cider and food being available on the same site! Photos will follow!

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DD1 sent me a somewhat bizarre text this week whilst I was at work, asking if she could come home for the night to sleep over. No, she was not missing her mum drastically - nor had a fall out with her boyfriend. His pet snake had escaped and she was not returning to the flat till it was re-captured!