Bakewell, York and the Green Fair

Bakewell Show

We had a great time at the 2011 Bakewell Show, again in the Food and Farming area, with The Sheep Show, NFU Let's Talk Farming Roadshow and Bakewell Young Farmers to name a few.

The weather kept us on our toes, scorching hot the first day and showers of rain on the second, both of which made me very glad that we took an extra, small gazebo to cover the area of our pitch which would normally be bare ground, with us sat/stood spinning exposed to the elements. We are learning - slowly.

I'm amazed at the amount of people who come back to see us year after year. It's a lovely feeling to be recognised, and to be told how much people enjoy seeing our display.

As we speak the papers for this years Bakewell Show are halfway to being filled in, so hopefully we will be back again -  if they will have us.

York Food and Drink Festival

I was very pleased to be invited by the lovely Rachael from NFU Northeast, to demonstrate on their stall for York Food and Drink Festival on the 20th of September. The theme of the day was sheep and the display also included a couple of lambs, brought along by farmer Rosey Dunn. The lambs certainly got plenty of attention. I suppose it's not often you see sheep in the middle of York ( excepting Nobby and friends the previous year - obviously)

Rachael had also brought along my flag, as part of the display. I was pleased to see it again, and to hear that it has been used for lots of events, including Great British Beef Week.

The event was certainly well attended, not surprising with so much yummy food on offer!

Rachael, Rosey and I even got interviewed for Radio York, by Dougie, who bravely had a quick drop spindling lesson, broadcast live while he was talking to me. See photo at the top of this post, my fantastic photographer/mother even got the flag in the background.

It was a really enjoyable day overall. I must admit I'm getting very fond of York and would love to be asked to work up there again.


Green Fair

Chesterfield's first Green Fair was held on Saturday 24th September, organised by Alastair and the Buzz team.
It was a very different atmosphere from other Buzz events we have attended but certainly brought the event to the attention of a lot more people, some of whom seemed surprised to see some "extra" stalls on market day.

The reaction from the public and the regular stallholders was - on the whole - very positive. There were even a few people interested in booking for our spinning courses at Heage.
Feedback after the day sounds to have been very good and I'm told that a similar event is being planned for later this year.

Wool Week, York Minster, Nobby and the Union Jack.

I think I've said before that I like odd requests. I enjoy a challenge, and an excuse to do something a bit out of the ordinary.

Sometimes though, I have moments where I wonder what I've let myself in for!

The idea for my most interesting project this year started at Bakewell Show. Richard from The Sheep Show casually strode over and asked if I thought I could make a Union Flag from wool. " I don't see any reason why not"...... I said.

I didn't really expect to hear anything more about it, but a few weeks later I got an email from the NFU's Regional Public Relations Officer for the North East. They wanted the flag making as part of their campaign to have wool included in the 2012 Olympics ( more information here) a campaign which Richard had been supporting all summer.

We swapped a few ideas and what followed was about 5 weeks of sketches, charts, samples, spinning, dyeing and crochet. I decided on crochet rather than knitting so that I could easily make the pattern the same on both sides.

The final result can be seen below, as well as more impressive shots here and here


The photos were taken at a special Wool Week event at York Minster on October 12th. The event was part of the national Campaign for Wool but also to celebrate the success of the NFU petiton.

We spent the day spinning outside the South Door of the Minster while Richard and Ed drew the crowds with The Mini Sheep Show. A full write up of the event can be found here.

We also managed to find a use for that 40ft scarf knitted at Bakewell. Emperor Constantine made a great model for the day!


We had a lot of fun with the tourists and also children from the nearby Minster school, who all had a go at spinning for themselves.

We were especially honoured to have been invited to this event as I'm told that this area of York is not a designated event area, and so the event was a the first of its kind.

So, in short, even if I was slightly upstaged by a Norfolk Horn, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Thanks must go to the NFU who looked after us so well, and especially to Rachael who made such a great job of organising the whole thing. Also to the Minster staff who made us very welcome.

And if you still want to see more, there are many more pictures: Mini Sheep Show Murmuring Wheel and York Minster