Wool@J13 Confessions

I saw the Wool@J13 yarn festival advertised in a magazine for local events which came through our door a couple of months ago.  I'd never heard of it, and I hadn't seen it mentioned on any social media sites either.  

Mark had his weekend planned with sorting the shed and garage out so it was the perfect opportunity for me to take a day out yarn shopping :-)

The event was held at Lower Drayton farm in Penkridge, just a couple of miles off junction 13 of the M6, (hence the name,Wool@J13) .  which for me is only a 30-40 minute drive.

It didn't look that busy when I arrived around 11am, the car park (field) is a few hundred yards away from the event itself but the kind farm folk provided a tractor / trailer ride up the lane.

I was very pleasantly surprised, everything was set out in a big 'L' shaped marque, and there was plenty of room to walk round without bumping into each other.  Outside there were picnic tables and various catering vans, and as it was a beautiful day there were quite a few picnic blankets out too.

I bet you are more interested in seeing what I bought than the food on offer, so here you go feast your eyes, lol

These were purchased from One Wool.
The grey and the natural are DK weight and the lovely yellow, which looks nothing special in the photo but is actually quite a beautiful colour is 4 ply.  But best of all, because I told the stall holder that I might be back later because I liked the yellow he let me have this skein for £2. 
How lovely was that!

From Dusty Dimples, on the right I Do Believe in Fairies a 4ply merino / nylon mix which I thought would be perfect for the Peachy Geometric shawl pattern from Sandra at Cherry Heart, (which I bought over 12 months ago) and the other skein has no name, is DK and will make some mitts because the colours go perfect with my coat.

The grey Hot Socks and the Drops Fabel I bought for cardigans for Bonnie

And another couple of Drops because it was only £1.50 a ball an it would have been rude not to :-)

I bought a lot, and I'm slightly embarrassed by the amount, but in my defense I do have projects in mind for most of it so I don't feel too guilty  ;-)

I also bought a couple of gadgets, a gauge checker and sock blockers.

I'm a bit annoyed because I didn't check the sock blockers close enough, I thought I was getting 2 when in fact there was only one in the bag.  My bad.

Why do I need sock blockers?  Well I am slowly working my way towards my first finished socks, I've made it as far as the heel anyway, lol

The pattern is from Ellie at Craft House Magic.

Last but not least of my purchases is a little pack of un-dyed yarn and some Kool-aid.

I saw that Jo had bought something similar recently and I thought when she posted about it what a good idea it was to have a go at something new, so when I saw these packs I grabbed one right away, I've no idea when I'll get round to playing at dyeing because I've got enough yarn to keep me occupied with knitting for quite a while!

  Here endeth my confessions, for now, but Yarningham is happening in July so I may need to confess again soon :-)

-X-