Fleecy Fieldtrip Notes

Highland Wool Fest

May 26th we caught the bus to Strathpeffer for a day with fiber artists, dyers, spinners, weavers and felters. Strathpeffer is a Victorian Spa town in the Highlands, in Ross and Cromarty. It's a lovely bus trip up in the morning, set down just opposite the Spa Pavillion where the event was held. The hall was full of a variety of booths. It was great to speak with other dyers like Louise from Ewenique Fibers and Julie from Black Isle Yarns.

• Julie dyes her yarns with natural dyes (and you can see from the booth behind her that she is able to get some great colors from them.) I might have purchased a DIY cardigan from her. To be specific I picked up a few skeins of a lovely grey yarn named Monkeyface and Friends. Julie creates a nice range of yarns from a carefully curated selection of local farms. Monkeyface is one of her favorite ewes.

• Amanda is the Felted Hare who has a love affair with hares but creates felted masterpieces of many other species as well. I would have taken home a hare, but I'm still in downsize mode.

• Louis and I discovered we have a similar approach to our dyeing. She had a range of beautiful yarns and fibers for sale. The rope of luscious fiber I purchased was created with blue, red and yellow allowed to mingle together. The fiber is silk/yak - one of my favorites but not one I have dyed.

• I don't have a picture of Zoe Robson's booth but she is also a felter, dyer and spinner.

All these ladies sell and ship worldwide. You could have a taste of the local highland makers' wares wherever you are. There were many more vendors and a cafe where we could have a rest, a cuppa and cake. I was able to meet a few knitters and spinners and have a good chat and I was able to network with a couple members of the Highland Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers who just happened to be meeting the next week!

Highland Guild of Weavers, Spinner & Dyers

At the Highland Wool Fest I learned that the HGWSD meets in Strathpeffer, so we went back. This day it was not sunny, but rainy and David did get quite wet on his hill walk. I got to spend the day with a couple dozen spinners. the HGWSD encompasses a large amount of territory. The Highlands being sparsely inhabited they meet often by Zoom. In July I joined the spinners group - Highland Treadlers and Twirlers in the Tour de Fleece spin-along. What a fun month!

Edinburgh

We needed to take a trip to the capital for some paperwork so we made it into a short visit with friends and some wandering about the city. Of course, we had to seek out fabric and yarn shops. I was happy to visit Ginger Twist again (we had visited in November 2022 when she was in her original tiny shop.) I also had a chance to speak Swedish with a couple shopping there.

Highland Folk Museum Wooly Fest

This time we headed SE on the train to Newtonmore for a day at the Highland Folk Museum. This trip deserves its own post even if it is rather late. Since then we have visited with Rhonda and we all had a great time.