Woolfest 2012

Still trying to catch up on sleep so haven't been in a hurry to do a write-up. Two friends and I decided to go to Woolfest this year and camp. Big mistake - the tent was put up in a gale/downpour and was not set up correctly (it was a funny shape on one side). We decamped to Cockermouth for a quick drink, having already had to change out of soaking clothes (we figured out the tumble dryer luckily). On our return to the campsite, C cooked curry but it was an extreme struggle to light either barbecque or solid fuel as it was still horrible, horrible weather. We retired to the pub for card games and beer.

When we returned to the tent around 11.30pm, everything was wet and the tent was partially collapsed. I'd put my sleeping bag away because I had a dreadful feeling that something might happen (in hindsight, I should have insisted my friends did the same). I got ready to sleep in the car - I'm not a wimp, but one needs to know when to give up. After some discussion C had contacted the landlord and he opened up his summerhouse for us, so I moved to the bedsettee in there whilst the others went back to the tumbledrier. Lay awake for several hours wondering where they were, they decided to sleep in the car so as not to disturb me (oh the irony!). The summerhouse had no curtains and was dreadfully cold, being a simple wooden structure, so I was in pyjamas, socks and gloves, cardigan, two sleeping bags, and a picnic rug. And I was STILL COLD! Woke up frequently, disorientated and cold. It was midsummer last week, ya know!! :o

By the time I woke up (or gave up on proper sleep, take yer pick), the others had packed my poor wet tent (one or two shattered poles) into the boot, and we decided to leave the village ASAP as both exits were flooding and a peugeot isn't exactly an offroad vehicle. We had a breakfast from Gregg's in town, and then drove straight to Woolfest.

Woolfest itself was marvellous. Klimt and Da Vinci artworks (amongst others) represented in knitting and other crafts, right by the door. I went, knowing I'm on a strict yarn diet, and came back with sparkly buttons instead. I really only went for the social aspect - caught up with a machine knitting friend, quite by accident, at lunchtime, and helped out on the Guild stand where we were knitting the frost flowers lace pattern. And of course, there were sheep! Live ones and knitted ones. I could have stayed a lot longer really, but one of my friends has access to her parent's flat near Hadrian's Wall, so that was the impromptu stop for the second night (where we cooked far too much meat and watched most of "My Fair Lady"). Didn't sleep well there either - the combination of a thermo-nuclear thickness duvet, and listening to the patrons come out of the working man's club at 2am. Came back via Tebay services and picked up some nice cheeses.

So - got a lot wetter than I expected, and got a LOT closer to Scotland than was planned. I like the lake district - but I prefer them not in the tent, and not being chucked at me from the sky.

I've already got a replacement pole section from a local camping place, I just need to figure out how to get the elastic out. Apparently the weekend's weather was a "once in a decade" event - although the locals reckon more like every 3-4 years. Bah!

I cast on Knitty's Roseby in the noro kochoran yarn, to knit on the trip. I need to check gauge before I go much further.


Artworks


Alpacas - there were some vintage-breed sheep? goats? with seriously scarey black devil horns, and I forgot to go back and get a photo.


Sheep - the Join the Flock project


The booty - sparkly buttons by McAnaraks, wooden heart button from the Textile Garden


Poor injured tent pole (yes, you can see the elastic - it's a goner!).

More photos here

In other news, the USOC peed off an awful lot of crafters late last week, by issuing a "cease and desist" to Ravelry for the use of the word "Ravelympics" (and being rather dismissive of crafters into the bargain - but they did later apologise). I don't personally think Ravelry gains any more money from me personally because of a light-hearted competition - and if 50% of a word can be copyrighted, then where does that end? Coca-cola suing the local coal merchant for selling coke? It's a pity Greece can't sue them for claiming ownership of the word - after all, Greece has the mountain and could certainly do with the cash. I doubt whether any knitter is likely to confuse Ravelympics for the real thing, either. But it is what it is, and they have a right to protect their name. I might be so busy during the games that I can't take part anyway. See the Yarn Harlot's excellent post for more. Ravelry have run a poll for the new name, and we're just waiting to see what they come up with.