Wellingtons and Wool

The Shearer Girl Yarns stand

I'm back from Fibre East. What a weekend we had! We arrived quite late on Friday and got busy setting up the stand. Then it started to pour and pour. Within half an hour there was a small lake in front of my stand. Suddenly I became aware of the sound of water on plastic. There was some broken stitching along the edge of the marquee and rain was pouring in onto the Willo Alpacas stand next to me. We rushed to drag their stock out from under the waterfall.

I took the decision not to risk the stock and we put it all back in the van. I slept with my mobile beside me switched on, just in case someone rang to say the showground had been washed away. The next morning stallholders were not allowed to bring vehicles onto the field so everything had to be lugged across the field to the stand.

Trying to set up a stand without letting anything touch the ground is no easy thing. I have no problems with mud in its place and I've experienced much worse conditions. But when you have spent hours painstakingly dyeing yarn you really don't want it to get wet or muddy.  Once the stand was set up we just needed some shoppers. 

Fibre East is a well organised event and the staff of Scald End Farm, where the event is held, are always very helpful. The farmer, Martin Towler, was on hand to check the state of the ground throughout the show and deal with the worst patches. Staff put down woodchips and carpet underlay. It was definitely welly weather.

The puddle in front of my stand

Despite the exceptional weather, we had a good show. Everyone soldiered on and helped each other. We had quite a few customers come up and say they had bought batts last year and were very happy with them and wanted more. The Marbled Jacob batts were a best seller. 

I even managed to do some shopping myself:

 More on my purchases later!