Festival of Sheep and Wool 2006

Ballymena, Northern Ireland, August 25th and 26th

Article by Holly Angle

 

 

This is the first Wool and Sheep show of this type for Ireland.  Are we excited!  We have no idea what we’re in for or what for that matter.  Press on.  Show starts at 10:00 am, so we’ll leave at 7:30.  It’s a bit of a drive from Dublin.  Must make time for roadwork, toll booths, fog, rain, glaring sunshine, sheep flocks on the road and an occasional cow or two, once we got off the main motorway.  There were four ladies from the four corners of Dublin - three felters and one weaver. I do spinning and dyeing too.   

 

We made it by 11:00 where the show was being held in the Ballymena livestock market.  Now the flyer says rare breeds, wool displays, sheep crafts, demos, fleeces, dyes, everything for the sheep farmer… interesting.  Once we found our way inside, we were thrilled with the variety of fleece that was available.

 

The first booth was Highland Fleeces from Scotland. Have you ever seen a Gotland fleece?  Long hair, soft as can be, very dense at the base. They really hold together once they’re sheared.  She also had many merino cross breeds with clean fleeces.  She’s a fibre breeder and you can really tell by the quality.  She also did a spinning demo for a small group of us on both wheel and drop spindle.  Very informative.  So, Molly, the white Gotland fleece, came home with me and I also received a photo of her and the lambs.

 

  

I chatted with the Ulster Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.  Ireland is broken up into several regions as well as counties and Dublin is in the Leinster region.  They were selling yarn, spinning and showing how to do Navaho plying on a couple wheels.  I love to see others spin; it’s like felting, everyone has their own technique. 

 

We spent some more time wandering around looking at products made of wool, i.e.:  jumpers, socks, rugs, blankets and live sheep breeds to look at and feel.  Many really talented people there. 

 

There was a lady doing medieval weaving techniques and using tools that were very teacher/student friendly and she also does a lot of school workshops.

Scottish Fibre was there too.  They have a great selection of novelty fibre, exquisite rare wood knitting needles and drop spindles, dyes, a rainbow of merino top, books for everything fibre related and much more.

 

Hedgehog Equipment does great carding and wool processing equipment.  I bought hand carding cloths from them. They also have top in all the natural colours, spinning supplies and wheels.

 

British Wool Board had a nice booth full of information on British wool and how they could promote your products.  They had cute sheepy logo items for sale and lots of take away information for the producers.

 

Finally, the last take-home of the day was a beautiful dark, chocolate brown Corriedale/Merino mix fleece.  Yum!! Silky soft with a few light tips, very curly locks and long staples.  I will probably be spinning it in the grease, a first time for me as it’s very clean.

 

All and all, it wasn’t Woolfest 2006, but it was a great little show.  Small attendance, but plenty of time to talk with the vendors and that was the best part of the day.  It has great potential to expand as the market for fleece increases.  Amazing enough, there are not a lot of folks using fleece for spinning, felting and wool crafts in Ireland.

 

The boot was full…Gotland, Merino, Corridale, Blue Faced Leister, books, dye, weaving sticks, hand carding clothes and four tired women.   Just in case fleece wasn’t your thing, you could buy a bit of sheep hormone for the flock.

 

___________________________________

 

Holly Angle lives in Dublin, Ireland, and writes at her blog, Winona Queen: Things that make my life happy are felting, spinning, dyeing, and processing wool. I also dabble at sewing, knitting, cooking and I love paper. My family may sneak in periodically too. Enjoy the ride.