Woolfest is over for another year - it seems hard to believe that it has been and gone in a whirl of rain (rain, and more rain), wind, wool, friendly people, good food, and lovely surroundings.

We set off from Assynt on Wednesday morning last week in absolutely glorious sunshine:

[caption id="attachment_5394" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Ardvrek Castle"][/caption]

 

As you can see Lexie finds the whole travelling thing fairly stressful - so much so that a serious nap is required:



 

As we drew closer to the Lake District, the rain started to fall.  By Thursday morning when we went for a drive to Keswick and visited  Crosthwaite Church, the hills were fast disappearing into the clouds:



And on the drive back to Cockermouth Bassenthwaite Lake was barely visible from the look out spot at the top of Whinlatter Pass:



However the sightseeing was short lived, and before I knew it it was time to set up for Woolfest 2012.  This is a process I prefer to do alone, as I constantly change my mind about how I want things and to explain the "why's" and "wherefore's" of my thought processes to others can be rather tiresome for all concerned.  So once Stevan had helped me put up the backing around my stand he left me in peace.  I had a double stand at Woolfest this year, and it was just wonderful to have so much space!



This was the last photograph I took!  It was such a busy time that my camera didn't come out of my bag after this.  But fortunately I had two wonderful helpers this year in the form of Dorothy and Lizzi.  And the two of them came to the rescue with photographs of my stand just before we opened at 10.00am on Friday morning:









 

And all weekend we were watched over by the Beverly Sisters, as Lizzi called them:



The folk who came to Woolfest were absolutely wonderful.  The weather was foul!  There was flooding on Friday which forced some of those camping out of their tents and into the back of their vans.  We were very fortunate to be staying in a lovely warm house, but the memories of Wonderwool 2012 were still very vivid and so they had my utmost sympathy.  The shoppers couldn't have been more cheerful and stoical about the raging storm outside.  At times we had to shout to make when talking to those on the stand to make ourselves heard about the noise of the rain beating down on the room.  The organisers worked so hard to make sure that queuing to get in was kept to an absolute minimum.   And once indoors in the relative dry and warmth, the visitors all contributed to creating an atmosphere that was happy and friendly.   I must apologise for not taking any more pictures of other stands, stalls and the lovely animals, but my hands were so full that I didn't actually get time to have a good wander around.  But having Lizzi and Dorothy gave me the luxury of being able to chat to folk and I am very grateful for their cheerful company.  We really did have a few good laughs.  I did come away with a couple of wonderful gifts, but they are safely still packed in the trailer so pictures of them will have to wait for another day.

And I should add a very big thank you to all my customers.  You made life busy for us on the stand, but that is the best way to be and it was lovely to meet customers old and new.  So thank you!

While I had planned to have the next couple of days off, it seems that I have come home with some pre-orders, so it won't be long before I'm back at the dyepots.