Show’s fibre following

Fibre fans and make-it-yourself enthusiasts from the UK and abroad gathered in Mid Wales on April 27 and 28 for a vibrant showcase of wool and natural fibres that’s established a following of thousands from the UK and abroad.

Bursting at the seams with fresh ideas and inspiration for knitters, felters, weavers, crochet and craft enthusiasts, Wonderwool Wales featured workshops; demonstrations; displays of community craft projects from knitted seagulls to crocheted octopus and more than 200 stalls brimming with temptation.

Yarn exhibits Wonderwool Wales: Exhibits on one of the stalls. Photo: John TealeEstablished in 2006 to promote the market for Welsh wool, the annual show at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, has broadened to showcase a whole range of natural fibres. Visitors to this year’s show were able to experience everything from the start to the end of the fibre production and development process – from exhibits of sheep and goats, through raw and hand dyed fibres, yarn for knitting and crochet, embellishments, equipment, dyes and books to superb examples of finished products.

Highlights included the show’s first masterclass with 2018 British Craft Awards Crochet Designer of the Year, Jane Crowfoot of Janie Crow, which was a sell-out success. Equally popular was this year’s programme of Woolschool workshops, providing opportunities to learn skills that included how to hand felt a cute bunny; make a wet felt merino wool bowl or knit fingerless gloves.

With more than 200 stalls, keen shoppers had a choice of thousands of beautiful natural yarns in a rainbow of colours; knitting, crochet and felting equipment; books, patterns and kits plus handmade textile art, designer clothing, home furnishings and accessories. Top-to-toe fashion ideas and ready-made items included everything from kits to make a tapestry hat (Fox Tapestry Design) to hand cranked knitted Shetland Wool socks from The Woolly Wyvern. Fashion accessories included hand crafted leather and Welsh wool tapestry bags from Coterie Leather Bags; beautiful hand felted hair clips and barrettes from first-time show exhibitor Elfn; felt brooches and necklaces from Sarah Fisher and kits to make a crochet bag from Woolly Chic, one of the exhibitors who took part in the daily Sheepwalk – a woolly take on the catwalk.

Luxury items for the home included beautiful felt sculptures from Jenny Barnett, one of the growing number of creative felt and felt supplies exhibitors. There was also a wonderful range of woven cushions inspired by Aberaeron and the colours of the Welsh coastline and made by BA Textiles graduate Helen Evans of Helen Margaret Textiles, who was given the chance to exhibit as the winner of a Wonderwool Wales bursary scheme.

There were lots of fresh creative ideas from a host of new books on sale at the show, including Making Simple Needle Felts from The Makerss.  New products at the show included Triskelion Yarn’s fresh colourways inspired by transitional environments and spaces, like shorelines, reefs, saltmarsh and dunes.

Stalls giving demonstrations of techniques and equipment included The Felt Foundry with the Gentle Roller felting machine; spinning demonstrations by the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers; hand weaving demonstrations; a demonstration of a sock making machine on The Woolly Wyvern stand and a series of needle felting make and take sessions on the Mum’s Makery stand.

Wonderwool Wales makes an annual award for the best stalls in the various size categories and this year’s winners numbered Multipom with their multiple pompom maker and their new project book; Quilting Antics Wool Tweed with a stunning range of kits for soft furnishings and handbags using wool tweed; John Arbon Textiles and Fibre Harvest for their stall brimming over with fibre, including their new Knit by Numbers 4-ply on its first outing; Debonnaire with their sumptuous yarns, original patterns and knitting kits and La La With Love with their rainbow range of natural, fairly-traded and eco-friendly yarns and fibres. The winner in the category for exhibits of live animals was The Crafty Goat Club, whose stall featured an Angora goat and her tiny triplets alongside a luxurious selection of mohair fleece, yarns and products.

Elsewhere on the showground, displays of community creativity included a flock of woolly seagulls, the result of a community arts project led by Vicky Harrison of Bristol’s Crafting the City and a wall of friendship banners created by Colwinston Crafters. Taking centre stage at last year’s Wonderwool Wales was a wall-to-wall Curtain of Poppies, featuring 79,300 knitted, crochet and felt poppies made by thousands of knitters and fibre fans from all over the UK and abroad. For those who missed this stunning commemorative project, there was a smaller display of some of the poppies at this year’s show.

Other community initiatives promoted at this year’s show included the Blyth Tall Ship Williams Gansey project; Octopus for a Preemie UK,who supply crochet and knitted octopus and jellyfish for premature babies and UK charity Knitted Knockers, raising awareness of their work handcrafting free bespoke replacement breast prostheses.Wonderwool Wales also raises money for both Macmillan Cancer Support and Wales Air Ambulance at the show.

Make a diary note for next year’s show, which is on April 25 and 26, 2020. Find out more at www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk. Like Wonderwool Wales Ltd on Facebook or follow on Twitter @wonderwoolwales