Just after Knit Nation I had the chance to go to a new fibre event called Fibre-East. It was held in Bedfordshire on a farm that was pretty much right out in the middle of nowhere.
I loved this show. It was so well organised. Everything was laid on for the attendees including a nice dry, mostly sunny day. The event was held in a large field and there were two large marquees for the vendors, plus a tea tent, shearing demos from the Sheer Sheep Experience.
There were lots of sheep. all waiting to be sheared throughout the day including this chap -
Sue Blacker from Blacker Wools gave her wonderful talk on selecting a fleece which was very interesting, even for me who doesn't normally have anything to do with raw fleece.
And there was a tent where they were selling fleece too. I got carried away and bought some fleece. Only a little bit though. I bought 300g of Wensleydale curls from a lovely black/dark brown sheep called Treacle.
Here's a shot inside the fleece tent. I must point out to protect the innocent that in no way were the women in this photo buying any fleece at all. No sir, not one fleece. Honest, guv.
Well, maybe there were one or two fleeces that went home in the car with us, but they were only small ones!
There were plenty of vendors too in the big marquees selling all kinds of spinning and weaving equipment, fibre and batts. There were several guilds there demonstrating and exhibiting. I tried out the new Schacht Sidekick wheel at the Threshing Barn stall and loved it. If I was in the market for a very small, more portable wheel (which I'm not!) that's what I would go for.
I can only say that I thought Fibre-East was great and I look forward to next year. It was a really good day out with just enough stuff to keep us busy but not so much that we didn't get a chance to look at everything.
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