Bakewell - more than just a tart?

Anyone who grew up in the UK in the latter half of the last century will have been familiar with the kindly benevolent baker we shall call - for legal purposes - Mr Pipling. He was a purveyor of 'exceedingly good cakes' and in our house a box of his delights were rare treats - even now the prospect of a French Fancy makes my want to pick up a china cup and stick out my little finger! His cherry bakewells were the cream of the crop and, to me, visiting the homeland of Bakewell in Derbyshire always fills me with joy. This weekend was no exception. Coming at the end of National Wool Week (believe me that passed me by too!) Bakewell hosted it's first ever Wool Gathering. Hot on the heels of Yarndale it opened it's agricultural centre to a myriad of woolly craftspeople. 

There were spinners

and weavers

This lady had spun and dyed her own wool before designing the pattern for her rug

Baskets of fleece

Wool

Inspiration

And talent - so much talent!

Sarah from didyoumakeityourself was there with a fantastic mix of crafty goodness - check out her blog here.

Jenny Barnett displayed her felted figures.

How cute is that dog?

Lynda from Rebellious Rags was giving some fantastic demonstrations but I was so glued to what she was doing I'm afraid I didn't get around to taking any photographs.

After the first trek around it was time for some refreshments and a little bit of thinking time. I'd treated myself to a needle felting start up kit from The Threshing Barn and no sooner was it on the formica topped table than a magic lady appeared and gave us a lovely demonstration as to what to do with it. As if by magic she disappeared but left me with a focus - buy more roving.

So I did.

Then feeling really brave I bought another kit. 

This time from Jenny with a verbal guarantee that even a blind hamster could make one of these delightful hares.

 They have not seen my work!

Of course it would not have been right to leave without buying some wool - that's the law.

We took our leave and wandered across the bridge toward the town centre.

We were serenaded

(Not too sure what the man facing the other was doing - doesn't look good!)

Wandered through the soft stone streets

And strolled the beautiful gardens

Loved this door

And who can resist an Autumnal mushroom?

On the way back to the car we noticed this

Strange to think that this trend has stretched right across Europe to a sleepy Derbyshire town

So - Bakewell - more than just a tart? Definitely. 

Dare I mention Bakewell pudding?

Have a good week

Jane

x

Then along came the wool

Some time ago I listened to an interview with Jane Brocket on Radio 4. She was talking about her new book 'The Gentle Art of Domesticity' in which she acknowledged the influence that everyday life had on her outlook. She not only relished family life and all that entailed but allowed influences from arts and literature to impact upon her designs. From there I looked up her blog and was inspired by her beautiful projects. I mentioned this during a chance meeting with an old friend and she told me about Attic 24 . Well that was it. It was then only a small step to Ravelry, followed by the discovery of a local yarn group, and needless to say I've been producing woolly objects ever since! 

As I've mentioned before I really am a dabbler so the above shows some early experiments in weaving, crochet, knitting, beading and even yarn bombing. The photograph in the middle is my ongoing saga of a ripple blanket. This was one of the first projects I began and it's still going strong - i.e.  it still stares at me from my wool basket begging me to finish it before I begin something else but there's always  something more demanding in the queue. So much wool - so little time.