APRIL
5
ROMNEY MARSH
WOOLS OPEN DAY
Meet the sheep that produce
Romney Marsh’s lovely knitting
wools at lambing time, plus see
machinery, crafts, the farm’s
shepherds’ hut holiday cottages
and much more.
romneymarshwools.co.uk18 -
SPRING INTO WOOL
This extremely popular festival
of knitting, crochet and woolly
fibre crafts in Leeds is back
for its fourth year. There will be
more than 90 exhibitors with
tonnes of stalls and workshops
to choose from.
springintowool.co.uk18 -
YARNTELIER
CHATSWORTH HOUSE
This exclusive two-day hand
knitting workshop with
Louisa Harding is being held
in the Stables Courtyard at
the beautiful and historic
Chatsworth House. Louisa’s
design collection Cook ’s
Study Hill was inspired by the
location and she will show you
how to translate creative ideas
into an original design for a
lace shawl or scarf.
yarntelier.com25-
WONDERWOOL WALES
First held in 2006 to promote
the market for Welsh wool and
add value to product for small
wool and fibre producers in
Wales, this festival celebrates
the green credentials of Welsh
wool and its versatility as a
material for creative crafts,
designer clothes, home
furnishings and more.
wonderwoolwales.co.ukM AY
9 -
BUXTON WOOL
GATHERING
Buxton Wool Gathering is a
wool festival for yarn lovers
and crafters, based at Buxton
Pavilion Gardens in the Peak
District. Whether you’re into
spinning, felting, weaving,
crochet, or just plain old
knitting, there’s something
for you.
buxtonwool.co.uk9 -
CORNISH FIBRE FEST
The Cornish Fibre Festival
brings together all those from
the woolly crafting community.
With over 50 vendors, catering,
onsite camping if you want
to make a weekend of it and
classes over both days, there
is plenty to do and see at this
exciting festival.
cornishfibrefestival@
tickettailor.com16 -
WOOL JUNCTION
Wool@J13 comes to Penkridge,
Staffordshire, from a two-
woman team that have joined
forces to bring you this vibrant
and stimulating show, designed
to celebrate and help you to
learn about all things woolly
through its exhibitors,
exhibitions, workshops
and talks. There will be
music, street food and a fun
festival atmosphere.
wool-j13.ukWH AT ’ S O N
KCG TREASURE TROVE NOW ONLINE
Wonderwool WalesKnitters’ woolly representations
of their home towns will go on
display at Wonderwool Wales
in April. At the event in 2017
a group of six knitters from
Llandysul displayed an 8 x 10ft
map of their home town, which
inspired groups of knitters all
around the country – so this
year’s event features seven
wall hangings depicting places
around the UK.
The exhibits include Woolly
Painscastle, a giant knitted
representation of the village and
surrounding landscape crafted
by 55 volunteers aged from four
to 94; an image of Newbury
made by 20 knitters which is
on one of its last outings before
it is returned to its community
for permanent display; and a
knitted tryptic created to be
hung at the newly renovated
Greenham Common Control
Tower visitor centre, along
with knitted maps of Leeds,
Wolverhampton and Camberley.
Most of the hangings are
knitted, but there is also some
crochet and needle felting
The Knitting & Crochet Guild is
revealing some of the treasures
in its amazing collection online.
The KCG won a £10,
National Lottery Heritage
Fund grant to digitise part of
its collection so that crafters
around the world could have
access to the information
contained in its treasure trove.
The KCG collection consists
of many thousands of items,
from garments to knitting
needles, household textiles,
patterns, books and yarn
samples. It is housed in the
Yorkshire village of Slaithwaite
near Huddersfield, in a newly
renovated mill.
One hundred items are being
released online, one each day
from January 22 to April 30.
The selection aims to represent
the wide variety of artefacts,
patterns and publications in
the collection.
It is hoped the increased
publicity will encourage more
enthusiasts to find out about
the KCG, and perhaps even
think about volunteering.
Angharad Thomas, a
volunteer textile archivist, says:
“All the volunteer team are very
excited about the grant, thanks
to National Lottery players.”
Delve into the collection
yourself at kcguild.org.uk.PUTTING KNITTING ON THE MAP
involved. Knitters relied on
photos and pictures, which
were transposed to paper or
grids, from which patterns were
drawn up.
Wonderwool Wales takes place
at the Royal Welsh Showground
in Builth Wells on April 25-26,
and visitors can also enjoy a
massive Alice in Wonderwool
installation, featuring favourite
characters from Lewis Carroll’s
novel including the White Rabbit
and the Caterpillar (pictured),
who was needle-felted by
Janna Turner.
There will also be plenty
of workshops and more than
225 stalls selling everything
from raw materials to luxury
handmade items. Find out more
at wonderwoolwales.co.uk.Buxton Wool Gathering