Lots of finished felt sheets left over
at the end of 2024 Crafts season.
So, as I promised, here is the first part of the probably not-so-chronological catch-up with what I've been up to in the past few months (all right, I get it, ten months!).
With all the "Felting-Elf" help I received in the first few months of 2024 I managed to get lots of felt sheets made in plenty of time for the Craft Fairs season to begin. So much so, that I haven't needed to make any new sheets since April - and I still have a couple of prepared "going-to-be" felts that I'm going to finish in the next few weeks for the 2025 season.
The companionship and the input of my Felting Elves has also helped me to work out an updated manufacturing routine that means that I don't have to call on them every time I need to make a new sheet. Which is handy for me but it does mean they don't get as many slices of homemade cake as before!
At the end of March I went to wild and woolly Northumbria for a week, where the weather started off great, with sunshine in the first stop-over of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It was still shining next day when I drove up the A1 to stay near Warenford, however, for the following four days it poured down! So the sightseeing was somewhat limited, as were the photo opportunities. I did manage to do a bit of sheep-spotting though, even if the rest of my plans were a bit of a wash-out.
The poor weather meant that I couldn't manage to visit the Poison Garden at Alnwick Castle (www.alnwickgarden.com)- a relief, perhaps, to those who lunch with me! However, I did manage to lose a couple of hours at Barter Books (www.barterbooks.co.uk) in Alnwick - nirvana for bookworms. Books and more books; a grand Victorian former railway station building; a welcoming coffeeshop; an overhead model railway; lovely staff; and friendly visiting doggies.
A lovely, pregnant Ryeland ewe belonging Bamburgh castle from the village -
to the landlady in Warenford good cake to be found here! Cheviot ewe and her little ones
Another most interesting place I visited was Ad Gefrin (www.adgefrin.co.uk) in Wooler. The site has a very impressive Anglo Saxon Museum with a recreated Great Hall and audio-visual "experience" - an over-used word I know, but this really does beat the textbooks. The museum staff are always on hand to chat about the exhibits (and tell some groan-worthy but funny jokes in the process). Ad Gefrin also houses a distillery where they produce Whisky and Gin but I was driving and couldn't sample the products, shame; however there is an absolutely excellent cafe with scrummy meals.
The Anglo Saxon reconstructions are based on the archaeological work done by Brian Hope-Taylor and The Gefrin Trust over at Yeavering (between Wooler and Kirknewton) and at other sites in Northumbria. The Acle Early Medieval Re-enactment Group (you can find them on Facebook) help to breath life into Saxon history and have an emphasis on living history crafts.
So if you were wondering where the link between what I do and the museum and re-enactment group was; then head over to Acle's WIX site and have a look at their crafts pages - especially the Embroidery and the Weaving, Spinning and Carding, and Dyeing. Some time I'm going to have to get myself back up to Northumbria to get along to one of their living history displays and have a good old chinwag!
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