Wool Musings

Yarn, wool, sheep -- part and parcel of the countryside in the Olde Country since the beginning of the merchant class in the early 1200s. The Wool churches in the Cotswold towns, the reminders of where the wealth came from in the name of the main streets in many villages: "Sheep Street", the continued varieties of sheep in different locales across the nation, and the local yarn shoppe all delighted my fascination with knitting.

What a treat to visit several yarn shops and the Stitching and Knitting Show at the Alexandra Palace in London! First was Sheepish in the Shambles in York. What a lovely little shop with Yorkshire yarns. I bought some pink multi merino spun in North Yorkshire. The other shop was Burford Needlecraft which was also a B&B in the little Cotswold town of the same name. In the basement, the various yarn things were cloistered. Spying some lovely bulky Colinette yarns (made in Wales), I selected three skeins of a bright multi along with a pattern for a vest. The proprietor, Jan, was extremely helpful in finding the perfect yarn and pattern complement.

Arriving at Alexandra Palace, a Victorian Hall containing a plant arboretum and glass conservatory, surrounded by rolling hills that reminded me of Valley Forge in the mid-Fall, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Like a newborn, I entered into the site of my first stitching event. The Eirian Short Needlearts Exhibition was a feast for the eyes, instilling creativity back into my being. What a thrill to meet the artist who in her 80's still enjoyed her craft. Visual stimulation and textural delight just produced such rhapsody in my soul. Almost a song of joy filled me with the enthusiasm to create and be part of life again. Many ideas swirled around my brain faster than I could record them and gave me great inspiration and incentive to learn and expand my horizons in all fields of the needlearts applying them in new and maybe unusual ways.



Many other activities were taking place at the Show including Booths staffed by Debbie Bliss, the Wensleydale Sheep Farm where I purchased wool gathered and spun on the farm in North Yorkshire (next trip I want to visit there!), and yarn stalls from America, Australia, New Zealand and even Canada; exhibits of modern knitting applications, one example of which was a knitted parlor (all furniture was covered in a Aran knit pattern; and a fashion show of newer designs.

The HIGHLIGHT of this England trip consisted of my mental musings on creation both God's and woman's wherein I found insight into the created. It was not only a jourey of expectancy but of hope and life forming a ray of light into recesses that had been neglected, forlorn for many years.

It seems strange to say that this revitalized my walk with my Savior, Jesus Christ, and reminded me of activities once enjoyed and forgotten, including my study of His creative person and joy in knowing me.