Fibre Fest, Coldharbour Mill.

I had such a great time at The Fibre Fest in Devon, organised by the lovely John and Juliet. 

 I arrived at 8.30 on Saturday morning , and had volunteered to help two mornings in return for getting in free and staying on the exhibitors campsite.  Obviously I did not do this to save money as I realised after I volunteered it was only £6 to get in if tickets ordered in advance :) I thought it would be great fun meeting other Ravelers and there was mention of spending time in the Phop knitting tent.

So I arrived on the gate armed with knitting.  I met the girls on the gate and was a handed a high vis waistcoat to put on, then I was thrown in at the deep end by Juliet and sent round the exhibitors tent to hand out the Fibre fest brochure to all the exhibitors.  Which was fab cause I got a sneak preview of who was in the marquee before the general public arrived (good job cause it got so busy later it was hard to get to any of the stands) what i didn't realise was that with the lovely green jacket on I looked like I must know every thing, 'where are the toilets?' 'can you get me a ladder' etc.. I just smiled and said I had just arrived which didn't go down so well lol.

When I got back to the gate all hell had broken loose and there was a long que of people going way up the street..and thats where I stayed.  The girls on the gate were fantastic and kept smiling all day dealing with any problems that came up really quickly.  It was great to see so many people coming through the gate many of whom I recognized.

Dee and Debs arrived on Saturday so i spent saturday afternoon going around the fest with them, Debs was trying to make up her mind between one of the fleeces or a gorgeous big handmade basket.  The setting for the Fest was perfect the marquees were put up in the grounds of Coldharbour Mill a working textile water mill.

There were animals outside alongside basket weavers and music playing next to the knitting tent.

A great atmosphere!
Above is a little bit of the yummy tops I bought for spinning and felting, I was trying not to add to much to my stash as we may be moving soon and I already have soo much!
Dee fell in love with this gorgeous fleece, the colours in the marquee were fantastic, but I did not take any pics of the stands, I was put off at Ally pally last year when I asked if I could take pictures the standholders said no and glared at me as if i was just going to copy them. So now I am very careful, what i need though is a more discreet camera.

On Sunday I worked again in the morning and was lucky enough to do the Vintage sock workshop in the afternoon. It was great fun and I felt like I had used one before, though I did get lots of holes! I'm sure with practice a pair of socks could be knitted in no time. I will be on the look out for one of these little machines :)
I fell in love with all the bits inside the mill especially the bobbins which just look amazing with the yarn on. Debs bought some from The Threshing Barn with lovely multicoloured yarn wrapped around them.
I really enjoyed my time at The Fibre Fest and was more than rewarded by John and Juliet when they sent me a box of mixed bobbins as a thankyou..I was so excited when I opened the box :0  (not pictured) I now have them on display in my shop. ( though I will not be selling them they are just for looking.)

I forgot to mention all the lovely people I met up with like Picperfect and knitcave and puddytatpurr.