Today Paul and I went to our local Fun Day, organised by the Lions Club. We go every year, primarily to see the ferrets. The Hants and Berks Ferret Club bring lots of ferrets with them, and they have races, which are hilarious! The ferrets run through an obstacle course of pipes and bridges and seesaws. Last year we managed to place a bet on the slowest ferret of all – he stopped half way through the race to have a nice long drink from the water obstacle! Today I got to cuddle a ferret called Zorro. He was adorable, although extremely wriggly. Thankfully he (and his owner) didn’t seem to mind when he squirmed right out of my arms and landed on the floor!
We have a pet rabbit, so there’s no way we could keep a ferret at the same time. It just wouldn’t be fair to the rabbit to bring a predator into his home. In the meantime though, we’re quite happy to visit the Hants and Berks Ferret Club when they’re in our area.
After playing with the ferrets I headed straight for the crafts tent, where there was a weaving display set up. I was immediately overcome by the wool fumes, and as soon as I’d picked up a little skein of wool for a squish, I was encouraged to have a go on the makeshift looms.
Here I am, a couple of rows in. I believe I was doing weft-faced weaving, as the warp threads would have been completely hidden if we’d been packing the rows together tightly enough.
Look at the little boy opposite me, in the football shirt. He has the most intense look of concentration about him, and he was weaving away for ages!
Here’s my finished bit of weaving!
I really enjoyed doing it, and am very tempted by the idea of buying a little table loom of some kind. When my hands won’t allow me to knit any more, I think a little light weaving would be an interesting way to carry on having fun with yarn.
Paul took the photos on his new iPhone, and he was checking his email as I was weaving away. Something of a technology clash going on there! It worked to everyone’s benefit though, as one of the ladies in charge of the weaving demonstration has asked us to email the photos to her, “to demonstrate that anyone can do weaving”.
We chatted a little as I played with a piece of lovely soft roving which matched my hair. As soon as I picked it up, it seemed totally natural to twist it between my fingers. I think perhaps I should back away slowly from the idea of weaving, before I find my house filled with roving and a drop-spindle.
Never mind ferrets – please can I have a sheep?