Saturday 20 September 2014

Newbury Agricultural Show

Kennet Valley Guild demos every year at the Newbury Show. So here we are in the sheep lines and it is 0820 am! We are all set up, lots of spinners and two weavers. I have a loom warped up with blue dyed yarn left over from the Small Newbury Coat and a placard about the coat. Lots of stuff on show.

And the smell of wet sheep everywhere. People with their best sheep on a platform very carefully clipping stray bits of fleece while the sheep protests loudly. Outside the rent, alpacas are being similar manicured and walked on a lead. I can hear a yelling pig in the distance. Actually I like pigs at the show. They are very idiosyncratic and showing them is a major problem for the owners and a chance for laughter in the audience. So I must find out when they start the pig judging.

My job as chairman is to talk to the visitors but they will not be round for another hour or so. So I think I will investigate breakfast. This is an old fashioned show. There is not much here which is not related to farming. A whole section devoted to selling tractors and farm equipment. Another one for treating unspeakable animal diseases. And so on. There is an interesting food tent which I must visit. I see some visitors approaching.

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I am weaver and - -. I dye my yarns with acid dyes, I paint my warps, put fabric collages and stencils on my weaving. I have three looms, a 12 inch wide, 12 shaft Meyer for demos and courses, a 30 inch Louet Kombo which is nominally portable but has a stand, two extra beams and a home-made device containing a fan reed. And last a 32 shaft Louet Megado which is computer controlled, has a sectional warp and a second warp beam and I am the proud owner of an AVL warping wheel which I love to bits and started by drilling holes in. I inserted a device for putting a cross in. I have just acquired an inkle loom and had a lesson from an expert so I can watch TV and weave at the same time. I am interested in weaving with silk mostly 60/2 although I do quite a bit with 90/2 silk. I also count myself as a bookbinder with a special interest in Coptic binding.