Another early start in the rain this morning for our 2.5 h drive to the Farfield Mill. We stopped after 1.5 hours at Clapham and descended upon Beckside Yarns and Needlecrafts.
There was a large variety of yarns - Noro, Luisa Harding, Debbie Bliss, etc. 
There was also some bare BFL/nylon sock yarn - perfect for dyeing then knitting or knitting then dyeing. Upstairs, I found a Rowan book with a Kaffe Fassett pattern I thought Marion should know about.
The proprietor opened early for us. We were like locusts in there, particularly with the locally dyed yarn.
After an hour or drooling, squealing and using the toilet, we headed to Sedbergh (pron. Sed-bur) for lunch. We went to a fish and chip place but it doesn’t operate on Tuesdays so we had jacket potatoes (baked potato with a filling like bacon and cheese or baked beans). 
I saw this great print in the insurance company's window. 
Then we headed to our workshop at the Farfield Mill. 
We split into two groups and our group got a tour of the mill, a brief history and a tour of the grounds.
Then we had a wet-felting workshop. Our instructors ere very organized and the techniques were easy. We were given kits with bits of coloured roving and the white felt background already done. We just needed to add the coloured bits.Marion worked on her Yorkshire vista.
This is what my piece looked like just before I started wet-felting it.
I then squirted it with mildly soapy water and put bubble pack on it bubbles down, wetted the smooth side of the bubble pack and began rubbing, thus felting the roving.
After turning 90º and rubbing vigorously for 4 turns , the piece was then rolled up around a bamboo pole that was about 3/4" in diameter and rolled to felt it some more. Then rinsed, and the water expressed between towels and the bamboo pole.Finally, to finish it, we rolled our pieces in matchstick blinds 20 times each way before turning 90º.
Ta-da!
The purple is supposed to be the heather on the hills, the brown line a dry stone fence and the white blobs are supposed to be sheep.I could see doing wet-felting when I get home.
After our workshop we had a bit of time to explore the artists' studios. This man specializes in making chairs.
There is a huge one of his pieces in the lobby.
This woman did lovely machine knitting with embellishments.
Here were some of her materials.
This was a particularly impressive display of felted items.
It rained a bit alternating with sunny bits. The scenery was spectacular. However, we did see a lot of rivers with very high water levels and flooded fields. 
It didn’t seem to bother the grazing cattle and sheep.
Terry relaxes in the coach on the way back to our hotel after a gruelling day of sight-seeing, yarn-shopping and wet-felting.
I finished the top of my second Chrysanthemum mitten and on the way back, got the thumb finished.
Anne Featonby did a little Fair Isle presentation and we took turns with show and tell around the circle. Everyone was pooped so we didn’t last long. I ducked out early so I could try to get on the Internet in the lobby. It was iffy but I have been able to Skype but still haven’t been able to check my e-mail. I was able to earlier on my iPod Touch.
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