Regressing to a previous life?

Spinning at the Friday market

 Once I was back at home, at the end of April, with no more definite farm sits until September, I tried to settle into some sort of routine. Having been thinking about joining the so-called Suitcase Traders at the Shepton Mallet Friday market for nearly a year, I finally took the plunge on Friday, May 13^th! I had wanted to do baked goods initially but there seemed to be several hoops that I would have to jump through before I was allowed to, so I changed tack completely and decided to take my spinning wheel along and sell items made from wool. I had a busy couple of weeks producing felted bags and purses and I also invested in a piece of kit that I have been wanting for a couple of years – a drum carder. This device cards the fleece into smooth batts so that it is ready for spinning and will save my hands and wrists from the manual carding that I have done up until now.

My drum carder

Small 'Pom-Pets'

The suitcase pitch costs £5 instead of the usual £20 for a full-blown market stall, with a £2.50 additional charge for gazebo cover (essential if you have a wooden spinning wheel and wool products!). At my first market I sold one skein of wool and didn't cover my costs, but it was a fun morning as the other suitcase traders are a lively bunch and very sociable. At my second market I sold a felt purse and made a profit of 50p! A chance remark from Jeni led to the creation of 'Pom-Pets' made from woollen pom-poms with features needle-felted on. My first efforts were two palm-sized hedgehogs for Jeni and her friend and, having gained confidence I made another hedgehog and a barn owl of the same size for the market. I then hit on the idea of small 'Pom-Pets' and made some hedgehogs and then a fox and a badger, and took them along to last week's market. I sold the large barn owl, two small hedgehogs, the badger and the fox plus two skeins of Shetland wool and was well into profit! I don't expect every week to be that successful, but I shall keep going as I enjoy it so much and, after a busy week of gardening jobs ( I have three now), it's very nice to sit down for four hours spinning and listening to conversations around me, not to mention the mellow sounds of the guitar player who turned up last week. I'm sure I shall feel differently when the winter comes, but we'll see.

Earlier in the year, Jeni and I got roped in to the Pylle Pageant, which took place on 22^nd May in our village. It was to celebrate the coming of the railway to Pylle in 1862 and was inspired, apparently, by a photograph that used to hang in the pub (now sadly closed, along with the railway). There was a costumed cast of 150 and each one represented a real person who had lived in the area at the time, or was a visiting dignitary. The 'toffs' generally hired their beautiful costumes from a theatrical costumier in Bath but the 'villagers and labourers' cobbled together what they could, some sporting genuine old leather gaiters and smocks and others making costumes. I was lucky in that my sister used to dress in Victorian clothing as part of her work in the Sheffield Museum's industrial village, and she forwarded on a bonnet, shawl and apron. My friend Mary had an Amish bonnet and another shawl and I then made a skirt for Jeni, out of a flowered length of curtaining, and utilised a long skirt that I already owned. I also made underskirts of sheeting and then starched them so that they held the skirts out a bit. We had a fun day and were incredibly lucky with the weather as rain was forecast but never put in an appearance. There was an exhibition, with old photos, in the Church and a film of the Somerset & Dorset Railway made by Sir John Betjeman, just before it closed in 1966. From the church we processed to the Old Rectory where there were speeches and teas, a brass band, maypole dancing and singing from the choir that I belong to.

The Ditcheat and Pylle singers, in costume

 On the previous Friday, I wore my outfit to the market and handed out fliers to advertise the Pageant, but the costume was so well received that I wore it again last week and will probably continue to wear it each week, as it attracts people over to look at what I am doing. Men and small children seem to be particularly entranced by watching the wheel spinning round – I'm sure I could draw some parallels there, but will resist the temptation, so as not to antagonise my readers! At least two women have admitted to having a spinning wheel languishing in their loft and several people have asked to take photos.

I seem to enjoy regressing to a different era as, at the beginning of May, Mary and I went on a day trip to Dunster, catching the steam train from Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton, on the West Somerset Railway and visiting the village and the castle when we got there. Mary has recently joined the National Trust so the two of us are trying to make the most of our membership by making regular visits to our local NT properties. There are several within an easy drive of home, so we should have some good days out, when we can spare the time!

Almost unnoticed, the 6^th anniversary of my WWOOFing adventure slipped by on 15^th May and I am now into my 7^th year, although I may need to rename my blog as I don't do so much travelling now. However, I am still a member of WWOOF and the open road still calls to me sometimes, so at least I still have the opportunity to take off if I want to. In fact, I am manning (womanning?) a WWOOF information stall at an event near me – the Green Scythe Fair at Muchelney (famous for being completely cut off in the floods a couple of years ago) which promises to be an interesting day.

The West Somerset Railway from Dunster Castle