The popular, award-winning show will be held at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells on April 26 and 27 with 220 exhibitors and is expecting more than 6,000 visitors.<\/p>\n
A star attraction will be special installation to mark this year\u2019s 80th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day, which is being created by a group of knitters in France and across the world.<\/p>\n
The knitters are so enthusiastic that the installation, which will be in Hall 3, is going to be much bigger than originally envisaged.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has grown from eight to 10 metres and could well be even larger by the time of the show!\u201d said Chrissie Menzies, Wonderwool Wales director. \u201cPeople from around the world are knitting panels for the installation which is quite amazing.<\/p>\n
They previously knitted an 80 metre, 3D wool art depiction of the D-Day landings, which toured the UK, before going off to America, and wanted to do another one for VE Day to showcase at Wonderwool Wales before it tours the UK, with panels being added at each destination.\u201d<\/p>\n
The VE Day project has been organised by Tansy Forster\u00a0and her fellow knitters who also headed The Longest Yarn installation for D-Day. More than 1,000 knitters from across the world contributed to that project.<\/p>\n
Wonderwool Wales will have a truly international flavour, as Kimberly Perkins from Cat Mountain Fibre Arts, Colorado, will be showcasing her hand dyed, multi-textured, yarn bundles and knitting and crochet patterns on stand M1 in Hall 1. She\u2019s the first exhibitor to fly in from America.<\/p>\n
Chrissie revealed that there will be more than 15 new exhibitors at the show, including Paint-Box Threads from near Leominster and Cold Harbour Mill from Devon.<\/p>\n
Zoe Acketts, of Paint-Box Threads, specialises in beautiful, hand-dyed threads along with fabric for the textile crafting market.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure we will all be coming away with some of Zoe\u2019s threads,\u201d said Chrissie. \u201cHer curated boxes of colours are just too good to use, you just want to display them in your studio and look at them!\u201d<\/p>\n
Cold Harbour Mill will be joining other working mill exhibitors who use heritage machinery to produce yarn collections and woven textiles.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s yarns are 100% British wool, with single breed Blue Faced Leicester and Shetland collections in a range of natural and woodland inspired colours and four registered Tartans designed and woven at the mill.<\/p>\n
Away from the show, Newtown Textile Museum is opening early to attract people visiting Wonderwool. Run entirely by volunteers and housed in two weavers\u2019 cottages, the museum will be open from April 24-28 from 12 noon to 4pm.<\/p>\n
The British Coloured Sheep Breeders\u2019 Association will be adding natural colours to the show by bringing sheep for the first time. Sheep Walk fashion shows, demonstrations and have-a-go sessions hosted by some of the exhibitors are regular features.<\/p>\n