Maid of Fibre boat trip with yarn - Downham Market

Maid of Fibre is a 60ft narrow boat, custom fitted to be a sanctuary for knitters!  Brothers, Richard & Stewart Ellis invite knitters on board to sit, relax and view next season's yarns whilst wending your way along the river.  We first met them 3 weeks ago at our Knit in Public Day and now we were taking advantage of them being moored here in Downham Market overnight, before heading off to the south of England. Although the guys are often in East Anglia with their van, it has been 4 years since they last brought the boat here, and it will probably be another 4 years before it returns.  Six members of the group were free to visit the boat today, plus we invited local talented craftswoman  and author Sue Welfare, and local reporter for the Lynn News, Jo Garner, who were both delighted to join us for our jaunt.

First group excitedly about to embark. Weather grey, windy and impending rain.

 Sheila, Sue, Pat and Donna snugly seated onboard, with coffee. Bring on the yarn!

next season's scarf yarn

Wonderful Peruvian alpaca loveliness.

Will  Donna choose the purple?

 Sue and Pat watch Donna's choice.

yarn storage on the boat

Stewart, the perfect host and salesman

           Cap'n Richard, who drew the short straw today!

2nd group about to embark (Nik, Sheila, Tricia and Pat-Jo has yet to arrive)

Nik and Jo in the bow of the boat

Sheila finishes Stewart's scarf !

fab hand-dyed Chilean cotton yarn

Pat and Tricia are renowned for having similar tastes. They often go out wearing the same colour (like today). So maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that they both fell in love with the same pattern and the same yarn!!  We all had a fabulous day and feel very blessed that we were able to make contact with the guys and visit their wonderful workplace!! Looking forward to seeing them again at the Ally Pally in October.