Expo on the Wools of Europe in Gap (France)

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On Friday I went to Gap (in the french Alps) with a couple fellow ravelers to see the exposition displaying dozens of Wools of Europe. With helene, the Icelandic knitter we chatted about designing and Iceland, while with Alice we petted all the different wools and talked about spinning.
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The expo was fantastic: imagine a huge room under the roof, filled with dozens and dozens of different types of wool from the 4 corners of Europe, which you can pet, smell and read all the details about… along with a knit/crocheted/felted sample by different artists/artisans from each of those wools. Hebridean, Gotland, Merino, Ouessant… coarse or superfine, short or long fibers, ecru or in various shades of brown or grey, there were so many differnt kind of sheep represented.
Oh and the smell. It was like being in heaven. That smell of natural raw wool everywhere. Yum.

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Among some of my favorite projects was this amazing dress, made of strips of felted merino wool with a crocheted bodice. And the piece beside it, fake-sheepskin but actually collage of felted italian wools with a bit of nuno fabric inserted too. This picture doesn’t do justice to the ultimate beauty of this piece !

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This huge felted “stone” (actually a cushy seat) and very design stool made of layers of felted wool were also stunning…. as were the dozens and dozens of projects displayed. In another corner of the museum I also spotted antique french spindles. Had to sneak a picture 😉

If you are in France (or coming around this summer), I highly recommend you come and visit this expo in Gap. For the others, the lady who organised it will be at the Lot et Laine festival in Lot (France) next week-end.

… Or you can have a look at their website, order the book (yummy pics, multilingual edition with english texts).
NB: it seems it may the expo may travel abroad if there’s enough interest. 😉

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