Jubilee Fibres

A Bit About us.

Jubilee Fibres is a celebration of fibre, with wool being our main component and many other fibres too, for good measure. Aboard our narrow boat we produce one of a kind fibres & yarns for crafters to use for spinning, wet & dry felting, embellishing, knitting, crochet, weaving and other crafts too. We dye the fibres and yarns ourselves. In addition we have a range of handmade items, including some made from upcycled material. We will be offering a small range of drops spindles and kits.

Where possible we use natural dye stuffs harvested from the towpath and wool from British suppliers.

Jubilee Fibres, was established early 2020, is a micro business aboard narrow boat Burnt Oak. We live aboard our 60’ long & 6’10” wide boat quite comfortably, along with all our crafts. We continuously cruise the inland waterways of England & Wales and will announce where we will be moored to welcome customers.

The easiest way to pinpoint our trading locations is with ‘What3words’. We will publish our ‘what3words’ when we moor up. Using this method we can pin point our exact location so you are able to find us.

Members of Roving Canal Traders Association (RCTA).

Worldwide Spin in Public Day

Worldwide Spin in Public Day

Saturday 18^th September 2021

10.00-16.00

Rufford Visitor Mooring

Leeds & Liverpool Canal, West Lancashire.

Close to Rufford Old Hall (NT house) & super cafés at the marinas

https://what3words.com/occur.area.crumple

Join Jubilee Fibres for this special spinning day (weather permitting).

Handcrafted drop spindles

British wool tops - natural colours and dyed

Hand dyed yarn

Open 3 days over August Bank Holiday

Open 3 days over August Bank Holiday weekend 2021.

Near Rufford Old Hall (National Trust house), Lancashire.

Saturday 28^th, Sunday 29^th & Monday 30^th August 2021. 10.00-16.00

Weather permitting, but please knock on narrowboat Burnt Oak if you’re passing & it’s a bit damp!!

Moored on the visitor moorings just behind Rufford Old Hall and very near to the wonderful tearooms at St. Mary’s & Fettlers Wharf Marinas

Our exact location https://w3w.co/occur.area.crumple

Hand dyed yarns & wool tops, some naturally solar dyed on the boat roof.

Lots of single breed British wool.

Hand woven scarves & shawls/throws.

Hand made British drop spindles.

Spinning demonstration.

Anderton Boat Lift

Open Saturday 26^th & Sunday 27^th June, 10.00-16.00, on the Trent & Mersey Canal near the AndertonBoat Lift, one of the ‘wonders of the waterways’.

We have had a busy week dyeing some merino tops in a ‘berries & cream’ & plum colour ways.

Shetland grey & white tops dyed in ‘citrus’ colours.

Naturally dyed beautifully soft baby alpaca and BFL, both DK yarns with onion skins and nettles.

JUBILEE BLOG

Open Saturday 19^th & Sunday 20^th June, 10.00-16.00 (weather permitting)

We are moored on the Trent & Mersey Canal near to Anderton Boat Lift visitor centre.

Solar dying in progress and spinning demonstrations with spinning wheel and drop spindle.

Lots of British yarns and wool tops available, along with drop spindles, hand made knitted & woven items.

Bank holiday change of plan.

Plan change - closed Monday 3rd May due to the forecast of very heavy rain & strong wind.

EARLY MAY BANK HOLIDAY 2021

We are planning to open this weekend for the 3 days over the bank holiday, 1st-3rd May, 10.00-16.00hrs.

Leeds and Liverpool Canal, moored beside Frederick’s Ice Cream Shop, which is on the A6 south of Chorley. WHAT3WORDS.

So we didn’t have the perfect year for the launch of Jubilee Fibres, but we’re really looking forward to 2021. We’ve had a dress rehearsal near Adlington.

The weather has been gorgeous which meant we’ve done some dying.

Dyed Shetland in, ‘bonkers after lockdown’, ‘caterpillar’, ‘covish green’ and ‘pink sky’ colourways!!

Natural Shetland tops in 4 natural colours, white, black, grey and moorit. These are airy, fluffy fibres perfect for spinning woollen yarn and felting.

Grey Suffolk tops, perfect to for learning to spin with.

Undyed yarns in lace, 4 ply, DK & chunky.

Prices vary, depending on type of fibre and whether dyed.

- 100g tops from £2 - £7.50

- 100g yarn from £6.50-£18

Wooden drop spindles £12

Up cycled CD drop spindles £4.50

The end of our first roving trader year

So, we didn’t choose the right year to launch our floating fibre business, but we’ve really enjoyed being broken in gradually. Trading out in the open is perfect for social distancing and our card reader has been worth it’s weight in gold. Although we’ve only opened a handful of times, our stock levels are down to a few hanks of yarn and even less tops.

The super weather during the first lockdown meant I was able to get lots of dying done. I’m tempted to dye during the winter with pots simmering on the multi-stove, but it’s drying the fibre and yarn that’s an issue indoors.

We’ve met lots of people and have been asked about mail order. However, as we continuously cruise and don’t have a permanent address it’d be tricky arranging for returns (should the need arise). In addition storing packaging for posting could take up valuable space. We have posted out to previous customers and Team Towpath Twizzlers the BritSpin team we sponsored. We’ll be seriously thinking over winter about the possibilities of postal orders for the new year.

Like everyone, we will have to just hang in there and wait to see what 2021 holds!!!! We’ll publish our locations when we get there.

Best wishes to everyone for a very different and hopeful, happy Christmas & New Year.