Pleasant Valley Sunday

Dora Mushka wanted to do a practice run of the class she'll be teaching at Olds College, Alberta during Fibre Week.  Susie, Lindsay, Sara and I packed up wheels, fibre and lunch and headed to Lumsden for a Sunday of spinning.

Dora instructing with Lindsay and Susie in the background

 Along with Cheryl, Marybelle, Meegan and Wendy, we spent the day blending and spinning colour samples and designer/art yarns:

That neon green background really highlights the yarns!

The class is designed for beginning spinners, so I assumed I'd be tagging along for the fun of it.  "Pride goeth before a fall" and all that-I hadn't spun on my Louet Victoria in over a year and had forgotten just how fast that wheel spins.  I spent the morning muttering under my breath as I produced a stack of overtwisted samples so energized that they could run marathons even after a good washing and whacking.

The afternoon went more smoothly.  We moved to textured yarns, practising long draw, chain plying and spinning cables.  We made garnetted, slubbed and wrapped yarns.  I produced a tussah silk/wool/alpaca cabled yarn heavy enough to work as an (elegant) dog leash, a pretty blue wool yarn garnetted with spring colours, a vibrant soysilk/wool chain plied skein and a very loosely spun long draw singles of wool and alpaca:

I came home, tired but happy.  After finishing my samples and leaving them to dry, I fulfilled my wifely duties by watching Survivor Finale and Vancouver in the hockey playoffs.  I also completed this:

I knit the summer scarf from spindle spun wool/silk/alpaca fibres from Fleece Artist.  The freeform crochet trim was worked in hand spun cochineal-dyed silk and hand spun emerald soysilk.  The scarf looked incomplete until I added the trim, which reminded me to keep design in mind, even for such a simple thing.  A bit of thoughtful planning can make the difference between producing a piece of cloth and making a unique accessory.  There is a bit of asymmetry here, in the trim and its placement, just enough to make me smile when I remember the making of this piece:

The scarf and my samples are reminders of sunny, warm pleasant hours of spinning and friendship in the Qu'appelle Valley.  What more could you ask of a day?

Sara, Marybelle and Wendy

Meegan

Sara