Back in July my friend and I went to Haliburton School of Art and Design for a week long intermediate spinning course. It was awesome to be in a roomful of people for a whole week who didn’t say “You do WHAT?” when I mentioned that I like to spin yarn for fun. 🙂 We got there early every morning and stayed late.
I learned so much and my spinning improved greatly during the week. I used to think that by just putting more ‘miles on the wheel’ I would get better but good teachers make a world of difference.
Now it’s mid-August and I’ve had nearly 2 weeks at the cottage, spinning every day, including a dye-day when my friend Stephanie came over and we tried all sorts of dyeing techniques. Some of it even worked out the way we had intended and some were surprisingly nice mistakes. Some we won’t mention again 🙂 It’s all about learning, both how to do it as well as what we prefer.
This isn’t the colour I had hoped for at all but it’s growing on me. And the gold/yellow yarn on the bobbin above that was an afterthought. I threw a handful of wool into a dye pot I had used to dye some orange wool and that’s the result. Probably my favourite of the day, never to be repeated.
When I started spinning this wool (coopworth) I thought I didn’t like it at all. It felt harsher and harder than the lovely luxe merino and polwarth that I’d been playing with. Now that it’s spun and washed I love it. And it looks like a blank canvas to me. I can hardly wait to dye and knit it.
And tomorrow I’m going to spend the day at the Taste of the Valley Farmers Market in Barry’s Bay doing spinning demonstrations with a couple of friends. The curator at the museum asked us and how could I turn it down? A whole day of spinning 🙂
I love it! Getting there is half the fun! The miles on the wheel certainly help.