Two Go Mad at Woolfest

The annual outing to Woolfest, accompanied by my oldest and dearest friend, took place today.  The weather cooperated, providing sunshine and warmth in which to travel to the Lake District, admire the scenery, and catch up with all the news and gossip from our respective lives.  And of course on the way home, discuss the haul of goodies at great length and tease me at great length about how badly I managed to operate the spinning wheel that she had absolutely insisted I had a go at doing.      

We had an absolutely fabulous time and as you can see from the photos, I went a bit mad.  The plan was to buy the two spindles which I had carefully thought about and decided would complete my spindle stable, plus enough spinning fibre to last an entire year with the plan being to buy small amounts of different types and preparations of fibre so I could learn to spin different fibres.  However, I then couldn't decide what to get because there was so much choice, but I'd have to get only small amounts of each, which would mean I'd have to make small items from the result.  There are only so many mittens, shawls and socks I require and my spinning is not yet at the stage where I could gift the result.    So I wandered about in what was probably a very annoying fashion, unable to pick anything.  And then my dear, dear friend, who does not spin but does have a very fine appreciation for all things fibre, pointed out some very nice fibre.  I said "that would make a lovely jumper", in an idle sort of a way, at which point, Team Encouragement started up.  At least I'd be sure that I could make something with it if I got a lot of it.  It was very soft.  Didn't the little example skein that was spun up look lovely.  Wasn't the colour very flattering for me.  Wouldn't I enjoy spinning, knitting and wearing a sweater from this fibre.  Wouldn't I get such a lot of valuable practice from such a large quantity of fibre.  And suddenly I was watching whilst 500 grammes of stunning teal colour Falkland Merino was wound out of a box for me to take home.  And a further 400 grammes of broken Merino Top in black, red and white leapt from a box into my arms alongside the teal on the basis it was a bargainous £8 ... for a sweater quantity.  How very frugal of me to make a sweater for £8.  Only when I came out into the daylight, on the way to the car, did I realise that perhaps, just perhaps, these might both be rather challenging projects for a beginner.  However, looking at the mountain of fibre I managed to amass, I do believe I have successfully purchased enough fibre to last a year (or more) and to provide me with plenty of challenges in the year to come. 

So, in the photo we have, back row from left:   Productive Spindling book by Amelia Garripoli which seems very clear and concise and concentrates entirely on drop spindles.  A gradient pack called Mermaids Lair which is mixed fibres and was purchased from Hilltop Cloud, two small silk hankies in a lovely bright pink with paler pink shades and some grey/purple tones, I think there was 36grammes of those.  Both of these will be spun up to a light weight yarn for shawls.  The white at the right hand side is blue faced Leicester.  I've already got 300 grammes of this fibre so this will just add to that and allow a larger project to be spun if I choose to. 

In the front row we have a braid of gradient dyed baby alpaca from Hilltop Cloud in colourway Crocus.  I plan to spin this one up in a light weight for a shawl as well.   Then there are two packs of broken merino tops in red/black/white, and the teal Falkland Merino, both of which came from John Arbon. 

Finally, here we have my two new spindles.  Both are from IST Crafts.  The larger one is going to be my new plying spindle, and for spinning heavier yarns.  Its a 70mm Elm Burr on sycamore with an ash shaft.  It weighs 38 grammes  and is rim banded.   Behind that is a Turkish spindle in purple heartwood.  This is one of the smallest sizes I think and will be used for laceweight  or very fine singles that will be plied into three or more plies.  These are also excellent travel spindles apparently.  It will require mastering some new techniques since the yarn is wrapped around the arms into a "turtle" which, when you take the arms out by removing the shaft, leaves a gorgeous little centre pull ball with no further winding required prior to plying.  It also has no hook so I have to learn to do a half hitch.  Really super excited about playing with this spindle and hope to show you the spindle dressed in some fibre quite soon.