The Time of My Life

I'm just back from a weekend of spinning and dyeing at Full Tilt Creative Center in McIvers, Newfoundland! I always promised myself that if I ever got the opportunity to attend such a workshop, then I would take advantage of it. I'm so glad that I did. I was very vilifying to see other spinners (especially the instructor, Robyn Love) and realize that I'm doing things right! Most - well, all of my spinning knowledge has been gleaned from books and youtube videos. I have always felt somewhat isolated as a spinner. I learned a lot of things from this workshop, including a better way to wash fleece. My Big Project will definitely improve with the knowledge gained from this weekend.

This is Blanchard House. This is where I stayed the entire weekend. It has a beautiful view of the 'Bay of Islands". There is a small island with a tern colony just off the beach. The terns didn't stop screeching all night long. Surprisingly this was quite soothing.

Here Robyn demonstrates how to properly scour fleece. I hadn't been adding enough soap to my washings. I'm hoping this will help with my very greasy Saskatchewan fleece.

This is Jen sorting through some fiber that came from our indigo dye pot. Aren't the colours amazing?

Martina (my roommate) looks at all the dyed fleece drying in the sun. Again, the colours are spectacular!

These are my two yarns from this weekend. I used all the colours from the natural dye pots to make both of these yarns. I carded up the fibers (both on hand cards and the drum carder) for a little blending and I threw in bits of novelty yarns to attempt art yarn. I was going for a thick and thin single, which I think I succeeded.

This young lady was one of Colette's workers. (Colette is the owner of Full Tilt) She was interested in spindle spinning, so I gave her one of the spindles that Kev and I made. She is spinning with some fibre that took a quick dip in the indigo dye bath. I love that light blue!