Busy Bee 🐝 Mother Earth

To close out October (where did the month go? 😳 )  .... some spinning show and tell for you.  This pretty fibre came from  "Beesybee Fibers" on Etsy. They have some gorgeous colour ways and quick shipping.

 

It was a lovely spin up with very high quality fibre.  This has a fine micron wool blended with silk.  Some other colours may have fallen into the shopping cart too.   Oops... 😁

All washed up and some were made into cakes for convenience.... and a skein as it's a classic. 

Now that I'm back weaving, I'm spinning less but enjoy the time on the Hansen very much. No regrets buying this e-spinner one bit. 

2012 Island Retreat

I'm back home again... just!  Parts of me are still reviewing the retreat hosted by the Qualicum Beach Weavers and Spinners Guild and held in Parksville, BC. and my time away, while the rest of me is doing laundry... back to normal again.

It was a fun time and it was especially neat to spend it with Lynnette.  I'm very lucky in that she's an easy and caring room mate and I enjoyed our adventure.

The sun was shining when I left and by the time I reached Nanaimo on my journey north, I was driving through snow!  Mostly driving rain and lots of water on the road, but still snow. I can recall telling myself that March was not going out like a lamb!  I finally arrived and met up with Lynnette and we settled into our room at the Quality Inn Resort.

This was our view:

I believe that's Hornby Island and beyond that is the mainland and Coastal Mountain ranges. I love the little gazebo....

When the tide came back in later, it looked like this:

Its a very shallow flat bay and at low tide many people were out walking on the flats. I could imagine a sunny warm day and going walking in the shallow water pools!

We took our spinning wheels downstairs and set them up.... then went to the vendors room and went shopping! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures in there but there were four vendors: Knotty by Nature (from Victoria), Pagan Creations (from Campbell River) and Hummingbird Fibres (from Errington) and PCW Fiberworks (from Saltspring Island. I bought some spinning fibre but nothing else... despite being labeled a 'spinners and *weavers* retreat, none of them really brought anything weaving related! No yarns, no books,.... nada!   Rather unfortunate but I do have a full stash  so can't grumble.   I hope that next time they will reconsider their inventory.

After supper on Friday, there was a show and tell. Here's a sampling:

Double weave placemats by Sharon S. 

Defected double weave scarf by Jennifer V.

Paper spots by Lynnette

It took me a long time to wind down and finally go to sleep that night!  Even then, I watched the clock advance all night long. The best sleep was the hour before the alarm of course!

After a lovely breakfast, we got busy spinning and the important job of saying hi to familiar faces from retreats of the past, and meeting new friends.  Another cruise through the vendor area...... and then it was lunch time. These retreats are such hard work!  :)

After lunch we attended a presentation on the history of Tartans by John Fitzpatrick and it was quite enjoyable. We viewed many slides of various tartans, the recorded history of tartans from 4,000 BCE to more present times. It ended with a slide of the tartan of the Guild of Canadian Weavers!  Both Lynnette and I applauded as we both know the tartan designer as a friend. (The GCW have a newly redesigned web page by the way!)

There were other presentations: all about PCW Fiberworks with Bob Keates (which I have taken before), and a talk and slide show on Peruvian Textiles by Judith Crosbie which I hear was very good and I'm sorry that I missed it!

There was also a bag exchange. Make and bring one...get another to take home. There were some very creative bags!

Meanwhile, you spun that newly purchased fibre on your wheel, visited with your neighbour and caught up with old friends:

Here Lynnette is sitting on my seat and chatting with Heather. Looks like Heather's unique Scottish Haldane wheel (built in Fife, Scotland) is getting a closer inspection. That's my Majacraft wheel in front of Lynnette.

The spinning room was destined to become the banquet room for that evenings dinner so we went to our room for some quiet time and to get ready.  Every one was back at 6 pm for dinner and wearing their finery. The dinner included roast beef, pork medallions and salmon and it was all delicious. Finally it was fashion show time and there were twenty four entries. Here are a few entries and there will be a link to all photos at the end of the post.

Beautiful hand knit shawls in the audience

A stunning coat with card woven band details. 

Scarves and shawls!

The weavers hand shake was happening all over the room!

My thanks to Gloria for modelling the Little Lochmaben shawl.

Here Sharon is waiting her turn to take the shawl Aurora for a walk around the room.

It was a wonderful time and all too soon over! The next morning, we woke to this:

April Fools joke?  NOT!  I had to shovel  two inches of snow off the car before heading for home.  Some of the die hards were still in the hall spinning away...

I have created a Photoshare with 80 pictures of the weekend and you can access it here   If you were an attendee of the Retreat  or know someone who did,  please feel free share the link and also to download. Please just add that these pictures were taken by me. Thanks...  Susan Harvey

Showing Up and Showing Off

I did something on Tuesday I haven't done all winter long. I went to my local guild meeting! I'm a member of the Tzouhalem Spinners and Weavers Guild (pronounced zoo-hay-lem ). There is a large mountain here named Tzouhalem after one of the early settlers. The guild's main catchment area seems to be as far as Nanaimo in the north and Mill Bay in the south, all on the southern half of Vancouver Island, BC. and we occasionally get guests from the Gulf Islands. Its an active guild and they organize many events all year long: a spinning day  for Distaff Day, learn to spin classes, weave study sessions with a guild loom making the rounds and recently even started a spinning study group. They have a month long sale every November which takes a considerable effort to set up, man daily and keep track of sales. In the guild there are active knitters, felters, dyers (mostly natural dyes), spinners (both wheel and drop spindles), and weavers. They are a well rounded bunch!

I wasn't able to attend meetings due to my cranky back and simply not able to sit in old wooden hall chairs without  pain for 2 + hours. This month I felt I could manage the time and it was nice to see everyone!  Just me showing up was my main 'show and tell'.

I wasn't planning on taking pictures but the appointed 'photographer' had her camera battery die on her so she asked me to snap some with my phone. I have forgotten some of the names of who did what but it was great to see that most all bring something along they have been working on to share. The summer and winter tea towels shown above were woven by Gudrun and the little pin cushions were a collaboration between her husband and herself. She said it can be done with small sample pieces of handwoven and that's another reason to add extra inches to your projects!

So what else was there?

A new weavers second project of a scarf made using two types of sock yarns!

Barbara's silk skeins and all were spun up and plied using a drop spindle.

Valerie's fun and unique bathrobe! The flowers are crocheted onto the fabric.

Sandy, who organised the spinning study group, brought along her samples.

Annaliese brought along her dyed swatches and the colours were lovely!

Jan our librarian talked about the new acquisitions to the library, including two videos on spinning and plying. I personally like the Vav magazine but find it expensive to subscribe to. Being a guild member means you get to borrow them and enjoy. Membership also has other benefits in our community too! Local yarn stores give members a discount on their purchases which is very nice indeed!

Jan was also wearing this lovely knit little capelet (not sure what to call it besides gorgeous!) Her daughter  knit it for her and it looked wonderful all draped around her neck.  It would have better to see it modeled by Jan herself (oops!)

Lastly, I took along my twelve guest towels for show and tell. (Its been a long dry winter here weaving wise!)

Last April 2010, I took a three day workshop with Alison Irwin on double weave pick up, Finnweave and mock satin damask. This spring she is offering a workshop on kumihimo in April and inkle looming in May and I signed up for both! She's an amazing instructor and I have no doubts it will be fun and well detailed.  I had applied for a scholarship with the Guild of Canadian Weavers on the basis of the class last spring with Alison and was granted a scholarship! This means that class was covered and I can also attend these two classes with the proceeds. I'm just thrilled! I have had to write an article for the GCW Bulletin about the three day workshop experience, which I have submitted and will be published, with pictures, sometime in the spring or summer issue.

And another reason to go to guild meetings? Its nice to simply be with like minded people!