SpinIn

It may have taken me over a week to get round to posting about the SpinIn, but that is by no means a reflection of the awesomeness that was that weekend.

Having been a relative newbie to camping, I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed it.  Being out in a field with such clear skies.  I can't remember the last time I was under such a clear stary sky.  I've missed that experience.  I may be an utter city girl, but there's certain things like a star filled sky that just make my heart sing and provoke such primal feelings in me.  I could just stare for eons, completely lost in it, even if I can barely point out two constellations.  Just shear beauty.  And I love being cosy around a campfire, cider/wine/gingerbeer in hand, and good, even if a little abstract and random, conversation flowing. It kind of goes with the primal thing. It's definitely a reason to do it again.

However, those lovely clear skies which lead to me getting sunburnt during the days, and such beautiful sights at night, lead to very chilly temperatures at night.  I was really glad to have my snuggly Ryeland handspun shawl to wrap around my nose.  The first morning greeted us with a thick fog, which was certainly atmospheric before it burnt off.

I participated in several workshops, so there was plenty of fun shared experiences and chances to learn.  I was pretty tired following an eleven day stretch at work, including a week of long days on call, so I also really enjoyed just sitting back and soaking in the atmosphere.  I didn't get to take my wheel as there just wasn't enough room in the car, so I spindled a bit on my new club spindle, with my new club fibre, which is just the yummiest neutral stoney shades.

 And a dabbling dyer's dream - getting to play with a professional's palette:

This was the product of the the dying session.  It was so much fun and utterly fascinating to be around some many varied expressions of creativity and to see how differently people approached it.  We all got to do three things - mine were a random choice of "ooh, they look like pretty colours" on BFL, an experiment in gradient dying on Falkland, and a fun crazy rainbow attempt on some silk hankies.

There were trips to see the sheep:

And times of just admiring the scenery:

And just plan ol' sitting in a circle of crafting:

It was so much fun and such utter temptation!  My bags came back over flowing with goodies, so much fibre, I think I've pretty much replaced what I spun up during the Tour this year, which is a nice thought... now if only I had the time to actually use some of it up!

Stash diving

When I sat down on Saturday, very last minute, to plan my Tour for the year, I knew that I had a few days off and then I would be very busy with work.  So I wanted to create a reasonable, achievable list.  Which I did, as follows:
1)  linen - to spin something new.  A gift from a secret santa last year.  This will be my challenge of the tour.
2) Merino/possum blend picked up at WW this year.
3) Elderflower BFL/silk combo (50g of each) for some fibre prep on a rest day.
4) Some batts from Hilltopcloud
5) Rainbow gradient dyed BFL, to finally master n-plying on the wheel, as I haven’t been 100% happy with my previous attempts.
6) Darling, also gradient dyed.
7) The shetland set of natural colours I got at WW. 200g, 4 shades, for a natural colourwork project.
8) Then finally, if I get the time and decide definitely that it’s a good idea, I’ve got 2 100g braids in green colourways - 1 is the euphorbia club (BFL) and some BFL/alpaca/silk in Copse Green. The later is paler and more muted. I’m not sure if using the two together (one ply of each) is too eclectic a blend to go well together.

So this morning as I sat down, I realised I most nearly halfway through that list! And several of the others, such as the linen and the BFL/silk are for later in the tour.  So, what better excuse to dive into the old stash bag and pull out something new.  Which is what I did, finding this UK merino in lovely calm shades of blue, which spun up and plied like a treat for a soft, squishy 2ply aran-ish weight.  I forgot to take photos of the plied yarn, so will just wait until it's finished.

Other jobs for the day included plying the rainbow gradient, which as it turns out is very hard to take a photo of which shows off all the colours.  It still needs to be soaked and have the twist set.:

It's just shy of 200m, and is lovely and soft in true BFL style, and I think it may bloom more when washed.  As to what I'd ever do with rainbow yarn... I really don't have a clue, but it's fun to look at and lovely to pet... which is about the same that can be said for the rest of my rather large stash.  I may have to start early again and do a handspun, handknit Christmas to clear some of it.

And finally, a shot to prove how lovely and balanced my merino/possum spinning was:

Very proud of this, and now I have three things to soak... really should get on with that!