Desert Mesa Spinning Retreat
Catching up slowly but surely.
During the Salt Spring Fibre Festival, Andrea Lawrence suggested that I might want to attend this retreat up at Cache Creek. At the time, I debated whether or not I wanted to be out of town 2 weekends in a row. As the time got closer, a couple of friends said that they were planning on going and my rubber arm and I said "sure!". It was held at a former monastery and the space is bright and airy with fabulous views. The only thing we had to do was sit back, spin, shop, enjoy the company of friends and trek downstairs for our very tasty meals and snacks.
I finally finished spinning a wonderful blend of lambswool, alpaca and mohair in cinnamon, red and white from the Barefoot Spinner. This is destined to become a Wool Peddler's. Believe it or not, this will actually be my first project from my own handspun. I think I was reasonably consistent both with grist and twist but the proof will be in the knitting.
In celebration and because this roving has been calling from my stash since the Spring, I started spinning Lisa Souza's Joseph's Coat in merino. It's truly a pleasure to spin, I barely have to draft, I just hold the roving and tug back gently every now and then. I'll fill 2 bobbins and ply it letting the colours fall as they will, or as Lisa says - Serendipity Baby.
Some of the retreat participants were hoping that I would give up some of the Joseph's Coat, or some Wild Things in Merino/Silk as my gift-exchange prize. Hah! I was nice enough to tell them where they could get their own though.
Of course, having something wonderful to spin or knit has never stopped me, nor my travelling companions from shopping before and it was no different on this trip. We were all pleased to see Andrea from Aurelia Wool, Marie from Crofton, Sharon from Homespun Haven and Margaret from Celeigh Wool. This is what the inside of the Tracker looked like on the way home.
The road home. Who's joining me next year?
During the Salt Spring Fibre Festival, Andrea Lawrence suggested that I might want to attend this retreat up at Cache Creek. At the time, I debated whether or not I wanted to be out of town 2 weekends in a row. As the time got closer, a couple of friends said that they were planning on going and my rubber arm and I said "sure!". It was held at a former monastery and the space is bright and airy with fabulous views. The only thing we had to do was sit back, spin, shop, enjoy the company of friends and trek downstairs for our very tasty meals and snacks.
I finally finished spinning a wonderful blend of lambswool, alpaca and mohair in cinnamon, red and white from the Barefoot Spinner. This is destined to become a Wool Peddler's. Believe it or not, this will actually be my first project from my own handspun. I think I was reasonably consistent both with grist and twist but the proof will be in the knitting.
In celebration and because this roving has been calling from my stash since the Spring, I started spinning Lisa Souza's Joseph's Coat in merino. It's truly a pleasure to spin, I barely have to draft, I just hold the roving and tug back gently every now and then. I'll fill 2 bobbins and ply it letting the colours fall as they will, or as Lisa says - Serendipity Baby.
Some of the retreat participants were hoping that I would give up some of the Joseph's Coat, or some Wild Things in Merino/Silk as my gift-exchange prize. Hah! I was nice enough to tell them where they could get their own though.
Of course, having something wonderful to spin or knit has never stopped me, nor my travelling companions from shopping before and it was no different on this trip. We were all pleased to see Andrea from Aurelia Wool, Marie from Crofton, Sharon from Homespun Haven and Margaret from Celeigh Wool. This is what the inside of the Tracker looked like on the way home.
The road home. Who's joining me next year?
posted by Angela at 12:31 PM
7 Comments:
Ummm... I hope you don't mind that I set the first photo of your post to be my desktop background. It's so stunning!
[I won't be at snb tomorrow night; aargh! Will you be around next week?]
That looks like it was much fun! The yarn for the wool peddlars looks fantastic!! What a great red!
Me, me, me, me, me!!!!! Where do I sign up? And the yarn for the WP looks yummy! I finished plying my Joseph's Coat last night, alas, no photos yet.
Ooh, I wanna go! Now I just have to give up the lure of financial gain, down in Ell Lay in November. Your journey looks amazing and so I just may have to put my rubber arm up for next year. :o)
I love the red yarn, it'll make a toasty Wool Peddlers - kind of like a bowl of soup with a kick of cayenne.
Yes, I think a few of the books are available. Send me an off blog addy and I'll forward an Idaho email. Sara at saralamb dot com.
Nice pics! Where is Cache Creek? BC? We have a cache creek here in CA but it doesn't look like this!
angela, looks like a weekend of pure bliss :-)
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