I attended my first ever spin-in yesterday in Garden Valley. It was held at the community center in Crouch, ID. Festivities began at 10am and ran until 3pm. The room was full of spinning wheels, some familiar and some not so familiar brands of wheel, spinners of every skill level and yarns of every preference. Then there were vendors of prepped, hand dyed roving, silk caps and hankies, dyed top, drop spindles, etc. etc. galore! I came away with lots of good memories (and a pound of merino/silk top in two colors). We set up our wheels in a big circle and everyone spun and chatted. This was all new to me but obviously some of these ladies (and gentlemen) were old friends.
The smiling ladies above are Nancy and Peggy. Nancy was the one who actually told me about this event and invited me. She and Peggy have been spinning for YEARS so they took me (newbie fledgling) under their wings and we had a blast. Peggy makes a great chicken salad by the way! :) Lunch was impromptu but people brought food and ate at the tables set up on the stage when they felt the need for snacks.
Half way through the event, we had a white elephant gift exchange.
It was a "dirty Santa" type of thing and I got the COOLEST fiber! Then it got stolen from me at the very last minute by Georgianna! But she tried to be really sweet about it when she stole it from me. Good thing I wasn't emotionally attached to it. I came away with a lot of great fiber I purchased myself including some pretty hand painted roving in "Mountain Meadow" colors that I'm going to ply with some cantaloupe colored silk. I've not spun silk before so it will be very interesting. The roving is Targhee wool so the micron count is lower than on Merino wool but still veeeeeeery soft and lovely! Here's the single I spun while at the Spin-In. It's from the "Mountain Meadow" roving. What looks pink in the picture is actually a nice cantaloupe color that will match the silk's color exactly! I had Rowenna with me yesterday because I was SUPPOSED to spin angora. Once I saw this roving my plans changed drastically. But Rowenna went with the flow and spun everything I put on her. I have to say that I love the sliding flyer hooks on the Majacraft wheels. It's so easy to get an even bobbin. I could never do this on my Ashford Traddy wheel.
Here's a very small sample of what was for sale yesterday. I could have spent a small fortune on fiber yesterday if it had been in my budget and I probably would have! I saw someone do a woolen long-draw up close and personal. I saw a Columbine wheel, a Magnus Drudik wheel (very lovely and very expensive wheel!) and I was surprised at how many Lendrums there were. I counted at least 7 of them in the room. One other spinner had a Majacraft Rose and there were a few Ashford Travelers as well. Lots of variety in both wheels and different types of fiber so it was good to be exposed to all of that.
I had so much fun that I'm already looking forward to next year's Spin-In and I can't wait to see what this coming summer and fall have to offer in the way of fiber fairs and spinning events!
Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks like so much fun! I have always wanted to do something like that but we don't have many spinning festivities where I live. It looks like you had a really good time!
ReplyDeleteThat did look like fun.We don`t have much of that sort of thing going on here either,I`d have to travel a ways.I am looking forward to The Mannings open house in the spring tho.They do have spinning there all day outside at the open house.
ReplyDeleteYour spinning is beautiful.phylliso