Yesterday I went to the Tour de Fleece kickoff party at my LYS Cross & Woods (formally known as Woool). A dozen or so spinners came together, including indie dyer Under Dutch Skies. Cross and Woods has recently started selling her lovely handdyed fibre, and during the party there was a 15% discount on those gorgeous braids!
I was severely tempted by her mixed fibre braids (Blend S, which consists of 50% superwash merino, 25% silk and 25% bamboo) – they are at the top of the display, and they are luxuriously soft! In the end I decided to buy a lilac, two silver, and one sky blue braid, but I had a hard time choosing. See that green one in the second row, on the left of the gap? Could hardly resist it. Or the petrol one in the third row, third from the left? Or the very beautiful orange tint in the middle or the third row? I decided to stay with my cool summer palette colours for practicality, but there are so many beautiful tints here that it’s almost impossible to choose!
There were about a dozen spinners there, and many of them brought their wheel. Some were spindle spinning, like me, mostly on Turkish spindles. I was the only one who was spinning supported, until one of the other spinners got inspired and started practicing on a supported spindle too.
Pauline made us feel very welcome. She provided some nice snacks and drinks. It felt great to get together with like-minded people.
There even was a spinning competition! We tried to spin as many metres as possible in one minute. The first round was the easiest, with some merino (I think) roving. I managed to win it, unexpectedly!
Then in the second round it became harder. We had to spin recycled prisoner clothes, with a very short staple lenght. Wow, that felt different! I even dropped my spindle on the floor, frantically trying to control the fibre! It was a complete surprise when apparently I won this round as well.
In the third and final round we had to spin some alpaca/silk, wearing plastic bags around our hands. I didn’t participate in that round, because it was plain impossible to spin my spindle like that (I tried). I watched instead (fun!) and it was especially hard for the spindle spinners. They did their best, though, and we had a great time!
It was also nice to meet Gloryfied again. It had been a long time since we last met and had some time to chat. We more than made up for it: we left the LYS around 4, but kept on chatting outside until we left to go home at 6! We were still standing there when Pauline came out to close the shop.
That was a great party!
When I came home, I found a package from Glasscapes with two spindles! A nice suprise. They are having a discount until July 17, and I decided to take advantage of the lower price. I got a lovely Glasspin with reflecting green shards and glitter, and another one with a bloom containing a drop. They are both lovely, although the one with the shards has a bit of a wobble (the first Glasspin I have that is not entirely stable).
All in all I have spun quite a bit yesterday afternoon. My first spindle is full! I’ve almost finished the first 100g Cobweb braid, 100 grams and a bit to go still.
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