Despite having no money to
spend in the vendor hall at SOAR, I did return home with many new
items. All gifts. All from gracious and generous folks.
Upon arriving, we all got
“welcome bags” which included samples of fibers, coupons, and so forth. And a beautiful bag handwoven from alpaca
fiber from Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco. Lovely!
Many attendees used their
bag throughout the week. I would have if I hadn’t just gotten a beautiful new
bag from my friend Becky McD. I’d asked
her to sew me a bag using some Dalmatian fabric (see an earlier blog post about the fabrics involved). She
finished the bag the day before I left for SOAR. I was so very pleased with the result, and I
was very pleased to debut it at SOAR.
Another Interweave gift was
this terrific mug. I’ve had many a cup
of tea from it since. I do like its
shape and size.
A number of the participants
in my workshops surprised me with gifts.
MarySue French quickly picked up a few bits of information about me and incorporated them into
a sweet little Christmas tree ornament.
On day 1 of my Spin-Knit Nexus workshop, we spent some time spinning
wool from two of my favorite sheep: Lucy
and Lonnie. We also spent time talking
about slip stitches in knitting, one of my central knitting passions. And, of course, I managed to make it known
that I adore my dog, Toby, a Dalmatian.
The following day, MarySue gave me this ornament in the shape of a bag,
spun from Lucy and Lonnie, with a cabled, Dalmatian-y strap, and showing a bit
of the woven stitch (one of my favorite slip stitches) at its base. She got my number alright!
Deb Behm sat to my left during that workshop. At
the end of the 3rd day, she shared with me a booklet that she’d
written. In it she presents her thoughts
on the use of spinning as meditation. It
is an intriguing treatise on what is and what isn’t meditation. I share many of her notions of mindfulness,
practice, and focus with regard to spinning.
It has been a delight to read, as is her blog.
One of the exercises that I
have participants do for the Spin-Knit Nexus workshop is to try to spin a yarn
that will match one that already exists. Part of the idea is to examine the effects of
spinning-then-dyeing versus dyeing-then-spinning. One of the participants then knitted a wine
bottle cozy from these “before and after” yarns. I think it was Nancy
Terri Guerette took the
Mechanics of Your Wheel workshop on the last day of SOAR. She gave me some beaded stitch markers that
she’d made. I think I will use them as
embellishments on a hat.
On SOAR’s last evening, Jane
Wadsworth, who had been in the Spin-Knit Nexus workshop, and her husband
treated me to wine before dinner and excellent conversation during dinner. It was a perfect way to relax at the end of
six days of teaching.
Then, my roommate, Joan Ruane gave me a copy of her DVD, “Cotton Spinning Made Easy”. This may be just the inspiration I need to
attack the several pounds of cotton that are “maturing” in my fiber stash.
All these gifts tell me that
I am one lucky so-and-so. Fiber people
share. Fiber people give. Fiber people are good people. I am truly thankful to all for the things and
stories and ideas that folks shared with me at SOAR. Really.
Thank you!
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