More Bothwell
The Bothwell International Highland SpinIn is held over three days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the last weekend in February. The first day, there are opening speeches, dignitaries, and competitions.
Some of the competitions are held on site, and we watch teams of spinners and knitters, a shearer (a woman shearer, whose name I think was Elaine something-something, and who sheared a sheep live on stage with hand clippers in about 10 minutes!), thigh-spinning, felting and several other challenges.
The most notable and prestigious of the challenges is the International Longest-Thread competition. There were 128 entries from about 10 countries, with (sadly) the US well under-represented (ahem). There are categories for wheel spun and spindle spun, and with Abby's spindling influence in the US now, and her new book on spindle spinning coming out next Fall, I am betting we can encourage a few (thousand, several) spindle spinners to join in next round. No pressure.
The winners of the wheel spun challenge this year are all from the Netherlands, all from the same spinning group, and all were encouraged by a spinner in their group to enter. Jan Zanbelt spun 10 grams of wool to a length of over 1000 meters to place first. His compatriots Zita van de Meulen and Wim Kars placed second and third respectively.
Hand spindle winners were Flo Kinnear of Scotland, 1st, Sandra Johnson of Tasmania (yay!) 2nd, and Meg Crowther of England, 3rd.
Saturday and Sunday more of the public are present, and demonstrations, lectures, the buying of fiber, yarn and books, and general spinning among friends is the order of the day.
Di McPherson demonstrated natural dyeing all three days. Here she is unwrapping a cordata-dyed silk scarf:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
She lectured later in the day, with able assistance from Chanchal Foxsen:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
I demonstrated knotted pile for the entire three days:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
ending up with this small piece as a memento of my trip to Australia, and especially to Tasmania:
I also gave a small talk (most ably assisted and encouraged by Chanchal) on my work:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
I am sorry not to have gotten photos of Nikone Nanong from Laos, or actually any photos during the demonstrations and lectures, as you see these photos were taken by Chris Cowles, Di's partner. Nikone had a wonderful display of Laotian weaving and dyeing, and gave a lecture on handcraft revival in her country.
There were evening activities, dinners, a blessing of the fleece in one of the local churches, and, presented with aplomb and with much hilarity, skits:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
and even a wedding of Wool and Wheel:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
Puns abounded, and everyone let down their hair (or put on lots of hair!) for the evening's festivities.
More to come, next post, as the weekend was followed by a packed week of workshops and some wild weather, including *confused* winds.
Story at eleven.
Some of the competitions are held on site, and we watch teams of spinners and knitters, a shearer (a woman shearer, whose name I think was Elaine something-something, and who sheared a sheep live on stage with hand clippers in about 10 minutes!), thigh-spinning, felting and several other challenges.
The most notable and prestigious of the challenges is the International Longest-Thread competition. There were 128 entries from about 10 countries, with (sadly) the US well under-represented (ahem). There are categories for wheel spun and spindle spun, and with Abby's spindling influence in the US now, and her new book on spindle spinning coming out next Fall, I am betting we can encourage a few (thousand, several) spindle spinners to join in next round. No pressure.
The winners of the wheel spun challenge this year are all from the Netherlands, all from the same spinning group, and all were encouraged by a spinner in their group to enter. Jan Zanbelt spun 10 grams of wool to a length of over 1000 meters to place first. His compatriots Zita van de Meulen and Wim Kars placed second and third respectively.
Hand spindle winners were Flo Kinnear of Scotland, 1st, Sandra Johnson of Tasmania (yay!) 2nd, and Meg Crowther of England, 3rd.
Saturday and Sunday more of the public are present, and demonstrations, lectures, the buying of fiber, yarn and books, and general spinning among friends is the order of the day.
Di McPherson demonstrated natural dyeing all three days. Here she is unwrapping a cordata-dyed silk scarf:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
She lectured later in the day, with able assistance from Chanchal Foxsen:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
I demonstrated knotted pile for the entire three days:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
ending up with this small piece as a memento of my trip to Australia, and especially to Tasmania:
I also gave a small talk (most ably assisted and encouraged by Chanchal) on my work:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
I am sorry not to have gotten photos of Nikone Nanong from Laos, or actually any photos during the demonstrations and lectures, as you see these photos were taken by Chris Cowles, Di's partner. Nikone had a wonderful display of Laotian weaving and dyeing, and gave a lecture on handcraft revival in her country.
There were evening activities, dinners, a blessing of the fleece in one of the local churches, and, presented with aplomb and with much hilarity, skits:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
and even a wedding of Wool and Wheel:
(photo by Chris Cowles)
Puns abounded, and everyone let down their hair (or put on lots of hair!) for the evening's festivities.
More to come, next post, as the weekend was followed by a packed week of workshops and some wild weather, including *confused* winds.
Story at eleven.
posted by Sara at 1:36 PM
7 Comments:
Sounds like your having a fabulous time! Can't wait to hear about the "confused" winds ;-)
Hey, go Flo! (Former member of Bradford Guild)
Sounds wonderful all round.
Looks like such a fun time!
Love the piece you wove. So much motion!
Hmm. So, converting here, Zanbelt spun wool at 42k ypp. What breed? What tools? Was there a time limit?
Thank you for sharing your adventure. --syl
The SpinIn sounds like a fun time!
Confused winds? It must be thrilling to experience that. I imagine winds going in all directions, making one's hair fly everywhere. :)
Without knowing about Abby's influence, since last August, I have been spinning exclusively on drop spindles. I have noticed my spinning is much more even than it used to be. I just finished a lace shawl out of the silk I spun and Navajo-plied on the spindles. Immediately, I started spinning for 2 more. Not sure if you're on Ravelry. If you are and want to have a look at my shawl, my user name is rosane.
Take care, Sara. I read you all the time. You're such an inspiration.
Rosane.
What a wonderful time that sounds like, I can't wait to hear more!
Tag - you're it! See http://awindingthread.blogspot.com/
Hugs, oh blogging and weaving mentor and inspiration.
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