And I came home with this:
It's Polwarth from London Wul. I know, I know. I've bought roving before and shoved it in a drawer. I sold my drop spindle to Moe ages ago. But as Heidi at London Wul said, I had "spinning envy". It's true. Darn it, it's true.
It all happened yesterday. JAK and I set out for Pacafiesta in Halifax. We were fueled up on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and lattes. As we pulled into the parking lot we discussed how excited we were:
"Steph, I'm really excited about this. I can't wait to see the alpacas!"
"Me too, Jak. So when the Jeep comes to a stop, don't be surprised if I jump out and run for the door."
We were not disappointed:
Alpacas are so cute. I had no idea how short they were. Nor how cute their knees are:
(We were surprised at the crowd, which was minimal. What the heck? Where was everyone? I hope it's busier today.)
We walked through the door and spotted both Meegie and Ms. Geek. (I won't post the photo I took of them together b/c they were completely "fibred-out" at that point and look exhausted). We found The Ninja celbrating the glory of angora:
Ahem. Perhaps we should leave her alone with the angora. (Mini mills in PEI)
JAK and I soon found the $5.00 bin of yarn:
Surprisingly we didn't buy anything there. But it didn't stop us from acting silly:
Have I mentioned that JAK and I are exactly 4 days apart in age? It's true. We're both 12.
The Ninja dragged me over to meet the lovely ladies of the Atlantic Handspinner's association. One lady in particular, I think her name was Joan. Joan sat me down and talked me through drop spindling. About 5 minutes later, this photos was taken:
Please note the crazed look in my eyes. (I'm very glad for the red eye feature of IPhoto.)
Henry had been in the Jeep, sulking about not getting his own latte. JAK and I went out to put some purchases in the back (ok, and eat some cookies) when he decided it was time to join the fun. We walked in the door and struck up a conversation with the nice lady who has over 35 Llamas. She runs a Therapy Llama program. Henry was flipping through her photo album and was thrilled to find a photo of Henry the Llama:
After running around the exhibition centre for a while, Henry was captured by these kindly Vikings:
Upon hearing how difficult he can be to live with, they happily gave Henry back to me.
Henry did lots of things he probably shouldn't have while he was running around the exhibition centre. I have some photos of him, but that'll have to wait for another post. (Mr. Happy needs the computer today.)
We had to visit the London Wul booth once more before leaving. Henry wanted to have this photo taken:
He said, and I quote: It was like having his photo taken with the Mona Lisa.
After JAK dropped me off, I tried out the spindle using the roving that had been shoved in the drawer:
My first handspun of any consequence. I think the stuff on the spindle is better than the stuff on the ball. There are a couple of "supercoiled" spots, but I'm happy with it and that's all that matters.
It's Polwarth from London Wul. I know, I know. I've bought roving before and shoved it in a drawer. I sold my drop spindle to Moe ages ago. But as Heidi at London Wul said, I had "spinning envy". It's true. Darn it, it's true.
It all happened yesterday. JAK and I set out for Pacafiesta in Halifax. We were fueled up on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and lattes. As we pulled into the parking lot we discussed how excited we were:
"Steph, I'm really excited about this. I can't wait to see the alpacas!"
"Me too, Jak. So when the Jeep comes to a stop, don't be surprised if I jump out and run for the door."
We were not disappointed:
Alpacas are so cute. I had no idea how short they were. Nor how cute their knees are:
(We were surprised at the crowd, which was minimal. What the heck? Where was everyone? I hope it's busier today.)
We walked through the door and spotted both Meegie and Ms. Geek. (I won't post the photo I took of them together b/c they were completely "fibred-out" at that point and look exhausted). We found The Ninja celbrating the glory of angora:
Ahem. Perhaps we should leave her alone with the angora. (Mini mills in PEI)
JAK and I soon found the $5.00 bin of yarn:
Surprisingly we didn't buy anything there. But it didn't stop us from acting silly:
Have I mentioned that JAK and I are exactly 4 days apart in age? It's true. We're both 12.
The Ninja dragged me over to meet the lovely ladies of the Atlantic Handspinner's association. One lady in particular, I think her name was Joan. Joan sat me down and talked me through drop spindling. About 5 minutes later, this photos was taken:
Please note the crazed look in my eyes. (I'm very glad for the red eye feature of IPhoto.)
Henry had been in the Jeep, sulking about not getting his own latte. JAK and I went out to put some purchases in the back (ok, and eat some cookies) when he decided it was time to join the fun. We walked in the door and struck up a conversation with the nice lady who has over 35 Llamas. She runs a Therapy Llama program. Henry was flipping through her photo album and was thrilled to find a photo of Henry the Llama:
After running around the exhibition centre for a while, Henry was captured by these kindly Vikings:
Upon hearing how difficult he can be to live with, they happily gave Henry back to me.
Henry did lots of things he probably shouldn't have while he was running around the exhibition centre. I have some photos of him, but that'll have to wait for another post. (Mr. Happy needs the computer today.)
We had to visit the London Wul booth once more before leaving. Henry wanted to have this photo taken:
He said, and I quote: It was like having his photo taken with the Mona Lisa.
After JAK dropped me off, I tried out the spindle using the roving that had been shoved in the drawer:
My first handspun of any consequence. I think the stuff on the spindle is better than the stuff on the ball. There are a couple of "supercoiled" spots, but I'm happy with it and that's all that matters.
You have been assimilated. Resistance is futile. Will you please email me your snail mail??
ReplyDeleteMwahahahahaha!
Sadly, it was no busier today than yesterday. Despite that, I think we spotted Moe camped outside the doors to "beat the hordes". Unlike Moe, we had an excuse for being that early --for small children, the earlier you go, the better they are for longer!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, I love the way some of them were clipped like poodles around their legs!
Yes, Alison is right. We were the first ones there. (so embarassed)
ReplyDeleteSpinning! It looks awesome! Do you want to use my niddy noddy?
There will be much spinning talk at KOL I suspect.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I still stand by my claims that those 3 white-ish alpacas look an awful lot like bored teens at the mall.
I just got bavk, it's still pretty quite. And I too have been bitten by the spinning bug. Although I had the forsight (or stupidity) to bring only enough to get in so I walked away emptyhanded.
ReplyDeleteDammitt!
Steph, if Hockey Mom sends you some documents and asks you to sign, turn them over to the RCMP immediately. She tried that trick with me; the "new will" showed up in the mailbox and, about a week later, the mail bomb. She's after your roving! My eyebrows still haven't fully grown back.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're feeling better; I hope you didn't give those germs to Henry, otherwise they're spread far and wide now.
I think I saw you and JAK leaving - my mom and I were just arriving. I also stopped by London-Wul and bought a couple of bags of roving. Too beautiful to leave it there.
ReplyDeleteYour spun wool looks gorgeous. Welcome to the addictive world of spinning. And the ladies at the Atlantic Spinners and Handweaver's Guild are amazing - they patiently taught me to sort of use a single treadle wheel (I've got a double.)
I can't wait to see some more of your spinning!
I could swear I saw those alpacas (in the first picture)in a Flock of Seagulls video.
ReplyDeleteI too surrendered to the appeal of the drop spindle. Yours looks amazing. My first attempt...looks like a first attempt. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDelete