Fibre Week and Beyond

Another Fibre Week at Olds College has come and gone, and once again, I have lived to tell the tale.

(For those of you who do not know about Fibre Week, a brief primer: Fibre Week is an annual celebration of all things fibre hosted by Olds College in Olds, Alberta, Canada. The centerpiece of the week is the Master Spinner/Master Weaver programming offered by the college, but the week also includes a short workshop program, a vendors' marketplace, fleeces shows and sales, and a variety of social events.)

I wear two hats at this event: Master Spinner instructor and Workshop Coordinator, so even before I got sick, Fibre Week was exhausting. Knowing this and taking my doctor's gloom and doom as a warning, I worked very hard for the week leading in to Fibre Week to organize myself so that I could conserve energy and reduce pain and impairment as much as possible.

And it worked.

I'm not going to say nothing hurt or that I didn't come home absolutely exhausted, but I did manage to drive there, shop, teach and visit, then drive home with stops to pick up furniture on the way. Much fibre was purchased. Many friends were hugged. I got to see the fashion show, which included this SAORI piece I made...

...and I had the privilege of teaching this really remarkable group of women...

The beds were hard and the food was abysmal, and there were details that we as organizers had overlooked that led to brief moments of stress, but the people and the fibre more than made up for the shortcomings. As they always do. This is why I go back, year after year.

This Fibre Week was a little different, though. Along with all the usual stress and chaos, I received a phone call on the Tuesday night that has, very literally, changed my life. My husband had been laid off from Keyano College, where he had worked for nearly 24 years, due to budget cuts and organizational changes.

I was pretty shaken by the news. I lost all interest in fibre and spinning and teaching at that moment, and just needs to be home with the partner I have shared my life with for the past 33 years. But then, after a good cry, a shot of Jack Daniels (okay, a double...or two), and a pep talk from a good friend, I decided not to pack my bags and rush home. Dealing with that crisis could wait-my husband, though in shock, was fine and we are not suddenly destitute, thanks to wise investments and a generous severance package. And I had a great class to finish teaching. There was fibre to touch and twist. I stayed and finished up my class, then had a meeting to start the planning for next year in motion.

The time and space between me and the news was probably a good thing. I did not get hysterical (after the initial panic, anyway) and, let me tell you, it sure took my mind off my disease! I left Olds feeling relaxed, with that exhausted but happy post-Fibre Week glow.

I've been home a week now. I'm busy getting ready for my next teaching trip, which is just 10 days away. And my husband and I have realized something. Something big. We can go anywhere, do anything. We are not so financially strapped that we need to find work tomorrow or starve. Our kids are grown and educated and responsible for themselves. We owe next to nothing on the tiny home we have loved for 20 plus years and only have 3 more car payments left. We are young enough to do almost anything, from farming to urban life to living on a boat for a few years.

We are free.

And the dreaming begins. 

So tell me. What would you do if you had the freedom to choose any life you wanted?

...because we're making a list!

Souvenirs of Sivia

Being the Fibre Arts Program Coordinator for Fibre Week is a big job, fraught with perils.  There are all of those people with pointy sticks waiting out there for next year's schedule already, and I'm typing and arranging as fast as I can.

But right now, I'm going to take a moment to remember Fibre Week 2011.  Or rather, the insidious influence of one of the guest instructors.

Meet Sivia Harding.

Oh, she looks sweet and harmless. (Well, actually she is sweet.  Very sweet.  And kind.  But sneaky.)

But she does little things like handing unsuspecting souls a little ball of silk yarn strung with beads, then whispers a few simple steps in their ear.  Simple, addictive steps. Before you know it, you have this...

(This is the kind of person we are dealing with here:  She couldn't find the clasp she had intended to include with the kit in her bag, so she mailed me one when she got home!)

Then there is this...

...Harmonia's Rings Sweater.  It's really Sivia's Harmonia's Rings Cowl, all grown up.  Fun, and tremendously clever. 

It started something like this:  We were waiting in the lunch line, and I mentioned a yarn I was spinning at home that I had no specific plans for.  Sivia mentioned that she had a pattern.  I expressed interest in seeing said pattern.  Later that afternoon, she handed me a photocopy of the pattern.  I stuffed it in my bag and went on with the week.

Sivia went off toward home, and eventually I did the same.

I decided the yarn should be a deep midnight blue, so I mordanted it in some alum and copper, then dyed it with Logwood...

Yep, I thought, this would be a great yarn for that pattern.  Blue-faced Leicester and silk, about 12 wpi and 4 tpi.   I tried to describe the project to a friend and after lots of vague blather about knits and purls and much gesturing,  I went hunting for the Ravelry link.  Nothing.  The sweater that I had begun to have dreams about, apparently, did not really exist.  So I dug out the pattern.

That was when I noticed that it was a photocopy of a proof copy, complete with Sivia's corrections scribbled in.  (I must state here that, while she is a lovely human being, her handwriting is just short of tortuous to decipher.  Anyone who was at the FW Fashion Show already knows this.)

It wasn't until after I had scoured Western Canada for the perfect beads for the collar and cast on that the rest of the world got to see this pattern.  I was somewhat gobsmacked by the generosity and trust that Sivia had shown in so casually handing me her lovely work-in-progress.

And now it's done.  It's beautiful, the perfect synergy of yarn and pattern.  Gloriously rich and deceptively warm.  And a reminder of the generous spirit of a newfound friend.

(PS.  I know Sivia doesn't need me to shill for her, but I'm gonna say "go to her website and check out all of her awesome patterns" anyway!  Every one is a gem.)

Nose the the Grindstone

Once again, I am on the verge of becoming a Delinquent Blogger. 

It's not that there hasn't been anything to write about.  I have wanted to tell you about the contract that I signed with a small local gallery to sell and exhibit my work.  I have wanted to rave on about my current obsession with corespun yarns. I have wanted to share my musings on the end of summer and the smell of fall in the morning air.  I've intended to blog all of that, and more.

But it seems that every time I sit down at the computer, there is another email in the inbox.  The end of August brings another major event into my life: the deadline for Fibre Week proposals.  This means that the hard work begins today.

For those of you who haven't heard, I am the Fibre Arts Program Coordinator at Olds College's Fibre Week.  What this glorified title means is that I am the one who chooses the workshops that are part of the event each year.  This is a volunteer position, and, let me tell you, it's not as easy as it sounds.

Every year for the past four years, I have received a stack of workshop proposals from fibre artists and teachers in every discipline imaginable.  And every year, I have the unenviable task of sorting through these proposals, attempting to predict which ones will draw the most people to Fibre Week.  I have to look a year into the future and try and predict whether or not the same people who came for spinning workshops this year will take another spinning workshop, or if they have suddenly developed an interest in basketry.  I have to attempt to balance the travel costs with class sizes and potential enrollment as the price of gasoline bounces up and down like a kid on a trampoline.  I have to weigh marquee names and experience against the risks of nurturing a new instructor and giving up-and-coming artists a chance to share their knowledge.

All of this feels like an enourmous amount of pressure at times.  Inevitably, I cannot please everyone.  I will have to disappoint marvelous people who have submitted proposals that I just can't fit into the schedule.  I will have to disappoint a student who requested a specific instructor who is simply not available.  I will have to turn down a topic or an instructor that I find personally fascinating because of financial considerations.  And, somewhere along the line, someone will corner me and express their disappointment in no uncertain terms. 

On the other hand, I get to bring a wide variety of classes to our humble little event.  I get to be in contact with artists and teachers who are doing things I never even imagined possible, opening my imagination to new possibilities.  I get to hear from aspiring spinners, weavers, knitters, feltmakers, dyers, shepherds, and doll makers about what they are interested in.  Strangers email me with their dreams and their passions every day.

There is so much possibility in the world of the fibre arts, and I see it all.  I wish I could make each and every possibility a reality, but, sadly, we only have so much space and time.  And, of course, there is also the unpleasant matter of money. 

But that possibility is still out there.  There is hope and inspiration to be found in each and every email that pops up in my inbox at this time of year.  I do this job, not for the big money and the glory, but because I want to share that hope and inspiration with everyone who comes to Fibre Week, or dreams of coming to Fibre Week.  I hope that, in spite of the little disappointments, that hope and inspiration is what comes through in the final schedule that I will build for next year.

And now it's time to roll up my sleeves and get to work!

WHOOSH!

That was the sound of the last month flying by!

Holy cats!  Have I been busy!  Doing awesome things.  Here is a highlight package:

I went to a workshop with Jacey Boggs...

...shown here splitting top.  Yes, you heard me.  Splitting top.  We made yarns that should seem wrong to a technical spinner, but were actually really right.

You see, it turns out that under that wacky "art yarn" surface lurks a highly technical spinner, with a fascination with how things work and why.  I kinda had to bite my tongue a couple of times to keep from finishing her sentences for her, because her philosophies and mine are almost identical.  (She also dislikes the label "art yarn".  With good reason.  That phrase has been applied to a lot of bad spinning.  Bad spinning is not art, it is bad spinning.  True art yarn is not bad spinning, but Jacey calls her yarns "textured yarns", which works for me.)

Plus we made funky yarns.

Oh, and Jacey, if you see this, I DID add enough twist to the core for my art batt corespun...

...lovely balanced corespun.  I think I have also developed a new love for those crazy batts that have always seemed so pointless.  (The ones we used in the workshop were from Atomic Blue, and they were amazing!  I will be spinning some more of her batts.)

When the workshop was over, I was wending my way homeward when I was kidnapped and taken to a Pirate Island...

...that I really didn't want to leave.

Actually, Liz...

...and Mark were very gracious hosts, who plied me with steaks and wine, then put me to bed in "The Hilton", a guest house on family property on Protection Island just off of Nanaimo.  I was treated like a queen, and I really didn't want to leave.

But leave I did.  I headed back to Vancouver and spent another couple of days wandering the beaches and hanging out with my fabulous kiddos.  Then home.  For 5 whole days.

Back on the road, this time to Fibre Week at Olds College.  My Alma Mater and one of the highlights of every year.

This year, I volunteered to step in to run the Kids Camp as well as teaching the Master Spinner Program.  It seemed like a good idea at the time...

...and it turned out to be as exhausting as it sounds.  But fun.  I managed to keep 6 kids, ranging in age from 7-12,  relatively busy--look at everything we did in 2 days!

Then I tidied the classroom and taught Level 3 of the Master Spinners Program.  I had a fabulous class.  Again.  (Really, I have never had a Master Spinner class who were not fabulous.  Seriously.  Master Spinner types are just fabulous.  That's all there is to it.)

We did all those Level 3 things that we do.  There was tpi, cotton, and nature dyeing...

...with spectacular results!

There was the dreaded making of mawatas from silk cocoons, complete with the icky little critters inside...

And much fantastic spinning going on...

The best part of Fibre Week for me always happens outside of the classroom.  The fashion show, the vendors, the people.  There is always so much going on, and the opportunity to make new friends, and touch base with long-standing friends (notice I did not use the word "old" about my friends!).  I had the great pleasure of getting to know the remarkable Sivia Harding, along with getting reacquainted with Patsy Zawistoski and Joan Ruane.  I got to hang with friends like Rosemary Harris, Marg Sjostrom,  and Jean Curry, all of whom are now my fellow instructors. (Jean teaches for the Master Weaver Program, but we like her anyway.  *winky face*) I shared a glass of wine with former students who are all preparing to face Level 6 next year and become Masters themselves.

Then, bang!  It was over.  I drove home.  I slept for the better part of two days.  Then I just had to spin.  So I spun, and spun, and spun.  And today, I dye. 

I have a few more days of relative peace and quiet, which I will spend... you guessed it:  spinning.  You see, I have this batt of Merino/yak/silk that followed me home from Fibre Week.  And the sun is shining.

The patio calls...

To Olds and Back Again

Yes, I know Fibre Week ended over a week ago.  But you should know by now that you are dealing with a delinquent blogger.  And a lot is going on, besides the making of string.

Like my new website http://www.michelleboydspins.com/.  Who knew writing lines and lines of code and learning FTP protocols would take so much time.  But there you have it.  Good-bye, June.  Go ahead and check it out, if you haven't already.

And then there is the garden.  This time of year brings out the horticulturalist in me.  I plant pretty flowers, and though I don't specifically grow a dyer's garden, I do harvest a lot of nifty colors all summer long.  And veggies.  My childhood was filled with fresh garden veggies all summer long.  I had decided to turn the wee plot in my back yard into a veggie garden with peas, onions, beets, beans, corn and carrots all carefully lined up in pretty rows.  My cats, however, had different ideas, and now I spend a lot of time discovering new plants where other plants should have been.  And weeding.

And then, of course, there was Fibre Week.  Every year, I enjoy this event more and more.  And this year topped them all.  Not only was there fabulous enrollment in the workshop program (which makes me, as the coordinator, look pretty good!), but a record number of entries in the fleece shows, enormous community support, and fabulous weather.  Who could ask for anything more?  (Okay, edible food in the cafeteria would be nice...)

My favorite thing about Fibre Week, however, is the people.  Some of my very best friends in the world are people that I have met at Fibre Week.  And I keep meeting more and more wonderful people and adding to that list of friends.  People who play with fibre are the very best kind of people.  They are kind and generous and adventurous and hilarious.  They are smart and loyal and just seem to be happier than the rest of humanity. 

We gathered for classes...

...like this one with Sharon Costello.  Look a them working away!
We gathered for speakers and for the fashion show...

...hosted by yours truly, which is why there are no photos of the awesome garments we saw!

We gathered for potluck dinner...

We welcomed new spinners...

And new-to-fibre-arts-in-general folk...

I managed to find myself room mates with three of the most remarkable fibre folk I have yet to meet:  Joan Ruane, Sharon Costello, and Cat Bordhi.  Talk about a nexus of fibre brilliance.  All three of these women are remarkable human beings and very gifted in their fields, and I got to sit in and converse with them each evening.  Sheer bliss!

Then, I got to meet the Master Spinner Level 3 Class of 2010.  I could not have had a better group if I had gone out and handpicked from the entire spinning population.  Smart, funny, and fearless, these nine women soaked up all that I had to give and came back for more each day.  And one of them actually said that she loved tpi and would never spin without it again!  My work here is done...

...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Okay, there was a little bit of stash enhancement done, too.  Seriously, where else are you going to find cashmere,  and cashmere blended with alpaca, and quiviut blended with bison, merino, and silk?  Oh, and a wee bit of handpainted merino yarn from Ellie at Rabbitworks Fibre Studio.   And a little handpainted silk.  And that Viking Santa spindle that I picked up at the Silent Auction.  And the Dukhobor flax tools.  And...you get the picture...

Yep, that's worth a thousand words.  And several hundred dollars.  It's a darn good thing they pay me to go to Fibre Week, but, apparently, most of that money gets left there!

So, all in all, I had a wonderful time, came home broke and brain-dead, then turned around and went back to Edmonton for medical appointments.  This weekend is finally a chance to try and recover.

And make some string.

Goodness knows, there's some fibre around!

P.S  I am scheduled to teach a class in spinning flax out at Gibson's Landing, but it is in danger of cancellation due to low enrollment.  If you will be in the vicinity of the Sunshine Coast around August 21 and want to find out how fun and friendly flax can be, go to http://www.gibsonslandingfibrearts.com and register a.s.a.p.!