The SOAR Post

...'cuz I know you've been waiting for it.

On October 1, I travelled to Manchester NH to attend my second SOAR.  Last year, I went as a scholar.  This year, I was a mentor.  And I only have one word for the experience:  WOW.

SOAR was held in a city, in a convention-style hotel, for the first time ever...

...and it turned out to be a pretty good thing.  Not only was the hotel well-located, but it was well laid out, with spacious, well-lit rooms, and easy to navigate.  The only complaint I had was the coffee-like substance that they served.  And if that's the worst I have to cope with, I'm good.  (One of my students discovered a marvellous coffee shop just a few blocks away, and a brisk morning stroll took care of the caffeine crisis.  There was also a cupcake shop on this route.  WIN!)

Up and at 'em on Sunday to grab breakfast with a table full of fabulous fiberistas, followed by a wine/nibblies run and classroom set-up, and it was time for the welcomes and introductions.  The day went by in a blur.

Frankly, the week went by in a blur!

Monday through Wednesday, I taught Blending and Spinning for Superior Socks to a very enthusiastic class...

...seen here deep in discussion.

On Wednesday evening, the participants display their samples in the Workshop Showcase, where my group showed off their wee sample socks...

...and an alarming number of yarn samples.  I had no idea they were making so much yarn while I was jabbering on about twist and blending in the right amount of nylon!

That night, all of the mentors were gathered together, so I took advantage of their exhaustion to grab some photos to prove that I travelled into some pretty high-falutin' circles...

...a meeting of the minds with Stephenie Gaustad...

...a spinning guru sammich with Sara Lamb and Stephenie...

...cuddles with the highly cuddle-able and very wise Beth Smith...

...another sammich, this time featuring a zesty Deb Menz filling...

...playing coy with Jacey Boggs, and meeting any number of other amazing fibre folk.


I also had the very good fortune later that evening to meet up with Gord Lendrum (left) and Barry Schacht (right)...

...who were posing with Jacey Boggs at this particular moment.

I also got to meet Schacht Spindle Co.'s Production Manager Cindy Lair, with whom I did not pose for a picture, much to my disappointment.  She is a lovely lady, and knows sooo much about spinning wheels that it's a little frightening.  I want to be like her when I grow up!

The next day was a day off for me, so I slept in a bit, then mosied down to the Marketplace that opened that morning.  I was given a spinning lesson in the Ashford booth, so now I finally know how to spin properly...

...(yes, that is Richard Ashford himself!)

I got in line for a fabulous Golding spindle that I HAD to have, then dashed off to join a small group who were headed off to the Millyard Museum in the former Amoskeag Mills site.

We had quite the adventure at the Museum.  Imagine four fibre fanatics in a museum dedicated to industrial revolution spinning and weaving equipment and the people who worked it.  Dianne and Sarah even got Jen, our guide and the museum's education officer, spinning cotton on a spindle...

Back to the market for the afternoon, where a wee bit of fibre was acquired (because I don't have enough at home!), a quick classroom rearrangement, dinner and we were off on the Retreat Sessions.  The Retreat Sessions, for the uninitiated, are half-day workshops.  Or rather, the same half-day workshop four times.  I saw 70 participants in 2 days.  I'm sure I said something that sounded smart at some point in those two days, but I really don't remember.  It was fast-paced and busy, and by Saturday evening, I was exhausted.  Happy, but exhausted.

I slept in on Sunday, so I missed saying goodbye to some people, but had the chance to hang out in the lobby waiting for my turn on the airport shuttle and see a lot of my new friends off.  And SOAR was over.  Just like that.

I took a couple of days to tour around the area, then headed homeward on a 2-day journey.  When I got here, did I rest?  No I did not.

But that's another story...

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.)

The Laziest Blog Entry in History

I was actually going to sit down and blog today, and may still do so later.  But for now, I'm going to let someone else blog for me:

http://mcmurraymusings.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-all-about-spinning-good-yarn.html

It's a profile of me from a non-spinner's perspective.

Who knew I was so awesome? 

Who's Who At The Zoo

Your erratically scheduled fibre arts blogs has been pre-empted so that we can bring you the following information recently learned during a visit to the Calgary Zoo, courtesy of several very young zoo patrons...

There are no caribou in Alberta.  These are reindeer.  And reindeer do not really fly, 'cuz they couldn't keep them in a zoo if they did.

Wild turkeys look like buzzards, but taste much better.

The more female lions a male lion has, the happier he is.  Because the females make all his food for him.

Gorillas are monkeys.

Lemurs are monkeys.

(Insert brother's name here) is also a monkey.

Eagles are NOT raptors.  Everyone knows raptors are dinosaurs.  That's okay, even zoos can make a mistake.

The elephant god of India is called Ganja.

Boy camels have two humps.  Girl camels have one hump.  That's how you tell them apart.

These are snow leopards.  They're kinda like cheetahs, but they live in the Arctic.

Peacocks are pretty, but they're mean.  Kinda like Aunt Kathy.

And, most importantly...

...T-Rexes are like wasps-they can't see you if you hold still.

No, the zoo isn't just for kids, but I'm pretty sure the kids are the most entertaining critters in any zoo!

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!

Ain't No Cure

...for the Summertime Blues.

No, I'm not gonna raise a fuss, I'm not gonna raise a holler.  I'm just immersed in a world of blues.  The colour, that is, not the emotion.

So much has gone on since my last post.  It's been another month of whirlwind travel, bracketed by various plagues and pestilences.  There has been garden upkeep, and the madness of Fibre Week planning for 2012.  There has been SOAR preparation, and the first of 4 local workshops.  There was a kidney stone (ouch!), and a knee injury (ouch again!), and a really nasty cold.  But in between the chaotic moments have appeared wee moments of spinning, knitting, and dyeing.  And it seems that the colour of choice is blue.

First, though, the travel.  I turned the big five-oh last month.  When my family asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told them that I wanted to be with them.  That's all.  So they put their heads together and came up with a plan to whisk me to Vancouver, where my two older children live, then take a family trip to Gibsons.  It was FABULOUS!

We spent the big day out on the ocean, kayaking around Gibsons and Keats Island...

...and I had my 4 favorite people in the world with me.  (The fourth is wielding the camera for this picture!)

We may have been a little silly...

...but it was just what I needed.

And now I'm 50, and I've got the Blues.

Blues like this one...

...handspun Blue-faced Leicester/silk blend, mordanted with copper and dyed in logwood.  Logwood usually gives purples, and you can certainly see the purple cast in the yarn, but the copper sulphate mordant darkens it to a stunning navy blue.  (The mordant also serves to make the notoriously unstable logwood a little more colourfast.)

I'm currently transforming this yarn into Sivia Harding's Harmonia's Rings Sweater...

...in what passes for free time around here these days.

The blue theme continues onto the spinning wheel...

...with this lovely little yarn.  The fibre is a batt that I purchased from Lynne Anderson of West Coast Colors at Fibre Week, and the blend is 60% Merino, 20% yak, and 20% silk.  Yes, indeed, it IS as yummy as it sounds, and Lynne's batts are a wonder to spin.  (In fact, I relieved her of a few more while I was out on the Coast!)

Then there is a little novelty yarn that was inspired by Jacey's workshop...

I really love coils, and this fibre just called out to be coiled.  The blues lean toward aqua, but, hey, blue is blue.

Then, there is this today's little distraction...

...a lovely little batt from Atomic Blue.  (Blue by Blue!)

So there you have it.  From sitting on blue seas...

...to sitting under blue skies...

...spinning and knitting with blue fibre, I clearly have a case of the Summertime Blues.

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...