Spinning Retreat Project Pantheon

I have been trying to catch up on blog topics and this is one that I missed, so I am covering it today!  I went to the Maritime Spinners' Retreat in October and enjoyed a wonderful weekend of spinning and friendship with spinners from Canada and the US.  One of the options when signing up for the retreat was buying 4 oz of a specially dyed retreat fibre that we would all work with to create a project.  We were required to spin the fibre (using whatever method we liked) and could combine it with up to 4 oz of another fibre (whether in the spinning process or the project-making process).  Everybody was supposed to make a final project with their spun fibre.  60 lots of fibre were sent out and 39 projects were submitted, including mine.

It was absolutely amazing to see the breadth of project ideas and spinning styles across the 39 participants.  I think the fibre enthusiasts who read my blog will enjoy viewing some of the different projects that were presented.  I don't have a picture of the fibre we all started with, but the felted scarf below was made form the fibre and was one of the prizes, along with the book.  From looking at the scarf, you can see the colours of the original fibre we all had to work with.  The locks on the fringe of the scarf were not part of the original fibre, nor the white spots on the scarf.

This picture shows some of the range of projects.  My woven coil-spun scarf is in the lower right of the picture.  The hat is a colourwork project that added white yarn as part of the additional fibre.

This is a cleverly constructed hat that made a wonderful use of the colours in the fibre and great use of i-cord as well.

The basket-work pillow cover is beautiful, as is the woven scarf next to it.

There were many weaving projects - more than might be expected.  This beautiful scarf was one of the winning projects.

Most of us did a little "write-up" about our project to accompany it.

 I absolutely adored this scarf - it was one of my favourite projects.

Two more beautiful woven scarves showing the amazing diversity of projects despite the same starting material.

This project is the one I voted for.  We all had to vote for our favourite.  I love houndstooth weaving, and this project really stood out to me in the way it showcased the fibre colours in a simple, but very effective way.

There were some whimsical projects.

This purse was another winner!  Such creative thinking!

There were some beautiful shawls.  This one won a prize, and deservedly so!

A beautiful woven shawl next to a lovely knitted stole.

A knitted shawl with a beaded edge.

More beautiful shawl knitting!

This shawl was from someone new to spinning!  Wow!

There were hats and mittens as well!

The entries were rounded out by an assortment of scarves and cowls.

This one has an interesting shape.

One of the few crocheted entries.

This cowl was made by someone who carefully separated the colours and made a cowl with a graduated colour scheme.

This gorgeous cowl was made by a friend of mine who took the bold step of combining her fibre with a rainbow fibre to create a luxurious woolen-spun yarn.

This entry combines the fibre with sparkle, and then into a project with a sparkly purple fibre.  Wow!

Beautifully coordinated sets featuring lovely buttons!

It was really wonderful to look at each project, the spinning styles, the project ideas, the fibres that were used in combination with our provided fibre, and the tremendous show of diversity and skill from all the participants.

Friday's Hunt v 2.17

Almost didn't make it under the time limit this week.  Again, it's been a busy week and I was away this past weekend at a yarn spinning retreat.  I just got home, and here's my Friday's Hunt post, to keep myself going on the meme hosted by Eden Hills!  The three prompts for this week are "Starts with Q," "Week's Favourite" and "Fall or Spring."

Starts with Q
As I mentioned, I was at the Maritime Spinners' Retreat this weekend, and I had a great time connecting with fellow spinners and knitters.  We were able to participate in a fibre challenge by spinning 4 oz of merino fibre any way we wanted, and then creating a project with the yarn we had spun.  I needed to make something QUICK because I received my fibre quite late, and then had very little time to get it finished.  Spinning coiled yarn is fairly quick, but it also makes a short amount of yardage due to the structure of the yarn.  Short yardage meant a smaller project, and thus a quicker project!  I decided to use my rigid heddle loom to weave the coiled yarn into a short runner or even a neck scarf, just to emphasize the nature of the coiled yarn.  So, this was my quick project.  I'm hoping to do a blog post soon showing all the other projects made with the same fibre.

I like the way it turned out - it makes me think of ocean waves or ripples in a pond.  I might use the woven fabric to make something else eventually, when I have more time.

Week's Favourite
While in PEI for the retreat, I visited McAusland's Woollen Mill, where they make yarn as well as a lovely blankets.  The mill was built in 1868.  It was originally a lumber mill and then became a wool mill.  One of my favourite pictures is this shot showing bobbins of maroon coloured 3-ply yarn which are waiting to be skeined.  I love the contrast of the maroon and the steel and the wood of the empty bobbin.

Here's a bonus shot of the skeining machine where those bobbins are headed next!

Fall
Since I'm in the northern hemisphere, it's definitely fall for me!  Here's a picture of a young maple on our slope in the front of the house.  I do love the fall colours!  I had hoped to take some nice fall pictures at the retreat but it rained buckets all weekend - not very conducive to pictures outside.