Olds Fibre Week: Day 1

Yesterday was my first whole day at Fibre Week (Thursday was spent finalizing the packing and driving from home to here, which, in the motorhome, takes quite awhile).

I took a class on Designing Your Own Lace Patterns from Donna Druchunas, which was really good. Donna is so friendly and relaxed and encouraging – all qualities I especially admire in a fibre teacher – and we played with charting and swatching and coming up with ways to translate ideas and inspiration into patterns on paper and then on the needles.

In the evening the Merchant Mall opened, and we had to do some shopping for a friend who is 9 months pregnant and unable to be here … oh, how awful to have to find presents for someone else at the fibre market! :) We did locate a beautiful supported spindle, and I spent quite a long time standing at that particular table watching Caroline Sommerfeld work her magic with the spindles and the spindlers. Caroline is the Ollivander of supported spindles – she can look at your hands, watch you spin once or twice, and know which spindles will be happy in your hands and which will resist you. It’s quite amazing, actually, how different a spindle in the same design but a different wood will feel. My hands like cherry wood, but not oak. I hope to learn some more from Caroline today … like how to spin silk supported.

I also met up with a fellow Raveller who was interested in a trade, and swapped a bag of Icelandic fleece for a Tabacheck Russian spindle out of bubinga wood. It’s a little heavier, but comfortable to use and absolutely beautiful. She was all excited to have a bag of fleece, and I was excited to have a new spindle, always the sign of a good swap.

Later in the evening another friend managed to drop a very sharp supported spindle onto her sandalled foot and impale herself. We made a hasty exit and provided first aid and tea at the motorhome (no serious damage done, though even a quickly applied ice pack didn’t stop the bruising) and sat at the table spinning and knitting and drinking tea until bedtime.

Today I have no classes but will be working at the registration/information desk for the morning, then I have some interesting things planned for the afternoon and there are evening events tonight. I’ll update more tomorrow!