I was holding a garage sale that day as well, and it was very cold and windy. Not a good day to be standing out on the street trying to push some yarn!!
By noon, I made my way to the venue, carrying my umbrella because it threatened rain. I finally found the place (they sure hid it well this year) and tried to find the display and the vendors. I ran into an old friend I haven't seen for a long time, so we had to catch up on what we've done for the last few years. And then there was another friend that I hadn't seen for awhile. I've been out of the weaving community for some time, so I have lost touch with many of these ladies.
The public display was rather disappointing. There were very few entries, the prizes were not very obvious -- they used tall wine glasses with fragments of woven material to signify the placement of a prize, but I had no idea which was first or second. There were many entries by the same person, and the others were the usual people who always enter these kind of shows.
The vendors were spread over four rooms. Which meant I had to stop into each one to get a general feel of what was available, and then spend time to find that exact thing I wanted. The first thing I noticed was that I could not find a single spindle in the whole place! In fact, one of the vendors actually asked if I had mine with me, since she wanted to try out some fibre. I was greatly disappointed -- it's not often that I am willing to spend money, and here no one wanted any of it!!
I did find some nice fibre. Okay, I found a lot of really nice fibre! So then I went around touching (we always have to touch) trying to decide which I wanted the most, and the second most. Not easy! And there was so much to choose from: merino, alpaca, bison, silk, angora... and blends of any of these as well! What's a poor person to do?!? It's been quite some time since I bought any fibre, I think I lost any skill I had in that area. I have been spinning up some wool that was sent to me, and also finding bags of nice fibre I got several conferences ago. Now I needed to replenish my stash!
I did end up getting some really great roving, and will be spinning that shortly. I spent all the money I took with me, and so had to leave. I also told myself that when this shopping bag is full, I'm done. But some nice merchant offered to get me a bigger bag!
But I just wanted to show you this. I agonized over this for so long, trying to visualize how I would spin it, and what would I make of it. She had two very similar colourways... of course I liked parts of both. I started spinning this as soon as I got home.. well, to see how it works, naturally, and maybe I would go back the next day and get more if I liked this batch.
Of course, it's so difficult to get the right lighting to show you the exact colours. This is the best I could do.I'm spinning it quite fine... well, what else is new. That is what it wanted to be! honest! I tried hard to convince it to be a little softer and thicker... but it had other ideas. I am trying to keep the colours separated, but because of how the roving was dyed, I'm not being too successful there. I still haven't decided how to ply this. I had thought of plying it with itself, but I only got 227 gm and that is not enough to make anything substantial. I may want to ply it with one of the main colours in the roving... if I can find some. I still haven't decided which colour yet. I just may have to do that dreaded "s*****", but I didn't say that! I'm nearly finished spinning the whole batch... so I need to decide quickly.
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