Spa Knit and Spin 2007

We spent last weekend in Portland, Maine, at the New England Textile Artists' Fifth Annual Spa Knit and Spin. We've been home for a couple of days now and while I was working, I've been trying to figure out exactly what was my favorite part of this fantastic mini-vacation.



Was it the knitters, spinners, crocheters, needleworkers, felters, and fiber artists of all kinds filling every nook and cranny of the Doubletree Inn for 2-3 days? Was it the informality that encouraged beginners to folks with advanced skills to mingle and share and just have a good time together, exploring their chosen fiber art and perhaps dabbling in some new ones? Was it that two strangers enthusiastically volunteered to untangle Jesse's ball of yarn so he could continue on his first knitting project, or the way the male spinners (Scott, Bart, Doug, Lars, and eventually Jesse) bonded as a jovial group within a group? Or the way somebody could plop down at any time to ask all about your current project or to get some help with a skill, and you could do the same with anybody else there, so everybody had something to offer and everybody had something to learn?



Maybe it was the vendors. No doubt about it: this was was a top notch group of vendors assembled for the weekend. Our trunk was overflowing with spinning fibers and yarn. Leah was given the gift of a beautiful shawl clasp from Leslie Wind...just because. We won a Friendz Blendz Hexi-Hat kit from Friends' Folly Farm and a most spectacular bag of merino for spinning from Sereknity. Leah says it looks like strawberries and peaches. I think it looks like a bouquet of deep red roses with pale peach accents. Our friends won goodies too, including a pound of fiber. Definite highlights included chatting with Jackie Fee, who wrote The Sweater Workshop, and her equally pleasant daughter, who sought Leah's opinion on spinning wheels for kids; Scott going nuts at the the Grafton Fibers booth (as expected); and pawing more handpainted rovings at Friends' Folly Farm (where he just about wiped them out of one colorway so they threw in the remaining few ounces and the sample skein as well). Or buying a traditional hooked rug kit from J. Conner Hooked Rugs and having Janet then spend over an hour teaching Emma and Leah how it's done. Or the folks from Circles, who were enthusiastic enough about the stitch markers we were giving away (over 50 of them!) that they asked Scott to make more to sell at their knitting salon in Jamaica Plain.




Yeah, I liked all of that, but more too. There was the live music and the vibrant storytelling. There was the swimming and the spa services and the fun meals. There were the free shuttles to area yarn stores and brochures for upcoming events and area guilds. There was charity knitting and fundraising. There was a fashion show, in which Leah modeled the hat, poncho, and slippers she knit, enjoying a strut down the runway with Emma, who was also wearing her own handknit beret, as well as a poncho by her aunt and slippers by her mom. And then there was the free cake to go with the cider that Jesse enjoyed throughout the weekend.



But above all, there was laughter and learning, history and handcrafts, community and camaraderie. It was the kind of weekend where the whole was waayyyy greater than the sum of the parts.

(You see those spinnerguys up there? They had so much fun spinning together that they've decided they need to learn to knit so they'll have a reason to spin more yarn. And Jesse's just about ready to ply the bobbins he's been spinning lately too, but there will be a little delay because he's also working on creating an electric spinning wheel made out of K'nex. :-)

progress

Pic from my mom, budding lace knitter,
providing blog fodder from Florida,
where she's knitting Juno Regina
and even fixing her own mistakes!

Leah, meanwhile, is loving loving LOVING Patterns of Fashion, from which she is learning to draft her own patterns for historic clothing. This book was a gift from my sister for xmas and received with a squeal. This is a work-in-progress, with edges unfinished, fancy cuffs still to come, and only the underskirt of her hoop skirt, which will eventually have petticoats and a navy blue or burgundy overskirt. The top looked kind of funky at first -- neat-o construction but we were not quite sure about the execution. Then she put on that hoop skirt and the hanging fabric sections at the bottom flared out so beautifully over it and we all went, "Oh! Now I get it!" We have so much to learn.

There's an expectation of underlying knowledge that Leah might not really have, but she's figuring it out as she goes, experimenting with supplies that we have on hand (the fabric above is reincarnated from the bridesmaid dress I wore in my sister's wedding while seven months pregnant with Jesse). I have a feeling we'll someday look back on these initial efforts and smile like I do when I think of my first Hardanger embroidery, the linen threads of which were cut with an Exacto knife because I wasn't about to invest in super sharp teeny tiny pointed scissors for something I was just dabbling in. I can only hope that Leah's first experiments with sewing period clothing bloom into a full-on passion for it, similar to my Hardanger obsession that lasted many years (and would probably still continue today if I put down the pointy sticks and picked up a threaded needle).

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I just noticed that the seamstress above is wearing knitting needle earrings that she made, a cable needle necklace given to her by our friend Leslie, clothing that she's sewing by hand, and likely handknit socks. Living and loving the handmade life.

dabbling

In between cooling off in assorted bodies of water and enjoying free movies in overly-chilled theaters, there continues to be a steady stream of stuff being made around here.




Top L: Dancing Goddess, wet felted on muslin base, inspired by this Spirit Goddess Window Decal
Top R: Vibrobot, a totally goofy and fun little project from Make magazine
Bottom L: Irish Hiking Scarf knit for charity by Leah
Bottom R: a nuno felted silk, merino, and firestar bag in progress, with its intended glass button closure

Best of all, there's been plenty of reading, locally grown foods eaten outdoors, relaxing outside in the evenings, and classic summertime fun to keep us cool, comfortable, and happy.

split personality

A couple of people have asked what projects Leah's working on lately. Mostly she's been sewing, some by hand and some by machine. She's been dabbling in a bunch of little things that have given her good practice and plenty of room to explore, but hasn't really focused on anything in particular. Last week, though, she scored her first stitch-for-pay ($2!) job and she is oh so proud. Here she is with the pair of shorts she hemmed for our neighbor. Coincidentally, she's wearing the dress that was made as a gift for her by the owner of this darling, tiny coffee and ice cream shop, who we met in Alaska last summer. This dress is actually what spurred on the Goob's interest in sewing.

The title of this blog entry refers to the weekend's split personality, partially spent in VT and partially in CT. We did this shucking and jiving to minimize exposure to water from the sky and maximize exposure to water in natural pools. There was knitting (and fishing) on the shore of Lake Champlain while Jesse was diving...
and more knitting on (and fishing from) the boulders at Cotton Hollow while the kids sat in waterfalls, climbed rocks with friends, and explored our favorite natural playground. Fresh trout for campfire dinner...mmm. I'm about 15" up the back of Bella and Leah is now nuts about knitting mittens. She's more than halfway done with her first mitten and can't wait to make more. Jesse is researching Bushnell's Turtle because he remains fascinated with methods of staying underwater. And no, he tells me, scuba lessons are not nearly as enticing as coming up with his own ways.