Olds College and Fibre Week Continued

The weather has turned extremely hot and muggy. We had a day of rain on Sunday but we need about three or four days of rain non stop to combat the terrible drought that we find ourselves in. The poor animals are suffering in this dreadful heat and I can't think of them without wondering how they survive with woolly coats on them. I expect the weather will not break for quite a while. This weekend is our annual Paddle For The Peace trip where hundred of boaters gather here in HH for a trip down the Peace River to protest the Site C damn. I am not sure that these trips actually do anything to turn off the great political powers that commit themselves to these mega projects but at least we celebrate the river while we still have it. Teapot and I are thinking we will make a two or three day trip of it and try to go all the way from our home down the river to the house of a friend who lives in Old Fort. We will be glad to do this trip again after two years of wanting to and not being able to find the time to do it.

Anyway I didn't get a chance to finish uploading all the pictures to my blog yesterday from my trip to Olds. So here I go again.....

My instructor was a man this year so I was quite taken with the idea that there are a few men out there who take my craft seriously.... here he is preparing to spin flax.....
Here he is again teaching us the art of spinning cotton on the Takli.....
On Tuesday evening we had a fashion show with all the hand made things of the participants of Fibre Week from the last year..... here is a lovely shawl that if I recall correctly was made with angora and wool blended...... isn't it lovely.....
This is my vest that I made with all the wool I dyed in level 3 with Madder..... it was quite a project and I worked on it the first three or four days I was at Fibre Week.... It's not the greatest shot but I will show you better pics later..... by the way that's not me modeling.... : )
This felted beret was beautiful.... but then I love owls and any kind of bird....

This felted shawl looked like a stained glass window.....


This funky yarn was knit into an interesting shawl..... I love the yarn but I'm afraid that I don't like open work like this too well.....

Another madder project from one of my class mates.... she had knit a scarf with all that madder dyed yarn..... and she spun hers too..... awesome.....
This shawl was a real piece of work .... I loved it and there were two other shawls using the same pattern but unfortunately my camera conked out and I didn't get pictures of them......


The lady who felted the beautiful beret with owl also felted this hat as a protest against global warming. It was really lovely.... but then polar bears are such spectacular animals.... what about the pine trees that are taking the onslaught of global warming with the increase in the pine beetle.... anyway don't get me started.... I could go on and on.... come and see my grass if you want an eye opener on global warming....

So my couch is covered in fibre and I am slowly sifting through the mess and putting away things as needs be. I did buy three new spindles, a Navajo (that's the one I traded for), a Takli for cotton and believe it or not I am getting on to that even though I have no thumb on my right hand.... and last of all I bought a beautiful Forrester which I am spinning silk on for embroidery. I bought a new pair of scissors with a wooden container.... and more fibre than I'll ever use..... well maybe not... I mean you have to stock up for the lean years you know.....!

So there you have it another year to wait before I can head off to Olds again.... it's a wonderful thing to look forward to and who knows I might even get to go to the Twist of Fate fall retreat. Meanwhile in a couple of weeks I will be hosting the HH summer dyeing retreat in just a few weeks .... if your interested in coming to that one you can contact me at mflsnich@telus.net....

I'm off to spin.... and languor in this horrible heat....