Fun at Bridgewater Retreat

Fourteen years ago I started going to Bridgewater Retreat north of Tweed to hang out for 3 days with a bunch of girlfriends for a weekend of relaxing and fibre related. We go every August and there is anywhere from 15 to 20 gals that come.  Over the years there has been some changes of girls as life changes too.  It is a wonderful weekend of bonding and solving all sorts of problems whether they be personal or fibre related.  Girlfriends are a special bunch.  We all take whatever you want to work on for the weekend ,,,, knitting, rug hooking, spinning, fibre dyeing…. the talent around the room is just incredible and you always go home learning something from someone…….. as the saying goes the weekend “is just priceless”. Here are some pics of the weekend.  It was really tough just sitting outside all weekend and enjoying the view and getting up when the cow bell was rung for our meals…..There is always room for more if you want to join us one year.

Some people were working on a shawl like Jill’s . A few gals dyed silk scarves .  Here they are drying. This is the lodge where wonders happen with all sorts of fibre and conversations… Below is the great scenery we have to put up with while sipping our drinks and playing all day… ya I know it’s a very tough life.  LOL       

    Maura busy making her wet felted  purse

Her finished purse and someone’s tea cosie

Marilyn painting her silk scarf

Jill proudly displaying her silk scarf that she painted and a well deserved glass of wine.

Our wheels having a cool off while we were called to dinner….

What I am working on this week

Years ago I spun and knit a large shawl from some Romney wool with a mohair blend lace border.  Well, I feel it’s time may have passed and it is now time for a new one. I am doing the same pattern combo .  The purple is Corriedale roving that I dyed and spun.  The coloured stuff is wool roving that I purchased 2 years ago at Rhinebeck sheep show in New York and finally got it spun.  I did plan to make the lace border purple but am now leaning towards the multi coloured.  As my summer is filled with working and playing as much golf as I can the progress on this baby may be slow. I will keep you posted.

Sky Blue Pink

I recently found a day when I was home and it was not raining to be able to dye some roving.  I used Majic Carpet dyes for this and it is called Sky Blue Pink.  I could just sit and look at the wonderful colours in it all day.  It looked so cool drying on the line.  Not sure what the neighbours thought I was doing..LOL

What I am Doing This Week

Ok so my homework is all done and I now have a life… so I just don’t know what to do….ya right….. how about doing some spinning for fun!!!  And maybe knit a couple of sweaters for myself??  I started spinning this 70% merino 30% mohair roving which has been in my stash for years waiting for this day.  As I only have 500 grams of it I need to ply it with something else.  I have dyed some Corriedale roving in green, rust tones and one in blue, turquoise.  Not sure which one I will use.  I will ply and little with each and decide but think I am leaning toward the blue. Stay tuned…..

Just some stuff I have made

As I am not really working on anything but my homework right now , I thought I would post some things I have made from my handspun and am putting  in my portfolio.

A couple of hooked rugs made from my handspun, hand dyed yarns.  The sheep in this rug are all natural colours of fleece.

This rug is called my “Friendship” rug.  When I was making it and spinning my fleece with my friends they all gave me bits of the colours they had spun.  These were lovingly hooked in my rug . Since then 3 of my friends have passed on making this rug more special to me.  It is a true ‘Family Heirloom”.

A traditional Fair Isle sweater made from 4 natural coloured fleece. I love making the patterns and knitting these sweaters although they do take a long time.

A coloured sweater.

This was my first sweater made from my handspun . You want quality,,,, you get quality making it yourself. This sweater is about 18 years old and I still get great comments when wearing it.

A yummy basket of skeins waiting for a project.

My dyeing homework

Some of you know I am in my final year of the OHS spinning certificate homework……YIPPI…
Yesturday I completed my dyeing portion and am very happy with the results. We were to choose a picture and use 3 different dyeing techniques while creating colours from the picture. You also had to have an end use for your yarn which I stated a nice shawl would be perfect and made a mini sample to go with my dyeing. I was happy as I feel my colours were successful in matching with my chosen picture. One more step closer to finishing my homework!!

Bridgewater Retreat

This past weekend 10 of us stayed at Bridgewater Retreat for a relaxing weekend. Spinning , knitting, reading, winding warps for weaving, card playing, and dying wool were among the activities. No subject in conversation was untouched and lots of laughter was had… Joan and I are addicted to playing Skipbo cards so a few games were in order in between spinning. At great time was had by all and we plan to do it again next year. Want to join us??

Colours to dye for!

On Sunday we spent the day at Mara’s beautiful house in Cobourg (she is the red Tshirt) She had everything arranged for us to do some natural dying of our wool and rovings.
We had lots of fun and the weather co-operated as best it could.
Some of the naturals we used were Flowers from Black-eyed Susans , Stems from Black-eyed Susans, Walnuts, Jewel Weed, Umbillicaria and Avocado.
Here is a couple of pics to show off our wonderful colours.
Thanks Mara for the fun day….

Ok all you fibre folks. You must come to “The Gathering”, a blending of knitters and spinners.
The Great Pine Ridge Spinners and Weavers together with the Northumberland Hooks and Needles are hosting a fun day of knitting and spinning. Bring your knitting and spinning wheels and have a play day and bond with other fibre people. There will be 18 vendors selling rovings, yarns, fleece and many other things so bring lots of cash as not all vendors take credit cards. Entry is $6 and includes your door prize tickets. Coffee and snacks are provided and for those who do not want to pack a lunch Cindy will have fresh BBQ Lamb or Beef Burgers for sale made from meat from her farm.l
Last year we had about 130 people come so it is a very fun day.

It’s on Saturday April 18 from 10 to 3:30
Town Park Recreation Centre
62 McCaul Street
Port Hope

Hope to see you there and be sure to drop by my booth to say hi and check out my hand dyed rovings for sale
.
cheers
Kerry

Jill’s fabulous scarf

My friend Jill Purcell is a great fibre artist. She has learned so much since she retired to the “good life” . Recently she bought some of my hand dyed Corriedale roving and spun it into yarn. She then taught herself to lace knit and the results were this beautiful lace scarf which she recently finished. Nice job Jill. You are amazing!