Sunday, June 15, 2008

It started with a song (continued)

Our next stop on the fiber field trip was Golding Fiber Tools. I had seen one of their spinning wheels in the "flesh" sotospeak and just loved it, so I was excited to be able to see the workshop and items in their home environment. Tom and Diane Golding were very happy to give us a tour of the place and show some of Tom's handiwork. The pictures are beautiful but seeing it all in person makes one really appreciate the beauty of the work.

To give you an idea of his work, the window of his shop gallery is a prime example of what he has done with a simple circular shape with a pentagrammic motif. The outside is adorned with swans and the interior is framed with beautiful knotwork.

A wheel is far out of our budgets (no one placed an order) but the handspindles were a more affordable way of indulging in a piece of art. Sadia was definitely trying them out. I was a little more hesitant but tried out a few before settling on one dubbed "Swan Lake", a lovely 1.9 oz cherry that was perfect for doing heavier yarns and plying. A few of us picked out spindles and took our treasures home.

We headed then to WEBS in Northampton where we met up with more Knitcampers. The look on their faces at seeing me there was priceless. Some were there for the first time so were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of yarn available. Having been there last year, I wasn't quite so besotted with the deals available and was in search of cobweb weight yarn. I was a little disappointed that there were only two options available in the weight I was looking for: Jaggerspun Zephyr and Misti Alpaca Lace. I was working my swatch of the Melanie in Lane Borgosesia Cashwool and liking how it was working up, so I was loath to switch to a different fiber. So I walked out of WEBS with a tiny crochet hook for beadwork, stitch markers, and charting tape. I don't know who won for having spent the most, but it was fun seeing the faces of the newbies.

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