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June 13th was World Knit in Public Day but in East Berlin, Pennsylvania it was the Annual Spin-In at the Mannings. It is hard to resist the chance to spend a day in the country, when the weather is beautiful, and fiber is involved.
With chairs set up in the shade in view of a small river and groups of 4Hers spinning, My friend Martha and I knit for several hours, broken up by a couple of trips into the Mannings' shop. What could be a nicer way to spend a summer day - sheep, spinning, wheels, knitting, and even some looms were set up under the trees and along side the river. There was a couple processing and spinning flax, a carding station to design your own batt, even sheep shearing.
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-Peruvian spinner -- Cice and Chelette relaxing at the end of the day at MSW May was a busy month and I haven't written any posts. So, I decided to post mostly pictures of what I have been doing. May 2nd and 3rd was the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I didn't do much shopping (only 5 skeins of yarn -around $50 worth). But I took two classes with Nancy Bush - Estonian Traveling Stitches, and Nordic Color.
On May 21st the Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano read at Politics and Prose. Recently, his name became more well known after the president of Venezuela gave President Barack Obama a copy of Galeano's book Open Veins of Latin America. Galeano was passionate,eloquent and very funny. His work is rooted in the history of the American continent(s), yet he is above all very literary. There were about 300 people there to hear him - old (and young) leftists, many Latinos, P&P regulars, and the curious. I was so glad I didn't miss this!May 23rd was Stitch and Pitch here in DC. The Nationals played the Baltimore Orioles which made it lots of fun! No goody bags this year, but there was plenty of good company. I worked on my Ravelry Sox's group traveling scarf, and finished my section.
I've done it! I bought my plane ticket to Ireland (Dublin) where I will attend the Seamus Heaney Poetry Center Summer School at Queen's University Belfast.Because money is tighter these days, I'm only spending 12 days over there. But I have 3 days before the course and 3 days after. I will spend the next couple of months deciding what to do and where to go. A couple of days in Dublin? Rent a car and see more of Northern Ireland before I fly home? Prices are better in the North and I have been reading that southerners are driving North for major purchases because the savings are significant.
One of my favorite groups in the late 70's early 80's was The Roches - three sisters -Maggie, Terre, and Suzy. Their harmonies were wonderful, and very tight as only siblings singing together can create (other Irish examples are Tríona and Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill or Rita and Sarah Keane). The Roches' song The Troubles which reflects the Ireland of the time, keeps running through my head. My version goes like this..I'm going away to Ireland soon (based on 'The Troubles' by the Roches)
I'm going away to Ireland Ireland Ireland soon Ireland soonI'll try not to get in the way of the poets as I always do try not to get in the way of the poets soon I'm flying across the ocean soon I'm flying across the ocean ocean ocean soon I hope they have health food in Belfast and strawberry apricot yogurt if they don't have those things in Belfast I'll eat baps and drink lots of tea I'm going away to Ireland soon!
The album Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, released in 1968 has been my favorite album of all time for 40 years. I had no idea it was revered in rock history, thinking I was one of a select few who loved its brilliance, poetry, and sheer genius. To me, it evoked the streets of Belfast, pre-Troubles (before I ever visited), and a long-gone innocence. The album is in the news as Morrison is about to perform it in its entirety in NY this week . But I don't have the $$$ ($99-$400 for tickets), nor could I go to NYC in the middle of a work week even if I did. So I won't be going to New York, but I will buy the new CD.NPR did a awesome interview with Van last week, including some brillant observations from my current favorite musican Glen Hansard of the Frames (and the movie, Once) who began his career covering Van Morrison songs. Here's a link to Glen singing Into the Mystic and I saw him sing Astral Weeks in Baltimore last May, and there are lots of YouTube videos including Glen performing the song in Belfast. I am thinking about going to Belfast this summer to the Queen's University 2009 Summer School at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry. Northern Ireland has some of the most remarkable poets currently writing in the English language. I haven't been to Belfast since the early 1980's, when the Troubles were still part of everyday life, and the British army was on the streets. I love this part of Ireland, and after a near miss in Omagh in 1998 (I think I blogged about that in an earlier post), I vowed to go back.Green yarn will have to be another post....
I am stubbornly continuing to insist that I will contain my spinning efforts to spindles only. Why? Well, I don't have the time, money, and space for a full out spinning hobby. I have several tubs of yarn waiting to be knit up, and many queued projects in Ravelry. If I spin yarn, then I have to do something with it, though for me, the fun part is the spinning. If I get a wheel, I need space for it, and that's a challenge. Then I'd start buying batts, and (God forbid!) fleeces - OMG a whole new obsession:) and consort with other spindlers on Ravelry.
So to make things worse, and push me more towards temptation I went to a carding workshop at A Tangled Skein my LYS in Hyattsville, MD last night. It was their 4th Friday Sit and Spin group. Anne O'Connor, spinning teacher extraordinaire, helped newbies learn wool carding using both hand carders and drum carders. Two spinners brought their drum carders so there were 3 drum carders and several sets of hand carders and of course these spinners were already experts. The result of my efforts are shown in the picture on top. After carding, I spun some of it on my Golding spindle. I blended some purple and green fiber, trying both the hand carders and the drum carder. The results from the drum carder are prettier, and easier to achieve. But the hand carders cost around $55 and the drum carders about ten times as much.
When I came home I had a response on the Carolina Homespun forum which let me know that the webpage info for the Summer 2009 Golden Gate Fiber Institute had been updated. I get to take two classes - 6 mornings and 6 afternoons for 18 hours of class for each topic. One of the choices (there are 6) is Spindle Spinning - prerequisite is the ability to make a continuous thread on a hand spindle. I guess I have to practice :). There is talk of adding to our collection of spindles (I only have 2 right now) and bringing " both your favorite and your most troublesome spindles, your plying tools, and your niddy-noddy. If you have them, bring hand cards and combs. " Hmm - I don't have a niddy-noddy, and am not sure what plying tools are (I learned to ply yarn using toilet paper tubes and a cardboard box).
I think that a week long spindle spinning class is a sign. The spinning goddesses are letting me know that I can stick to spindle spinning and be happy. I can even spend a week in beautiful Golden Gate National Recreation Area at Point Bonita, and do it. I can't ignore the goddesses so I will focus on spindle spinning while waiting for the summer.
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