Spinning was the key word of our 3 days spent in Saint Charles, Illinois. And it couldn’t have been any different considering we were at SOAR - Spin-Off Autumn Retreat, an event dedicated entirely to hand spinning.
Nearly 100 spinners from the United States (and beyond!) gather each year for a week of events and classes and we couldn’t miss the chance to better get to know this world, that in all honestly we aren’t too familiar with. Kristy (our American distributor) has participated in the event for years and with her help we had long decided to become Gold Sponsors. We had no more excuses! Fabio and I packed our bags and set off on this new adventure!
Just like last month in Canada, the best part of this trip, aside from getting to learn something more about hand spinning, was the chance to meet many new people who were all open, curious and willing to learn and share their experience.
They were willing above all to show their personal interpretations of this technique and to amaze us with new uses for our fibers, because spinning truly provides infinite possibilities. If we combine techniques, materials and colors then there really are no limits to our imagination. Eline from Ohio brought us a flower made by spinning and crocheting our silk. Tracy from Oregon spun our cashmere. Penny (I don’t remember where from) spun and wove a shawl with only 60 grams of pure silk. Sara Lamb (popular teacher and author of books on spinning - such as Spinning Silk in which many projects are created using our fibers) even made fleece out of pure silk while Barbara from Arizona worked months and months like a modern day Penelope to spin and weave pieces of silk fiber in their natural pure white to create an incredible stole.
Then we stumbled upon a fabulous course in color mixing during which Sara (Lamb, from before) taught us how to mix colors to create personal, full-bodied and unique nuances. To do so she started with the study of watercolor technique and an in-depth study of primary colors. It was like a game but with a more of a theoretical basis…
Personally, coming from the world of fashion and color, it was wonderful to see that bit by bit people are understanding the importance of not only technique in itself (in this case, spinning) but also of textile and aesthetic culture in general.
After days immersed in this desire to create, learn and experiment, we returned home with a long wishlist. I promised to insert the Mulberry silk, silk laps and the 14 micron wool as soon as possible... but what else? I have already forgotten... good thing Fabio took notes!
There is something, however, that I will not forget. It is in my ears. The typical noise of the spinning wheel. The slow and gentle movement of the pedal, the rustling of the fiber...
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