Mother Nature's Paintbox

I had a thoroughly delightful and aesthetically pleasing drive to Campbellford today. The leaves have just started to turn and it looked as if Mother Nature had just dabbed here and there with yellows, oranges and reds. The reason for the Campbellford trip was to attend the 20th Annual Warkworth Spinners' Spin-In.

I arrived just before the appointed time and was amazed that the church parking lot was already full so I had to park down the street. Once seated in the church hall, I figured there were at least 60 spinners there and 10 retailers selling lovely hand-painted and hand-dyed rovings, spinning paraphernalia, pattern books, knitting needles, etc. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and only have crappy cell phone photos.

This is what I couldn't live without.

80% merino/20% silk













80% alpaca/20% merino













Ashford 80% New Zealand merino/20% silk
(this picture does not do justice to the beautiful purples and greys).











100% Polwarth roving from Autumn Garden colourway










So I guess one would say I have my own little paintbox of colours in this lovely, soft fibre.

So that I'd have something to spin before buying stuff, I took the alpaca/Corriedale/nylon top that I had bought from Jody at the World Wide Spin in Public event back in September.

This is what some of the little batts looked like before spinning.













And this is what it looks like after spinning. I'm thinking of plying it with some 100% alpaca so I can knit something significant like a pair of socks or a scarf from it.

I still don't have a lot of confidence in the strength of my singles. Practice makes perfect!