Guilds and cardies

On Friday I attended my first ever meeting of a Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers - the Brecknock Guild, at Brecon. I have been a member of the Online Guild for a while, and find it hugely valuable (see my Links for details), but a recent correspondence online led to an invitation to come along to the 'land' (as opposed to 'online'!) Guild at Brecon, which is about an hour's drive from me. The three guild members who had invited me were all there, and it was a very interesting and pleasant day - everyone was very friendly, and I didn't feel TOO daunted, even though almost everyone there was a spinner, and obviously very competent! I saw lots of people's yarns and the things they were knitting with it, also some beautiful natural-dyed wool by Louise Boer (added bonus - Louise is Dutch, so I had the chance to practice my very rusty Dutch! I am half-Dutch, but don't really have much family left on that side, and haven't been back to Holland for about 20 years, so I rarely get the chance to speak Dutch. As a result, I am losing it, which is such a shame).

I was also fascinated to see the different types of spinning wheels in use! 7 different models by 4 different manufacturers, I think - I can see I am going to have to do a lot of homework if I am thinking of getting a wheel (as well as selling a whole lot more corsages and wall hangings to pay for it!).

As well as my spindle, I took along my knitting - I have been making a HUGE cardi/coat for a while, using gorgeous Shetland chunky wool and a garter stitch pattern both from Woolcake. I haven't done much to it recently (it was too bulky to take on holiday to Cornwall and Devon) and I urgently wanted to get it finished before we get any cold weather - I have lost a lot of weight in the last year, and consequently most of my wardrobe no longer fits, and I really do need some decent warm winter clothes! I got a lot done during the guild meeting, and finished the last bits off yesterday (why does the finishing off, sewing up etc take as long as knitting half the cardi?!) and it was finally ready to wear yesterday evening. I am delighted with it - it looks great, feels lovely on, and is warm without being stifling (wool is an amazing material). The delightful ladies at Woolcake threw in a kilt pin (it's edge to edge, so needs a pin as a closure if you do want to close it) but I also discovered that one of my felt corsages looks amazing pinned centre front. I will post a picture some time...