Last week I had the joy of teaching at SOAR. That stands for Spin Off Autumn Retreat. This is a small conference that has been running for something like 30 years albeit with a hiatus during one of the times Interweave had been sold to another company. Spin Off magazine is now owned by Longthread Media. One of the co-owners is Linda Ligon who is the person who started Interweave magazine (soon to become Handwoven) in the 70s. Linda was there along with mastermind Anne Merrow and they pulled off a beautiful event (along with Spin Off editor Kate Larson and a fantastic team of organizers).
This year’s event was held at Lake Lawn Resort on the shores of Lake Delavan southwest of Milwaukee. The fall leaves were beautiful, the giant skeletons were out in full force, and every outdoor surface was covered in pumpkins.
Spinning for Tapestry
I taught two different classes during the week. The first was a two-day intensive called Weaving with Handspun Weft on Little Looms. The second was a three-hour class I taught a couple times called Blending and Weaving on the Go.
The idea in both classes was to explore yarn construction that works the best for tapestry weaving and to play with making some of those yarns and weaving them. In the 2-day class we had time to try a variety of different sheep breeds and preparations of fiber. There was a lot of happy experimenting and the resulting tapestries were fun to see.
For the 3-hour classes I brought dyed locks along with some minis from Into the Whirled. We blended the locks while spinning mostly on spindles. The idea for this class came from my sketch tapestry practice. I love to bring locks, a Turkish spindle, and a tiny loom with me when I backpack or travel and weave small tapestries about what I find in my adventures.
The photos below are some of the things that were woven during the classes along with some of the materials and tools I brought. Click to enlarge, hover for captions, arrows to scroll.
Wisconsin in the fall
I enjoyed being in Wisconsin in late October. The leaves were changing, the air was crisp and though it felt humid to me, it was not hot. I enjoyed wandering the grounds of this beautiful resort which is on Lake Delavan.
It was just before Halloween so there were a lot of fall decorations on the grounds. I enjoyed both the giant skeletons and all the pumpkins which mirrored my own knitting project.
Maggie Casey and I decided the skeleton was actually the bouncer for the Lake Lawn Queen which was docked at the resort on Friday morning, likely waiting for weekend guests.
The bouncer: 12 feet tall, he must be protecting the crew which you can see on the Lake Lawn Queen at the dock.
SO many pumpkins.
I did a little spindle spinning while on the trip. I do not have a travel wheel and wouldn’t have been able to manage one with my 150 pounds of luggage anyway. So spindles and knitting it was. My knitting projects were decidedly non-functional and seasonally themed.
Chickens be popping out of pumpkins everywhere. Patterns all by @mochimochiworld
Things seem to run large in Wisconsin.
The chicken-displaced jack-o-cat found her way back home.
Lake Delavan Wisconsin and the changing colors in fall of 2022.