On sunday, we ventured into the deepest rural part of cornwall to this lovely house in some small, unknown area, down a country lane overgrown with summer weeds. It really is a property tucked away out of sight and with the sun brilliantly shining, the mood was great especially as I was joined by good friends, my even greater friend and my baby godson.
Out in the bright courtyard was a spinning wheel that originally came from new zealand, pulled out so us newbies get a chance later on to give it ...well...a spin!
By the front door were two buckets containing the dregs of whatever natural dying products we were dying with that day. One was a mystery wood chip that was a mystery colour and the other was onion skins that left fabrics golden yellow in colour.
They have been boiling outside in large boilers since the crack of dawn and emitted er..."wonderful" smells...!
We dyed fabrics, I taught a lesson in glossing as a transfer medium to fabrics and under the bright sun, we spun. I watched the smooth settling rhythm the experienced spinners settled into, feeding the wool into the spool and teasing and straightening the wool as well.
And then it was my go, sometimes I went too fast and sometimes too slow but eventually I settled into a tempo where I could just about feed the wool, teasing it out straight and controlling the pedal all at the same time and at one point all four of my limbs were doing their own thing!
I can see why people love doing it and the peacefulness people get from it but my inexperienced caused me to be rather tense and even as i write this now, my back hurts from sitting hunched over the wheel, scared to go wrong despite what the elders said reassuring me that its ok to make mistakes!
I might not be able to do spinning...but tea and cakes in the sun? That I can do!
Tea in a typically english countryside summer garden, surrounded by lovely flowers...perfeck!
The grounds of the place was massive and I will share more with you later on as well as my session teaching which was recieved and went down very well with the others!
it was a great day in the country on a rare sunny day in rainy England!
With my Godson Henry, watching his mummy in the garden messing around with Ice dyes! He was a great sparkling cherry on top of what was a great day!
What did you do this weekend just gone? Hope it was a good one for you!
Birdie Love!
xxx
