Nova Scotia Spinning Workshop

I went to Nova Scotia for a two day spinning workshop.  It was held at The Spinner's Loft, owned by Leslie Hauck.  The Spinner's Loft is located in West Jeddore, on the eastern shore beyond Halifax, and is right on the bay.  So, while spinning all sorts of exotic fibers and making novelty yarns, one can hear the osprey and the water.  On a warm afternoon, one can even go swimming in the Atlantic, or if conditions are right, do a nighttime swim and see the phosphorus underwater.

Leslie offers the option for up to two people to rent rooms from her while doing the workshops, or there is a B&B down the road.  She is an amazing chef, and we had wonderful food that was not only delicious but healthy!  We had appetizers nightly, fresh mussels one night - mid-morning snacks of fruit and yogurt.....  it was wonderful.  Her home is a mid-1800s fisherman's cape with a lot of great color and character.  It made for a very charming location and means to forget responsibilities, even what day of the week it was!

Leslie specializes in dog fur spinning, and sells items made from spun dog fur.  She is known in the region for spinning exotic elements, so when a retired zoo lion living in Nova Scotia died, some mane fur was sent to Leslie to try spinning, which she did.  Her array of spun fibers also includes Island Horse mane.  I was able to try my hand at cotton, tow linen, bleached linen, linen-silk blend, soy, bamboo, ramie, Ingeo, silk hankie, silk noil, bombyx and Tussah silk, cashmere, camel, quiviut, wool, mohair, dog, alpaca, and probably others. 

I played making some novelties - I need some more practice and planning at these, but definitely had fun making them.  My favorites I think were the fuzzy yarn (spinning mohair wisps into crochet cotton core), tufted (I used dog hair clumps for the tufts on a wool yarn), and the bump yarn (I spun soy silk around a silk-linen core & loved the shiny bumps of the soy).  Snarl yarn was fun, but I need to work at planning it a bit better, spiral, silk gimp, slub, knot and boucle were others I tried.  Some I was more successful at than others.  I think planning is very important with these novelties, as the direction of spinning and plying plays so much into what happens.  I had not spun my "S" yarns and my "Z" yarns with any particular novelty project in mind, so I just used whatever was spun the correct way - some combinations were lovely together, and others didn't work for me, but the techniques definitely opened new horizons for me.

The jaunt to Nova Scotia involved taking The Cat (note capitals - not a domestic "cat" little "c" meaning a feline, but the catamaran ferry that goes between Nova Scotia and Maine), and driving up the western shore first, then crossing over to Halifax, and going a short distance up the eastern shore of Nova Scotia.  Nice people, English speaking, can listen to French radio stations, drive in kilometers/hr, hear temperatures in Celsius, and pay $4/gallon (priced by the liter) for gasoline (it made me feel much better about our $2.43/gal !!!!).  Same chain restaurants, some of the same store chains, familiar stuff, but enough different to have one's eyes opened.  Grocery stores had a lot higher percentage of their space dedicated to produce and healthy stuff compared to our US groceries.

The little vacation to The Spinner's Loft was a wonderful brief warp in time to focus on relaxation, spinning, learning and all in a fabulous environment.  I heartily recommend it for anyone interested.  Leslie is willing to customize the experiences at The Spinner's Loft to suit the interests/needs/desires of the participants, so contact her!  (I'll post photos of some of my samples later.)

Comments

[Monica]

Sounds like a wonderful time! What a great opportunity to try so many fibers and techniques.

[Kelly]

ohh sounds like you had a good time! Glad to see you got there in one piece :)
Did you get to any other stores on your way there or back?

[margene]

What a wonderful time! So close in distance and yet so far (and smarter) in other ways. Can't wait to see and hear more!

[PumpkinMama]

Sounds truly wonderful! So glad you had a good time.

[Marcia]

Sounds like a heavenly time! We keep talking about taking the ferry over to NS, but never seem to get there. Maybe next summer.

[Marlene]

I really enjoyed reading your account of the retreat. Sounds like you had a lovely time.