I didn’t actually do a lot of spinning or other fibre arts this year. I suffered an overuse injury (computer-related) and had to take several months to rest, so my plans to enter several skeins in competition in 2010 had to be altered somewhat. Instead of spinning new skeins, I went with a few already-finished ones that were eligible for competition. I got some good feedback from judges and identified a couple of things to work on. The highlight, however, had to be my results from the Estes Park Wool Market:
That is my Jacob skein, with a first-place ribbon for its class and to my amazement, the Grand Champion ribbon for the entire competition.
A skein of laceweight llama down took second place in the camelid fiber class and was selected for the Llama Specialty Award. Here’s a closer look:
These awards, especially the ones for the Jacon skein, meant so much to me. They were confirmation of just how far I’ve come since I struggled to teach myself to spin on a cheap spindle from eBay back in 2005 and went through a good year or more of making mistakes before I got real instruction, and how confident in my own abilities I’ve become since first teaching others the same skills in early 2008. It’s also meaningful in that I bought the fleece for the Jacob skein at my last visit to Estes in 2007. I hope it make it back to Estes in person for the next Wool Market in 2011.