Guild Day Out (and back to school!)

Well , its back to school for my two this morning - neither was too pleased about it but they put on a brave face and said goodbye to the rabbit before they left.

DS2 was trying to see if she wanted to join him at school - don't think so !

Grin and bear it like men (cough) , or was that grimace and bear it .

Had a lovely weekend , Saturday was the Guild day out to the Summer School Exhibition through in Queen Margaret Uni outside Edinburgh . Five of us met at Once a Sheep shop in Gourock , and the very kind Ange drove us through to the Uni , which is near Musselburgh . It was a very inspirational as well as aspirational exhibition , as there was Certificate of Achievement projects on display and the Summer School class and tutor work . The weaving Certificate of Achievement project on display was amazing and caught the eye of Ange , who is soon to embark on her own C of A in Weaving . I am not sure if she was inspired as much as overwhelmed by it all . The spinning project was fascinating and I was amazed at some of the handknits from handspun that were "rejected" as part of the project for various reasons , two beautiful Estonian Lace shawls were not accepted - High standards indeed.

Also many of the tutors had put on displays of their work , and they looked fabulous - sadly can't remember who this one belonged to , I just loved the gorgeous spindles and the Estonian Lace Shawls !

Next to Janet Renouf-Millers display was this fabulous dress and shawl by Di Gilpin . Janet had her handknits from handspun yarn , as well as some lovely crochet pieces too . The yarn was so soft , and her chevron cardi is just gorgeous (its just peeking out the left had side of the photo !) . She is truly a talented lady . We meet her in the "suppliers" hall , after she had finished her last class , and she was looking forward to the meal and ceilidh later that evening celebrating the end of another Summer School . Janet teaches regularly at Once a Sheep and her classes are always sold out very quickly , she is a super teacher .

There was also the chance to borrow from the Guild library , usually based in Sheffield , and we all took out books that we wouldn't otherwise be able to buy - there was felting , spinning , weaving , textiles ...... so many to choose from . And a few wee items were bought by some of us , Kimmie got lots of gorgeous fibre especially the hand-dyed fibre from Ripplecrafts in 200g plaits . There was a raffle too , so we bought out tickets and popped the spare one in the tubs in front of the prizes we desired . Ange and Jane were ambitious putting theirs in the Drum Carder and Knitting Loom tub . I opted for a felting kit , and Kimmie put a ticket in for the Woolly Sheep .

And she won it! She was very excited and she ran up to collect it . The man calling out the raffle announced that ours was the first new Guild of Weavers , Spinners and Dyers in 25 years! We got an applause . I also won the felting kit , but sadly the rest of the group did not win the carder or loom , sigh . However, we also got to meet lots of nice new people and network a bit for our Guild which was lovely .

Next week the Guild are attending the Broughton Gathering , outside Biggar where there are competitions etc. Should be another good day out .