Bothwell spin-in

 Yes it is that time again. The Bothwell spin in weekend. It was fantastic weather and so many interesting things to see and people to meet.
Di ( president of the Handweavers, spinners and dyers Guild of Tasmania) announcing the prizes for longest thread.

Sylvia along with Di are about to present the Margatret Hortel prize, donated by the south hobart group. 

 And Yes I was so excited to see that my thread made it through the machine without breaking. For many years I had read all the names on the wall and ohhed and arhhed over the fineness of the threads, I never thought I would manage to be up there. The wonderful Blanche was the Tasmanian and the Australian winner with a length of 234.7m. She is amazing. Well done to all those who entered.

 Here we have two of the many contestants in the team event of the bothwell bobble. teams of four spin, ply and knit triangles in a certain time.

longest thread compitition

Every second year in a little town called Bothwell there is a wonderful event called the Bothwell spin-in. It was created many years ago by one of the local residents, Barbara Fowler. She also started a competition for the longest thread. This has to be handspun from 10 grams of raw fleece.
I thought I would give it a go and tried to encourage as many others to join as well, just for fun. Anyway for a while at the end of last year my life seemed to be consumed with the spinning of my personal longest thread. I knew my entry would never be anything like a winning entry as these have been over 1 km long. So I kept trying, threads broke, and I kept trying.

 

In the end I was just happy to have a thread that did not break when I wound it into a ball. Now all I hope is that it will not break when it goes through the measuring machine, and be disqualified.
As frustrating as I found this at times I am very happy to have challenged myself to spin a fine, strong thread and what fleece did I use? I was luck enough to have part of a fleece from Barbara Flowlers own merino flock, handed to me by my Mum.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the end result.