I Seriously Love Fiber!

I know that sounds strange to most people but… if you spin, you know what I’m talking about.

This past weekend was full of learning. Our spinning guild set up a workshop given by Robin Russo. She came in from Vermont to teach us. Honestly, I don’t know how she knows all she knows. It’s just amazing. I totally went on line and tried to creep her but all I found was a short Youtube video put up by Interweave. Dudes, she’s got a video with Interweave and she was teaching us. I think that’s so cool. When I asked her the following day if she had a website, or a blog or something, she said no – that she likes to keep a low profile. Admirable.

http://youtu.be/vXzL_gY-YN8

So, day 1 was all about carding wool. I have a carder. I’ve used it once and I wasn’t really keen on the result I got. So, I never used it again. The carder was practically given to me so I didn’t feel badly that it was collecting dust in my basement. Until Thursday.

I’m very pleased with the bats I made. Almost Etsy worthy! Hahaha.

I think day 2 was my fave – COMBS!

I love combs. I especially love the English combs (the ones with the most tines) but they’re a little out of my price range for now. So, guess what Bonnie? I’m going to be spending more time at your place. 😉

And, finally to wrap things up, day 3 was intermediate spinning. I think I was pretty smug going into the second part of our exercises – long draw. I do long draw all the time. But, when you’re using fine fiber, it’s not so easy. I managed, barely, to make some samples that were worthy of my “workbook”.

I had to stop on my way home.  It was warm-ish and the snow looked like it was glowing.

My car got soooo dirty driving through all the back roads!  I kinda like it.  

Robin was all kinds of awesome. Again, I’m in awe of how much she knows. I can only aspire to someday be as knowledgeable as her. Actually, I would be satisfied with knowing maybe 50% of what she knows. She came very well prepared.  We had binders for the fiber preparation portion of the workshop and another binder for the intermediate spinning workshop.

And she’s really a sweet lady. I got a hug. 🙂

We have such a wonderful group of ladies in our guild. I feel fortunate to know all of them. I’m the baby (that doesn’t happen often anymore) and I just love and appreciate all their knowledge and experience. I’m a lucky girl.

It’s been a wonderful weekend in more ways than one. Firstly, I booked the weekend off so, I’ve been off now for 5 days and I’m still off tomorrow.  The workshop was eye-opening. I also spent some time at the range yesterday with Steve. He’s a great teacher. Not too tough, not too soft. My aim is getting better… when I’m standing still.  Sigh. When the ground is dry, I’ll be able to move around and practice shooting on the move and hopefully be ready for some competitions this summer.

This morning, I went to my first Bigram Yoga class EVER. It was interesting, hard and fun all at the same time. It’s pretty hot in that room. I honestly saw stars a few times. Before the class started, the instructor told me that my goal for my first class was to stay IN the class. I managed that AND managed all the poses with surprising ease. I was thrilled when a lady in the class came to be as she was leaving and told me what a great job I had done. Yay! Made me feel good.

Now, I’m cleaning.  Then, I’m going shopping for a lamp, some yoga shorts and maybe some yarn.  Depends how much I can get crammed into an afternoon.  We might hit the range again today.  Then maybe the climbing gym.  I see a good sleep in my near future.

Have a wonderful day everyone!