I'm Back!

I had huge plans for blogging but this is how I felt all week. This is actually Carla and I love this picture. This post is just going to be pictures of people from the week. Some are old friends - like Carla, some are new and some I have a girl crush on due to fabulousness. Of course Carla is in that category too.

From Left to right. Jillian, Carla, Amy, and Amy. Hilarious is all I can say. There were beautiful movies turned into something just naughty and chocolate and ice cream and the "Box of Love" was quite amazing and fibery like.
Richard Ashford who I got to spend some time with and give my opinions to and I brought this Elizabeth wheel back to the shop. He signed it for me. I'm not sure I can sell it. I seem to have that problem a lot lately - though Shannah did sell my Traveller with the jumbo flyer while I was gone. I'm glad it happened while I was gone.
This is me and Margaret Stove. She's my new Best Friend but I haven't told her yet=)
Here's Jenny spinning her spider web thin yarn. You can't see it in this picture but she does it on her Ashford Joy. Seriously, I saw her scarf that is Navajo Plied and the yarn is the same diameter as sewing thread.
Here she is in this fab shawl that she designed and spun and knitted.
Joan Sheridan Hoover of Heritage Spinning and Weaving. She's darling. I am so glad I finally met her and hope to be in touch with her more during the next few years. She taught at SOAR and the amount of work put out by her class was incredible. This picture was taken on the 7th night and you can see I'm fading.
Maggie Casey teaching us the difference between American and English Long Draw. The English version is very fun but I need a little practice.
This fine lady had never spun or knitted before coming to SOAR. She used a borrowed wheel and learned to spin in Maggie Casey's Spinning 101 class. Then she took a knitting lesson from Denny and finished a scarf WITH her handspun before the end of the week.
This is Kandy with her room mate who's name I can't currently recall. I bumped into Kandy many times through the week and she is very darling. Luckily she only lives in Indiana so we can hopefully spin together.
This is Bonnie. She was my breakfast partner for most of the week. She is in charge of setting up the competition displays at Rhinebeck. She certainly remembered my Lily shawl and had to have pictures for bragging when she got home. I did let her borrow it for a minute or two-
Kat - with her yarn samples from our class.
And finally, my favorite person of the whole week, Abby. I was a lot intimidated when I saw her on the first day. I've been reading her blog for a long time and the spinning knowledge was very helpful but to watch the speed of the spindling... She's giving me a lesson in this picture and I refused to embarrass myself in front of her. There is a spindle in this picture but the speed of it was amazing. I did a bit of practicing today and I am catching on.

So here's my take on the whole SOAR thing. I learned some great things in my classes but the social part of the week can't be taken lightly. I met Fibergal and she was a wealth of information - just by watching her spin on her spindle. There was Jenni who I asked about how she gets her yarn so thin. "Oh", she said, "just change your brake band to cotton." It was like magic. Something I had been trying for for the last two years was so simple.

I was busy from 7AM to midnight most days and I felt like my head was going to explode by the end of Friday. You know, like when you are trying to put too much wool in a plastic bag and it just keeps popping out. Now it's back to the shop and school. It was a great week and I'm definitely going next year. I have some more pictures and can share some of my new spinning insights in my next post.