Sunday, November 18, 2007

The Spider Made Me Do It!

I know I haven't been blogging very often lately but there's stuff and things and stuff and I'm so busy but I'm going to rectify the non blogging I promise - for all 4 of you who read this bloggy thing on a regular basis.

So, Spinning Spider Jenny just left. She arrived on Wednesday afternoon and her plane left this afternoon. It was fantastic. The classes were top notch. Full of information. And also fun. Jenny was a great sport for many reasons. First of which she was willing to stay in my unorganized mess of a house. Sleep in my 3 year old's bed sight unseen. Can anyone say potty training? And second because she was up for any adventure short of camping outside.

Camping inside was another story though.

I have a Ravelry group called "wool shop sleepover". Currently there are only 3 members because when Galina was in town Erica, Kate and I slept in the shop and made this little group. Not a lot of action in the group but it is pretty tiny and we email each other usually. I think this is going to slowly change though. The group is open to those who have slept overnight in a wool shop. Now Jenny and Shannah are part of the group. We all slept on the floor. Lee (Baabins on Ravelry) stayed pretty late but she was afraid she would wake us all up with her horrific night noises.
This is a picture of Jenny's friend Noreen in the green sleeping bag, Jenny in the middle and Shannah on the right. Jenny's friend Jofran is over in the lace room sleeping away at this point. She was in the class and there's a photo of her coming up. Noreen is not a spinner. I have a feeling she may be one soon though. I was able to get her to do some woolhuffing.

Woolhuffing is my version of recreational drugs. You take a nice amount of grease fleece in your hands, put your face right into it and breath in deeply. There's nothing like that smell. Many breeds smell different from one another too. I expect to be able to - in the future - identify a sheep's breed by it's smell as well as I can identify it by it's look and feel.

So, Noreen was game and so I gave her a free sniff of several of my favorite fleeces. You know, like a drug dealer would to get you hooked:-) Here are Shannah and Jenny at the beginning of Thursday - New Wave Fibers. I think Shannah is giving Jenny her blog address. They hit it off immediately.
Here is just one picture of the samples Jenny brought. Amazingly spun skeins and beautifully knitted pieces. Under the table were notebooks and notebooks of samples and swatches and notes for us to look at. I didn't take full advantage of this opportunity and regret it already.
This is Shannah showing and telling about her first knitted item from her own handspun. I let her tell you the story but I love the scarf.
Here are some samples from the plying class - Saturday. In the front is Cindy, Shannah behind her, and behind Shannah is Kathy who you may not be able to see very well. Kathy is great fun. If you have a class get her to come. She'll certainly liven it up!
I just like this picture of the wall of fleece.
Jofran.
Lisa
This is Jenny telling us to not listen to anybody and be as disobedient as possible and question everyone. Hee, hee.
Actually, she told us to question things and if anyone ever says you MUST do something in one particular way then just smile and say thank you and continue with what works for you. I will definitely be questioning conventional wisdom from now on, and have pages and pages of notes on spinning experiments I want to do.
More plying. That's Lisa in the front, then Michelle, Roberta, Mary, Lee, Jofran, and Jenny (holding up nothing). And here we are this morning before Jenny headed off to the airport. I had a great time with her. She's like a spinning genius, funnyfunnyfunny, and a wonderful teacher where all of the students feel wonderful and welcome and talented. I'm hoping she'll be willing to come back to teach again.

ETA I can't forget that Maple was there on Friday and also Sylvia ( who I think has a blog but can't remember it and hopefully she'll come by and remind me what it is.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL! Okay, next class I want to spend the night, if you all think you can stand it!!

Thanks for making me feel so welcomed - you have a lovely shop.

I have plans to head back to see you soon!!

Thanks so much too, for the amazing day. My brain has been going crazy with everything I learned yesterday!!

Maggie said...

That looked like great fun! I'm particularly amazed by Jenny's display and collection of samples. I wish I was a bit more organized. I need to start labeling my stuff before I've amassed so much that I've forgotten what everything is!

Anonymous said...

YOU, Ms. Three Sheeps, are a love. Plain and simple, you're a love. The more detailed explanation: You're a smart, witty, thoughtful, kind, generous, savvy, and beautiful sort of love. So there.
Fondly, Jenny

Donna B said...

Me too! I'd love it if she came back (when my life was calmer) and I could come join that sleepover club and sniff a lot of grease fleece. :-)

Alpaca Granny said...

I had so much fun on Friday. Wish I could have slept over with you folks.
Beth, you are a super woman!
and I adore Jenny.

Jenni said...

I wish I could have been there, Beth! It looks like a great time. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

BAAbins said...

Dearest Divine Beautiful Beth, Wool Diva and Enabler Extraordinaire,

Thank you so much for such a FANTASTIC weekend!! It was such comic relief and I know that you are now glad that I am no longer a Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream virgin. You are a baaad influence. Haha.

Yes, I would have LOVED to sleep over in the wool shop but I know that after I kept everyone awake with my not so ladylike SNORING, all of you would have resorted to harpooning me with drop spindles. If that wouldn't work, you would have then resorted to asphyxiating me with that wonderful "huff grazing sheep wool" by shoving it down my throat and up my nostrils!

Seriously, thanks so much for a great time, wonderful hospitality, letting me "play" at the shop and introducing me to your home and your family. (I so love the nooks and crannies and secret passageways of your house!)

We will definately have to keep in touch and make an effort to cross the border to meet once in a while.

Thanks again. You are awesome!

Lee, Co-founder of the SSSC Struggling Sucky Spinners Club :-D

Obsidian Kitten said...

fabulous pics--and what a fabulous time we had!

so when can we do it again? lol

Kate A. said...

Jealous. Jealous. Jealous.