Wanna hear about this week?

Wednesday
Signs of Spring.
Thursday proved that Wednesday was a cruel trick.
This is the front of my house at the beginning of the snow. We got about 4 inches:-(
But then it melted and Friday was back to sunny.

Oh, you weren't looking for a weather report? You wanted to know about Abby's visit? Well, if you insist. But I'm warning you in advance, my photography skills were very lacking this weekend and these pictures are really the best I have.
There were stars all over the place. This is Faina Letoutchaia modeling her latest shawl design. It is dedicated to Abby. It has traditional Andean designs knitted into it and Abby has been given the task to name the shawl. It is handspun alpaca yarn. I had a post including one of the fronts in February.
Sharon Winsauer was there and brought the real and first Heere Be Dragon shawl. It is fantastic and of course you can't see the detail in the photo.

I'll take a moment here for some shameless self promotion. Sharon will be teaching a 6 week lace class at my shop beginning in May. I'm so excited for this class and I hope that many people will take advantage of this rare opportunity to study lace with a master. It is a beginning class though and no lace experience is necessary. You do need to know how to knit and do the regular increases and decreases. Easy.

So Abby and me and Sharon and Faina went out to dinner before the class and I felt .... honored and lucky to know these women. Also, I ate too much.

So the spindle class started and it was interesting and challenging from beginning to end. In the above photo there is Michelle, Dragone Sharon, Lynmarie, Knitsib Cindy, and that tiny girl all the way at the right is Donna.
Lisa (Acadia Sun on Ravelry) and Jofran and Marilyn Van Keppel (Google that name and see what comes up! I'll wait. Yup, that Marilyn was in the shop. she came from Missouri).

Greg (came from Iowa) and my girlcrush you-know-who and Faina who-I-love.And there's Rita on the right. I didn't get a good shot of her. And now I realize that I'm missing a picture of Ellen and her husband. Ellen comes later when I show what she did to my poor shop. Her husband is quite the spindle guy but on Saturday he was off doing some geocaching.

And I'm missing Michelle. Bummer.

I have no pictures of the sleepover. There was a lot of talking and laughing and Ellen brought a truckload of stuff to show and Greg learned a lot of new things. I can't really go into it here but let's just say that the fact that I am a Mormon girl never crossed his mind due to my joining in with the fun. No, I wasn't swearing but for crying out loud I can be a fun date! There was chocolate and wine and root beer and we all laid down to sleep at around 2AM.

In the morning there was a coffee run and also freshly baked cinnamon rolls from the Copper Pickle. Lunch, by the way, was also from the Copper Pickle. Delicious.

The new stars started arriving right around 9AM.
There was Jillian and Carla who can make the darkest of days look sunny.
Here they are working hard. Next to Carla is Ellen and Shannah is acting as Abby's assistant.
Kat is now a professional spinner. She can spin from the fold while at the same time looking at samples being passed around.

Here's the thing. There is an article in the current Spin Off written by Abby about plying. We talked a lot about plying and singles twist in this class. Take the article in Spin Off and do the experiments. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! What really is a balanced yarn? It's not what you think.
So everybody left and Ellen started shopping. See all of those empty holes in the Wall O'Fleece. Ellen is responsible. Bummer. I will now have to shop for some fresh spring fleeces. I'm so sad - NOT!
Here's Ellen. Proud of her work. It was in the name of research. Seriously check out her blog. It's fab and informational and well researched.
Here's Abby standing in the wreck and carnage. The shop is destroyed. There was a rock star in the house and the venue has cleared and we are left with the remnants of a fun time where our brains were about to explode with new information. People (Faina and Abby) were sick and they muddled through anyway, in the name of fiber scholarship. These classes made me a better spinner and a better teacher. (Not necessarily a better student since I was sitting in the bad kid's section.)

Abby will be back. She promised.
So then I gave Maggie a Greensleeves Bare Bones Spindle this morning. The Louet one wasn't working for her. I walked into the kitchen and came back to find this. I had to smile and then rush for the camera. The girl is a true spinner. I hadn't yet relayed the Abby stories of spinning off of ledges and roof tops and the little girl figured it out.
We were both spinning an Abby batt that was left from the classes. She told me she didn't like the spindle. the last time she worked with one was last August but I knew that now that she was more familiar with the feel of the slipping fiber she might take to it. She did. This is what she had spun in about 45 minutes of work.

As far as the Abby's Yarns Batts. Abby brought me some to put in the shop. I did. I am down to only 5 batts. Can't remember the fiber in them but I will photograph them tomorrow and if you are interested let me know and I can send them to you if you're not in the area.

All in all it was fantastic. I crashed this afternoon. About 12 I thought I'd just lay down for a minute and I didn't wake up until 4PM. And I have no doubt I will sleep well tonight.

I don;t know if I left anybody out. My brain is only working in 1st gear right now so if I missed you let me know and I'll edit you in. Really, I'm happy to do it.

Until next time. Take a nap.