2009 Maggie's Fiber Camp

First, before I get into how the week went I just want to show this yarn. This is Romney that was dyed by Amy King at Spunky Eclectic. I am now carrying Amy's fibers and currently have Panda, Shetland and Romney in addition to the silks I've had for a couple of years. The singles were spun by Kat and plied by me this morning. I like this yarn a lot!
So here's the info about Maggie's Fiber Camp. It was a fun week. This being the first year we had a small class which was good because we were both finding out what we planned right or wrong.
The first day we had a tour of the fleece room and the whole shop. The girls touched everything and we talked about all of the places we can get spinning fiber.
Next Maggie thought there should be a quiz and so we asked the girls to write down all of the plants and animals they remembered from the tour. They did great!
Next we looked at a dirty Wensleydale fleece. talked about how to pick it and clean it before scouring.
The picking went well until I mentioned the poop!
While the fleece was soaking the girls got their spindles and decorated them with markers.
The next day there was a demonstration of combing and then Maggie showed how to use hand cards. The girls both left with several rolags they made themselves.
Then there was the drumcarding where again everybody dug into Maggie's batt bag and each made two batts to take home. Another fun day went by and I think everyone went home happy.
There was spindle spinning every day. By Friday there was huge progress and even Abigail who was frustrated on the first day was making great progress and drafting by Friday.
We made felted beads and felted soaps.
Cute huh?
On Friday after a short period of spinning there was weaving. On a side note, the girls are using the Schacht Cricket Looms. I put a 6 inch wide warp on them and was able to have two looms completely warped and a little weaving put on in only 1 hour and 10 minutes. The looms are fantastic and easy to use. LOVE!
This is Abigail with her finished scarf. We could see her improvement from the beginning to the end of the project and this fluttery girl stayed at her loom for 90 minutes. I think she's a weaver at heart.
Hannah wasn't able to weave the full length. She is a hard beater and so she and her mom may be making a spindle bag because her resulting fabric is very strong and tight.

I was happy with the camp. Maggie was quite proud and we had a great week. She's talking about next year already.
Saturday I went to Spinner's Flock, my local spinning guild, where I hadn't been in months. Those batts you see in front of you came home to the shop. They are well done with surprising color combinations. I love them and think my customers will too.
Here's a further away shot including some of her other dyeing. It's all done by Poetic Erica. Erksnerks on Twitter.
And at the other end of the table is Carla and her sock yarns and Kate 45s. The yarn colors are magnificent. The pink and orange one is named after me by the way. If you want to see those Kates in person and try them i have them at the shop. Best Kate Evah!
Just because it's pretty:-)