Spring Retreat 2010

I miss Pennsylvania. I love it. It is my home and so when I go there in the spring I am always a little teary.

Azaleas in bloom...I've never seen them in Michigan.

And my favorite tree ever. The Dogwood. My parents' property is full of Azeleas and Dogwoods. Just beautiful.

Chelsea and I filled the car with all the shop that would fit and we drove on Tuesday. I wanted to get there early enough to set up the mobile Spinning Loft and have a little time with the folks before the retreat goers descended on Shearer Elegance. There was a little shopping and a couple movies and lots of talking....

Then the people began to arrive on Thursday afternoon. I was not so good at taking photos because I was busy talking and being bossy.

Friday night some of us went to the movies while the others either were smart and went to bed or stayed up and did some spinning.
This was a favorite of many of the attendees...and me. It is a serve yourself milkshake machine at the Wawa that is only 2 miles away. Wawa, for those who aren't lucky enough to live near one, is the best convenience store anywhere. If there was an emergency you could live there for weeks! I love it. And the shakes are F'Real.
In addition to the shenanigans we brought all the spindles. More came while we were there so this isn't even all the ones that were available.
We brought 12 fleeces. It was really hard to choose which 12 but the car was really, really full.
There were lots of small tools and sparkly stuff and fiber wash and pygora and silk!
There were piles everywhere. People started making piles almost immediately and they changed a little here and there and many continued to grow throughout the weekend.
This was how the shelf of handpaints looked on Friday. It didn't look like this on Sunday.
Chelsea was there telling us all what to do and playing favorites.
And there was lots of spinning.
Lots of spinning.
And even more spinning.

And also, spinning.
spinning
And there was a mess when it was all over. We covered the major wool categories and spun samples of two or three breeds which were representative of the category spectrum. In addition to that we learned flicking and spinning from the lock, combing methods and hand carding methods.

As usual I was nervous about if it was too much or too little or whatever. I think it might be good and make me a better teacher though.
Naomi.....she did spin and ply this.

And on Sunday most people packed up after lunch and were on their way home but there were those who we couldn't get rid of.
Everyone was cleaned up except me.
And this is the room where it all happened.

The participants were fantastic and naughty and fun. They all worked hard and have lots of samples to show for it. What should we do next time?