Hooray for Maggie!

Two of my favorite things about my spinning store. I love teaching spinning. I do. And I love being able to have top quality teachers come to my store. This past weekend was Maggie Casey. She is the author of Start Spinning and the star of the DVD by the same name. She also is one of the owners of Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins in Boulder, Colorado.

I've taken some classes with her at SOAR and knew in advance that she is a wonderful teacher. Patient, and kind and she knows how to say things in a way that just make sense and put the student at ease.

Friday night was long draw. There were lots of break throughs and lots of fun.
On Saturday we learned about spinning colored fibers. How to take already dyed rovings and tops and make them into whatever you like. How to blend colors, how to line them up, how to move them around and make them behave so that they are what you want in your project.
No dyeing was necessary to get the outcome we wanted.
Chelsea checked her Facebook and played with her Nintendo DS. hhmmmm.

Sunday morning began with a bit of naughtiness and ended up on a raucous not. We were learning how to spin Big and Lofty Yarns. Chelsea was not at the shop and I did a poor job of getting lunch to the shop in timely manner.
We thought of a few uses for these fat yarns while we were spinning them.
Some of us struggled to give up control of every inch of yarn.
Maggie showed us how to beat up our yarns to make them more stable.
And in between the laughing we listened and learned a lot. If you have an opportunity to take a class with Maggie, any class, do it.
In the midst of all this I did a little spinning. This yarn is four Abby Batts in the New Black colorway. It is a three ply. About 412 yards and about 34 wpi. I need a project for it.
This is 4 ounces of Romney dyed by Amy King in the Threesheeps colorway. I have 12 more ounces of it. It is a 2 ply, about 112 yards and 8 wpi. I like this yarn a lot. I should probably spin the rest.

Right now I'm working on spinning the February club shipment from Amy and working on my shawl...plus there's the moving that is happening this upcoming weekend. Not worried at all. Nope.

A Month!

It's been too long between blog posts. Time just gets away and then another day goes by. So we'll just talk about many of the reasons I have been sidetracked from the blogging.

The photo above is from the Howell Memorial Day Parade. The band is the Howell High School Band. I love this band. The mascot is the Highlander and the band actually has bag pipes. I do like the sound of bag pipes. I really do.

After Memorial Day I was busy getting ready for my classes at TNNA. TNNA is the big yarn convention that takes place in Columbus Ohio every June. Yarn and needlework shop owners from all over go there to check out what's new and what's up as far as yarn and needlearts goes. I taught a class about how to teach beginning spinning and how to add and market fibers to your yarn shop.

I taught on Thursday and Friday and the market opened on Saturday. I was only looking for a cotton sliver supplier. I found one. A great one. I bought 7 shades of organically grown cotton which should come to the shop around September. I also found several other fantastic items that will be coming over the next few months. Some naturally dyed fibers, some Merino that feels like cashmere, some Lantern Moon goodies and interchangeable needle sets that I was quite impressed with. I also brought home all of the fiber in the Abstract booth. ALL of IT! I posted it in the webstore if you wanna see.

Also, when I got home there were Wildcraft Spindles and Blue Moon Fiber Arts Fibers! All on the webstore
While I was at TNNA I was busy. Meeting with great people and shopping and eating ice cream and talking some more. Miriam Felton's new book will be out soon and I ordered some. Shannon Okey's new book is out and I ordered some. Dinner with Teva Durham and Miriam. Dinner with Jillian Moreno and some people from Storey Publishing. Breakfast with Kimberly Reynolds and XRX. I think I sat on Carol Sulcoski's lap (or I dreamed it). I went to the Ravelry party which was crazy! Hugs with Amy Singer. Sleeping with Abby. Harassing Dave from Louet. There are people I am forgetting. There were so many people! So much fun and so much exhaustion and so much hurty feet.
At the end of the weekend I met this lovely lady. I don't know her name but look at that tattoo! She knitted the doily and took it to the place and they put a picture of it on her arm. Amazing.

In between all of this I have been working on a somewhat secret project.
The Spinning Loft is moving. 102 South Michigan Avenue, Howell will be our new address. It's bigger. With a separate classroom. Amy King will be our first out of town teacher in the building.
I love the space and so does Chelsea. So we will be closed from July 2nd to July 5th while we move and arrange and get ready for business in our new spot. Not far from the old one but much better. Plus, the coffee shop is just across the street, more parking, and restaurants all very close.
WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

Also, this: