Survival

I’m back from SOAR, and I had a spectacular time. Here are some things that I learned.

1. I took two classes a day, talked fibre and spinning morning noon and night and avoided sleep because I might have missed something, or someone. The mentors are fantastic, the attendees incredible and the whole thing a pivotal experience. (I expressed that I was tired, and Phreadde told me to sleep after SOAR. She’s a genius, but very dangerous.) Putting that much in your brain that fast while maintaining an active social calendar while there is so exhausting that I am surprised that this event does not have a mortality rate. (I actually suggested that perhaps it did and the other spinners were just stripping the bodies of fibre and rolling them into the lake.)

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2. Denny was one of the SOAR scholarship recipients this year, and she was a freakin’ rock star. Rachel H, Juno, Julia and I arrived on Thursday, with Rachel H. and I worried about our little Denny and how she was faring on her first time away alone. She’d gone for the whole week and we were concerned that she might be lonely. We arrived and anxiously sought her out only to discover that she owned Soar. Owned it. Witness her brainchild “Stupid Yarn Tricks”.

This is Abby.

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This is Denny.

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Abby is spinning (or maybe plying…) over a balcony above Denny. (Fine yarn is on the spindle. Abby needs to keep it spinning all the way down, or the twist will come out and disaster will ensue.) Denny is catching it in her arms….

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Then in her teeth. (I swear this must be seen to be believed.

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I took this picture lying on the ground at Denny’s feet.) Stupid yarn trick number two. Denny had a sweater that needed to be unravelled (bad gauge) and skeined for washing. She positioned Abby and I back to back about 6 metres apart (20 feet)

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and had us extend our arms.

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Then she took her knitting off the needles, and started running. She did one lap,

then passed it off to a bystander,

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they did a lap, and passed it off to someone else,

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and someone else.

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In this manner, the sweater was unravelled in minutes. The occasional runner hurried too fast and missed the hands of Abby or I, but I am sure that Abby would agree that repeated near strangulation was a small price to pay for how hysterically funny it was. When the largest skein was completed and the sweater unravelled, Abby and I experienced a moment of simpatico genius and did “eggbeaters” to twist and coil the skein.

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Forgive the blurriness. The photographer was laughing too hard for accurate camera operation.

(It was funny. Nauseating, since you have no idea how many times you need to twist a skein that size to get it to fold back on itself…but funny.)

3. This is Dan.

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It is very important to correctly identify Fiberguy Dan at SOAR. Dan is married to Phreadde, and Dan is responsible for the honoured practice of “swilling” which is to say “drinking really bad wine until the very wee hours of the morning”.

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It is dangerous, and all contact with Dan should be accomplished with your wits about you, lest you fall victim.

(Rachel and I escaped largely unscathed. The same cannot be said of our room-mates.) Memorize now what he looks like so that he can’t ever sneak up on you at one of these things. (Swill tip from Dan: If you think the swill isn’t good….it’s not cold enough.)

4. I know very, very little about spinning. I improved my long draw and learned double drafting from Maggie Casey (she is a goddess walking the earth as a woman), Margaret Stove (!!!) showed me the true path to understanding lace, Judith MacKenzie-McCuin taught me….well, a hundred things, but I think she was aiming for the totally new-to-me concept of wet finishing, and a lovely lady named Joan Sheridan Hoover taught me a very great deal about my wheel. Those were just the classes. There is so much about this to learn.

I swear I might have learned something just from standing near Sara Lamb.

The depth and breadth of what people know that I do not is incredible. I learned more at SOAR in a two minute conversation over dinner than I did in the whole last year I have been spinning in my living room.

5. When I realized I knew nothing, I was not sad. I was thrilled, excited and stunned. This learning curve is going to be long and exciting. I just have to stay away from the swilling if I want to survive.

PS. My reward yarn came this morning.

120 thoughts on “Survival

  1. Totally love the stupid yarn tricks. I forsee a new addition to late nite television.

  2. Reminds me of high school trips to competitions that put a couple hundred teenagers in one hotel together more than an hour from home. Amazing what entertaining things you can do late at night in the hotel ballroom!
    Still resisting the urge to learn to spin.

  3. What a wonderful event. Almost tempts me to take up spinning. Almost.
    Finally on the reward yarn – enjoy it while you process some of the recent past events and information.
    And I’ll take advantage of my early comment position to shamelessly promote my own six-month blogiversary drawing for a signed by you copy of Casts Off or a skein of DK Cludia Hand Painted sock yarn. Comment by midnight tomorrow, the 16th. Thanks. http://www.karenjoseattle.com

  4. Joan is the owner of one of my favorite LYSs here in Metro Detroit, Heritage Spinning and Weaving. She really is a wonderful, very talented lady!!!

  5. Gee, did you have fun? 🙂
    And now for my moment of bragging – Maggie Casey lives here in Colorado, owns my LYS (Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins) and taught me how to spin on a wheel. Isn’t she the best? I want to be Maggie when I grow up.

  6. I just called my local yarn shop, 55 miles away, and now await reward yarn… anyone want to take bets on when the next yarnharlot blog posting will be?

  7. Duh, the yarn for the drawing on my blog is Cherry Tree Hill. I can’t even get my own contest straight. Maybe I need to hire Denny to come up with my promotional activities.

  8. It looks like you had so much fun at SOAR. I love the stupid yarn tricks and I have a vision of them being played in some form or another at LYS across the world now that they have been put into the knitting blogosphere.

  9. I knew there would be a wild ruckus at SOAR and I not there to run around with yarn. Doesn’t this give new meaning to “into the fray?”

  10. How appropriate that Sarah is named (or married to someone named)”Lamb”. It sounds like you had a marvelous time and learned lots of new things. We don’t grow old until we stop learning, right?

  11. You know, in the knitting world we are always talking about how muggles don’t get knitters, that ‘knitters’ are perceived as a bunch of old ladies. It’s fun to stir the pot once in a while – shocking them at book signings, knitting in public, Representing, and now – this! The hotel staff must still be recovering, adapting to their new perceptions. The pictures are great – especially the blurry ones, they really catch the feeling. I also wonder about Denny’s lacey sweater…??!! I’m glad you had such a great time!

  12. I second the comment from Amby, Joan is truly a wonderful, warm person and she owns a terrific shop in Lake Orion Michigan. Anything to do with fiber is done at Heritage, and there is even a whole room that is nothing but sock yarn!

  13. Oh how I wish that either:
    a) that they could hold a UK event
    or
    b) by some miracle I could come by enough cash to justify the trip across the pond (and a traveling wheel to take with me)
    So. Very. Jealous.

  14. Stupid Yarn Tricks. Absolutely priceless!
    I second what Amby said about Joan. Lovely person, wonderful shop. Heritage Spinning and Weaving and yarn! Go to heritagespinning dot com for a peek at her shop.
    It’s worth the hour-plus drive from my house from time to time. 🙂

  15. I wonder if there is a category for World’s Largest Skein? It all sounds like a fabulous time. Sigh, I’ll put on my “someday if I live that long” list with Knitting Camp.
    Time to go chill my swill….

  16. So is Dan the type of person that encourages frat parties since they serve mostly only cheap beer?

  17. It sounds like a wonderful time. One obsession at a time for me, no spinning for me. Tempt me not, oh Harlot, and all the other bloggers out there who did go. I really need to finish learning to knit first(if that is possible). One new obsession a year.
    I never thought about how others looked at knitters, and crocheters till I started working in public, but now, I just wish I could tell them, no really, its a blast. Stupid yarn tricks is going to explain so much.
    Is Denny as youthful as she looks? I’m thinking there is only postive yarny things in her future and I can’t wait to watch it happen.

  18. Oh, now I want to take spinning lessons even more! And I still have to wait (money, time, and inquisitive three-year-old who would have any wheel apart within 7 minutes of seeing it).
    You know, there is some swill that, no matter how cold it is, still tastes bad. It’s never a bad thing to have minimum standards for swill.

  19. Sigh. That looks like the best summer camp ever, that all your best friends went to while your mother made you take swimming lessons from the scary old lady at the local Y.
    I can’t decide whether Denny impresses me or scares me just a little. Maybe both.

  20. Reward Yarn? Heck, you got to go to SOAR! It sounds like more fun than adults are generally allowed to have, and I am wicked jealous.
    Rhinebeck will no doubt be a pale second, but I hope to see you there Saturday anyway. I will be the one wearing nothing handknit and feeling embarrassed about it. But my purple fleece jacket will keep me warm, if not fashionable.
    Maybe I could give my latest prayer shawl an outing, just to fit in a little?

  21. Looks like you failed to warn the SOAR people ahead of time before taking “The Denny, Rachel, and Steph Show” out on the road.
    Any other tour dates? I’ll be your groupie.

  22. This is probably revealing too much about my own lifestyle, but…I love how these things often seem to involve some aspect of alcohol consumption. I laughed out loud and loved it!

  23. Dan sounds like an Aussie. You’d like Australia Stephanie, there is spinning, dyeing and knitting. Come visit some time. (PS we have beer that is even better than Canadian beer, I know I have drunk both).
    Cheers!

  24. Glad you had a blast at SOAR. I’m uber jealous. My LYS owner went, too, and I’m planning to stick to her like a sucker to see if I can’t absorb something that she learned. LOL. Maybe I’ll see you there one day. One day!!!

  25. Woo hoo looks like fun was had by all. You deserve to have a break and have FUN. By the way –what does “soar” stand for ? Spinning Over a Railing ? good for Denny -she knows how to have FUN. Glad you are back and thank you for the posting

  26. Where do I sign the petition to get frogging recognized as an Olympic event? Looks like so much fun it might even make a gauge accident worth it (almost). Nice to see you having such a blast after slaving over the new book for us!

  27. What a blast – a frogging relay!
    Sounds like you had the fun you deserved after finishing your new book – and a few other things!
    Onward to Rhinebeck…

  28. Looks like a grand time!! But, I have to know: how was that giant skein ever wound down into something of a more usable size???

  29. The photos are great. And by far the weirdest/funniest one is from the perspective of Denny’s feet looking up at Abby. Maybe SOAR could use your photos to promote the event–you know, with a caption that says something like:
    “Bet you thought SOAR was all about serious spinning. Think again.”

  30. Makes me wish I’da gotten my act together and registered for some spinning classes at SAFF this year. Let’s hope I can absorb some knowledge from all the spinners I’ll be meeting! (You should come to SAFF. There will be much drinking and spinning and antics between the NC and GA knitters.)

  31. I took begininng spinning from Maggie Casey in Boulder, CO where she teaches at Shuttles. She is amazing. It was so great to learn from her.

  32. That is so hysterical! I can totally see my friends and I doing that (if only they’d learn to knit, darn them).
    Yeah Reward Yarn! My birthday yarn is winging its way from fair Canada as I type. Yippee! (Hope it doesn’t get stuck in customs 🙁 )

  33. Have taken several classes at Joan Sheridan Hoover’s store in Michigan — it is wonderful, her staff is so helpful and Joan is a font of knowledge. Getting to be a yearly trip from Ontario to visit them.
    Glad your learning time was so much fun.

  34. It sounds like an absolute blast. I hope one of these years I’ll be able to make it, too. I have to stop having babies for long enough to get the last one weaned though! 🙂 Can’t wait to see the reward yarn!

  35. Did you ever make it outside to see the Beauty of Michigan? ***OMG that looks like so much fun! The frogging relay would have made my pee my pants laughing!!!***

  36. Wow – it sounds like you had a wonderful time with amazing experiences. And congrats on your yarn finally arriving! We must see pics in progress soon. 🙂

  37. Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! i KNEW there was a way to combine knitting and exercise! Wow! that really beats the way I frogged MY sweater, which involved a lot of cursing and sulking and some sock knitting for comfort. I should start it again just in case it needs to be unwound by the next Fiber Festival!
    Can’t wait to see what the reward yarn is.
    Barb

  38. I am so ever-lovin’ freaking completely wicked absolutely jealous. Next year, I’m going to SOAR. Wherever it is. Hang the expense, I don’t have kids to leave it to anyhow. WICKED jealous, I tell you!

  39. Wow. Am so jealous. I tought myself to knit. That was the easy part. I tought myself to spin. Not so easy. I know so little about fibre and spinning that I’m pretty sure my cat could spin about as well as I do at this point. I am so looking forward to my first trip to Rhinebeck in the hopes that I can learn a few things about spinning. (And maybe buy a spindle the right weight for making sock yarn…not to mention fleece, and yarn, and fleece, and yarn, and…..). Hope to see you there. I’ll be the one with the dumbstruck expression and tongue lolling.

  40. Man, It was so close, yet so far away. Drat that damn lake!! It sounds like you had a great time. I suppose it’s off to NY next weekend. . .lucky girl.

  41. Presbytera, this was The Denny Show with Steph and I filling a couple of guest spots. And it was AWESOME. Wonderful and amazing. Denny, because she is Denny had drawn lovely and generous and kind and genius people to her before we arrived and our experience was so much the richer for this and the welcome they extended us.

  42. Glad you’re back safe and sound; I was worried! I kept refreshing your blog, but just kept getting the beautiful Mystery Stole. Now, I see why you were so distracted; all that AND reward yarn! Maybe I need to rethink my decision to postpone testing the spinning waters at Gemini Fibres in Mount Albert.

  43. I did not know knitting related activities were so, well, active. Met your lovely friend Juno on the flight to NJ. She said she hardly slept at SOAR- so she slept on the flight. Looking forward to hearing you at Borders this Friday!

  44. And “they” wonder just what about fibre and knitters could be exciting enough to draw crowds…. hahaha! I hope that you cast on something really good when the yarn arrived. Cheers.

  45. ROFL, what a fun time! I can see you when you got home – giggling, giddy, and likely still drunk from all the fun. (Unless someone was designated driver and you were helping finish off the swill.) Did Joe manage to hold out while you wound down? [eg] Good grief, with Rhinebeck this weekend, you’re not going to have stopped bouncing before you get *there*. Cool. Just what you need after all the hard work!
    Btw, next stupid yarn trick involving spinning from a high place…with a bottom-whorl spindle, if you swing it back and forth a little, like a pendulum, I’ve found it tends to spin longer. Well; works for me, anyway. ::snerk:: I can see it now: *Extreme* Stupid Yarn Tricks, with even more chances of getting bonked in the head!
    Although those were pretty extreme in the first place – wonderful! Hurray for Denny!

  46. What fun! Who needs swill with so much silliness? I don’t even have a clue as to what the spinning terms are to which you’re refering. Someday I need a class.

  47. Omigod! I’m posting!
    I do have pics for you if you want ’em, and which I’ll toss on Flickr in the morning or something. I’m still in “survived!” mode and that’s about all — remember, some of us had been there for days when y’all strolled in! Ooof!
    ‘Tis plying, and we used to do it off terraces and balconies in Peru when I was a kid. It depends on the low whorl spindle, and on starting it with the hand roll thingy. But catching it? All Denny’s idea, and you can believe I wouldn’t have traded places since I just *finished* all the dental work. And uh. I can’t remember if I told Denny the half-hitches slipping were also a risk. So, yeah, those accidental clotheslinings during the Ripping Relay were definitely a fair risk. 😉 But next time… next time, she has to do the eggbeaters. I’m still queasy.
    I honestly can’t think of anybody but Denny that I’d even *consider* doing the catch with. She has nerves not of steel, but of pristinely combed and worsted-spun longwool, which I’d take over steel for that sort of application.

  48. So glad you had a good time. You really deserve it. Get some rest. Another wild weekend approaches!

  49. Wow! That whole adventure sounds divine. I can’t wait until my wee ones are old enough so I can escape for a knitting weekend (week?!) somewhere snazzy. Thanks for sharing with us!
    sarah

  50. Oh yes, very jealous… 🙂 What a fantastic time! I’ve only had the pleasure of meeting Denny a couple of times, but honestly? I already knew that I would love to have her as a friend. And now everyone else knows too! Way to steal the show… 🙂
    See you at Rhinebeck!

  51. Clearly, the reward yarn intended itself to be knit on the way to New Jersey. Fuhgettaboudit.
    See ya in Rhinebeck, girl.

  52. Dude, I thought you and Cookie untangling a skein of Fleece Artist while I was driving my car up Mulholland and trying not to make Cookie throw up was tricky.
    But Denny. Totally. Wins.
    (teeth!)

  53. You are a trooper. I haven’t even unpacked my camera and you’ve posted. Clearly not enough swill… Fiberguy’s shirt was fresh from his latest indigo dyepot. Glad you survived the fiberific barrage. Next year, sleep ahead of time.
    And we get do get Denny back, right? I’m looking forward to it.

  54. i am so excited to learn that you knew nothing. because if you knew nothing, then i know so much less than nothing. there’s nowhere to go but up, and that is really, really exciting.

  55. Oh my. Oh dear. I am a *Very Newbie* spinner. If you think you have a lot to learn…!!! Could a rank beginner survive at SOAR?!

  56. Ohh I’m so jealous! I won a scholarship to SOAR for the whole week in 2004 and I swear I had the best time of my life! And yes you have to watch out for Dan and his swill. It was great swill, but very dangerous none the less. I’ve told everyone I know that it’s like going to the best summer camp in the whole world with 250 people who are just as fiber obsessed as you are! I got to hang out with Dan and Phreadde, Pat Bullen, Judith MacKenzie-McCuin, Katherine Alexander (I just love the colors she uses in her sweaters,) Sara Lamb and, the Dyeing Guru Deb Menz (who is my dyeing hero!) I was fortunate to have lunch with the wonderful scholarship committee, which included Rudy Amann and his wife. Rudy is the nicest person! I met fiber junkies from all over the world and learned so many things that I thought my head would explode! I mean, where else can you ask Sara Lamb a silk dyeing question when you run into her in the ladies room LOL! It was so inspiring and the people I met where so talented. Then there was the really goofy parts, like the frog hair drop spinning contest. We had a blast and I’m really hoping I get to go again next year. Glad you had a great trip.

  57. Aaargh! Enabling again! Stoppit stoppit stoppit, I really do NOT have anywhere to put a wheel. Or any more fibrey stuff. Maybe when I move…noooo! *runs screaming into the distance*

  58. Oh, I am definitely going to have to attend SOAR sometime. It sounds beyond wonderful. (though I will have avoid the swilling!)

  59. In college, one of my freshman year teachers put this four-square box on the board and told us that this is what our college careers (and, indeed, life) would be like:
    knowing nothing, but not realizing
    knowing nothing, and realizing that
    knowing quite a lot, but not realizing
    knowing quite a lot, and realizing it
    I think this is so awesome! It makes me really excited to think about learning new things as this big cycle.

  60. LOVE the stupid yarn tricks, and the tag-team unravel… it should become an olympic event. AT LAST, someone figured out how to get some exercise into a sitting-sport.
    Should be done at all knitting bees and fiber shows!!!

  61. Wow – I know what you mean about taking a class from Judith Mackenzie McCuin!! I attended 2 Md Sheep and Wool classes one year when I had the chance – then I got to have the fun of helping bring in the fleeces for the fleece sale the next year. It was a blast – which turned into a big overload of info when Judith showed up to judge the fleeces and gave a bunch of us a impromptu class on fleeces!! Talk about overload of awe!
    Someday I would love to follow her around for a week and just absorb the knowledge she gives off!!
    Someday I hope to attend SOAR- I know it will overload me totally!!

  62. Denny could do with some anti-perspirant!!! check out those humungous sweat pit patches!!!! Urgh!

  63. Thanks for this post, it was inspiring. I just started spinning, and the reason I worship it already is that you can get good enough in one day to make actual, usable yarn – but there is such a far, far way to go to master it. Reminds me of playing drums, which I also do. I want instant gratification but a long, long learning curve to keep me interested.

  64. Yeah I know the sweaty pit thing, but I’m a hippy and we don’t plug up our pits with crap. Silly yarn tricks are nerve racking. Not only do I not use anti-perspirant, I don’t even shave.Hows that for image before your morning coffee? Sorry if my sweaty pits gross you out.I had no idea I was that stained under the pits. Sorry everyone. I blame it on the swill.

  65. I test patterns for Joan Sheridan Hoover! She’s also the owner of my favorite yarn shop! I’m so glad you got to meet each other! (Sorry for all the excitement. I won’t use any more exclamation points. Promise.)

  66. I had reservations for SOAR and cancelled at the last minute — I’m feeling pangs of regret. Perhaps next year. Sigh.
    Ditto what everyone has said about Joan and her shop — it is indeed fabulous.

  67. Great pictures and story! Thank you so much for sharing.
    I haven’t given into the craving to start spinning my own yarn, but I may soon if I keep reading about it!

  68. Realist, if that’s the only thing you saw in this post, you must live a very sad, small life, and I’m sorry for you.

  69. Personal criticisms from anonymous emails are unacceptable on this blog. Kindly conduct yourselves accordingly. (And my armpits are unshaved too.)

  70. I think you guys just invented a workout program for knitters. We can erase the image of knitters always sitting down and getting no exercise right now. Upper body workout via the spinning of yarn, cardio workout while jogging and spinning to create skeins of yarn — the possibilities are staggering. And practical. You get healthy and create yarn to feed your obsession at the same time.

  71. It looks like so much fun! What a great event. Can’t wait to see some of your spinning, and hear what you’ve learned!

  72. Denny, I commend you and all the other all-natural girls out there! You go, girl. (Love the stupid yarn tricks, too! Looks like you guys had waaaay too much fun.)

  73. Thank the fiber gods and the US/Canadian postal system!!! I can now stop calling every customer who has ever bought that yarn in that color and begging them to give it back. Funny, most just said “Not a chance” and hung up the phone. . . .some laughed hysterically at the request and one, well, I cannot repeat what one said, but trust when I tell you it was a definite “no”. . . . .
    I hope you thoroughly enjoy your reward 🙂

  74. I love these enthusiastic posts about SOAR. What will happen next year do you think when all the reader’s of this and Abby’s and Joan’s etc decide to sign up for SOAR? There is a draw of only about 250(?) out of all who apply. Madness will ensue and tears will flow. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

  75. Gotta say that you first-timers were most welcome – you all totally *GOT* SOAR and helped raised the Goof Quotient which really has to be A Good Thing.

  76. Phew, I feel tired just reading about it. Sounds like you all had a fab (and kookoo) time SOARING together.
    So will you have your reward yarn all knitted up in time for Rhinebeck? (In your case, I wouldn’t be at all surprised!) Hope to see you there.

  77. Wow, how fun and exciting! Definitely worth the lack of sleep, I think.
    Joan Sheridan Hoover is lovely and brilliant. I bought my wheel from her store, Heritage Spinning & Weaving in Michigan – she was a great help in helping me to decide which wheel was right for me. It’s a great store in a beautiful little community. I try to go whenever I get stateside.

  78. Go Denny Go! That’s SO WILD!! SOAR looks wonderful, maybe it will come closer to my neck of the woods soon. Did Denny finish her 7 shawl project in time for SOAR? Her project was really cool, I thought. If she finished, or almost, maybe that’s a blog story?

  79. Totally unrelated to your blog today but I wanted to share this with you.
    Today I had to go to court. My main concern was that my knitting would not be allowed. Since I couldn’t knit for an hour, I decided to read about knitting. I took “At Knit’s End” with me.
    The judge said it was an informal meeting but that he would have to swear me in but no Bible was required. It wasn’t until after I had promised to tell the truth that I realized I had my hand on “At Knit’s End.” While I already knew that I would not lie in court, it seemed to add extra concern that if I lied, my knitting might suffer. What if it made me forget how to knit socks? Or maybe I wouldn’t find more of a certain sock yarn I am looking for.
    Is my mind warped or what?

  80. You look like you are having SO much fun! I’m happy you met Joan Sheridan Hoover, she’s such a fine person… when I’m lucky I teach at her store (which is 2.5 hours from my house).
    It sure is wool weather today, maybe I’ll actually get out the spinning wheel for a change. Thanks for the reminder.

  81. I can only imagine what anyone else nearby might have thought about all of these antics. Indeed, I would not have believed any of it without photographic evidence.

  82. You are a lucky lady to have been at SOAR. I agree completely about Maggie Casey. She taught me how to drop spindle and is now teaching me about wheels. She is possibly the nicest person I’ve ever met in my life. She makes me not scared of being young and in fiber love. Plus she gave me part of a really nice fleece to learn with and encouraged me not to steal baskets from Target, even though they’re perfect for fleece washing. I won’t divulge whether or not her encouragement worked. *wink*
    And Margaret Stove! I mean, were you speechless?

  83. I feel better. Kathy was beginning to make references to my two cones of SPM brown, kinda circling it verbally like a shark about to snatch it from me. Better than her jumping off the building I guess.

  84. SOAR looks like a blast. I’m sure just going to the market would be worth the trip.
    Can’t wait to see the sunrise jacket finished. I’ve admired it for a long time, but it looks like it might run short. Look forward to seeing what you do with it.

  85. Of course Denny owned SOAR. Only Denny can own SOAR. According to my daughter, Denny is a fun grown up, more fun than me, and one of her BFFs. That takes skill that goes beyond the spindle.

  86. I am so glad that you got to meet Joan. I am fortunate to be taking a class from her this year! Sounds like you had a blast.

  87. Oh g.d. it, how did you KNOW I have a whole fleece of merino to spin up? You vixen! Aargh! Now I not only need to buy a book I didn’t know I needed, I need to find out where SOAR is next year, and go.
    Vixen!

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