I'VE BEEN TO CARDING COLLEGE

Home, back at work and having major SOAR withdrawal. Forgot to take the camera with me so have to take pictures now that I am at home.

My first three days were spent in Deb Menz's carding class. We spent a lot of time carding batts to her specs--complimentary colors, analogus colors, triads. The first day I was exhausted as I had been on my feet for six hours turning a drum carder. Eventually my body adjusted and it was not so painful. She had us matching a color swatch through carding. The results were the lovely batts in the picture (When I was finished with the class I went straight to the Post Office which was located right in the hotel and sent the biggest priority mail container home full of them). Deb was very generous with fiber.

The final day of the class was spent in carding batts and then spinning. My multicolored yarn should yield a scarf. I didn't ply them per her suggestion and will experiment knitting them up. I did process the yarn a la Katherine Alexander and they are now balanced singles and may produce some interesting results. Stay tuned.

Every day at SOAR there were so many things to learn whether from a teacher or a fellow student that my head is still reeling for the experience.

IT'S OFFICIAL

I threw caution to the winds this morning and registered for SOAR. I have never been to Pennsylvania before and am excited to visit the Poconos. My first choice for the workshop part of the retreat is Deb Menz's carding class and my second is the Estonian lace spinning and knitting with Judith MacKenzie and Nancy Bush. Vivian Hoxbro is also going to be teaching there and I hope to be able to take her class for the second half.

This has been/is going to be an exciting year for attending retreats. The dye retreat is coming up in June as is the ALA conference and Book Expo. Between retreats, day job and conference planning it's a busy year.