Spring Yarn School 2010

Yarn School was April 22-25 and as always, it was fabulous. Nikol consistantly provides an amazing forum for learning, inspiration, laughter and rejuvination. The food Nikol makes for us is delicious (I still think she should make a Yarn School cookbook) and there’s alway plenty of coffee available.

This spring, probably around half of the participants were repeats and the friendships that had been made in past sessions were immediately rekindled. Many of those repeaters brought friends with them as well, so the quiet politeness that usually happens on Thursday night was replaced with raucous laughter.Adrian and Jennifer are knowledgeable and patient teachers — their spinning talents stun and inspire me. I have to say that I’ve always been equally inspired by my fellow attendees. Yarn School welcomes both the absolute newbie and the most advanced spinner.

Adrian’s dyeing skills are almost beyond description. She knows what the possiblities Jacquard dyes can provide PLUS she has a wonderful color sense — bundle that all up in one funny and talented person and you come up with stunning fiber and yarn.

This was my sixth time attending Yarn School — I’ve got four times as an attendee and twice and a Yarn Zombie/helper — and I still come away with the same rejuvination and excitement as I did after the first Yarn School I attended. Nikol, thank you for making all this happen.

For more pictures go HERE.

Yarn School Spring 2009

Whew!  Spring Yarn School has come and gone!

 I went as a helper again, along with Ana and Jen M, and we were the dish washing, fiber rinsing, towel gathering, table busing, chicken rangling, airport shuttling, laundry doing, Yarn Zombies — all in all, we made a good team.  There were two teachers, Adrian and Jen S and then, the grand Poo-Baa, Nikol, who made the whole thing roll.  This spring, there were twenty students, many of whom were attendees for a second and even third time.  Everyone was great — we all had our wheels in a giant circle and we would laugh and spin when we weren’t in the dye lab, carding or eating.  Jan absolutely kept everyone in stitches and Rachel laughed till she fell out of her chair.  There was amazing food (thank you Nikol — when are you going to put out a cookbook?!), wonderfully dyed fiber, lots of spinning and just plain fun.

If you’ve never been to Yarn School, I would HIGHLY recommend it — you’ll leave exhausted & revived!

More pictures can be found here & here!

Lemonade Stand Award

What a nice surprise!!  Claire, from “Is This Heaven?  No, This Is Iowa!”, has passed the baton of the Lemonade Stand Award to me.  The Lemonade Stand Award represents “gratitude and/or a great attitude.”  Well, that will put a smile on your face!  Claire has a great blog about farm life in Iowa and she’s a knitter and beginning spinner to boot.  Top it off with a very good sense of humor and you’ve got some good reading!

So, here are the RULES of how the Lemonade Stand Award works:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post
2. Nominate 10 blogs that show gratitude or great attitude or both
3. Be sure to link your nominees within your post
4. Let them know they have received this award by commenting on their blog
5. Share the love and link this post to the person whom you received your award from

That said, here are my nominees:

House of Cardis — Kristine has three Cardigan Welsh Corgis, takes beautiful photographs, is an amazing dog trainer and great writer.

T H E . T H R I F T Y . K N I T T E R — Nikol is a powerhouse of energy and creativity.  She is the energy behind The Harveyville Project, Yarn School and artclub, she can crank out lovely batts like you wouldn’t believe, is a fellow Harveyville Spinster and my partner in the Color Source Books.  Plus, she has sheep AND chickens — so jealous . . .

A Whirled Yarn —  Jennifer is an amazing spinner and her yarns are just works of art.  Last year she opened she opened Settlers Farm yarn shop in Wamego, KS and this past week had the first annual Woolfest.  Again, she’s a fellow Harveyville Spinster and teacher at Yarn School, & she has sheep AND chickens too.  Hmmm, still so jealous . . .

Sarah’s Homestead Blog —  Sarah spins and dyes amazing rovings and yarns and has Maisy Daisy Handspun.  I met Sarah at Yarn School (she’s a GREAT teacher) and she has helped me fine tune my spinning and dyeing.  Yep, you guessed it, she has chickens too.   *sigh*

Hello Yarn — Adrian, spinner extraordinaire and she has a color sense like no other — her hand dyed rovings are lush and good luck if you can get into her fiber club!  Another teacher at Yarn School that is generous with her knowledge and laughter.  No chickens but a darn cute pup named Pippa.

Snowangels — Ana is a talented designer, knitter and photographer (do you really think I could have taken those pictures of my feet wearing my socks?!) & she does some fine lettering as well.  It’s great fun hearing about her kitties and Blythe dolls (she knits the best sweaters for those little dollies).

Ruffly Speaking — I’m love reading about Joanna’s Cardigans and her great knowledge of the breed.

Posie gets Cozy — Such an inspiring website!  Alicia is a fabulous crafter, great photographer AND she has a darling Cardigan named Clover.

Miss Alice Faye — Beautiful lace knitting and spinning — just inspiring.

Okay, this one is sort of a honoree because the blog has closed but it still up.  Cupcake Blog — The YUM factor here is over the top!

“Hooray Sheep!” spinning

That Adrian from Hello Yarn has such a color sense. The corriedale “Hooray Sheep!” colorway was our freebie in our goodie bag from Yarn School and I decided to spin it up this week.

It just looks like honey and was such a pleasure to work with!

The end result was 376 yards

I had some great company while I was spinning — this is Sam and Louis on the sofa, just to my left, as I was spinning. So Cute!

Fall 2008 Yarn School

I can’t believe that Yarn School has come and gone so quickly.

Talk about a whirl wind of spinning, dyeing, good food, old friends, new friends, new techniques, practicing already learned skills, lots of chocolate and coffee and flat out fun. The excitement of the participants was infectious and my mind was just buzzing when I saw all the rovings hanging on the line to dry with their vibrant colors. Last but not least, that food was outstanding with our chef’s this fall being Marissa and her mother Maria. Nikol rocks — she knows how to put on a great party!

Our ever knowledgeable instructors Jennifer and Adrian.

Wildcat Hollow alpacas (I wanted to take one home).

We’re waiting for the parade (and candy) at the Harveyville Fall Festival.

The ever charming couple, Ron and Nikol, the people that make the Harveyville Project run.

Some of the rovings I dyed.

I took a multitude of pictures and it’s been hard to sort through them all and decide which ones to post, so here are a few and the rest are posted here on flickr and at the Fall Yarn School flickr group here.

Fiber Frenzy — Spring Yarn School 2008

An U-Haul of fiber, new friends, old friends, fabulous food (thank you Nikol), coffee, chocolate, laughter, Sugar Foot & Freddie (the house cats), sore feet, dish pan hands — how do you describe a fabulous week in Marveyville, oops, I mean Harveyville, KS. I think I’ll just let my pictures speak for themselves . . .

Friday morning in the dye lab . . .

my lot of fiber dyed, wrapped, microwaved and cooling . . .

everyone’s rinsed rovings drying . . .

carding is everyone’s friend . . .

helpers Marilyn & Jen and teacher Sarah — always smiling . . .

the wheels in the gym . . .

lunch outside on Sunday — instructor Jennifer, Laura and Nikol with Wokie the goat . . .

the yard at Wildcat Hollow Alpaca’s . . .

Ed and his crew . . .

the dogs guarding the alpaca . . .

Ana gets a kiss from an admirer . . .

Marilyn with the Jepson Pottery Studio cat — he’s almost bigger than her!

John Wise took this great group shot. Thanks John!

Even more pictures can be seen here.

WOO! HOO! It’s time for . . .

I’m driving down today to help Nikol & Co. get things organized for the big event. All the attendees start arriving on Thursday and then we’re off to the races. I’ve been looking forward to this all winter and I don’t care if it rains, this is going to be such a fun time.

Mittens done!

Finally, I’ve gotten my mittens done!! Yipee!!

The colors photographed a bit on the hot side, but it’s still a fairly good representation (hopefully, I can get a better pic posted soon). I really loved doing the stranded color work and think I may need to do a bit more of it in the future.

My big exciting news is that I get to be a helper at Yarn School in April. How much fun is that going to be?!?!?!?! I have a big smile on my face.

Imogen

Progress is being made on my Imogen sweater. Since it is hand-painted yarn, I’ve been alternating rows between the three pull balls of yarn. It makes the color more evenly dispersed, but it’s a pain to untangle the yarn after knitting a few rows.

I had hoped to have it finished by now, but my spinning wheel has been calling my name. I’ve started spinning some of the fiber that I dyed and carded at Yarn School. I had never used a drum carder before Yarn School and got totally hooked on them. Some of the fiber I had dyed in the lab, ended up felting in the washing process and I thought it was ruined. Someone suggested that I card it, and low and behold, out came this beautiful, fluffy fiber!! After that, I started carding several of my other rovings — ones that I had been more experimental with the color on — and ended up saving several of them. Yes, a drum carder is now on my “must have” list.

learning curve

I attended Yarn School in Harveyville, KS in September and was in total heaven. Fiber, food and fun for all! There’s a great picture set on Flickr showing all the attendees, teachers, the facilities, and loads of wool. I had my first lessons in spinning — the first evenings try at it was totally frustrating, but when a kindly, more experienced spinner lent me her wheel and gave me some wonderful tips, it all suddenly made sense to me!! Hallelujah!! Nikol and her partner have a wonderful set-up, having bought the old high school and grade school in Harveyville, and the instructors were so knowledgeable. Needless to say, I HAD to go out and buy a wheel.

Last Thursday my new Lendrum wheel arrived at my doorstep and the wool has been flying ever since. Sadly, a few of my knitting and crocheting projects are going to have to take a backseat while I play with my new toy. I’m having a bit of trouble plying my singles though . . . I know, practice, practice, practice . . .