it’s classy, alright . . .

one of the downsides of teaching at events is that i rarely, if ever, get to take classes from my esteemed colleagues. but here at the spinning loft spring retreat, things are different. i get to take beth’s spinning class each morning and she gets to take my lace knitting class each afternoon—a real win-win.

i am so thrilled to be spending four. mornings.—in a row—at the wheel, i can hardly stand it; i haven’t spent that much time spinning in a long, long, time.

and not only that, but you’ll never guess who is sitting right next to me at the louet wheel here . . .

it’s our good friend anne marie, yay!
i’m so excited to be spending this week with her at the retreat, whee!
and look, she’s wearing her new crooked walking shawl.

let me back up just a bit and tell you where we are . . .

we are staying and working at the pheasant field bed and breakfast in pastoral carlisle, PA. the area is just lovely—not completely rural as it once must have been, but far enough off the beaten track to provide quiet nights and great walking in the morning (if you get up before rush hour begins).

today in spinning class, we mostly worked on tweaking things about our wheels to achieve comfortable spinning of very fine yarn. armed with a nice-sized little bump of white polwarth top

we each explored various adjustments to make the takeup as light as possible, in order to spin ever-thinner singles without breaking it or losing control.

pretty good, huh? not as thin as some people can do, but not too bad . . .

even at that, it’s going to take me a while to fill the bobbin, haha. that amount was the result of almost three hours of spinning time; i didn’t take many breaks.

after lunch, we gathered in the dining room for an advanced lace class. we are doing part of my usual curriculum each day and the rest of the session will be devoted to a shawl project—either pine and ivy or LOVe.

as you can see, everyone is working pretty hard—not a lot of talking and goofing around with this group; they’re serious. but lots of fun, too.

of course, there is plenty of time built in to relax—after class we spent a glorious hour or so basking in the sun on the patio. honestly??? never thought i’d see the day, this year.

i worked on my second sign of four sock; i’m really getting somewhere with this now. a few more inches (well, maybe six or so) and it will be done, yay.

last night and at lunch, i worked on my oval lace lace in sweet georgia cashSilk. beautiful, right? i’d give you a yarn link, but apparently, i can’t get into he server right now to navigate pages. , , , ,

and with that, i think i need to go to bed; my eyes are drooping and 5 am will roll around really fast. more later; i’m hoping to be back on friday with more.