To Spin, Or Not To Spin...

I spent last weekend with two great friends at the Magnolia State Fiber Festival.  It. Was. Awesome.  Seriously.  Not only did I get to take two great classes, I also shopped for fiber, stayed in a lovely B & B, and ate so much my doctor would have an absolute fit. Sad thing is, I only got one picture.  That’s right, just one.  And what is it of?  Yarn?  Fiber?  My classes?  My good friends?  No, dear readers, it was of this:

Walnut Hills, I love you.

My cheesecake.  Turtle cheesecake from my dinner at Walnut Hills (which we go to every year).   I KNOW, right????  It’s like a whole, personal cheesecake just for me.  I couldn’t finish it.  *sigh*

Let me repeat:  It. Was. Awesome.

I took two classes, the first on Fair Isle knitting with instructor Donna Peyton.  She was such a good teacher, that before we left to come home, I’d finished this:

Look!  No puckering!  Woot!  Unfortunately, I did not take the class in time for this:

My Steampunk Pullover.  It is puckered.  You can see from the picture that there is something decidedly wrong with the neckline.  Or rather, I think the neckline would be fine if the colorwork wasn’t puckered from my pre-class stranded colorwork skills.  Will I pull it out and reknit it?  

Heck no.

I am still hoping for the best with blocking.  I’d appreciate your warmest woolly thoughts sent in my direction for a favorable outcome.  If not, I WILL be forced to pull out the neckline and see if I can make it look like it was meant to fit a human instead of some sort of alien creature with no shoulders…

The second class I took, also by Donna Peyton, was on drop spindle spinning.  It was fun.  And informative.  And didn’t help my lousy spinning efforts one bit (no fault of Donna’s - she was awesome).  I think I have a spinning disability.  It’s not just about thick and thin yarn.  It’s about not being able to keep the darned drop spindle spinning, as well as not being able to keep what yarn I DO spin from slipping off the spindle.  I hacked my own spindle last night and placed a notch to help prevent the problem, but then I developed a new issue with actually breaking the yarn (she sighs with deep frustration).  

I MUST learn this skill.  Why, you ask?  Because of this:

This was my haul from the festival.  Yes, I was so optimistic about the class that before I even took it, I bought this absolutely lovely and incredibly soft and yummy Corriedale roving.  I HAVE to learn how to spin this fiber.  If not, I’ll have to pull it out of my stash at least once a week to pet it.  How sad…

You’ll notice my haul was relatively small this year.  That’s because my favorite vendor, Denise with Lost City Knits, was unable to attend the festival due to a family emergency.  She was sorely missed and she’s on my heart as I write this.

I had a wonderful time and was inspired all over again for my knitting (and spinning - sort of) and I can’t wait to see what’s next.  Colorwork is definitely in my immediate future!

Lisa