Oops and next show

And I was so intent on keeping up with this blog regularly... But life gets crazy and since my last entry I attended and sold spindles and roving at the West Virginia Fiber Festival on Sept 8-9. A nice show, only a few years old and still growing. With all the vendors selling fiber, my spindles fit in really well. As a result of those sales, I finally have the confidence to make more spindles. So, I have a dozen 3-inchers in process at this point. There will not be any 2-inchers made in this round. At this point, the spindles are built and the notches cut into their whorls. Hand sanding is not my favorite part of the process, but it must be done and I don't trust a machine to do it for me. Although, I have to say, after the second sanding, they are silky smooth. After that, the multiple painting and polyurethane layers. And finally, the setting of the hooks. My next show which is the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival at the Clarke County Fairgrounds on Sept 29-30.

Forever and future plans

School is over for this year (my last day was June 6) and while I have a couple school-related projects to work on this summer (when do teachers not have this), I'm putting them off and taking at least this week off before beginning on them. On the happy notes of Spindles and More, I sold two spindles a bit back (can't remember if I posted then or not) and I need to plan for another open house event, here at my home. I haven't chosen a date and I'll need to be careful to give myself plenty of planning, prep, organizing and baking time. I know I need to give several weeks notice for people to get the word out and I have to dodge the times I will be away from home as well (obviously). Incidentally, besides my spindles and hand painted scarves and blouses (the fundraiser for Talita Cumi), this time the open house may have some knitted bunnies for sale as well. I'll have to see if I can make them fast enough to be worthwhile as knitting them from sock yarn makes for the cutest small bunnies, but takes a lot of time for such a small critter. We'll see.

Another Success

Well, it was a rainy day today and we were all moved inside. It was cozy, guests did not have to walk far to move to the next vendor and the vendors got to see each other's skills and items without having to leave their own stalls. I'm pretty sure my spinning by spindle helped the others pass the time when we had lulls in guests. My first ever workshop went well and I've even thought of a few things I'll improve upon. I sold three spindles, Hubby-Guy sold one of my hats and between us we taught a whole bunch of people how to spin. Plus there were a few frustrated knitters who stopped by and when we chatted, I directed them toward the continental style. All three were lefties who struggled with "throwing the stitch." YouTube is a great resource for this because you can replay the videos over and over as you learn it. It is a bit late now, I need to unpack the bins, move stuff about and then get to bed because I have school in the morning. We are going into the last week of April and SOL testing starts the first week of May.

Success!

My first Earth Day event and it went really well. I sold three spindles and a bunch of roving. I should have tracked how many people I taught to spin, including the teenager who brought her friend over after she learned how and wanted to make another bracelet from her yarn. Several people asked me to host workshops on spinning with the option to sell as well. I'll need to follow up on the opportunities. I'll do EarthDay on the Greenway again next year, it was a lot of fun. I need to eat, prep more roving and pamphlets for tomorrow and get some sleep.

So this weekend...

This coming weekend I am going to be taking part in two EarthDay events. The first is Saturday, EarthDay on the Greenway, in Luray, VA. The next is Sunday, The Valley EarthFest in Berryville, VA. I am excited and apprehensive. The Greenway event will be my regular show and sale. This will get me back in practice for Sunday and my workshop in Berryville. Right now I am knitting on a t-shirt rug for my sister to stand on while she is at market on Saturdays. I may show off the rug at both events.

It is official, I'm facilitating at least one workshop

Plan ahead, spread the word... I'll be facilitating a workshop or two on spinning! Valley EarthFest 2012 will be hosted at The Barns of Rose Hill to benefit the facility's increasing environmental initiatives April 22 11-7pm. The basic description of the workshop is: Come learn a little about the history of spinning and other handcrafts, and learn how to make your own yarn out of natural fibers. Learn how handcrafts can become part of your entertainment, self-care and all while being practical and Earth-friendly. Participants will be able to keep the yarn they spin and have an opportunity to purchase handmade drop spindles at the end of the workshop.

Wow!!

Ok, absolutely SQUEAK!! For those who don't know me, this is the best way to exhibit my excitement and trepidation. I have been invited to do a workshop for a local EarthFest and I have to admit to be very excited and a bit intimidated! I truly believe the following statements I made in an email inquiry made earlier this year... To some extent, the concept of handspinning (using spindles) falls into several areas of life in the following ways: Entertainment- spinning, knitting and crocheting are all portable crafts that can be used to fill small bits of time while people wait, it can ease conversations by giving it a starter Self-care- in the form of a meditative and relaxing craft, which also produces items that can be worn, used, or given to others Earth-friendly- natural fibers (wool, silk, alpaca, llama, cotton) are a renewable resource, by spinning your own yarn, you know what is in it and can avoid manmade fibers Spinning, knitting and crocheting are skills that should be promoted and supported, they are an excellent way for people to gain a sense of accomplishment in their own skills. Now I have to figure out how to flesh this out and explain it in an entire workshop. I suppose the first step is to write back and accept the job...