The Sun Comes Out, with Spinning

Finally -- two days in a row with the sun peeking out. It even hit 60 degrees (15 C).

Honestly, I can't take another Michigan winter. If I weren't homesick enough for NYC already, this winter just put me over the top. Winter here lasts far too long and is way too lonely.

But this week there's been the sound of a few birds and a smattering of green grass blades pushing their way through the brown. I even saw a bat. No barn swallows yet, and I imagine we may get a bit more snow (there's usually one last burst in April), but at least it's showing signs of drawing to an end.

Wool Shop Sleepover

So last week the inimitable Abby Franquemont came to teach at the Spinning Loft, and there was a sleepover on Friday night. What fun!

Her workshop on Saturday was on spinning sock yarn, and since the shop wasn't too busy, I got to sit in on nearly the entire class. It was fantastic. Here's the yarn I spun in class from two lovely colors of Blue Faced Leicester:

I think it actually looks like sock yarn.

Abby had beautiful samples for us to spin. This is Karaoke soy silk in a colorway called Mermaid. Mmm.

More Karaoke. Not so beautifully spun; I need more practice with the soysilk.

More samples from Abby. She showed us how to prepare roving to get consistent colorways for two separate socks. Cool, eh?

An Abby batt. Fiery! Only place you can get them is at the Loft. They are luscious; you could eat them with a spoon.