Retreating With Fiber

The weeks have been flying by as I've been working to get the shop ready to open the first weekend in April, and also time has flown in fibery goodness in preparation for the first "show" of the year. This is a wonderful winter retreat sponsored by the Fibernet guild in Lewiston, West Virginia. Over thirty talented hand spinners gather at Hawk's Nest State Park Lodge twice a year and revel in fiber and friendship.

Three days of spinning bliss

I would go to this retreat even without a chance to sell my fiber, but being able to set up a table is an added bonus to a wonderful weekend. I'm in good company; some wonderful fiber was offered from several local farms and dyers.

Fiber and supplies from Greenberry House

Thanks to Linda, who came and spent an entire weekend helping me with carding some wonderful Shetland wool from Thistle Cove Farm that I had dyed, I had some beautiful fiber to offer to interested spinners. Lots of Bryspun needles went home with knitters as well and there is some dyeing in the future of some of these fiber mavens who picked up the Greener Shades dyes.

The view from our balcony

The weather was nearly perfect; some thunderstorms and a tornado warning not far away added some tension to one evening. Sadly there were some serious weather related incidents during the weekend elsewhere. But compared to the weekend two years ago, which was the year of the snow, this year was almost like spring! Snow started falling just as we were leaving on Sunday but we made it to Virginia with no problems after a terrific visit to Tamarack.

Linda went with me to help out and I think she enjoyed the event as much as I did. It was restful and we met some wonderful new fiber friends and reconnected with some old ones. I'm looking forward to the next gathering!

What I'm spinning: Hand dyed Icelandic roving
What I'm knitting:
What I'm crocheting: Everything hibernating
What I'm reading: Dracula by Bram Stoker (Craft-Lit selection), Arabian Nights (1001 Books), I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: The roar of a March wind in the trees

'Tis the season...

...for tramping around in the snow as I visit wonderful friends nearby, for spinning gorgeous yarns for the shop and other projects and for settling books on the shelves here at the shop, ready for spring!

Concord Creek

Lily supervising my work

The almost complete book room

What I'm spinning: Plying Dorset singles from the summer's spinning
What I'm knitting: A charity scarf, fingerless mitts and Truly Tasha's Shawl
What I'm crocheting: A charity scarf, fingerless mitts and Truly Tasha's Shawl
What I'm reading: Dracula by Bram Stoker (Craft-Lit selection), Arabian Nights (1001 Books), Death Comes to Pemberly by P. D. James
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: The whisper of snow in the trees

February: Work and Contentment

Soft falling snow

We had a lovely snow fall Monday, with big drifting flakes that settled gently on the trees, only to vanish with the sunshine later in the day. Now it's colder and I have a fire in the wood stove downstairs popping cheerfully away as it warms the place.

Dye Day Yarns

The spinning muse has descended; I wish I could put aside all my other work and just spin, spin, spin in front of the fire. I managed to get some singles plied that I spun on the great wheel during demonstrations this past summer and dyed them up yesterday in bright colors for a project that Jane Plaugher of Fiber on the Mountain and I are working on together. I love creating these rich colors but it can be something of a challenge to work with them. This wool was reluctant to take the dye evenly for some reason. I now have a wonderful dye room here at the shop that will make the work much easier. Friend Linda loaned me two hot plates, which worked wonderfully well yesterday.

What I'm spinning: Dorset singles on my Reeves wheel
What I'm knitting: A charity scarf, fingerless mitts and Truly Tasha's Shawl
What I'm crocheting: Everything hibernating right now
What I'm reading: Blue by Lou Aronica, Dracula by Bram Stoker (Craft-Lit selection), The Warden by Anthony Trollope
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: The popping and crackling of a wood fire in a cozy corner

A Secret Garden

Before the rain this weekend I wandered back in the little woods behind the shop. There's a little neglected path back there, just behind a small dog house long unoccupied. I pushed through a few brambles and discovered a delightful little patch of daffodils breaking through the leaves in a cozy little clearing. There's a pile of rock above the clearing and it looks like there may have been a house back here at one time. I will have to discover the story.



Still working hard on the shop, with the idea of opening around the first of April. I've already had customers, though, and I'd be happy to see anyone that happens to be passing through. Just come on by. I'm taking a break this week to do some handspinning, though. I have lots of singles from demonstrating with the great wheel this summer and it's time they were plied and dyed.

What I'm spinning: Dorset singles into two ply yarn
What I'm knitting: Charity baby scarf, fingerless mitts and Truly Tasha's Shawl
What I'm reading: Blue by Lou Aronica, Dracula by Bram Stoker (Craft-Lit selection)
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: Deep Space Nine on Netflix

Nesting

The view from the shop

In recent years my cozy little cottage here on the mountain hasn't been quite as comfortable for me. I don't like to be negative, either here on the blog or out in life, so I don't talk much about the fact that my father moved in with me five years ago. It has caused some inconvenience, since the house is small and needs a lot of work, and the added expense of having my father there has kept me from doing a lot of the things I would like to the house. And since the house is small my share of the place is crammed up in one room, where I sleep most of the time and tried to work and have a life.

Yarn room at the shop

I'm blessed, of course, in still having both my parents and in relatively good heath, so this isn't really a complaint. But I'm doubly blessed, in that my uncle has allowed me to move my shop into the little house on Concord Road, which doesn't seem so little after so much time in so little space back at the house. For the past two months I've been happily working away at creating what I hope will be an inviting shop for book lovers and fiber fanatics with the help of friends and family. What I didn't realize until recently is that I've also been creating a retreat for myself where I can be surrounded by silence and the serenity I've often missed at home recently. I'm looking forward to meeting visitors at my little home away from home.

And I'm triply blessed in that my wonderful friend and fellow fiber maniac Chris of Woolybuns came for a visit this past week. It was wonderful to have a place for her to stay and for us to get together with local friends for a knitting fest. I don't know why I didn't manage to get any pictures but I'm sure she will be blogging about our adventures. We had a wonderful visit and I only wish the country was smaller so Connecticut was closer to Virginia!

What I'm spinning: Just finished plying "Bluegrass" hand dyed Romney singles
What I'm knitting: Charity scarf, Truly Tasha's Shawl and fingerless mitts
What I'm crocheting: Hibernating
What I'm reading: Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell, Dracula by Bram Stoker (Craft-Lit) and The Golden Ass by Apuleius (1001 Books)
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: The wind in the trees

A Blue Ridge January

January in Meadows of Dan sometimes looks like this:



And then sometimes it looks like this:

What I'm spinning: "Bluegrass" Hand dyed, hand carded Romney wool from Thistle Cove Farm
What I'm knitting: Fingerless mitts and Truly Tasha's Shawl by Nancy Bush
What I'm crocheting: Hibernating
What I'm reading: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte for book club and
Current sounds & sights for spinning along: Craft-Lit podcast, Dracula by Bram Stoker

This lamp post in front of the shop delights me. I suppose because it reminds me of Narnia.