Susan's Fiber Shop Spinning Retreat 2008 - Saturday

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Saturday was a lovely day here in Columbus, WI, and I got the chance to drive out to Susan's Fiber Shop, which is a building on her farm. Here's her barn and some of her sheep:

She had me try out a couple more wheels at her shop, including a Majacraft Suzie Pro and a Kromski Sonata. That Kromski is lovely -- the best thing I'd spun on all weekend, to date, and she let me bring it back to the hotel to spin on it some more during the rest of the day. (I'd wrestled with the Majacraft Rose at the hotel earlier in the day, and at various points in the afternoon and evening, and never did conquer that machine. The Rose is pretty, but fiddly, so I feel comfortable ruling it out as an option for my first wheel.)

I seriously considered buying the Kromski Sonata from Susan to bring back home with me on the plane, but later changed my mind after I was able to spin on a Lendrum for a bit. Now I'm back to my original thinking, that a Lendrum is probably what I'll end up with, and I don't feel the need to get one this weekend.

So, I won't be breaking my no-wheel-shall-cross-my-threshold-until-there's-room-in-my-house-for-it vow, at least not as of this morning. This gives me more time to declutter the house and make room for it, try out a few more friends' wheels, and most importantly, shop the wheel vendors at Maryland Sheep & Wool. I've waited this long; I can certainly wait another month.

Lots of other cool crafts, classes and demonstrations took place on Saturday, including shibetty-dyeing, shirret, braided rug making, spinning beaded yarns, sock machine knitting and navajo three-plying. Susan says she'll give me a one-on-one lesson of navajo-plying today, and I'm looking forward to that. I did get to try out a navajo spindle, and it's kinda cool but I was correct in my estimation that it won't be replacing my affection for top whorl suspended spindles.

All weekend long there's been a masseuse giving chair massages, which is a nice bonus. I've yet to avail myself of that benefit, and probably won't, as I have to leave to catch my flight in early afternoon.

So, I will end this, but direct you back to my Flickr photoset, where I've added more photos from yesterday.

Thanks for stopping by!

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