Storms, new spinning fiber and teaching venue

What a lovely spring surprise we had this week! Wednesday evening we had some severe storms pass through and a tornado touched down about 50 miles away, destroying/damaging about 90 homes and the local high school. Twice, the storms brought hail to my house and rain puddles in the lawn where they shouldn't be because the rain came so fast and hard that the ground couldn't absorb it all. Photos of the front yard and outside my kitchen porch:



Just before the storms hit, the mailman delivered my Phatfiber contributors box. (If you're not familiar with Phatfiber sample boxes, click here.) The theme this month was Sweet Shop and it looks like all the contributors are definitely sweets lovers! These are my contributions (clockwise starting in the upper left)--Cherry Divinity, Peppermint Twist, Licorice Cherry Swirl and Lollipop Lollipop




And last, but by far not the least important news, I'm teaching at the Great Lakes Fiber Festival this year! Spinning a Consistent Singles is scheduled for Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning we'll be working on Plying a Balanced Yarn. I love this show and have allowed myself time on Saturday morning to shop. Great vendors, lovely town, nice festival location, and really good lamb sandwiches! See you there?

Tweed yarn, at last!

I have finally managed to card wool and spin a tweed yarn that's to my liking. It's all about what kind of bits you add to the wool, and what kind of wool you use for the base--took me 3 months to figure that out! I'm finishing up the last of 2 skeins, then need to wash them, knit a sample and photograph both the skein and sample. Pix coming soon.....

I'm also working on the third and final installment of spinning my Posy Toes sock batts. Prepared the fiber while taking photos of the process this morning, and will have a new post up next week. Just not enough time today, with preparing for Easter dinner tomorrow (roast leg of lamb with mustard/soy glaze, spring peas, scalloped potatoes and coconut cake for dessert--yum!)

And I managed to get my Phatfiber samples in the mail in time for the April box. April's theme is "All Creatures Great And Small", and I was inspired by the Easter holiday and all those pastels in the stores to do something with lavendars and purples. I made 2 sets of samples--Little Blue Heron is the marbled spinning fiber, and Lavendar Waxbill is the new cashmere sock fiber.

Must run to check on the cake in the oven. See yinz next week!