The Unexpected Trip

Hi all! I'm back from my unexpected trip. Thursday morning I was browsing Ravelry when I came acrossed an open spot for a spinning class in Columbia. I called, reserved the spot, and off I went. Hubby is just great. While I dressed and packed he reserved a motel room for the night. By 1 o' clock I was out the door. Fortunately Columbia is very close to St. Louis, so I was there around three. I decided as long as I was coming up the night before I would visit the local yarn shops. There are actually three, but I only visited 2 of them during the trip. I went to Hillside Yarn shop on Thursday. It's a pretty nice store. Fairly large and carried yarns that I had never seen before. Lots Frog Tree and Trekking. I have a good friend that's having a girl in late April. I found the cutest little sweater pattern for her and some very pretty yarn. Oh yeah, they carry Brittney cable needles. I've been looking for these! I also found the coolest stitch markers in town. The lady laughed and said her daughter had made them, but the mother did not believe she would actually sell them. Funny huh! I can think of at least three or four friends that would think they are cool enough to buy.






On Friday I set off to the other fiber shop, True Blue, for the Spinning for Knitting class. The instructor was a woman named Merike Saarniit. She is a renown knitter and spinner. Merike was a fantasitc teacher. She had lots of tips that she shared with us. She explained the difference in spinning techniques and different types of fibers. She taught us how to spin woollen and the long draw method. Long draw is so fast! We got to spin lots of different fibers including a merino/silk blend, camel, cashmere, angora, Cotswold, mystery fibers, and mohair. She also taught us how to spin a perfectly balanced yarn and how to check for the right amount of twist. Additionally, we learn to spin slubby yarn on purpose, and adding mohair locks for art yarn. This is a lot of time consumer work. I had no idea! My hats off to those who make art yarns!




The class was from 10 to 5 and worth the money to learn some new things. Overall she told me I was a excellent spinner. It was a nice complement.

Of course there was fiber to be bought. A merino silk top (pink) like we used in class, some mohair, and pretty colored fiber that I thought might make a nice pair of winter socks.

Of course I started another sock to boot!

Comments

Columbia is a pretty good fiber city. They have some great yarn stores and nice people.
CraftyGryphon said…
It's nice to know "officially" that you're a really good spinner! And you found some lovely stuff that followed you home, too!

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