Thursday, January 24, 2008

we plucked, we fluffed


do these faces look happy? we were all exhausted by this point, but only in the best possible way! thanks, lexi for an incredibly inspiring and energizing weekend of mad spinning fun!

here are about a million pics (editing is not a skill i possess) and i'll try my best to explain what's happening in each:

this is the 'sharing table', stocked by lexi and augmented by generous classmates. all kinds of treasures (doll parts, peacock feathers, paper flowers, tiny bananas) could be found here and spun into our yarns... on the right is pam (resident spinning teacher at Brooklyn General, where the workshop took place) and her beautiful wheel.

we learned how to make 'crazy batts' by repeatedly sandwiching five or more assorted fibers into the drum carder...

we learned how to spin our own homemade felted nublets (technical term) into our yarn...

mary made us all jealous with her brand-spankin' new country spinner. the size of the bobbin promptly inspired anne to name it jeff stryker, and jokes about mary's huge 'orifice' (technical term! swear!) ensued for the entire weekend...

lexi's demonstrations defied every rule of traditional spinning...

...she showed us how to incorporate bits and bobs of ribbon, lace, sequined fabric...

there was talk of spinning gertie into a yarn...

tiny vintage paper flowers were one of my favorite add-ins...




...but the fantastic needle-felted heart, mouse, and bear from FeltStudio UK were definitely the biggest crowd-pleasers!





i think we were all amazed by the yarn we produced!

if you feel awed and inspired, a new session of beginner spinning begins february 4 @ brooklyn general. you'll have to get your basics down before you can take one of lexi's workshops, but she had so much fun here in nyc, she's already planning her next trip! get yourself on the BG e-mail list to stay in the loop, or if you're not in the nyc area, keep an eye on lexi's blog.

2 comments:

Keepitmoving said...

I'm totally totally jealous! I think I need to learn how to do this and then hide away at the hodge podge farm!

IF THE BIRDS KNEW said...

Dude AWESOME...the whole thing just rules all the yarn and happiness. and gertie OH GERTIE always beautiful.