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Learning Opportunities

It has been a cool spring. I would complain, but the air conditioning in my car doesn't work right now. The heat does. Therefore, cool weather is good.

Being comfortable in my car will be important, as there are several events coming up in the next few weeks and even in a few months.


This Sunday afternoon, 22 April 2018, Debbie Held will be teaching a class called "Love Your Blending Board" at Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance. I have a beautiful Whispering Woodturner blending board (see photograph, above) I bought a couple years ago at the last Spring Fling. I have used it a little bit. I know I am not using it to its full potential. You can imagine my delight when I saw this class on the schedule. Debbie is a regular contributor to Spin-Off magazine. And she is an evangelist for blending boards. She does lots and lots of things on blending boards that many of us would do instead on a drum carder. That isn't to say a blending board can replace a drum carder. They are different tools with their own strengths and weaknesses. But a drum carder costs roughly 10 times more. Depending on how much you spin, what you like to spin, how much craft budget you have, and how much storage space is in your craft room, you may find a blending board is a much better value. If you want to see the gorgeous yarns Debbie has made, check out her Ravelry page (doodler01) here. Yes, this is why we spin.

Coming up at the end of the month are two weekends of, "No, I don't own a time turner. Why do you schedule like this!?!" If we are going to have physicists and miles-long particle colliders, would somebody please come up with a way to attend two events at the same time? I'm happy to report Unwind is sold out. Those of us heading to Blowing Rock, North Carolina 27-30 April are going to have a great time. However, the inaugural Georgia Mountain Needle Arts Festival will be happening that same weekend in Ellijay, Georgia. That looks like a pretty fine time, too.

The following weekend is just as treacherous. The first weekend of May is, of course, Maryland Sheep and Wool. Although Cuddly Hubby is working from home for a few months, he still has a Maryland man cave. And since rent on the man cave is double our monthly mortgage payment, you can bet I am making use of the place. If I were going to be in town, however, I would be taking classes with superstar Anne Berk. Anne is the expert on intarsia; and she is this spring's Atlanta Knitting Guild superstar. Anne will be at the May guild meeting on Thursday 3 May, and then teach classes Friday through Sunday. Information on the AKG website here.

Farther down the calendar, I'm sorry to report that Georgia FiberFest will be taking the year off. However, Cat Bordhi is still coming to Georgia! Cat will be teaching a weekend-long workshop 6-8 September at Trillium Vineyard. The package includes lunches and wine tasting, as well as plenty of instruction from Cat Bordhi. More information here.

Oh, and don't forget that this Saturday, 21 April, is Local Yarn Store Day. While we can sometimes find what we want online, it is very hard to feel the texture and softness of a yarn or to accurately match colors using a computer screen. If you love your local yarn store, please remember to support it!

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