Whee!  Just got back from the magical fiber tour of the Great White North.  Spent three days at the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat, at Lake Lawn Resort in Delevan, Wisconsin.  Took the Bast Fibers class from Stephanie Gaustad, learning how to spin flax, ramie and hemp.  Very, very educational.  Still working on how to use a distaff, but did manage to spin a bit of credible flax.  Bought a whole lot of fiber (including flax) at the wonderful Spinner's Market, which was very cool. 

Flew back home just long enough to repack, rent a car and drive up to the Mannings in Pennsylvania, to take the week-long Beginning Weaving class.  Also incredibly educational.  Got to weave on four different floor looms (a LeClerc, a Gilmore, a Schacht, and a Glimakra), weaving dish towels, a sampler, and a Noro scarf.  God, that was fun.  Made a scarf out of a ball and a half of Noro in just over 24 hours, that would have taken me weeks to knit and block.  Granted, I'm a really slow knitter, but even so, weaving is incredibly fast when you have someone like Tom Knisely showing you how.  Also snagged a fair bit of yarn and toys from their store, although I managed to keep the shopping frenzy to a minimum.  Sadly, now I want to buy another loom.  Have told myself that that can be my prize for finding a new job.  

Now back to the spinning wheel - one of my fellow weaving students wove her scarf out of handspun, and I was impressed with how it came out.  Now, of course, I want to try.  Fun!