March 9, 2010

You Spin Me Round, Round…

…like a spinning wheel, round, round.

Our March Spin-and-Knit-In was this past Sunday. The monthly meet has been a tradition for some time, but this was my first time attending. There were regulars who also attend our weekly knit night, as well as at least one other person new to the Spin-N-Knit. I really enjoyed seeing others working on yet another aspect of the fiber arts…spinning! I feel very fortunate that I can spend so much time in a wonderland of yarn. What makes it truly special are the times like Sunday when I can enjoy the camaraderie of others who enjoy all the fibery goodness.

I have carded, combed, and spun a little fiber myself but never seriously pursued that part of the fiber arts. Everyone on Sunday really seemed quite good. They were all spinning some beautiful yarn. In the photo above our friend Bethany is spinning some fiber from the Hoobody Fiber Club offering for December, a blend of alpaca, silk, and merino in the colorway Meg named “Silver Bells”. I thought it looked as if Bethany was spinning ice and snow.

Hoobody?

If you haven’t yet heard of it Hoobody Fibers, and the Hoobody Fiber Club, are both exclusive to Yarn Expressions. Hoobody Fibers are hand dyed fibers and sock yarns created by Meg and sold only at Yarn Expressions. The Hoobody Fiber Club is available as a monthly subscription. Each month you’ll get four ounces of hand dyed beauty. You can choose to receive either spinning fiber or sock yarn, or both! Shipments are made monthly. Colorways are exclusive to the club for six months. While the number of subscriptions available are limited, we do still have a few spots available.

Ravelry

If you haven’t already joined Ravelry, the social networking website for all enthusiasts of the fiber arts, I would highly recommend that you do. There are many different ways you can utilize the site, the most powerful of which are as a means of sharing knowledge, patterns, resources (yarn swap!), and getting in touch with people of a like mind. According to Wikipedia, Ravelry had 600,000+ members worldwide as of January 2010. Yarn Expressions has its own group on Ravelry which acts as a sort of virtual knit-night-spin-day. If you decide to give Ravelry a try, be sure to look me up!

I’ve discussed both the Spin-N-Knit-In and Ravelry together in one post because they are both part of the fiber/yarn community. It is very difficult to create art in a vacuum (and dusty!) without the interaction of others and the knowledge of artists who have practiced the same craft. Both the community that is part of Yarn Expressions as well as Ravelry (and this blog for that matter) afford a way for us to interact, share ideas, and gain much more enjoyment from our craft than a book or website alone could offer. If you’ve been reticent to come to a knit night, or cautious about joining an online community such as Ravelry, I encourage you to dip your metaphorical toe in the community water and see how it can be a benefit to you.

Here’s hoping that the rest of your week is a good one.

~Bill

Filed Under: Spin 'n' Knit Sunday, Community

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