Abby Franquemont Saved My Relationship With Big Tom

I met some superstars of the fiber arts world this week...

Last weekend, I took a couple of classes with Abby Franquemont, author of Respect the Spindle.  Friday's class was on drum carded art batts.  Incredible!  I took my Big Tom drum carder and  in the course of a few hours our relationship changed entirely.  Abby enabled me to overcome Tom's attempts to intimidate me.  As much of an equipment junkie as I am, it was exciting to be in a roomful of all different models of carders.

Just a Few of the Drum Carders at Class

 We experimented with many different types of fibers.  Using different breeds of wool as a base, we added silk, alpaca, rayon from bamboo, firestar, hemp, and even some camel down.  It was pretty exciting to have these smooth and beautifully colored batts coming from Tom after just a couple of minor adjustments in speed and drum position. In the interest of time, we worked with pretty small amounts of fiber, so the batts turned out the size of rovings. 

Tom's First Batt of the Day

Abby Calls This "Yarn Porn"

 The class was so much fun and so inspiring, I packed Big Tom and brought him to Convergence with me this week.  Tonight he has been busy carding alpaca -- after making the licker in go a little slower and the big drum go a little faster, I'm getting the batts I was hoping for.  So far Tom and I have created six batts of approx. .6 ounces each.

But that's not the end of my Abby story.  On Sunday morning, I took another of her classes on spindle spinning for beginners.  I took it mainly out of curiosity, but she made me totally want to learn to use this tool effectively.  First of all, if you have ever seen one of her youtube videos, or better yet, her DVD verson of Respect the Spindle, you know that she is an incredible spinner.  I h.ave never seen anyone who can walk around and spin while talking the way she does.

In the beginner class, we obviously couldn't get that far, but we learned several basic spinning techniques -- enough that I can at least use a spindle now for sampling even if I don't yet have the skills to produce any significant amount of yarn.

Soapbox time:  Sorry I sound like a broken record, but I have to say, if you EVER have a chance to take a class from Abby or any other well-known fiber artist, DO IT!  I love it that spinning and weaving are still relatively niche arts, so our superstars are accessible.  And so far everyone I've had the good fortune to  study with has been incredibly down to earth.  Abby is extremely articulate and funny.  And has a wealth of stories to share.

Stepping down off soapbox now.

Spindle and Yarn from Sunday Workshop

So I came to Convergence with a car full of equipment:  Big Tom, a huge bag of washed alpaca, some beast waste, old silk thread that I'm going to shred and add to some batts, Bunny Watson and her accessories, a box of beads, fishing line, glue, and assorted items.  Oh, and a few articles of clothing.  Begrudging the space they took in the car.

I had planned to come down Monday morning, but had to go in to work for a few hours first.  While talking on the phone with a colleague, I pulled out my hotel reservation confirmation and realized that I had reserved Sunday-Friday instead of Monday-Saturday!  Still trying to figure out how I managed that one.  I hope I excused myself but I have a bad feeling that my adrenaline rush when I realized my mistake caused me to hang up abruptly.

Of course, my reservation had been canceled when I didn't show up.  After I begged and groveled for a few minutes, the hotel clerk took pity and gave me a room for just Monday - Wednesday nights.  Figuring I could commute from home the rest of the week if I really HAD to, I took it.  It was only after I checked in and paid for all three nights (non-refundable) that I though to try priceline.com.  For Thursday and Friday nights, I was able to get a room at a better hotel for just $10 more per night -- and less than the conference rate.  Hunh?   I'll have to move to a new hotel Thursday but it's better than having to commute.  Next conference I go to, though, I'm going to stay in the hotel nearest the conference location and check priceline before taking the conference rate!

I have a bad habit of misplacing my orifice threader, so I've been promising myself to make some and stash them wherever I usually spin.  Since I had a few quiet hours yesterday afternoon, I got out the beads and made twenty of them!  I used 50# test fishing line.  Cut pieces 12 - 16 inches in length, folded them in half and pinched to put in a permanent bend, slid on 2-3 beads, put jewelry glue on the cut ends of the fishing line, then slid the beads down to the ends.   They took only a few seconds to set up enough to stick without holding, and were completely dry overnight.  No more paper-clip orifice hooks for me!  Well, at least for the next week or two.

So today was my first day at Convergence!  I had so much fun volunteering in the vendor hall at Albuquerque, I went down this morning and volunteered to help with setup.  Spent a couple of hours helping vendors carry stuff from the loading dock to their booths, and got to talk with several superstar vendors. First, I met Henry Clemes and his son.  My first hand carders way back in the eighties were from Clemes & Clemes.  What a nice man, and so interesting.  He's just come out with a blending board that I saw on Sunday and that looks pretty interesting.  I'll have to stay away from his booth this week or my budget will be blown!

I also met Morgaine Wilder from Carolina Homespun.  We had been unloading her truck (with all kinds of tempting fibers and equipment) for half an hour before we thought to introduce ourselves. She carries lots of fibers I haven't had a chance to try yet. Can't wait to visit her booth tomorrow! 

Things got slow in the vendor hall, so I walked down to the Aquarium of the Pacific and wandered around for a couple of hours.  Saw a 4-D cartoon starring an anthropomorphic and politically correct turtle.  The fourth dimension turned out to be mostly fog and water sprayed from the ceiling at tactical moments.  But pretty cute film, nonetheless. 

I overcame my squeamishness enough to touch a jellyfish in one of the aquarium's "touching" exhibits.  To tell the truth, I didn't feel anything but the moisture in the tank.  I also got to pet a ray in one of the shark encounter tanks.  It felt like a wet rubber brush with really short nubs.  Could have petted a shark but I wasn't willing to stick my arm in the tank all the way to the elbow.

Back to the vendor hall, and spent the afternoon helping at the HGA booth.  If you notice the sock rack, yours truly and another volunteer priced and hung (hanged?) all those socks!

Vendor Hall in Progress

While today was great, the real fun starts tomorrow!