Spinning Retreat, Alpacas, Newborn Lambs, and Knitting.....

The Spinning Retreat from last weekend, February 1st until the 3rd, was so much fun. The Bayberry Spinners hosted the retreat and invited the RI Spinners to attend. The place was fantastic. The "house" was in Watch Hill, RI and is huge. It had a double kitchen, dining room, room for the food to be served in, sitting room and huge living room/great room for us to gather in. There were two wide staircases so no one had to navigate around anyone going up or down the stairs. The bedrooms and several baths were on the second and third floors with panoramic views of the ocean. There was also a terrific stone porch for us to sit and spin, knit, work with a drum carder, or just relax on. The food was tremendous and more than anyone could need. There was a "snack" table set up the entire weekend for nibbling. Wine, water, soda, and coffee were available to all whenever they wanted a drink. There was much laughter, spinning, knitting, sharing, and good fun happening. There was even a sock teaching session and a fiber/yarn swap held.

One of the retreat participants mentioned a local alpaca farm and arrangements were made for a visit. These sweet animals let us feed and pet them until our hearts content. They were so friendly, trotting up to the fence, as they were making humming noises at us. I would love to attend another retreat in the future.

My wrist was a bit sore on Monday, but I think I moved it the wrong way while helping to rearrange the furniture. I lifted the sofa with the hand more than the wrist. I still have tightness in the mornings, but, work it out during the day until it doesn't hurt as much.

I decided to buy a Woolee Winder, which was being offered for sale on Ravelry, for my wheel. It came in Friday, but I need to finish the bobbin I have on the wheel before switching it to try it out and have fun with it.

Last Wednesday evening was the Panera meetup with Marva and Donna. We knit, ate, and had a good time together as usual. Yesterday, Saturday was our monthly Spinner's Guild meeting. It was held at Jen's house. Her ewes are delivering lambs this week. There was a week and a half old, a two day old, and a one day old lamb for us to see. The oldest is white and the other two are black or brown. They are just so sweet and precious to see. I went to The Beads Go On with Marva after the meeting, but was good and didn't buy anything.

Today, I had to buy a new driveband for my wheel, so Marva met me at the LFS. After that, we decided to go to Sakonnet Purls, since she had never been there. Because I knew how to get there I drove. I also knew, thanks to an email newsletter from them, they had solid Alpaca Sox Yarn in as well as a book I was interested in. I came home with both these items plus yarn for socks from the sale shed. Marva shopped for some goodies, too. From there we went to Cracker Barrel in Coventry for delicious pork chops. They have an antique drum carder on one wall and sock blocker on another wall. No spinning wheel though. We headed across to the SuperWalmart, did some shopping, and came out of the store to snow falling so hard, you couldn't see in front of you. The squall stopped before I got back to her car in Warwick. Then I headed home for the night to fix my driveband and spin or knit. I've restarted my Pi Shawl four times now and hope this time it's correct.