Home To

Luggage and laundry:



Lots of boxes to unpack:



But also pleasant reminders of how nice SOAR was. It was a great trip, a pleasant and cheerful SOAR with lots of happy times, quiet moments, and fibery conversations.

My workshop room was at the top of the complex, with a bonus beautiful view every way I could turn. Once my heart stopped pounding and I could breathe again, I enjoyed all the light and relative quiet at the top of the hill. SOAR can be non-stop visiting, and the quiet each day before and after class was a welcome bonus.

There was plenty of good food, plenty and good being the operative words, lots of late nights, and never enough time with friends seen only once a year. Thanks to Amy, I managed to score the recipe for Granlibakken's breakfast quiche, which helpfully starts with "mix 8 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of butter, etc." for the crust. The filling uses 90 eggs, and it goes on from there. Now all I need to do is find a Very Large Oven, and a few hundred friends to help me eat it.

The Yarn Harlot was very entertaining and sweet, and no bears or raccoons interfered with her talk, even though we were in a cold and drafty tent previously frequented by said raccoons. Stephanie? You wondered about a yurt for your potential backyard personal escape-space and studio? It would be a lot like that tent. In Toronto? Maybe not so much.

We took a few extra days in the mountains, which never hurts, but the weather started to turn just as we headed down the hill. I arrived home to blue skies and Fall weather here:



Inside the yurt, left on my desk, I found my my packing list, a reminder of just how much it takes to get everything ready:



Notice the checked-off things, lined-through things, and (ahem) the coffee stains? Frenzy and forgetfulness do not a happy couple make. But we made it through, and whatever I may have forgotten was either procured or not really needed. We spinners are nothing if not resourceful, and the SOAR staff really are there to help.

I'll spend the next few days in the yurt, which is waiting in the sun, beckoning:



What will I be doing? Well the first thing will be to start spinning that big bag of white roving in that photo above, from Francine at Rovings, and yes, most people buy the dyed stuff. Not me, not this time. I can (and will) dye it after I spin it up, any color I like. The potential sometimes seems overwhelming, in this whole world of fiber we inhabit: we can just about do anything we please. Too much fun.

I'll sit and spin after, that is, I unpack all of the above. Sheesh!