Sheep to Shawl

Yesterday I did a fiber program for the library. They have had a knitting club since we opened the facility in 2005, and it was the sponsor of this group who asked if I'd be willing to do a presentation. The group has grown and become much more skilled at knitting so this is the array I brought to cover in my talk.
At my suggestion they called the program Sheep-to-Shawl - lots of wiggle room. I was a little taken back when I saw the flier noting that I'd be talking about everything, from raising llamas to making felt, since I know little about either. I planned to start with sheep breeds, S crimp and M crimp wools and fiber preparation. I also wanted to show the simple and invaluable tools like a lazy kate and a niddy noddy.
From there I wanted to move to drop spindles and then the actual spinning wheel. At that point I took my Lendrum its bag and set it up. On the second semi-nice day of Spring, 29 ladies had come to listen to me, and about at this point they became comfortable enough to volunteer questions. I moved to making color in your own yarns and everything was a sample to be passed. If I skipped a step or was unclear, I'd get a question. After showing how the wheel works, I was asked about plying. I had the three bobbins from my current project and thought - really. How much yarn would I lose if I showed how this works. And then I moved into felting, an area I'm not comfortable with. Thanks to great instructors like Mim and Amy, I actually did a credible job with both wet and needle felting.

I had been adding things to the dining room table as I thought of them when I started getting this together a couple weeks ago, but nothing more happened while Alexia was here. I finalized the presentation and what I needed to bring while I was taking my shower yesterday morning. Yea for shower thoughts!

This table was just a display table to demon-
strate how I have used handspun yarns. I hadn't planned to pass these articles around, but the questions I got were better demonstrated by showing, rather than telling.
One of the library staff took this "action" picture. I was flattered when they asked if I give classes. I told them all I know - Fiber 101. I think the ultimate form of flattery was that people hung around to talk and ask questions for another hour. Between my drive time and set-up, I missed lunch. I gassed up at Costco at 4:00 and then ran inside for a hotdog. Does that tell you hungry I was?!!!!