Happy Fibery New Year

The new year has gotten of to a roaring start, in my fiber world, work world and personal world as well.  This upcoming weekend is the Winter Fiber Retreat hosted by Friends & Fiberworks, a yarn shop here in Asheville.  I'll be teaching a few classes along with some of the big names in fiber, including Kathleen Taylor and Chad Alice Hagen.  All my classes have people signed up, plus last year there were quite a few on-site registrations so it looks like I'll be teaching dyeing and knitting.

In preparation for the event, 2 cool things have been underway.  To help promote the Fiber Retreat, I appeared on the local midday news's Craft Corner. Click here watch the video, preceded by one of the most annoying commercials ever!  Now granted, I had all of about 3 minutes on camera, but it was LIVE and I got to sit in the studio while they filmed the broadcast.  It was a fairly slow news day, so I got to simply enjoy the technical crew and on-air talent as they did their thing.  I knit almost the whole sleeve of the Eloise sweater while I was watching, giving me something to do while keeping calm until the last 5 minutes of the program.  It was lots of fun, the crew was super nice and I had so much fun!  I dyed a roving similar to the one shown here, but a bit more blended since I immediately put the crock pot in my car, drove 25 miles and let the dyeing finish in the sunny car.

In addition to my close up, I now have my dyed fiber, yarns, hats and patterns in its own section at FFW.  In exchange for getting 100% of my sales, I'll work a few hours a week at the shop.  During the spring and summer this should not be difficult, though during the fall it could be a crunch.  I did my first shift last Saturday and will go in after work this evening to fill in the rest of the display. 

After a lovely break from work that included a trip to Portland, Oregon, I'm back in gear.  With only 2 sections of the same class to teach, I'm going to think I'm on sabbatical.  But I love my job and am feeling very refreshed and happy to work with students and teachers again.

Some changes on a personal note:: The Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater came true.  My partner of 6 years and I have broken up.  We both realized that although we like and respect each other very much, we are better suited to being friends that lovers.  It's all very pleasant and civilized -after all Asheville is basically a small town and we are likely to see each other around town.  

Note that this is a Happy New Year post without resolutions - knitting or otherwise.  How about being happy, healthy and creative?  Is that enough?  I hope so.