Fiber Revival, and spinning fine

Yesterday I spent a delightful day at the Fiber Revival, a small fiber festival in Newbury, MA.  (These three photos were taken by my friend Tameson.)

I had the great fortune to be able to take a class with Abby Franquemont of Abby's Yarns, and author of the book "Respect the Spindle".  (I also have her video of the same name.)   My class was "Spinning Fine."  I can already spin quite fine, but I took the class because a) it was an opportunity to meet Abby! and b) regardless of how much you know, there is always something new to be learned.

It was a very good class.  Abby interacts a great deal with the students, and we all learn from not only Abby herself but each other.  I really enjoyed this class format.

One student in class had a portable Carson Cooper wheel!

  

There were actually two Carson Cooper travel wheels at the Revival (that I saw) along with a Pocket wheel, and several Hansen Mini Spinners.  (I want one!)  Wheel spotting is just one of the fun things to do at a gathering of spinners!

I brought my Schacht Matchless to work with in the class.  This wheel is capable of much finer work than the Kromski Minstrel or the Hitchhiker wheel.  We started out with some light gray BFL (blue faced leicester) that was actually a little on the coarse side for my taste.  The next fiber was an organic merino in the colorway Lobstah (from Spunky Eclectic) that was much finer.  We had a couple other fiber samples to work with, and we also discussed wheel adjustments and other changes that can make a difference in how fine you can spin.

I still have a small hank of the Lobstah hanging on my wheel.  I plan to finish that up soon, then ply the singles, and weigh and measure the final product.

We left class with a small piece of another fiber - a merino/silk blend, I believe - with the challenge to see how much yardage we can get from this.  I had to pull out my jeweler's scale to weigh this - 1.61 grams.

I have my featherweight spindles at the ready.  Most of these are around 10-12 grams in weight.  The lacy one in the middle weighs 7.7 grams.

I bought this spindle on Etsy, but I'm not sure if the seller is still doing business.  The page is there but there's nothing currently for sale.

Here's another picture for scale - the little fluff of fiber, the jeweler's scale, the ultralight spindle, and a six-inch ruler.  I'm looking forward to seeing how much yardage I can make from 1.6 grams of this fiber!