If you ever get a chance to sit in on one of Barb's dyeing classes....go! We had such a fun class on Sunday. In addition to Jean, it was fun to see a few other familiar faces in the class too. Judy and Cindy made the trip up from Rhode Island.
Barb covered a lot of material over the course of the day. Fiber preparation for dyeing, an in-depth explanation of dye stock solutions and ratios, methods of dyeing including low immersion, painting, crock pot and dipping. It's always fun to learn new ways of doing things or streamlining a process and even more fun when you are doing it with friends!
I never knew!!!
Now grrls, I am going to admit something to you that still blows me away. I have been to webs a few times and while I thought it was a great store, I didn't quite understand the huge attraction. Yes, a beautiful show room with lots of beautiful yarn, but people buying bags of yarn? I just didn't get it...
That is until Jean walked me thru the warehouse to show me where the bathroom was. HOLY CRAP! You could have peeled me off the ceiling. I had NO idea that there was a huge warehouse that one could stroll thru as well...NO.IDEA!
Needless to say, a little of it came home with me. I bought enough of this beautiful Silk-road Aran Tweed to make a sweater.....and I made sure to purchase a pattern specifically for the yarn, so that it had a use. It is always hard for me to justify yarn purchases as I have a houseful of my own yarn...but I don't dye sweater weight yarn, so that helped make it a bit easier. (I am seeing a number of new sweaters for me this year :))
We ate in a fabulous little Italian restaurant on Saturday evening and spent the rest of our time knitting and chatting. (more on the knitting tomorrow)
You have to click on Jean's picture and see her great sheep jammies.....they are too cute!
Hey, I have a pair of those sheep jammies too.It was great to see you and hang out and play with color on Sunday - just wish it wasn't so rushed at the end. You'll get your pretty little goodies later this week. I hope you got your blue sweater back!
Posted by: Barb | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 06:15 PM
it sounds wonderful! i'm glad you got to take a weekend to do fun things; you sound 100 percent more like yourself now!
Posted by: anne | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 05:31 PM
A good group to dye with. I imagine it was quite a colorful weekend!
Posted by: Chris | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 11:26 AM
I've never been to WEBS. I see now that there is a huge hole in my life...
Envying you the workshop! Looks like the best weekend ever.
And love Jean's jammies!
Posted by: gayle | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Very cool! The first time I went to Webs, I thought the back room was staff-only warehouse. I too, didn't get it. Until the second trip.
Posted by: Laurie | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 09:02 AM
It looks like a fabulous Grrls weekend. Love Jean's sheep PJs. Hehehe
Posted by: Jennifer | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 07:07 AM
Oh! Jean has on my PJ's!!! I've wanted those for so long! They are so cool.
I'm glad you had a great time. Jo Harp yarn is on the top of my list, always.
Posted by: Debbie | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 07:06 AM
Ooh, jealous. A while back, I emailed that workshop info to myself as a reminder to sign up, but it must've gotten deleted in one of my come-back-down-to-reality-you-can't-do-everything-all-the-time moments. :::sigh:::
Posted by: livnletlrn | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 05:45 AM
Sounds fun! I love that Silk Road Aran Tweed. Someday I'm going to knit something with it!
Posted by: tiennie | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 11:01 PM
I'm glad you had fun. But I'll tell you the same thing I told Judy - I can't believe there's anything you don't already know about dyeing!
I've never been to Webs, you know.
Posted by: Carole | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 09:12 PM
How fun!!!!! Wish I was there! That backroom is CRAZY -- two years ago at Cummington, Cheryl, Marcy and I spent the better part of a day at Webs!
Posted by: Kathy | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 08:30 PM
Kim- It's like Aladdin's cave- I've been in the warehouse.
Posted by: Lorraine | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 04:21 PM
I can't believe you didn't know about the back room/warehouse! The first time I visited, the main retail space was only HALF what it is now, and they were in the middle of expanding. So, I asked someone what was in the back and my life has never been the same! I wish I had known about that class....guess I'll wait for Barb's BOOK to come out!
Posted by: Marcia | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 04:04 PM
Sounds like a perfect weekend! I'm envious!
Posted by: PumpkinMama | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 03:35 PM
We had fun, didn't we? I ended up hitting Webs again on the way out. I sat and knit in the room for about an hour and enjoyed it while I could. Bought another towel set. I'll try to blog soon.
Posted by: Jean | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 03:26 PM
Sounds like a fun time!
Posted by: Wool Winder | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 01:47 PM
What a wonderful weekend! Now that's my idea of a great weekend away. :)
Posted by: Renee | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 01:39 PM
It must have been a blast to see everyone, learn so much and then get to shop, too!!
Posted by: margene | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 01:21 PM
What a wonderful time you had! I envy you being able to go in the WEBs warehouse! What georgous colors and yarn to boot! :)
Posted by: Ruinwen | Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 01:17 PM