I went to a spinning meeting in northern Florida and had a most marvelous time!! There were only a few of us there, but it was very stimulating. Here is some of what happened:

We listened to a CD of hammered dulcimer music while we were spinning. It gave the gathering a very earthy and warm feeling.

I got to meet Barbara, the other spinner from Georgia, who I was glad to finally get to meet. She gave us a run down on all the awesome things she did while at the John C. Campbell Folk School. She has gone there 3 different times... once she did basket weaving, once she did sheep to shawl, which covered every aspect of spinning and then she did intermediate spinning, which actually turned out to be more of a dyeing workshop. After lunch, which we ate on site, Dot and a friend of hers, Valerie (who is a machine knitter) showed up. Dot had an old spinning wheel - not sure what brand - but it surely was pretty. It was a double drive and we had a hard time trying to get it where it would draw in the fiber, but we tinkered with it for awhile.

John showed us two fleeces (Corriedale) which he had dyed. One he dyed with indigo he had grown himself. The other was dyed with goldenrod. Both were fabulously pretty, and they have not even been carded yet! Let me mention that John is the first person who showed me anything at all about spinning. He has been spinning since he was about 9 years old, I think, and of course has mastered the art. He is also a very talented weaver.

The next meeting is going to be in May in Kingsland (only about 30 minutes from where I live - yeah!!). We are going to do natural dyeing with indigo, cochineal and some sort of orange stuff - I think they said Osage Orange which will make a brilliant yellow.