Official

That's it.  It's official.  I am a Master Spinner.  I can now proudly wear that hat.  It's kind of amazing actually.

Receiving my certificate from Zach Webster.

Jan, Vanessa and I proudly showing off our fancy new certificates!
(You'll see that Jan's is way fancier, but that's because she's a keener-thats a good thing!- and had her book in before the official Olds College graduation cut off.  Mine and Vanessa's books were in by the Master Spinner program cut off that doesn't line up with the Colleges. We get the fancy diplomas during the next round of graduations) 

Legit! Too legit to quit!

Because the Olds College campus is gorgeous, and these poppies were so lovely that day in the sun.

 The beauty of being official is I now get to teach the course, and I was introduced to that step this year, by co-assisting Mary Lessman.  Mary is a wonderful woman, a font of spinning knowledge, and she has the biggest heart.  I felt blessed to be under her wing.

Level 4 class!  it was a delight assisting Mary Lessman in teaching this class. 

An evening of relaxing after a full day of assisting in Level 4

 As I may or may not have mentioned over the years of heading to Olds, I always stop in at The Fat Ewe Farm.  Eileen Wosnak has many beautiful sheep, a llama, duck and chicken and geese, and bunnies!  I picked up a gorgeous black Romney fleece and brought a friend a bunny!

I promised myself no more fleeces... but this one called to me... I actually dreamt about it... I had to go back.

Not my bunny. But he sure is cute! 

If you haven't started to follow me on Facebook, I encourage you to go over there and do that.  I've been posting live videos, and intend on continuing that practice.  The next one is going to be quite a bit longer than the first ones, as it will go over how to spin if you're broke.  No need for fancy wheels, just a stick and some wool!

Happily Spinning,
~Kara

It is done.

The past 7 years of my life are now neatly packed up into three binders and I couldn't be more relieved... Well, if I'm honest, I could be.  They could be marked, and I could have my transcript saying just how amazing the work was, and I could look at them in the Olds College library, and be proud.  But for now I'm relieved that my Master Spinner In Depth Study is complete and handed in for marking.  It's so incredibly freeing to have it DONE.

And since I've gotten it done, I get to play!! I had planned a dye week, and promptly ran out of room to dry all he fibre, so it turned into a dye day.  It's all very wet yet, but these are the colours I created, while in the pots.   

Fibre Week is coming up in just over 2 weeks and I'm incredibly excited to be taking a class with the incredibly talented Laurie Steffler.  This class is a 3 day class titled Breezy Silk Chiffon tunic/dress/vest.  I'll be learning to nuno felt, folks!  That's super exciting for me. I haven't managed to be successful at nuno felting, but I'm looking forward to trying it out!  I believe there is still some room in some of the workshops, but alas, not in this specific one...

I'm also really looking forward to being an assistant in the level four Master Spinner class!  I'm looking at this position as a good experience so I can better understand what it takes to teach the course, not just take it!  I'll cross my fingers and hope to be on the roster in the future as an instructor.

Well, I'd better get back to tackling the creation of more yarn, and cleaning the house!

~Kara

Fibre Week -Day 2

It's the first day for classes!  I'm really excited to get started.  I did hit the market yesterday, and got myself an epically amazing Russian spindle from Ancient Fibre Arts.  I was spindle whispered by Caroline herself. This is the beauty, and it spins so true.



She's coco bolo and walnut. The bowl I bought to spin her in is african black wood, it's heavy and perfect for sitting cross legged on the floor, which is how I generally spin on a supported spindle.

I'm in the classroom right now, and there's more visiting then typing, so I'm going to leave it at this! Time for the fun to start!

~Kara

Fibre Week 2014 - Day 1

I arrived at Olds College last night.  It was a very long drive, with the first half of the time raining cats and dogs.   I had a stop in at The Fat Ewe Bed and Breakfast farm, and picked up a few raw fleeces.  Eileen and I had a coffee and a cookie (or two ;) ) and a good visit.  This is one of my favourite stops on my way to Olds every year. This year was a bit sad, because of the rain, as she generally gives me a tour of the farm, giving me a chance to see all the animals. I enjoyed it none the less.  Once I got closer to Edmonton the clouds broke up and I could see the sky.  It really is blue!! (side note, It's been raining back home for the better portion of the past two weeks, and it's been a while since I've seen the sun.)

Once I got here, I found my way to my town house.  I really enjoy staying in these housing units.  They are a shared home so I'll have roomies, but they've not arrived yet. It was very quiet, but oh so nice to just unwind.

This morning I got a sleep in, and it was a rather lazy morning as well.  I didn't leave the condo until 10!  There's not much going on today, other then the Merchant Mall, so I'm finding this extremely slow pace odd but wonderful.  I'm definitely not used to silence and down time.  Once I did get rolling however, I went for an invigorating walk.  The sky is still blue!  Because the college has a horticulture program the grounds are absolutely gorgeous. Flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and it couldn't be a more gorgeous day.

The Merchant Mall opens up in about 10 minutes, so I'm going to wrap this up, and spend some money! This year is full of new fibres like bison, camel, cashmere, and linen, and I know I'll be needing those. I definitely don't have those to hand!

Hope your day is as wonderful as mine is shaping up!

~Kara

Cleaning the kitty

For level 4 of the Master Spinners program, we need to come prepared with a presentation.  I LOVE my drum carder, and I've learned a lot about blending fibres since opening my Etsy shop.  Drum carders are briefly covered in level 2, so I can do my presentation on them! Hurray!  This should be a piece of cake.
I went to get everything ready for this presentation, you know, clean my space to take pictures, get out the fibre and scale, find the camera, all that good stuff.  And of course, clean the carder.... Wow. was it ever a mess! One of the kids (the Zoo, to be exact) grabbed a handful of pulled sari silk and put it onto the carder, straight up.  The kids each had a turn with the carder, and of course, they aren't careful about where the fibre goes, so it got wrapped around the posts. It took me 2 hours to take it apart and put it back together! those pins were in there so tight, it was really difficult to get them out! But I did, with a little muscle from the husband, and she's shiny and clean now! It's wonderful.
One of those many things I felt I needed to take on is now over until the fall, leaving me with free time tonight!! It's an amazing feeling to not have anywhere to be on a Monday night.  I'm going to head on into my fluff room, with my newly cleaned carder, and work on my presentation as soon as I hit post!  Definitly looking forward to being ready for Fibre Week 2014! Less then 2 weeks now!!

~Kara

She who takes on to much.

Does anyone else do this?  Take on a responsibility, thinking it won't take up much of your time, but then, even that extra 2-3 hours a week seems to be a whole lot more then you expected? Even the things that should only take up an extra 30 minutes to an hour every week, it's like it takes up so much more of your time leaving you with no time for the things you really don't have a choice but to do.

These seemingly little -but obviously not- tasks/jobs have lead me where I am currently: feeling overstretched, over stressed and just a bit more then frazzled.  My children have even been showing signs of feeling that Momma's just.to.busy.  I was supposed to be at a knitting retreat this weekend.  I canceled last minute to spend some quality time with my middle boy, who get's the least of my time. I've gone and taken the dreaded extension to get my level 3 homework done. I don't have a choice. My blogging has been seriously lacking.  I like to do it, I enjoy sharing with everyone.  I feel it's one of the necessary things that is being neglected.  Same goes for my Etsy shop.  I've not had much time to keep it stocked up and advertised.  But, what's there is there. And hopefully someone stumbles on something and buys it.  And The Journey, let's not forget that.  Module 4 has come and gone, and is not complete.  I know it's not a hard and fast dead line, but again, I'm behind.  I know that while my summer schedule is pretty jam packed, I'll have more time once Fibre week is over.  The end of June brings to an end (albeit a temporary one) to two of the responsibilities that are eating up most of my time right now.

I try not to be bitter about these tasks, I did this to myself, and the people I'm doing these things for matter. They don't deserve a bitter me. So I drop my cranky overstretch self at the door, complete my weekly responsibilities with love and joy, and I notice that baggage is just a bit smaller for it when I leave. Maybe it's that I know that it won't continue on for much longer, or maybe it's the joy the little faces bring me when they get excited about something we are doing.

It's the last day of May. 21 days until I leave for Fibre Week and Level 4. The plan is to have the body of my workbook done and have only my final project to do in July.  It will all work out. And one day, I'll learn to be a bit better organized, and all the responsibilities won't seem so daunting.

~Kara

I did math.

And no, it wasn't the required calculations for my homework...  There are 143 days until Fibre Week, 2014.  I do have to say I've got pretty much none of the homework done for Level 3 of the Master Spinners Program.  In each level there is at least 150 hours of homework time.  While I know I've got one of the big, time consuming things done, the dye module, I've still got the be all and end all part of this level, and that's the spin to a certain TPI skeins.  Those are not very likely to turn out exactly at all the first time. I'll be really really lucky, if even 1/4 of them do.

So, let's say that I've still got a good 120 hours of work to do.  If I do 1 hour of work a day, every day from February first to June twentieth, I'll be golden.  The chances of that happening every day? Not likely.  I know it gives a 30 day buffer zone, but for some reason, I think I'll more likely have 150 hours of work.  Knowing my own pace, and desire for extreme quality in this endeavour, there will be more time required.

At least now I know. I've got to buckle down, and repeat my mantra from last year, and the year before. "I will not do this again next level".  I will not do this again next level.  I will spend all of the Tour de Fleece spinning my homework.  I'll get it done a lot sooner. Because this is crazy making.


~Kara

Fibre Week 2012 - Part 2

Alrighty, lets start up part 2!  This one is ALL about the Master Spinners, Level 2 course!

Monday June 25, 2012
I woke up nervous as all heck. I'd not even handed in my workbook for level 1, and was having serious doubts in my ability and knowledge.  Will I even pass Level 1?  What if I get terrible marks? What if I go into this level that involves math, and tpi, and angles, and more scary stuff, and I just can't do it?  So, I took an early AM class, Yoga for spinners.  The class ran for 45 minutes, and it seemed to go by really quickly.   It did quite a bit to calm my nerves, though.   That is until I walk in and sit at the wheel and we start covering basics of twist and how to tell what just is wrong with that unbalanced skein.  I get it now, but at first it confused the heck out of me.  If your skein twists in a "Z" direction, it needs more "Z", and less "S".  So if the singles are spun "Z", then you need more "Z" in the singles, or less "S" in the ply.  But if your yarn kinks back "S" way, then you've plied to lightly, or over twisted your singles.  This threw me for a loop at the time.  And I went for lunch feeling very lost.  We also covered the color blending theory as well that day.  It's not as simple as 50/50 red/blue for purple.  It makes good sense though.  And fun to boot.  Our teacher, Gayle Valance, wasn't feeling all that well, as she was recovering from Bronchitis, so the class was relatively low key, which worked out okay to calm me after lunch, just do the practice skeins, and relax.
Monday night was also the Fashion Show and Silent Auction.  There was even some live music as entertainment before the show!  Otto Pahl, the coordinator for Fibre Week, even dawned a cowboy hat and played guitar for some of the sets!  It was great!  I modeled not only my own garments, but some others as well.  There were plenty of great things in the Silent Auction, and I scored two piles of books,  and a puzzle.  Unfortunately someone made off with the knitted frogs I wanted so much.  Oh well, just the way it goes!


Tuesday June 26, 2012
I had a hard time getting out of bed, and out the door in time to get to the AM Yoga for Spinners session, which was to bad.  I really enjoyed it the first time around.   We got to class and Gayle told us she'd been to the hospital the night before.  It turns out she had pneumonia! My goodness.  She kept teaching anyway,  which is both brave and crazy.  On Monday we were asked to wash and finish our skeins that we spun on Monday, and hand them in so we could go over them.  This is when I regained all my confidence and then some.  Gayle went over every single skein, remarking on each of their strong parts and their weak parts, where they could improve, and how to go about doing that.  When she got to my skein, she lifted it up looked and said "This is excellent"  I promptly got an elbow in the ribs on each side from my class mates.  I tried my best, and it was deemed excellent by a pro!  Very worth the elbows!  There was more work on determining ratios and the math of how to spin to get a certain twist per inch, the 2/3's rule of ply, and other very technical things that sometimes go against my grain to just spin and come what may.  This is why I'm taking the course though.  More control.  I want to be able to recreate and control my spinning.  But I'll still goof off at the wheel now and again.
I took the Spinning as Meditation class after the long day of math and technical spinning.  It was so relaxing, and quite interesting.  And she had Chocolate.  It was good chocolate.  It took me 3.5 minutes to eat a single square.  I sure wish I could find 20 minutes in my daily life to do this every day.  Maybe once the kids are smidge older.

Wednesday June 27, 2012
Oh Wednesday,  what an adventure.  Wednesday was the day we started to delve into other fibres.  Llama, mohair, and alpaca specifically.  Now, if you know me, or have read my blog, or follow me on twitter, or stalk me on Rav or Craftster, you'll know I've discovered an allergy to alpaca.  I thought I'd be perfectly fine to be in the room with an alpaca fleece, so long as I didn't touch it.  And oh boy. Was I wrong.   Not even 5 minutes after Gayle dumped that alpaca fleece onto the floor did my throat start to tickle.  Then my chest started to tighten.  Then I had to excuse myself from the room.  Luckily it was nearly lunch, and I could be out of the room for a good while and not miss anything.  My wonderful class mates cleaned up the room, stuck a fan on, and tried their best to remove any visible traces of alpaca from the room.  Thinking this would be okay, I returned to class after lunch.  And then my throat and chest began to tighten in ernest.  I took a chlorotripilon, and had to leave the room.  My wonderful classmates joined me in the hallway to discuss Mohair.  By the end of that discussion, I was in a drug induced blur, and ended up taking a 20 minute cat nap.  i woke up and pulled all my gear into the hallway and spun mohair alone.  Which was a heck of a lot better then spinning mohair in an environment that cause my throat and chest to tighten.  After class I promptly went to the pharmacy and bought some non drowsy antihistamines. And then I went and had a nap.
That evening was the Potluck supper, where everyone who is still at Fibre week brings a dish, and enjoys the company of others who share at least one thing in common.  I woke up from my nap and headed right over, still in a daze from the chlorotripilon.  I knew we had the test on Thursday, but I said to heck with studying, I was going to hang out with my Fibre Week friends.  And I did just that. It was a good night.

Thursday June 28 and Friday June 29, 2012
I woke up in an antihistamine induced fog, but proceeded to take the non drowsy type anyway.  And given that I spent all of Thursday and Friday that way because of the drug cycle the Pharmacist gave me (non drowsy in the AM and Drowsy in the PM for 4 days) both days kind of blurred together.  So I'll go over what I can remember of those days!  We covered braiding and needlework, and spinning to suit those.  We also covered drop spindles, and wheel mechanics.  Now I understand my Aura better, at any rate.  Oh! and the test.  It wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be, and only got 2 of the answers relating to the Alpaca wrong.  Not so bad, for not studying.  I do know that by Thursday Gayle was feeling better, if exhausted yet.  But class became more lively, and she admitted that she packed the first days in fear of not being able to last the week.   I don't blame her, really.  She had pneumonia! I'm amazed she made it to class at all!  Because there was not much to do by the end of the day, Gayle looked over our last set of skeins in a one on one way.  This gave me even more confidence, because there wasn't much at all wrong with my work.  It was over all even, and all spun with enough twist to be resilient. We got out by 2:00pm on Friday, as we covered all the course material.  Most of us went over to the library and had a look at the Level 6 in depth studies.  There was an amazing variance in amount of written, and amount of yarn work, (some had more of the first, and less of the second and vice versa) but it did give me a good idea of the amount of work I should be putting in.

It was a really awesome time, and I'm eager to get to the homework done.  Only now I've gone and sprained my wrist.  So all I can do is the reading and research.  And I just want to blend and spin!  Maybe its for the better, as you all know, and I know to well, the written work is the part i would put off until the end, and that's not a good idea at all.  No repeats of level 1 workbook anxiety and stress!

Fibre Week 2013 is June 21- June 28.  My calendar is marked!  And I'm ready to go! well, except for the homework of course!

~Kara

p.s.  Sorry no pics, but I'll share once I get spinning again.

Fibre Week 2012 Journey PART 1

Where ever to start? I suppose at the beginning is best.  This will be a long post, so grab a cuppa, and find a cozy place to sit.

Friday June 22, 2012
  I woke up, friday morning at 4 am, from a nightmare that I'd lost my children in a Costco.  What a terrible way to start off a day that should be fun and exciting!  I could tell my Mother Guilt at leaving the Family for 9 days was starting to get to me... I'd been wondering all month if I should drop the two extra courses I'd signed up for, but it was far to late for that.  I woke up, had a some coffee, and got the kids ready for thier day and dropped the oldest off at school.  Then it was my turn to go to school.  Although it took me a heck of a lot longer to get to school then it took me to take the kids!
Along the way I stoped in at The Fat Ewe Bed and Breakfast to pick up some wool.  Oh my goodness. This place is my dream retirement!  There's this gorgeous home, filled with antiques and 4 rooms for the guests to use.  Besides the gorgeous accomodations there is a big barn and a bunch of small coops for chickens and ducks and geese of all sorts, and pigs and goats and SHEEEEEEEP!  Gosh, the sheep are certainly the cutest critters.


Anyway, I figured I'd grab a couple of the fleeces, and share with the master spinners.  I took off with two Karakul, a goodly handful of short shetland, and a HUGE bag (25lbs worth?) of East Friesian.  My trunk was FULL of unprocessed wool.   I spent some time talking to Eileen (who served the most interesting drink, Rhubarb juice.  It's very good, try it if you have the chance!) and then went on merry way.
And then promptly got lost.  I ended up zigzagging my way to the #2 highway, on back roads and secondary highways.  I did end up finding my way, mind you.  Not before I got very worried I'd miss meeting the person I'd promised to meet, so we could get groceries.  I messaged her, telling her that's I'd be late, and ended up in Olds with plenty of time to spare anyway!  Getting lost didn't take as long I'd thought it would.
Then I went shopping.  At the Fibre Week Market.  Blew over 200$ in less then 30 minutes, I'm sure.  A new spindle, a whole bunch of pottery (By Heather), and a weaving book for my Mom.
It was a long day, but a good one!


Saturday June 23, 2012
 First day of class!  I took Getting Even with Michelle Boyd.  This was an extra course I opted to take, as who doesn't want to be able to make amazingly even yarn?   The kind that makes people go: 'You spun that?! It looks like a machine made it!'  Then you can blow them away with your amazing skilllz.  Don't get me wrong, funky cool, textured yarns are also amazing.  I love creating things that just beg to be touched, stared at and loved.  But that perfect singles, incredibly even ply....  Perfection at it's best.  I know to some, that seems an insult, but to me it means I've become master of the fibre, and can dictate what I want a fibre to become (to a point, of course.  You aren't going to get a lace weight yarn out of Scottish Blackface, but you can make it perfectly into a suitable warp for rugs.)  I went from pretty bumpy in the morning, to really quite amazingly even by the end of the day.  And all with just a few nifty little tricks.
Woolen spun before class and after class:


Worsted spun before class and after class:


Saturday night was the Kick off Social.  The Keynote Speaker was Karen Workman who presented the topic "How I sold my Landskin for 2000$"  A landskin is a gorgeous piece of fabric stitched, and layered and dyed and felted. I took from this two things: 1- Never undervalue your work.  And 2- If you make something beautiful, it will be priceless to someone.



Sunday June 24, 2012
 Sunday I had chosen a knitting class.  I'm an alright knitter, but there are a few things I'd like to improve upon, like wonky edges, diferent cast ons, and such.  Those tiny details that give that finese to a garment.  The knitting class was called Beginnings, Endings, Edges and Joins, with  Jani Meyers.  We covered a few cast on's that I was unfamiliar with, including the provisional and a circle cast on.  Those were the most intriguing and kind of fiddly.  But I feel like I could confidently do them again, should the need arise.   One really cool edge/cast off is something I'm not sure if there is a name for.  It involves casting on at the edge and a series of k and k2tog's that give you a really nice perpendicular garter stitch. I'm sure you could alter the garter stitch to be any stitch, but it's really quite nice, all things considered.  One other thing I thought was really really cool, that we squeeeeeezed in at the very end was the i-cord cast on.  There are sooo many uses for it!  I've got to try it again and again and again, just to be sure I'm getting it right.  It would look very lovely on a circular vest, or a toque, or sleeves,  or hems....  Anything with an edge!  Sadly, we didn't get to the Joins part.  I think it was because the class was slightly larger then it should have been.  Though truth be told, had those same 6-8 people with all the questions and difficulties (and yes, I was one of them!  some of those things were tricky to get off the start!) been in a smaller class, we'd have only gotten so much covered anyway.  It was still a valuable lesson in knitting.
Sunday night was the Spin in, and unfortunately, I'm not really sure what it was, but something kept me from it...


Okay, I'm starting to realize this is going to take a lot of words to get through the whole 9 days away.  So I'm going to do it in parts.   And I think this is the only part with decent pictures... Perhaps I will take a few shots of the samples we did in the Level 2 class before I start on the next post.
Hopefully it won't take to long to get the next post up, but we've gone camping, and theres no service up there. Maybe I'll be able to make a draft in my "free time"(like one gets much more then a minute of free time at a time camping with small children) and post when we get back.

~Kara

"The best laid plans...

...of mice and men often go astray."   Or at least that's how the original quote goes.  But I'm not a man or a mouse, so this wont apply to me when I make this list of things that need to get done, right?

 The List, the big list of what I need to accomplish before March 1.  Why March 1?  March 1 is the day registration opens for Fibre Week 2012.  I'd love to finished the homework I'd planned on being completely completed by now before I sign up for Level 2.

1. Wash all the wool -  well, most of the wool.  At least the amount of wool required to complete the workbook requirements.  All of it would be nice, but that's like 10 pounds of wool...
2. Spin my homework-  not the stuff I bought that would be sooooo much fun to play with.  I need a big electrified barbed wire fence to surrounding my "for fun" wool.  Temptation is the Devils best friend, don'tchaknow?
3. Proof read and type up the written assignments-  that doesn't sound all that hard, right?  But for me that's probably going to be the hardest part.  Good to know though, that a friend who is a teacher offered to proof read them for me.
4. Mount my dyed yarn samples-  on the nice black 12x12 scrap book paper I bought just for this purpose.  
5. Pull together all the stuff and create the final version of my Workbook-  This is the big finale. I can do this.  Right?  right.
6. OOPs! Nearly forgot.. Nature Dye a bunch of yarn-  That I spun.  Likely for my final project.  Speaking of final project... socks?  scarf?  rug?  hrm.....

Sounds do-able right?  To be honest, it kind of makes me nauseated to think of it all.  And that I have set this 2 month time line for myself.....

Who wants to hold me accountable?  Who's going to poke me in 2 weeks, and say "Hey,  are you doing your homework?  Better be."  Because honestly I think I'll need it.  I'll keep you all updated on my progress of course.    

So here I go, to clean the kitchen so I can get at the sinks and wash some wool....  The dreaded Blackface will be first I think....  ... Apparently AFTER I feed the kids, and get the not-so-baby-anymore-baby up out of bed.  

~Kara

Fibre Week 2012

The schedule is up!!!!  click here to see it!

Now to set myself a firm schedule to be finished my Level 1 homework.   March 1st!  Less then 2 months to get a lot of washing, and spinning a writing done.  Wish me luck!


~Kara

Master Spinner Course at Olds College

I thought I'd better get into what exactly the Master Spinner Course is.  And what better way to do that so thoroughly then with a link!   Fibre Week!   And of course some words ;D
The course is a 6 year course, each year getting more and more in depth.  There is so much knowledge simply in level one, that it's quite overwhelming to think of what the whole course will teach me!
And it's not just simply a class.  The Master Spinners course takes place during Fibre Week in Olds, Alberta Canada.   Many people from all over North America come up to Olds for one full week of fibre related fun!  There are many classes to take, from knitting, to weaving, to felting, and of course spinning and everything in between that relates to the world of wool.
Let me tell you,   Fibre Week is heaven on earth.  There is not one angry soul, not one stuck up know-it-all.  You walk in to any room and you are greeted with this huge blast of positive energy.  Smiles on everyone's faces, a friendly hello!  You can walk up to anyone, and start a conversation and they don't think you're nuts, nor are you met with any reservation. (You know those times when you enter a group -Mom group, new fitness class etc.- where you say hi and they look at you like you might be made of kryptonite and they are Super Man.  Yeah, that does not happen at Fibre Week)
Heck, you can even walk up to one of the campers (because you can haul in a camper and sleep in there if you wish, or there are dorms or condos, which are great) inquiring about BFL Fleeces and discover a couple wonderful ladies who don't have any fleece, but they do know where to get some and show you a new knitting stitch you thought was difficult but it's not. And then proceed to have a 20 minute conversation about stuff.
You can sit down at the fashion show with your hand cards and a bag of fleece and not be that 'weirdo' in the corner.
And the team of people who put this all together!  They are fabulous.  They are helpful. They are kind.  And they so just an amazing job putting together such a great week. 
Basically to sum it up, Why is it not fibre year!?
I can't wait until next summer.  But until then there is a lot of homework to be done!

~Kara