Yarn School

So you want to know about Yarn School? Well Yarn School is the brainstorm of Nikol and Ron. They bought an old high school and elementary school in the middle of the Midwest. They really recycled a school that had consolidated school systems, leaving old unused buildings. It is charming and a great idea. The gym is the heart of Yarn School, sleeping rooms are in the revised classrooms, that still have chalkboards and speaker systems. The beds are wonderful, with down comforters and great pillows. It is dorm style sleeping, unless you get the time out room, above the gym. The huge windows cannot conceal the fact that you are in a classroom. The Science lab with bunsen burners and sinks is the dye lab, chocked full of jugs of premixed dyes and buckets. The cafeteria is in the basement, where we all meandor to in the morning looking for our first cup of freshly ground coffee. Nikol has thought of everything, we use cloth napkins to be more "green" there are recycle bins for all object and a food scrap pile for the chickens or compost pile. You can watch Nikol and her helpers cook in the kitchen and we eat at real lunch tables. The food is organic and wonderful, locally grown, either on Cupcake ranch or nearby, Nikol sends out a survey a few weeks before you go and she asks for any special needs such as Vegan, Gluten free, Diabetic, and she covers all her bases, she is a fantastic cook!!! We all wait like locusts for our next delicious meal. You can go walk with the sheep and corral the chickens back into their coop. In the gym we have a huge circle of spinners, there is a carding area, combing area and huge pillow (old gymnast safety pillows) that Nikol covered and we lay their exhausted with thought. Nikol has wheels to use and some to sell. We run a tab, which is extremely dangerous, when you check out. Once during your stay we visit the Alpaca ranch, what would school be if you didn't have a field trip. They feed us again and last year it was fresh aspargas soup, I wanted to lick the bowl, this year it was a tortellini and fresh salad, with cupcakes for dessert. We eat in the barn with the animals looking over our shoulders and the four farms that sponsor the event have their fiber and finished objects for sale. They teach us about the Alpacas and their wonderful guard dogs. This is my second year going to school, my goal each year is to learn at least one thing. Not to sound arrogant but I have been spinning for 33 years, it is hard to learn something new but you can!!!! I go because, I love the fact that you are around other people that "Get It" or are learning to get it....It is a vacation for me, you can do what you want to...and each year I do come home with something I learned and a ton of fiber!!!! I am planning on going next year, it is a good time for me with the shop and I love to go see some old friends and meet some new ones.