These hands-on workshops will have a limited number of students, ensuring that everyone gets the necessary individualized attention!  

Beginning Spinning
Beverly Meade and Anna Chappell will teach beginning students how to spin alpaca from roving on spinning wheels.  They will teach some simple techniques and provide hints to make spinning enjoyable and relaxing.  Wheels will be provided for your use or you can bring your own.  Roving will be provided.
Anna Chappell Courses: Beginning Spinning and Knitting for the Non-Knitter Anna Chappell has been a fiber artist for several years.  With her husband and four children, she raises many types of livestock on her farm.  Anna has fallen in love with alpaca fiber and works with it in spinning, weaving, felting and knitting.  She also works with 4H and library groups teaching the many uses of fiber. Beverly Meade       Courses: Beginning Spinning and Yarn and Fiber to Dye For! Beverly Meade has been an artist for many years.  She has worked with alpaca for over ten years.  She has received grants from the Cultural Resources Council of the Arts to teach spinning.  She received several blue ribbons and judges Choice Award at the 2005 F2F for articles that she handspun and finished into garments.  Beverly works full time at A+ Alpaca Fiber Mill creating roving and yarn for its customers.  Beverly enjoys teaching and working with breeders from spinning to yarns and fiber and their usage.
Max: 9 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $40.00	Time: 8:30AM - 12:30PM
Needle-Felted Hat Workshop
Ann Merriwether will teach basic needle felting techniques.  You don't need to be able to sew or knit!  Using a foam hat form, you’ll shape a nice hat to take home.  We have forms to make different size and style hats.  You will be able to decorate your creation with bands, flowers and medallions.   Participants will keep the reusable hat form, needles and instructions so they can make more hats on their own.  Participants may use Ann’s fiber blends or bring their own to use during the workshop.  Warning: felting hats can be addictive - once you start you may not be able to stop!
Ann Merriwether       Courses:  Needle Felted Hat and Yarn and Fiber to Dye For! Ann Merriwether is a fiber enthusiast who lives with her husband and two daughters on an alpaca farm in Vestal New York.  Her work is entirely handmade by either dry felting (needle felting) or wet felting.  She uses the wool, fur and fiber from the animal residents of Nyala Farm, the farm she co-owns with her husband.  Nyala Farm is currently home to 35 alpaca, 7 Wensleydale sheep, 3 Jacob's sheep and 3 angora rabbits. The fur, wool and fiber are harvested causing no injury to the animals.  All wool, fur and fiber in her art is washed, combed and hand-dyed right on the farm.  With these wonderful fiber resources, she makes dolls, ornaments, hats, Christmas stockings, slippers, mittens and wall art.  She also gives felting lessons and sells kits to make a variety of felted art items.  Ann loves to get folks interested in felting!
Max: 10 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $65.00	Time: 8:30AM - 12:30PM
Tri-Loom Weaving
Cindy Cuykendall will teach weaving on a tri-loom, a fun and easy way to create beautiful items from pillow covers to shawls and ruanas.  Unlike traditional weaving, tri-loom weaving does not require time-consuming warping (set up) of the loom.   Tri-loom weaving is done with a single strand of yarn woven back and forth on a triangular frame.  The single strand serves as both weft and warp.  Because weaving on a tri-loom is symmetrical, each color change creates a plaid pattern.  Beautiful patterns and weave textures are created simply and are easy to learn. Materials are included in the cost of the class and include a lap-size tri-loom, hook, yarn for project and printed instructions.
Cindy Cuykendall         Course: Tri-Loom Weaving Cindy Cuykendall has been raising alpacas (Song Meadows Alpacas) and creating things from their fleece for five  years.  A former school counselor, Cindy is now a full-time alpaca breeder and fiber artist.  She enjoys spinning, knitting, dying, felting and weaving.
Max: 10 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $40.00	Time: 8:30AM - 12:30PM
Locker Hooking with Alpaca
Wini Labrecque will utilize natural colored alpaca rovings with a special needle and mesh canvas to create a patterned hot pad.  The technique learned can be used to create chair pads, rugs, placemats and many other objects.  A locker hooking tool has a crochet hook on one end and a large needle eye on the other. The crochet end is used to pull loops of your roving through the holes in the canvas mesh. After you've pulled up a few loops onto the hook, then the needle eye, threaded with yarn or cord, is pulled through the loops, locking them in place.  Join us in this class and learn this easy craft technique to create special items that can be added to your farm products inventory.
Wini Labrecque Courses: Locker Hooking  and Wet Felting Wini Labrecque has made fiber her profession: studying, training and evaluating its properties from both a scientific and hands-on approach.  As a textile artist, she has developed a solid background and interest in a wide variety of techniques for utilization of fiber from raw state to finished product.  Since the late 1980's, utilizing natural fibers, Wini has been spinning, weaving, knitting and felting.  Her handspun skeins and woven/knit goods are sold at area art festivals and in area specialty shops.  Once exposed to alpacas and their wonderful fiber, she has been utilizing and promoting the fiber to everyone who will listen. Her current projects include research and development of a Pennsylvania Preferred product from PAOBA member fiber and research and development of a washable/dryable alpaca blend yarn/fabric.  She is a strong supporter of the AFCNA and the coop model. Wini lectures on all aspects of fiber as well as teaching classes in beginning spinning, felting, and/or weaving to individuals or small groups. She is a Fiber Arts judge as well as a judge for hand spun and mill spun skein competitions, an AOBA apprentice fleece judge, and currently completing certification as a camelid fiber grader/sorter.
Max: 20 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $40.00	Time: 8:30AM - 12:30PM
Knitting for the Non-Knitting
Anna Chappell will be the instructor. No knitting skills are required for this workshop, and you can learn how to create products to sell. This is an easy skill that can be done anywhere and in a short period of time. Students will learn to how to make hats, scarves, purses and other items using round knitting looms.  The basics for sweater making will be discussed as well.  A set of looms, tools and yarn for students to keep is included in the workshop fee.
Anna Chappell Courses: Beginning Spinning and Knitting for the Non-Knitter Anna Chappell has been a fiber artist for several years.  With her husband and four children, she raises many types of livestock on her farm.  Anna has fallen in love with alpaca fiber and works with it in spinning, weaving, felting and knitting.  She also works with 4H and library groups teaching the many uses of fiber.
Max: 10 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $50.00	Time: 1:30PM - 5:30PM
Wet Felting with Alpaca Fiber
Join in the fun and learn the art of wet felting with Wini Labrecque.  You will help create a 5’ x 7’ rug which will be donated to the Empire Alpaca Association for auction at the 2008 Extravaganza. Using techniques similar to the nomadic tribes of Mongolia, participants will help layout the design, adding layers of fiber which will then be wet felted by the whole group. This technique can be utilized on your own to create smaller rugs, placemats, wall hangings or sheets of felt to be utilized in other projects.  All materials will be provided.
Wini Labrecque Courses: Locker Hooking  and Wet Felting Wini Labrecque has made fiber her profession: studying, training and evaluating its properties from both a scientific and hands-on approach.  As a textile artist, she has developed a solid background and interest in a wide variety of techniques for utilization of fiber from raw state to finished product.  Since the late 1980's, utilizing natural fibers, Wini has been spinning, weaving, knitting and felting.  Her handspun skeins and woven/knit goods are sold at area art festivals and in area specialty shops.  Once exposed to alpacas and their wonderful fiber, she has been utilizing and promoting the fiber to everyone who will listen. Her current projects include research and development of a Pennsylvania Preferred product from PAOBA member fiber and research and development of a washable/dryable alpaca blend yarn/fabric.  She is a strong supporter of the AFCNA and the coop model. Wini lectures on all aspects of fiber as well as teaching classes in beginning spinning, felting, and/or weaving to individuals or small groups. She is a Fiber Arts judge as well as a judge for hand spun and mill spun skein competitions, an AOBA apprentice fleece judge, and currently completing certification as a camelid fiber grader/sorter.
Max: 12 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $40.00	Time: 1:30PM - 5:30PM
Yarn and Fiber to Dye For!
Ann Merriwether and Beverly Meade will team up for this class and share their talents with you to create yarns of many colors. We all know alpaca fiber is to "die for" but it is also to "dye for".  This class will teach basic dyeing techniques using both microwave and stove top methods. We will explore how to use Kool Aid drink mix as a colorfast dye.  It is a safe easy way to dye small batches and get really wild colors. You can, of course, dye white fiber but you can also dye other colors such as beige, fawns, browns and grays and get deep rich and even heathered effects.  Alpaca comes in so many beautiful natural colors but it's sometimes nice to go wild and have some purples, pinks, greens or blues. We will learn about “painting” yarn and using the microwave to set the colors.  These yarns will have rich, variegated colors that will attract customers.  These hand-painted yarns will be a unique addition to your events and farm store.
Ann Merriwether       Courses:  Needle Felted Hat and Yarn and Fiber to Dye For! Ann Merriwether is a fiber enthusiast who lives with her husband and two daughters on an alpaca farm in Vestal New York.  Her work is entirely handmade by either dry felting (needle felting) or wet felting.  She uses the wool, fur and fiber from the animal residents of Nyala Farm, the farm she co-owns with her husband.  Nyala Farm is currently home to 35 alpaca, 7 Wensleydale sheep, 3 Jacob's sheep and 3 angora rabbits. The fur, wool and fiber are harvested causing no injury to the animals.  All wool, fur and fiber in her art is washed, combed and hand-dyed right on the farm.  With these wonderful fiber resources, she makes dolls, ornaments, hats, Christmas stockings, slippers, mittens and wall art.  She also gives felting lessons and sells kits to make a variety of felted art items.  Ann loves to get folks interested in felting! Beverly Meade       Courses:   Beginning Spinning and Yarn and Fiber to Dye For! Beverly Meade has been an artist for many years.  She has worked with alpaca for over ten years.  She has received grants from the Cultural Resources Council of the Arts to teach spinning.  She received several blue ribbons and judges Choice Award at the 2005 F2F for articles that she handspun and finished into garments.  Beverly works full time at A+ Alpaca Fiber Mill creating roving and yarn for its customers.  Beverly enjoys teaching and working with breeders from spinning to yarns and fiber and their usage.
Max: 20 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $40.00	Time: 1:30PM - 5:30PM
Easy Tapestry Weaving
Eileen Easterly, Millpoint Emporium. Millpoint Emporium is a family owned and operated business from upstate New York.  They believe that quality and fine craftsmanship is an essential part of every product they make. Millpoint Emporium’s tools for fiber artists are produced of the finest native and exotic woods. They are proud of the work they do, and they strive to make every tool a delight to use and a pleasure to behold. Learn the centuries old art of creating pictures with yarn in a simple and easy way with  Eileen Easterly. This workshop will introduce you to basic tapestry weaving techniques - focusing on design, building shapes, and methods to join colors.  Students will create a tapestry on a frame loom. Materials included in workshop fee includes: frame loom, shuttle, pickup stick, yarn for your project and written instructions.
Eileen Easterly Course: Easy Tapestry Weaving Eileen Easterly has a love of weaving and fiber arts.  Her goal is to make the fiber arts fun and accessible to everyone.  She has a master's degree in education and 15 years experience teaching hands-on classes.  Eileen works with her husband, Mike, in their fiber arts-tools business, Millpoint Emporium (www.millpointemporium.com).  Her home is in Amsterdam, NY.
Max: 12 students	Skill level: Beginner	Workshop Cost: $77.00	Time: 1:30PM - 5:30PM