Fingers crossed! We’ll add save the dates when we know more, but I think we’ll finally be back in action, y’all. :)

We’re taking a break from workshops this year for personal business, but plan to resume in 2023. Sign up for our mailing list if you’d like a heads up when we update our calendar. Thank you for your past support & we hope to see you next year!

NOTE: Yarn School is full (we’re limiting capacity somewhat with the delta variant). Felt School has a few openings. Please contact Nikol (@harveyville.com) for the wait list.

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As you know, all students and staff at Fiber School must be fully vaccinated, but the delta variant poses new challenges, so we wanted to update you on steps we’re taking to minimize our risk and keep us all safe.

If you’ve been to our workshops here before, you know that there’s generally a ton of room to really spread out and safely distance. Our main challenges are meals and Dye Lab, so here’s what we’re doing to address them:

• We’ve reduced the overall enrollment and room capacity. This gives us more room everywhere, but particularly in Dye Lab.

• We’ve added ventilation and air purifiers to Dye Lab, and we’re developing new procedures to reduce close contact.

• We’ll be serving all meals outdoors. We’ve invested in large canopies, lots of tables, and outdoor heaters to allow well-spaced outdoor meals in comfort. In the case of truly inclement weather, we can move individual meals to the gym, which has ample room for safe distancing.

• We’ve added air purifiers to shower rooms. We’re limiting bathrooms to one at a time, and we’ve switched to paper towels and napkins. Student access to the basement will be limited as well.

• The Howes have retired, and we’ve opted against a replacement field trip this year to avoid crowded cars, but we do hope to bring in fiber animals if we can do so safely.

• We will require masks of everyone on the airport shuttle. And of course, hand sanitizer will be available throughout the buildings.

If you have any questions, concerns, or additional suggestions, do not hesitate reach out to me. My personal risk aversion in the Covidtimes is pretty high, and keeping everyone safe is at top of mind. These measures have eased my concerns, but I welcome your feedback, and we’ll adapt further if the facts on the ground change for the fully-vaccinated. I’m relieved that vaccinations are still proving highly protective in preventing serious illness, even against the delta variant.

Hi, y’all! I’m so excited to be getting back to Yarn School and Felt School this fall!

This is a brand new system, so please let me know if you hit any problems!

Mitten School will also be returning November 12 -14, huzzah! Mitten School registration is still a couple weeks out.

We are so thrilled to have set a date for Fall Fiber School (Yarn School + Felt School).

Details to come soon, with registration opening this summer! Sign up for our mailing list to get a heads up when registration goes live.

Yay!

Apologies for the delay. We made the call over a week ago but frankly, I’ve been depressed and procrastinating about getting on with the official announcement.  The numbers have only gotten more discouraging in the last week, so, sadly, I think it was the right call.

Behind our decision: Our workshops draw from our community around the country, so we must take a national view. With COVID-19 cases newly on the rise in a lot of states, concerns over a second wave this fall, general travel anxiety/restrictions, and the challenge of juggling the changing COVID-related demands on families, schools, and jobs, there are just too many uncertainties to proceed with events that require extensive long-term preparation.

After the disappointments of spring, I’m heartbroken and missing y’all. But I don’t want to string anyone along, or hold deposits at a time when I’m sure everyone can use the cash.

Little silver lining: Sonya has generously promised Dress School holdouts a mini-Dress School Zoom class  on the Saturday we re-scheduled  Dress School. So hang on to that Dress School Saturday in your calendar, because I know it will be a lot of fun!

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement! I can’t wait to see you in the spring!

(Currently enrolled Dress School students should have gotten an update last night. If the new dates won’t work for you, please contact Nikol for a refund.)

We’ve rescheduled Dress School for September 10 – 13. Thank you for your patience while we worked out the details!

COVID-19 Updates

Adrian and I have been closely (my family might say obsessively) following the COVID-19 outbreak for weeks, and we’ve come to the decision to cancel Spring Fiber School. I’m deeply disappointed, but I believe it is the right call.

While this part of the country is currently showing few cases, and our small gathering doesn’t hit any social distancing thresholds, many students would be traveling from afar (including from current hot spots), putting themselves or other students at risk to get here. Adrian’s own local hospital has two dozen cases, and her asthma puts her at particular risk from this disease.

Based on the timelines of the spread in other countries and current CDC guidance, the likely U.S. epidemic will probably edge at least into summer, and from there it gets quite hot in the building, especially for anyone to want to spend all day in a sweltering Dye Lab, so we’ve decided to cancel outright instead of trying to reschedule.

My greatest hope is that we’re overreacting and regret cancelling. But at this early stage, working to prevent the spread can have exponentially positive benefits. I hope the financial and mental pain of the broad social cancellations around the country will help stifle the spread of the disease and contribute to a best-case-scenario in this country.

I’ll start processing refunds for everyone next week. Workshops are our financial backbone, so this will be very painful. If you want to transfer your refund to an Art Club gift certificate or just give our shop some love, we’d be super grateful. I’m sure Adrian would appreciate Hello Yarn love as well. :)

Dress School has been rescheduled for September 10 – 13. Please contact me for a refund if the new dates don’t work for you.

xo
Nikol

P.S. If you’re not in an outbreak community and you’re baffled by the seemingly outsized response, this chart captures the importance of early containment/mitigation (full article). It shows the exponential effect of total cases averted in a month from averting a single case today vs. a week later. It’s bananas. Math!

Graphic: Britta Jewell. Full Story: The Exponential Power of Now

Hooray! Our new, exciting Dye School workshop, along with old favorite Rigid Heddle School, will be offered back to back for this Spring’s Fiber School!

Get ready for an intensive dyeing experience, with loads of hands-on practice dyeing piles of premium yarn for your stash.

Dye School is an extra day and a half longer than Yarn School, with a full additional day of classes, so keep that in mind when scheduling.

Dye School Details – Rigid Heddle School Details – REGISTER NOW!

Students enrolled in both Dye and Rigid Heddle will have the opportunity to dye their own custom colorway of the required yarn (provided) for the Rigid Heddle School pattern project!

Yarn School will return this fall as part of Fall Fiber School. We’ll be alternating between Dye and Yarn School, so the next Spring Yarn School will be in 2021.

Thank you for your patience while we finalize the details of our exciting new offering, Dye School! Registration will open soon, and space is limited, so please do sign up for our mailing list to get a heads up when it goes live.

Starting this year, we’ll be alternating between spring and fall with Dye School and Yarn School. So this spring, we’ll offer Dye School with Rigid Heddle School and Yarn School with Felt School in the fall; in 2021, it will be Yarn School and Rigid Heddle School in the Spring and Dye School and Felt School in the fall.

Dress School is returning in 2020, and that registration will open later this month as well.