Plyaway Recovery
It’s 10 days since Plyaway ended.
Let me begin this post by saying that Plyaway was awesome. It may be one of the best big spinning gatherings I’ve ever taught at. (I can’t figure out how to make that sentence not end in a prepositions without sounding like a jerk, so there you are.) Everyone I talked to who were there just for fun loved it too.
I’ve always known that Jacey is a great planner and organizer but this was the thing that brought me to the point where I will never ever doubt her. 
The other thing I want to say is that I loved my classes. As a group. They were lovely and fun and delightful. I forgot to take pictures after the first day. Bad Blogger!
But I do have a photo of the beginning handouts for that forst day. It was the Princess Breeds Study. We compared 15 wools to Disney Princesses (plus a couple nonprincesses) 
over 2 days. So there was a lovely little temporary tattoo and a tiny tiara for each participant. I also wore a tiara during the class.
Jacey wanted to try out the tiaras too.
Aren’t we adorable?
Anyway, there were four full days of classes and a super duper market and activities each evening and it was nonstop fun!
The hotel was great too and it was attached to a little mall that had a pretty good selection of restaurants as well as a phenomenal pen store 
which we visited every day. I may have bought a couple of things.
There was a pizza joint called Spin! and Spin has a waiter who is fantastic and he was interested in trying out a tiara too.
I flew home from Kansas City on Monday the 25th. There were a few delays and so I got home several hours later than expected but we did make it home from the airport before the bad weather hit.
And all of this brings me to my point.
It’s been ten days and there is work to be done. I have 14 fleeces to wash for some upcoming classes in New England and Idaho in June. I have several articles due also in mid June.
On the 26th I stayed in bed almost all day. And since then I’ve done almost nothing. No work. I have washed 5 fleeces. But I should have had them all done by now. I should have had the articles outlined by now. I should have had the rest of the yarn for the next skirt spun by now. All the should have’s.
When I started teaching on a regular basis I spoke to Deb Robson about the experiece and she told me that she plans about two days of recovery for each day she is away from home for teaching. I was skeptical when she said it but now that a couple of years have gone by I have learned to not doubt her either. I was away from home for 5 days. I have now been home for 10 days and last night I feel like my brain came back.
Last night I was able to make lists and schedules to get my work done over the next month. Things were clarified and I now know the path I need to take to get all the things done.
I love teaching spinning. Like, I super duper love it. But it’s exhausting. All the smiling and talking and I’m seriously very much of an introvert. All that means is that I need several hours of quiet down time with no talking at the end of each day. It’s amazing how many fiber arts teachers are the same!
Teaching at conferences rarely offers that down time. So it takes time to recover when we get home. I’m certainly not complaining because I love it so much. I just thought I’d tell you why many of us are brain dead for a little while after teaching.
OK! I’m off to get three fleeces washed today. And I look forward to seeing you at Webs and Nutmeg Spinners Guild in three short weeks. and Palouse Fiber Festival in just 5 weeks.
And if not, I’m counting on seeing you next year at Plyaway because if Jacey decides not to ask me back next year, I’m going as a student!
Oh, yes, on all counts! PlyAway was just amazingly good, for starters.
But thank you for your description of the after effects of teaching – I always thought it was just me. Oh, and yeah, I’m another introvert teacher, too.
Love your description of the exhaustion after teaching or just being with a bunch of people and talking/reacting non-stop for a few days. I attended a three-day retreat and came home more tired than when I left!
Also, you needn’t be worried about ending sentences with prepositions any longer. Due to constantly evolving rules of grammar, that is no longer a sin.
I found there were aftereffects of being a student, too. I expected to come right home and spin up the rest of the bump of fiber that I began fractal-ing in Jillian Moreno’s class, and I planned to spin all the leftover samples from Deb Robson’s Shetland class and make notes on them, and I…..Well, you get the picture. We are so used to living busy lives that the idea of slowing down to let ourselves absorb and recover isn’t part of the current culture, at least not where I come from. Yay PlyAway! Yay Beth! Yay tiaras and princesses!
I hear you. As a vendor, I always need a day or two to regroup. My husband has given up on my getting anything done for at least the first day back. He is with me at shows, but he isn’t in constant contact with customers – he gets to wander around the festivals and get away from the booth.
And I, too, am an introvert.
Thank you for sharing this! 1. The retreat sounds amazing and 2. I’m an introvert teacher too. I totally love the connections I can make with my students, but I definitely need downtime too!
Thanks for this, Beth! I thought it was just me!!