It's a most excellent thing to have a friend that is a dyer. Not only do I get beautiful fiber to use for teaching, but I get my butt saved again and again. Carla of Cjkohodesigns and I have been friends for more than 20 years. We met in a weaving class in the basement of the Ann Arbor Art Center it's always been all about the fiber for us.

She'd had a fiber and yarn business for about 10 years, when I started teaching hers was the first fiber I used. I've branched out to use other dyers, but her fiber is part of almost every class I teach.

This past weekend she dyed several pounds of fiber for me for one of the two classes I'm premiering at PLY Away next week, Sheep Sampler: Spin & Nosh. It's part spinning, part sheep cheese tasting and 100% fun.

As I hung out in her studio with her watching her expertly dye my fiber, I couldn't help but remember that first weaving class.

We had weeks to talk about a how much we enjoyed working with fiber and how lucky we would be if one day we could somehow do it as a job. What we didn't know then was how lucky we would be to see that goal together as friends.