Spinning dreams

Like a true fiber fanatic, I love to see the beautiful animals that provide the raw material for spinning! Even in Sandusky, I didn't have to go far to find them. On Sunday afternnoon, I went back to Osborn Park, the same park that has the great place to walk with Kate, Louie and Jack, as I had noticed that the MetroParks has a farm site just across the street. Now, to be perfectly honest with you, I do know that the first photo is of a sheep-but, I have no idea what kind. I love the black face. Boy or girl, young or old, I don't know.

Ok, I think this is a llama, not an alpaca, but, I'm really not all that sure of that. This is kind of embarrassing for me to admit, and I was going to leave the photo uncaptioned so as not to make a complete fool of myself, but I think you should know who you're dealing with in this blog.

This is a goat. Yep, I did figure that out, and I know goats produce mohair, which I love to knit, and that I have recently learned to spin mixed with wool.

The barns below used to be called Steinen's stables and a friend of mine boarded her horses here. The Metroparks bought the barns and property and have turned this into a petting farm. I feel lucky that this land wasn't sold to become been  a housing tract. There are horses, chickens and roosters here as well. One of the horses was laying down and I wasn't sure what that was all about, so, I decided not to take a photo in case it wasn't such a good thing. What do I know, I grew up directly across from the 14th green of Lake Shore Country Club in Erie, Pa. and  I know a lot more about golfers than I do about farm animals. I don't think spinning is going to turn me into a farm girl, but, I am starting to like the scene better than the golf course.I mean, what's not to love about these sweet faces!

Adventures in fiberland

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Paulette and I have spent quite a few weekends at county fairgrounds. That might seem strange for a couple of city girls, but, that is where antique auctions are often held. You can count on fair food being available and sold by eager Boy Scout troops. But, this time, we were heading to the fairgrounds for a Market Day, sponsored by the Black Swamp Spinner's Guild of Bowling Green, Ohio. I'm relieved to tell you we didn't encounter any black swamp. However, we didn't see any fiber animals either. No sheep, alpaca, angora goats, rabbits were there as this was purely a market to purchase fleece, roving and yarn. YARN! Just what we need!

We brought our wheels, safely fastened in seat belts in the back of the car, and we were eager to settle in among  spinners in order to learn more about the craft.  Sigh. There was no spinning going on. Just shopping. SHOPPING! Okay, then. We took our wheels back to the car and got into shopping mode, something we know a thing or two about. We found wheels for sale and even discovered vendors that knew all about our wheels. So, back to the car we went to fetch our wheels for tuneups. Paulette got a new drive wheel band for hers and learned how to pack and unpack the wheel, stop the weird clicking sound on her brand new Kromski Sonata, and how to oil the wheel. I learned how to adjust a few parts on my Majacraft Susie Pro and was told not to worry about the groove with paint coming off on the back side of my wheel. I'm still not too sure about that, tho.

We looked at quite a few raw fleeces and loved the barn smell and the lanolin feel.

After making the full circuit of vendors, we each purchased roving that was dyed and ready to spin. It took some time to figure out how much roving would produce a scarf or two, but the vendors were very willing to share information with two eager newbies. We also discovered that cash or checks were welcome, but not plastic. Oh oh.  

We hope we made good selections, it was pretty hard to figure it out without Bonnie with us. In fact, we didn't think it was fair of her to move to Michigan just when she was in the process of teaching us all about the spinning world.

We have no idea what these are for, but liked the wine corks on the ends. Maybe these are weaving tools? In the far left corner of the photo you can see the niddy noddys. Paulette bought a maple one and the carver was there to explain how to wind yarn on it.

 Since we know all about how to buy processed yarn, we did purchase yet more sock yarn. I loved the sign and yes, yarn does make us happy!

Spinning with Kate

 Kate enjoys her first outdoor spinning day with anticipation of some new yarn to tangle. I don't think she understands that it takes awhile for the fiber to turn into yarn! BFF, Paulette, joined me in the outdoor  adventure in my backyard. While it is only mid March, we are enjoying weather in the 80's this week! The white fiber is being spun to use as needlework yarn for the sheep painting visible on the patio table. I'm not sure I can spin fine enough yet to ply and still fit the yarn through the canvas, but, I'm pressing ahead as if it will work out perfectly.

 Featured below is my growing wheel collection. The MajaCraft Susie Pro is on the left. Ashford Traveler (my first wheel) is in the center and the wheel on the right is the Ashford Joy.Soon the Pocket Wheel will be added. Most people name their wheels, but, I have never been really comfortable with naming objects such as cars, houses, etc. Another collection that you can see part of is sewing tables, flanking the wheels on each side. This is only two of many.Now, mind you, I don't sew, but, I can't resist purchasing old sewing boxes, especially if they still have sewing notions inside.

 Back to the spinning. Featured below is part of my yarn stash. Oh, and another sewing table! I can say that I do not need to generate any yarn via spinning as I have enough yarn for ever. S.A.B.L.E. which, as many of you know, stands for (Yarn)stash acquired beyond life expectancy. Sometimes I'm not sure if I collect the yarn in order to justify buying a lovely cabinet, or if I buy the cabinet because of the lovely yarn. In any case, I like to think of it as ART.

I'm not showing you the drawers of my dressers and my closet that is stuffed with yarn. It would just be too much for you. You can see the partial collection of sheep paintings and stuffed sheep in the photo above. I have lots more. I'm not sure if I could be classified as a hoarder. I wouldn't even say this is clutter, would you? I will say I am uncomfortable owning just one of anything, tho. What is that all about? I'm married to a collector of WWII air memorabilia. Books, pins, art, movies, watches, medals, models, and so on. It's a really good thing that we live in big house in order to contain our collections. Together, we collect any and all dog related items, art, books, figurines, trophies, collars, etc. Would you say 3 dogs is a collection or a pack?  What do you collect and do you need to justify your collections to yourself or someone else or what?

Baa Baa

This is Moose, the rather large (hence the name) sheep who's fleece I bought to spin last summer. It was her first shearing, and 7 pounds of fleece for $40.00 is what I purchased at the Wooster Wool Festival. Moose is a Bluefaced Leicester (pronounced like the man's name, Lester)sheep,(BFL) which is part of the English Longwool Family. I selected it mainly because I was amused to find a sheep named Moose!

The photo above is of my friend and Wise Woman, Bonnie, helping to spread out the fleece to prepare it for washing. This was, mind you, on one of the hottest days of the summer. In fact, we soaked the fleece in the hottest water possible for one day, then again for a second day, then rinsed for a third day (a drop of Dawn Liquid Dishwashing) and then dried the fleece in Bonnie's attic.

Next came the carding, making rolags of it and then finally spinning it into  yarn. Moose's fleece is becoming a cabled purse from Vogue Knitting Holiday Issue 2008. I'd show it to you, but Kate shredded the cover of the magazine recently. Directions are intact, however, and the knitting is underway.