Today was one of my favorite types of day. I got to spend the day or at least a good part of the day spinning. ON MY VERY OWN SPINNING WHEEL, which has sat unused for so long. I did not manage to make anything yet, that will come with practice. Well to be honest I did make a lot of over spun lumpy yarn but with practice I know I will eventually produce actual yarn.
I knew I was in the presence of a kindred spirit, when I walked in the front door of P's century old farm house and saw this
(Like I will not be making one of these for my house in the near future!! )
First of all we got to meet some of the llamas on P's farm, they have a herd of 23. Some are babies and they are so cute. After getting acquainted with the fiber factories we headed indoors where we got right to it. We washed dirty sheep fleece. We learned how to dry it, then how to card it, and then we got to spinning. Yes it was sheep fleece, she had it given to her, we used a little of the llama fiber but mostly we were working with sheep.
We had three spinning wheels, mine is the little ugly sister one on the right side. It works but it is not the sort I wanted when I went looking to buy one. I wanted that one in the middle but B snapped it up before I got to it. To me its more of what I think a spinning wheel should look like. Maybe I will start to save my pennies and I will get to buy another one once I get to actually know what I am doing. The fancy pants one at the front of the picture belongs to our teacher. I like that it has a wool winder attached to the wheel.
We sat in her burnt pumpkin coloured kitchen and spun and spun, cursed, laughed, started over, fumbled, ripped wool off the spools, took breaks and started again. We drank coffee and nattered the day away.
I knew this before I started that it would take time. Spinning is like any hand craft, you need practice and it will come. You do it over and over until you find your groove and then you are off to the races. I was getting it at the end but then my knee and leg got all uppity and started to chirp away at me with a "listen lady we are not used to this sort of work out so if you expect to sleep tonight, knock it off". I loves me some sleep, I reluctantly quit spinning and picked up my knitting needles.
While I knit dishcloths, B gave P a weaving lesson. They dressed the loom and got her started on a sampler project. OH IT WAS SUCH A FUN DAY. I so enjoy this sort of thing because when you get together with like minded women its awesome. There is an energy and a creative force that is hard to define but it always sends me home full of ideas and determination to get creating. I want to spin, I want to get my loom out and weave rag rugs for everyone I know, I want to quilt, I want to knit, I want to make puppets. I want to dye wool with kool-aid. I need to calm down and focus!!! I am so happy right now, I could pee!!
P gave me an entire sheep fleece, unwashed, poop included :-) so I will really get to start from scratch. I already have a llama fleece, unwashed, that I am saving for when I actually know what I am doing. I now know how to wash both types without felting the fiber. I have lots to practice on in the mean time. Thanks to my boss and the fact that she used to raise sheep. I got the last of her rovings when she gave them up. I am thinking I know what I am going to be doing after Christmas this year. This new fleece will be bagged and hung in the shed until its needed.
For now I will work on my dish cloth order (10 of them no less) for this evening. Tomorrow is yard work, (no matter what), then Busy's table runner. Laundry, dishes and finding the kitchen table under the massive pile of crap that has obliterated it over the week will be fit in there as well.
Toodles!!
Linda
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