Sheepiness

So, it being a holiday week and with my boss out of town and most of my work done, I had enough time yesterday that I could take periodic breaks in my work to stop by the laundry room (literally two doors down from my office) and wash a fleece. I say this because while you would think “washing” sounds like an easy one-step process, washing a sheep’s fleece (or scouring, as it’s known in spinner parlance) actually takes half a dozen stops, all of which involve waiting a half hour or so in between. So, it was actually a nice break from the work I was doing, which involved reformatting Excel spreadsheets all day. Exciting, no?

I decided it was time to go ahead and scour the Rambouillet / Merino cross that I bought at the Estes Park wool market. Now, full disclosure here, this was my first full-sized fleece from a full-sized sheep. Previously, I bought a lamb’s fleece and half a ram’s fleece and have successfully scoured both. I quickly discovered that this was a critter of a whole different scale and that my previous method (neatly filling a large colander and soaking it, then lifting out to change the water) was going to require a too many batches.

After all, this is a water-intensive process because each fleece requires three soaks in soapy water followed by two rinses. Water being a fairly precious commodity here in the West, especially this year, I decided it was time to be a good citizen and figure out how to do this without requiring quite so many batches.

So, I stopped by Target over my lunch hour and picked up a jumbo laundry bag. You know, the kind that they make you get for your kids to take to summer camp so that their laundry gets some air and doesn’t come home smelling like the inside of gym bag that’s been left in the car in July. (Even if it usually does anyway…even the best plans can’t overcome kid sweat). But I digress.

I also picked up a large bendy tub that would allow me to put the fleece (in the laundry bag) somewhere to drain while I was draining the yucky water and running fresh. (Note my use of the technical term yucky. I hope you’re taking notes here. 😉 )

It started well. Here’s the fleece in the bag, ready to head into the water for its first bath.

Sheep in a bag (or at least the fleece thereof).

Then I put it into the first soapy water bath and pressed it down. So far so good.

The first hot soapy bath.

Here’s where it got a bit complicated. You see, I failed to realize this beforehand, but a full fleece, loaded with water, is H.E.A.V.Y. It smells like a barnyard and it drips a LOT of water. So I go to lift it out of the water and it feels as though it is stuck. It’s not actually stuck, obviously, it’s just that a full fleece weighs maybe two or three times as much as a lamb’s fleece or half a ram. I get it halfway up, it’s still dripping all over, smells awful, and I can’t get it to the bucket because of all the water pouring off of it. I can’t lift it any higher and I can’t get a hand free to let the water out of the sink. I am stuck.

I was lucky (or at least you could call it that) that this week my husband is working from home. He came along at about that time, saw my distress, and offered to help. Now, if you know my husband, you know that while most husbands would be very smirky about this sort of thing, he totally took it in stride. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: Wow, this is heavy. Can you help me get it out of the sink?

Husband: Sure, no problem. Lifts the fleece up. Wow, that really smells bad.

Me: Ummm…yeah. Thinks to self, he only just now noticed that? I’ve been washing fleeces for weeks. I guess now my secret is out.

With some maneuvering, we got it out of the sink and into its next rinse. I said thank you, and he headed back to his computer. We would literally, rinse and repeat until we finished the process.

Now, I don’t think I’m bragging when I say that for a spinner, the perfect husband is a guy who thinks nothing of driving across the state to pick up a spinning wheel (even one that belongs to someone else), making multiple trips to Greyhound to ship said wheel, and doesn’t mind the fact that one whole corner of the living room is taken up by wheels and the other corner by half-finished knitting projects. The fact that he also doesn’t complain about handling drippy fleeces or that our laundry room currently smells like a barnyard is pure icing on the cake.

Thanks, honey. How nice to have you home this week. 🙂

Fiber Extravaganza

Knitters and spinners love to joke that whoever dies with the most stash wins. I guess it’s part of our dedication to the craft that we want to make sure we all have plenty of  raw materials on hand in case we need them. Come the Zombie Apocalypse, our families will all be warm in lovely hand-knits. (Hopefully some of us have some other skills too or it’s going to be a pretty sad situation, though, I guess. Raising some grub and barring the doors might also be helpful).

So, ever in the pursuit of stash enhancement (known in knitter parlance as S-E-X, or a Stash Enhancement eXpedition), my mother-in-law and I set forth in Oregon to visit some of the finer fiber-y establishments.

And did we find anything, you ask? Oh, dear reader, Portland is a city that never disappoints when it comes to the fiber arts. Here’s my personal haul:

Center: souvenir project bag from Blacksheep Gathering
Clockwise from top: Silk for spinning from my MIL’s personal stash (lovely stuff that she brought home from a trip to China); 3 skeins of hand-dyed alpaca from Pearl Fibers, 3 braids of spinning fiber from Dicentra, two hand-dyed silk rovings from a vendor at Blacksheep (sorry I can’t remember which) and lastly, a sweater quantity of Shibui from Knit-Purl, on clearance!!

Now, some of you will marvel at my relative restraint. I must admit that my dear husband came along on most of our shopping. I am sure that he came to spend time with his mother, but I suspect that he also wanted to prevent the acquisition of yet another fleece. (We are currently at three wool fleeces plus one alpaca blanket and that only counts what needs to be washed and/or drum carded. His fear of being drowned in fleece is not entirely unreasonable).

I have only one lament. Well, make that two. One is that we didn’t make it to Yarn Garden, which is my MIL’s home yarn shop and also the place where I bought the yarn for my first real knitting project. The other is that Woodland Woolworks, which was one of my favorite local vendors, has gone out of business and was not at Blacksheep Gathering. It always pains me to see a small business close and they always had great things in their booth.

Still, it was a successful journey. Fun was had, quality time was spent with both my husband’s relatives and mine, and while each visit is never long enough, it’s always good to see people again. Thanks to all the Portland folks for their hospitality, but particularly Julie, Laura, Janet and Larry. It was great to see you all.

A Bit of Fun for a Friday

It’s been a dark week here in Colorado and I suspect that we could all use a bit of a break from the tales of wildfire and devastation. So, what could be more fun than sheep? Or more specifically, Blacksheep Gathering, which is a gathering of people who breed sheep for their fiber, as well as fiber processing people, yarn makers and independent dyers.

It’s a little sad that as I went through the photos I took while in Portland, I realized that while I have probably two dozen photos of sheep, I did not take a single photo of the relatives we went to visit. I guess I really wasn’t feeling all that well, since I didn’t even think to get the camera out.

Blacksheep Gathering isn’t actually held in Portland, but rather a couple of hours away in Eugene. Eugene seems like a fun place. It’s a college town with lots of neat little shops and restaurants. It even has a local weaving and spinning studio, which sounds like a place where I could spend a lot of time and money…

But, back to the sheep. Part of Blacksheep Gathering is a competition where the breeders bring the best examples from their flocks. There is judging and prizes are awarded for the best sheep. Some of the sheep seemed less than excited about the waiting and I’m sure would much rather have been out wandering through the pasture munching on grass. Luckily for me, they were all pretty tolerant about having their pictures taken, although I’m enough of a farm girl not to try to reach into the pens with the rams. (Yes, believe it or not they did need signs for that).

This girl watched me carefully, especially when I knelt down with the camera to get to eye level.

Some of the sheep got a quick touch-up before their time in the show ring.

More interested in hay than people with cameras. Must be tasty.

Now that’s what I call long wool! I’ll bet that would be fun to spin.

Initially Mama did not want us near her little one and tried to hide it in the corner, but baby was pretty insistent about being hungry. What’s a mom to do?

Oh, I do love a good livestock show. It reminds me of the county fair in the little town where I grew up in Iowa and all the years I took my kids to the local fair. I think I dragged them through all the livestock buildings more for my own sake than for theirs.

Of course, there were also lots of vendors that all needed to be visited and a certain amount of fiber and yarn was purchased. In fact, there were visits to several local yarn shops as well. You’d be proud of me because I managed to get it all into my carry-ons although it took a lot of careful packing!

What loot did I get, you say? Why, I’m glad you asked! That will be the post for tomorrow!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Happy Fiber Days!

So, on Saturday my good friend Brady was kind enough to go along with me on my very first fleece buying adventure. I’ve thought about buying whole fleeces for a long time, and even had my friend Kim show me the basics at one point, but never quite got up the courage to do it until this weekend. Brady grew up on a ranch in Wyoming and he’s a very knowledgeable spinner, so I was delighted that he was able to go and help me pick my fleece(s).

I can’t even quite say what was different this time that I was ready to dive in and buy a fleece. They’re a big commitment because you bring home this bag of hair that smells like the barnyard, and with a lot of work and some tools it ends up being yarn you can start your project with.  I guess my spinning skills have grown such that I was ready to take the plunge, since when I first started spinning I recall saying that I would never be interested in prepping my own fiber. Why would I, when you can buy it already cleaned and prepared? Because it’s cool, that’s why.

This particular event was held in the front yard of the local yarn shop in Golden, CO, called the Recycled Lamb. This is a lovely little shop, where they teach not only knitting and crocheting but also spinning and weaving.

The day started off with a bang (literally) as several transformers in the street blew up just as we were crossing the parking lot, leaving the shop in the dark and with no working cash registers, but the shop owner and her staff were gracious and flexible, so people continued to shop in the semi-dark and visiting the shop was kind of fun this way. (I will have to go back soon when the lights are on, so that I can see what I missed).

Outside on the lawn, however, business carried on as if nothing had happened. There was a big table fully of sheepy fleeces and mohair (goat) locks.

Lots of lovely wool fleeces to choose from, and some nice mohair locks too.

There were also some mohair goats for the kids to pet. (Okay, I petted them too. Who could resist? They are adorable…)

Mohair goats...attracting lots of kids. (Pun intended)

There was a big display of alpaca products from a local alpaca farm.

A nice assortment of alpaca products. Brady found some lovely cria (baby alpaca) and I bought a whole blanket from an alpaca named Ashleigh.

Everyone was having fun petting the alpacas too. There’s a reason we love to knit with their fiber, they are super-soft.

Alpacas from Ancient Treasures.

Oh, and just for fun, a bagpiper dropped by to add a little music. I have always liked bagpipes as long as they were a ways away (they are loud!). Brady, however, is not a big fan.

A bagpiper dropped by to liven things up a bit.

My haul? One chestnut alpaca blanket from Ancient Treasures, one lamb’s fleece and half an adult fleece from Sister Sheep.

When I got home, I started straight away on washing the adult fleece because it was super-stinky and I don’t want to store it that way. But, that’s my story for tomorrow.

Happy fiber days, everyone!

Transformations

Every now and then you find a person who has so much talent and skill that you probably should be jealous, but you can’t because you’re just so stinkin’ proud of them. I have a friend like that. A couple of years ago, we were at a fiber festival and she was test-driving spinning wheels, just to see if she might be interested in taking up spinning. At that point, she was already a pretty good knitter and was ready to try something new.

Well, she did take up spinning and in a very big way. Rather than buy a new, modern wheel, she began buying antique wheels and fixing them up to make them spin again. She became what we started to call a ‘wheel whisperer’ and used her talents to help others find and rescue antique wheels as well. It’s become more of a calling than a hobby, it seems to me.

She’s been spinning less time than I have but her skills surpass me. And her work is lovely – she’s not only learned this skill, she’s practiced it intensely and you can tell that in her work. With her permission, I’d like to share one of her latest projects and in so doing, tell you a bit about how wool gets from the sheep to the garment.

She started with Corriedale top that she purchased at an Illinois spinning shop. Corriedale is a breed of sheep. Top is wool that had been sheared from the sheep, washed, combed, and processed into a long roll that looks like this:

Corriedale Top from The Fold in Marengo, IL.
Photo (c) 2012 Veronica Svatos Deluca

Then she began to spin, using one of her antique wheels.

Winding singles off of an antique spinning wheel.
Photo (c) 2012 Veronica Svatos Deluca

She spun and she spun and she spun…lots of singles (which is one thickness of yarn; finished yarn has two or more singles plied together).

Lots of singles ready to be plied.
Photo (c) 2012 Veronica Svatos Deluca

Then she plied… which is spinning two singles together to make a balanced yarn. The yarn is then wound off into skeins, which are washed to set the twist and make the yarn ready to knit with.

Finished yarn made into skeins.
Photo (c) 2012 Veronica Svatos Deluca

Then the finished yarn is made into balls, ready to knit.

Yarn that is spun, plied and balled. Ready for knitting.
Photo (c) 2012 Veronica Svatos Deluca

Then she began to knit.

Partially knit shawl; you can see the pattern begin to appear.
Photo (c) 2012 Veronica Svatos Deluca

And finally, she was done. The finished shawl, washed and blocked to spread the lace. A true work of art.

Forest Canopy Shawl; complete.
Photo (c) 2012 Veronica Svatos Deluca

So, I think you can see why I consider her to be a true artist. My memory is fuzzy but I think she’s been spinning less than two years, and to turn out work as lovely as this is amazing. Watching her transform from ‘I think I might want to learn to spin’ to ‘I made this’ has been a great thing.  It also means I need to get moving so my skills can catch up.

Thanks, Vern for the inspiration, for letting me be part of watching you become a spinner, and most of all, for giving me the push I needed to keep building my own skills.

Credit also goes to Susan Lawrence, designer of the Forest Canopy Shawl pattern. This pattern is available on Ravelry in case you’d like to knit it yourself.