Saturday, September 26, 2015

A busy summer

I am fighting with my iPad and blogger to try and get them to play nicely and let me add photos, but in the meantime I want to post something about my busy summer.
It has been a fibertastic summer, beginning with shepherd's harvest in the spring where I purchased some beautiful fleeces to work with and had a great time. I also ordered some fleece for a Minnesota grower and discovered a gorgeous new cross which is a fantastic fleece to spin, a Dorset x Ille De France, which I took with me on a brief vacation to the north woods and which I relished spinning on my pushkas. After the influx of fleece I realized that I had so much on hand that I had forgotten an entire fleece which I had stashed and determined to restrain myself from purchasing any more fleece until May of 2017 or until I have spun all that I have. This will force me to explore and use what I have rather than turning into a Smaug of wool and just sit on my fiber hoard. This decision has already resulted in two completed spinning projects and a new appreciation for what I have. The most fun part of the summer so far was a week with friends playing with fiber, I learned a great deal about natural dyes, using weld, cochineal, pernambuco, and indigo, and seeing woad being used. It was so much fun and now I feel like I have a thorough grounding in how to mordant and how to dye. I also got some sewing machine lessons, a huge amount of laughter, inspiration, and encouragement. Friends truly are magical, especially ones that share the same obsessions.

1 comment:

Lynn said...

I think you'd make a charming Wool Smaug.