Sunday, October 14, 2018

A New Responsibility

I am so excited - I have taken a new apprentice. Lady Janna von Guggisberg is beginning a love affair with all things fiber. I am looking forward to sharing her passion, teaching her what I know, introducing her to people who know more than I know, sharing in her discoveries, learning new things from her, and helping her to confidently take on new challenges.

The first challenge she set herself was to learn about wool. We spent an afternoon preparing a small amount of the 3 fleeces she purchased - getting a taste of washing, combing and spinning.

 
     The day went by so fast!


She has started a blog and you can see for yourself how she has been sucked in by this beautiful fiber. I'm looking forward to playing alongside her.

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Summer Fun

Summer went by so fast. I spent a lot of time spinning. The first thing I spun after my year of not spinning was cashmere. What was I thinking? But, I'm happy enough with how it turned out and it made me keep picking up the spindle. It is the darker brown skein in the photo.


 We had a wonderful time at Pennsic. Of course I bought roving - Cheviot, a breed I hadn't spun before (the white wool in the photo). I like it very much. I had to buy a new spindle, too, so I could spin it right away. Since  I am always busy at Pennsic, most of my spinning was done around the campfire at night. I don't recommend it. While it was enjoyable, it was difficult to see what I was spinning, so the result is not a consistent gauge. The small skein is Shetland, spun for embroidery thread. The tan is a Romney/Corriedale mix. I've started to S-spin/Z-ply it to use for twine knitting, which I learned (again) this summer.

The other fun things I learned at Pennsic were a cutwork embroidery technique, cooking Viking-style food,
 how to drape a dress so it fits perfectly, 
and making medieval stained glass.

We ended the summer with a trip to Cape Cod. Here is the moon rising over the harbor in Provincetown: