I was at the Camden Farmer’s Market last summer, spinning with the gang. But there are no pictures of me or my wheel, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

It was a beautiful day–sunny and warm. I didn’t want to leave when it was time to pack up. Since I only attended three events this past summer, it was precious time spent spinning. I also run to many friends at this Market, so there is a lot of visiting and chatting.

Someone smack me and make sure I take more pictures this summer!

(which took place the weekend of June 9)

Every year in Windsor, ME people flock to the Fiber Frolic to see the Llama Drill Team, sheepdog demos, and fiber creatures of many sorts (llamas, alpacas, goats, sheep and bunnies for sure!). There’s an absolutely lovely fleece “tent”, filled with hundreds of fresh fleeces. (click to make it bigger).

This year prices ranged from $5.50 to $25 per pound for raw sheep’s fleeces; up to $30 for alpaca. I personally sold a black Romney fleece from Joe Miller for $25/lb. What a fleece! The prize winning alpaca fleece was from Village Farm Alpacas in Waldoboro (click to make it bigger):

I didn’t get pictures of judging because I was busy volunteering, but, to I’ll give you an idea of what goes on. For this show, you must enter your fleece to be judged (you can sell a fleece without having it judged). The show fleeces are marked as such and kept separately. Most of these fleeces were for sale, and some were bought before and after the judging.

A double table was set up for judging (two 3.5′x8′ tables, long sides together). Each fleece was unrolled onto the table so that all portions of the fleece can be seen. The judge looks at consistancy (is it all the same thickness, is it the same length throughout?), soundness (no tender tips or breaks), how it was prepared (well skirted, no second cuts), and how well the fleece fits the standard for the breed.

For instance, a long wool like Coopworth has a standard that is focused luster and length; a fine wool like Merino has a standard that is focused on fineness. A judge wouldn’t want to hold both fleeces to the same standard.

After looking all over the fleece, the judge writes down his/her findings. There’s usually a matrix with plenty of room for notes. A great judge writes extensive notes, so the exhibitor knows why one fleece is better/worse than the next. While the judge is writing, a volunteer rolls up the fleece and puts it back in its bag.

Each fleece gets a significant viewing at the Fiber Frolic, although at events where every fleece is judged, sometimes that’s not the case.

The winners’ fleeces came from Pam Child of Hatchtown for wool (a lovely dark Coopworth off of Celeste) and Bonnie Callery of Village Farm Alpacas (a crimpy fawn of off their new stud, Aureus Magnus). Both were fabulous!

I only bought a few things (well, only a few that I want my DH to know about ;-).

Sadly, Indigo Moon Farm has gone out of business. MaryLynn has gone on to other pursuits and I wish her much luck. PJ and I dropped by her farm and picked up some fabulous dyed batts (PJ bought those), some old issues of Wild Fibers Magazine and some nice blue/purple roving.

I bought another hand spindle from Hatchtown Farm–a Kaari. It’s become a tradition to buy a new spindle from Jim every Fiber Frolic. Here some of their other offerings:

At Golding I found a set of dp knitting needles size 2, 5″ long. They are EXTRA pointy and I absolutely love them.

I did NOT buy a fleece this year. I’m proud of myself. Even after Pam and I looked over some fleeces at the last moment, I couldn’t find one I couldn’t live without. Sigh. Another Fiber Frolic is over. I can’t wait for the next one!

Box o’ yarn

I was cleaning up my fiber room (and, no, I didn’t finish) and took this lovely picture of my handspun yarn.

It’s one of two boxes of handspun I’ve filled up. This box is about 24 inches deep (too deep to fit on my storage rack). I just love all the colors–most are dyed, but the one big, dark brown skein is natural colored Coopworth from Hatchtown Farm. It’s Bergetta’s hoggett (first) fleece from about five years ago. I’ve got enough spun to make a sweater, but I haven’t actually knit anything yet.

So, what do you do when you’re knitting? If I had more people to hang out with, I could talk with them, but the times I can knit (usually late evening after the kids go to bed) are not condusive to haven’t company over. I could listen to audio books but I find most of them to be . . . slow or not well-read.

For most of my knitting I can both watch tv and knit at the same time, so I choose to watch tv. What’s on my watch list?

–We got Freaks and Geeks on Netflix. It’s a ton of fun, but some of the more painful moments hit too close to home. I got beaten up in HS gym class too many times to count. We’ve watched ep 1 and 2.

–Andy Barker, PI, is available for d/l at NBC.com. It’s laugh out loud funny, even upon a second viewing. The first two eps are a 10 on the funny meter, the third is a 7, but still worth watching.

–Bones is available on Fox.com and is best “watched” while knitting. The gory, gross, or boney parts are easily avoided by paying attention to your knits and purls. I love the characters (Angela and Hodgins are just *so* cute together) and the stories are interesting, even if a bit bizarre.

–Gray’s Anatomy is available at NBC.com. Gray’s is good for knitting, since it occasionally has blood and surgery, but the people are so beautiful, you’ll need to look up often.

–Blood Ties on Lifetime (also available to d/l on iTunes) is dark and a bit weird, but the people are beautiful.

–Friday Night Lights (at NBC.com) is a new find for me. I’m only on ep 4, but it’s good stuff. It’s especially good if you like football, but I’ve been told my my non-football-watching friends that they like it, too. Many, well-written characters and a compelling story.

Here are things in my to-be-watched queue. I don’t know if they’re good for knitting yet or not.

–Oz (HBO), the DVDs are in the queue.

–The Tudors (Showtime), starts this weekend.

–The Riches (F/X), I taped them and will get to them sometime.

–Eureka (SciFi), the first season ended last summer, with a second 13-ep season ordered for this summer. I’ve been told it was excellent, and will tape it when it reruns (which I’m sure will be before they start the second season).

Not much yarn, but a whole lot of tv.

I had a meeting that went on until 11 last night; then I came home and couldn’t sleep.

So, I slept in, the 3Ts made me breakfast (without me asking!), and then I got up and took a bunch of pictures. It’s been a good morning!

I’ve been spinning for about five years now. Spinning led to dyeing. I’ve done a lot of both. I’ve done so much that I’ve taken to teaching dyeing classes (upcoming class on 4/21–join me, it’ll be fun!).

For a taste of my taste in handspun, handdyed yarns, check out the “Handspun Yarn Gallery” at the top of the sidebar (to the right of this column). It’s just a sample of the dozens of skeins in big boxes in my fiber room (and the living room, and sometimes the bedroom). I’ve literally spun 20+ lbs of fiber and most of it’s in bags and boxes. Perhaps I need a “completed bar” for the handspun projects I should be working on.

Make sure you scroll down to the last picture. It has the companions to the skein in this post. That’s where the picture of My Favorite Skein is. Check it out!

People often ask me what spinning wheel they should buy. When I tell them I’m not the right person to ask, they push me to tell them how I bought my first wheel.

But, I did it all wrong. And, not just my first wheel; all of them.

My good friend, the Yarn Demon, had told me that the most beautiful, best spinning wheels were made by Rick Reeves. Not knowing anything at all, I did a few web searches and looked at his wheels. They were, indeed, very beautiful. But, I had just started knitting a few months earlier and didn’t think it was a good time for another hobby.

Unfortunately I started searching eBay for spinning wheels. One day, right after my birthday, I spotted a Reeves wheel that wasn’t all that expensive. It was the small saxony wheel–19″ diameter.

Oh, she was a love. She arrived the first week of June and I immediately sat down and had no clue what to do with her. I found a class nearby and jumped right in. Yes, three hours of class plus three hours of practice every night will make you a great spinner in only a month. I was addicted. She spun like a dream–the footman action was perfect heel-toe, her bearings ran smooth, and she needed very little tuning to keep her happy.

It only took a year for me to get the urge to buy another wheel. I inquired about a number of Reeves wheel I found for sale online and, after much thought and pulling of my hair, I decided to buy a Reeves Norwegian wheel.

She’s a very different looking spinning wheel, she’s also heavy, and persnickidy. I’ve decided she’s better to look at than spin on. I used to take her many places, but the movement of the van would make her “lose her tune” and I would take 30 minutes to get her spinning again when I arrived at my destination. The parts that hold up the wheel move and they seem to move whenever she gets moved. Then she slips her drive band or doesn’t take up.

She and I have agreed that she’ll stay home so I’m not caught saying four-letter words in front of small children.

A year after my acquisition of the Norwegian, I emailed a women I has spoken for during that search. I asked if the 30″ production wheel she had offered a year before happened to still be available. I was shocked to hear that it was.

And, that’s how the big wheel came into my life:

This wheel will always be my favorite. She’s right here beside me right now, in the middle of my living room. Up until this last summer she’s the one that travels with me everywhere. Yes, she’s big. Yes, she’s flashy. Yes, I can spin two ounces of 2-ply sport weight yarn on her in less than 2 hours. She’s only dangerous during football season. I get way too much twist in yarn during football games with her. She needs a slow, steady foot and will produce miles and miles of yarn that way.

Some people laugh that I haul this big girl with me when I spin in public. Actually, it’s usually my friend and partner in crime, PJ. It takes a minivan to haul this wheel and, when mine’s not available (or it’s PJ’s turn to drive), we have to reconfigure the seats in her minivan to get the wheel in. But she puts up with it as I promised to leave her my Norwegian wheel if I die first (note to self: this has now been said in public).

This same friend forwarded an email to me last spring about a spinning wheel on eBay. Yep, another eBay wheel. This time a small one. One that I’ve been craving for years and years. A Reeves frame wheel.

Now she’s the traveling wheel. The seller had inherited it from his grandmother. The wheel is probably 20 years old and was unsigned; perhaps because it was made before Rick started signing them. I got a good price because it was unsigned and the seller didn’t know (had no way to know) who had made it). I could tell from the flyer and all the beautiful little Rick Reeves’ touches that it was one of his.

So, I bought all these wheels sight unseen. I had pictures of them emailed to me (or saw them on eBay), but I did not touch or spin on any of them before I bought them. I do not recommend trying this yourself. But, it sure worked out for me!

This time of year I usually do more knitting than spinning, and this year is no different.  But today I noticed how dusty my favorite spinning wheel has become.  And, now I’m thinking about spinning.  I need to order some superwash Merino for the dyeing workshop I’m working on for March, but right now I’ve not got much to spin. Nothing at all hand-dyed (gasp!).

I always have some fleece from Hatchtown Farm.  I believe I’ve got parts of Patch’s and Bergetta’s fleeces and all of Godiva’s.  These are all lovely covered Coopworth fleeces from Pam and Jim Child.  It’s almost shearing time again (I believe I heard a rumor of Valentine’s Day for shearing).  I try my best to go down and help out.  I get to run my hands through many fabulous fleeces and get first dibs on them.  I wish I could spin as fast as I can covet.  The other problem is that I like unwashed fleeces.  I think they smell lovely.  So, I don’t want to wash them.

I’ll be good and take pictures  at shearing this year.

I bought a couple of fleeces at the Fiber Frolic last year and have only played with a bit of each.  They were bought as dyeing fodder and they’ve performed well for that.  I believe they were Coopworth/Cormo crosses; one white, the other light grey.  I wash a bit and dye it, but seldom seem to get it spun.

This fall my friend, Marie, was gifted seven fleeces that she passed on to me and the Midcoast Spinners. They are probably Corriedale crosses.  If anyone local would like one, drop me a line and we’ll get together.  They are very dirty, but the fleece is decent.  There are still colored and white ones left.

So, what do you spin?

So, what did you do on new year’s day?  I went to work and counted sweaters and now I’m home watching football.  My team is playing in the Rose Bowl, so I got home in time for the second quarter.  Instead of typing in my blog I should be knitting, but my arms are tired from dancing with sweaters today.  And, I know better than spin while watching football.

Two years ago I learned to not spin while watching a good football game.  The national championship game (which we won two years ago and lost last year), is not the time to attend to yarn tension.  It’s also a problem when you forget which way you’re plying and go the wrong way.  "Huh?" you may say.  Here’s a tiny plying lesson.

In spinning it makes no difference which direction you spin the fiber.  The fiber simply doesn’t care (wool, silk, cotton, alpaca, hemp or anything else).  But throughout the history of spinning, much of it has been done co-operatively.  That means that I’ll spin on a spindle today and put it into the box of spindles at the end of the day; tomorrow you’ll pick up a spindle and so will I, but not necessarily the same one we used previously.  In order to continue making yarn, by convention, we all spin clockwise.  Looking down at the spindle, or from the orifice side of the wheel, the wheel or spindle will turn clockwise.

If I spun clockwise and you spin counter-clockwise, you would unspin my work, and I would unspin yours.

Plying is done in the opposite direction–slightly untwisting the yarn.  Which means that, when done correctly yarn is plied counter-clockwise.  Unless there’s an excellent, exciting football game on.  Then you ply clockwise and make twine for yarn (it ends up very overtwisted).  And, I’m so wrapped up in the game, I don’t even notice until 100-150 yarns of plying is completed.  It is almost impossible to unply yarn.  It takes two people and much patience.  I think I tossed the project.

So, no spinning during a football game.  Perhaps blogging is better anyway.

Since we won the game, be assured that when football is on, I’ll be blogging (not that I’m superstitious or anything

Fight On!