When we unpacked all our goodies from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, this fellow
was one of the real heartbreakers. Isn't he beautiful? I can't recall his name just now. He is a Jacob, purchased at the Jacob Conservancy booth. I will have to give a lot of thought to just how to best treat this fleece...I don't want to just card him all up and have him end up being some sort of grey. Any suggestions from you?
Then at the festival, the first booth we hit was a rug hooking booth, "Hooked on Ewe". It was, when all was said and done, our favorite booth of the festival. Linda Harwood, the owner, is THE sweetest woman. She took loads of time to help us and has helped me since in several phone calls (she's not much of an internet person...I sort of applaud her choice, depending on what day I'm on and what mood I'm in). Here is my first ever rug hooking project, a country kitty.
I have since done my usual thing and spent countless hours googling rug hooking sites and buying a gazillion books on the different techniques and history of this craft. I fear this is terminal love. I fell asleep last night, designing my own project in my head. Sigh. You know what this means...next, buy the rag cutter. Then...start haunting thrift stores for woolen garments to disassemble and over dye. THEN...Mr. Sunflower figures out I've started rat stashing more stuff for yet another hobby and I start getting more creative on where to stuff things. Good thing he recognizes that all of this is cheaper than therapy!
Lastly, I was so inspired by the Gee's Bend quilts we saw in Santa Fe that I zoomed into Santa Fe Quilts the very next day to pick up some thread and a hoop. This past week, hoop in hand, I went spelunking through our closet shelves, looking for a king size quilt that I had pieced and pinned to backing 16 years ago, when I was working with some good friends at a quilt store in Encinitas called "Sew Bee It". I had dutifully packed it for the journey to NM, planning to quilt it, by machine, soon as I got settled. Well, so much for my intentions.
Yesterday I finally picked the darned thing up and smooshed one of the center blocks into the frame. Thread and needle in hand, I started to quilt it by hand.
Several hours later, I was still glued to my rocker, making very uneven but very happy little stitches in the ditches. This is when I remembered, once again, that this is the part of quilting I had always wanted. Not piecing on a machine, or quilting it on a machine...it is the hand work I crave. If you look closely you can see one and a half blocks where I've removed the safety pins as I stitched along. This is a story to remind you that you should never give up on yourself and your unfinished projects!
6 comments:
Oh, Martie! I am impressed. What fun. There are so many places for our hands & minds to go!! Can not imagine those that are bored. You certainly have multiple facets. Thanks for sharing with those of us who never make it to the festivals. Makes me feel a part of it.
Since it sounds like you are hooked on hooking, come join us on Yahoo Rughookers - over 2600 of us wool addicts from all over N.America, Australia, New Zealand, England, etc. We welcome all new hookers http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/rughookers
I'm headed there now! Thanks for the invitation! P.S. I am sad to report our local thrift store was useless for wool garments when I checked it out this morning...
What a pretty Jacob fleece! It would be a shame to take all its spirit away by carding it into uniform grayness.
To keep some of its character, you could try this: Gently wash the fleece, maintaining as much of the individual lock structure as you can. Let the locks dry, kind of keeping them as separated as you can.
To prepare for spinning, pick up one smallish lock and flick it -- hold the butt-end of the lock in one hand and sort of "tap" the flicker on the other end; then hold the flicked end (trying not to moosh it together too much) and tap on the butt-end. This ought to open up the lock for spinning. I usually flick a whole bunch of locks before I spin -- spin all those and then flick some more.
Spin worsted yarn with a short draw. I think this would be easist way to conserve some of the black-and-whiteness of the fleece. If you want the soft squishiness of carded, long-draw spun yarn, do it the way I suggest but with a kind of loose grist; when you ply, don't ply tightly. Worsted-spun yarn does not necessarily mean a hard-finish yarn! I have not had the pleasure of spinning Jacob fleece, but you should be able to get a nice bouncy yarn this way.
Even if you two- or three-ply your singles, the final yarn should show up more as black-and-white than gray. The trick is combing (or flicking) instead of carding and then worsted spinning.
Me, I'm going to the Estes Park Wool Market in a couple of weeks; who knows what I'll find there? It is such an adventure, and I expect to be VERY bad!
Linda is lovely! She contributed a design to my book and I can't wait to see how it will hopefully boost her business! Btw, regarding the wool thrift store finds? When you take a journey to a colder climate (upper Midwest or New England/NY comes to mind), go shopping at a few thrift stores, stuff all your luscious old wools in a box, and mail it to yourself, parcel post, back home! Sometimes this is still cheaper and always better for the environment than buying new...
Joanne: great suggestion. Just yesterday a friend with a sister in Boston has offered to see if she can get some stuff from back there. I think I hit the thrift store at the wrong time of year here in Taos...will try again in the fall...
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