Karen
Herhold will be teaching a nun felting workshop at the wool festival on October 17, 2009. Learn how to felt on silk in a quick workshop that will teach you the basics of felting. Cost is $25 and includes all supplies to make a
hair bow,belt or
skinny scarf. Questions? email jmarckathy@aol.com or call 520-572-3758.
This batch of roving started with the colors, I found buttons that matched, and then discovered that the way I was spinning the yarn lent itself to a landscape scarf. I plan to knit this one myself.
The buttons are a cowboy motif.
The greens reflect the colors of the mountains in spring and the sage brush. I had a lot of leftover roving and was planning to do a second skein using some wild animal buttons.
The carder called and I created roving that is reminiscent of an African Safari. I have to give Shannon Orr credit for the name. I was going for wild animals at the zoo.
Shannon is an angel in disguise. She showed up in response to my cry for help on weaving the lap rug for the wool festival raffle. Virginia did about 18 inches, I did another 18 and Shannon did the rest. It is now off the loom and I will weaving in the ends - no fringe this time! It is about 60 inches long, so we will be adding
freeform pieces around each of the sides. Since it is in all natural colors, I knew the yarns would all work. I am always amazed at how well such a loosely organized project can turn out. About 12 of the
Freeform Spinners of Tucson have had their hands in it - either spinning or learning to warp, tie on, thread or weave. It is going to be another work of art.
To see last year's
freeform shawl, check out the Tucson Wool Festival page of my website:
www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com.
We wanted this to be an item that would appeal to both sexes. The
Freeform Spinners are open for suggestions for a project for next year. We will start it at the wool festival next year, so it will be ready to raffle off next year. We are looking to do something different every year, so we can learn new techniques. Last year it was dyeing and spinning Shetland wool to create yarn strong enough for a warp. This year we played around with
Rambouillet and Merino. All wool is not the same, as the spinners will tell you. Anyone interested in participating is welcome to jump in at any time. Some of the yarns used were drop spindled and the first yarns ever spun for some. In
freeform, anything goes! We meet the first and third Saturdays of the month here at the ranch.
David Todd, the first shearer only does sheep. He is more used to production shearing, where lots of sheep are run through in a hurry. We were expected to already have the next sheep ready, so we had to scramble to get the hooves and CD&T shots done as he sheared. Above, Columbian is being sheared. She did not have a very heavy fleece.
Anne, the second shearer, uses the pole-and-stretch out method of shearing, similar to how alpacas are usually shorn. Ruth, my friend on the left, helped Anne by holding down Ruby (the goat). This method is slower than the other methods, but the cuts are reduced. However, the biggest disadvantage for me was that I had to stay holding heads all day long while sitting on the ground.
Emily Chamberlain was the last shearer. She did a lovely efficient job of shearing the remaining goats. I am scheduling her again and she has me on her calendar for three days in October 26-28. I am doing an fiber festival on October 27 and you are all welcome to come watch her in action. I have already scheduled my spring shearing for the last weekend in March. It is Easter. What better time to do it? Right now she will not shear alpacas. I am trying to talk her into going to the alpacas shearing school and told her that I will give her a scholarship, if she decides to go. She has shorn alacas before. I hope she will again!
Marc is trimming the hooves on Hummer, our seven year old buck. Check out the awesome horns!
