Community Cloth Celebration

I have posted before about Rebecca Burgess's Fibershed project. Rebecca made a personal commitment that for a year she would wear only clothes that originated within 150 miles of her front door. Think about it. That's not an easy task. This project is still ongoing, but yesterday there was a celebration of the project and of  Community Cloth , an effort to build the first farm-based cotton mill in the U.S. To have a viable "Fibershed" there must be a source of fine threads so that we can create cloth for t-shirts, jeans, and "regular" clothes, not just the kind of garments that most of us think of when we knit or weave. It is exciting that it is happening right here in northern California on Sally Fox's organic cotton farm. I drove over to Point Reyes Station with 3 friends. Here are some photos of our evening.

The event was held at Toby's Feed Barn, originally a feed store and still a feed store, but also an event center and gift shop. Chris and Diane and I wandered around town for a little while before the event officially started.

There was great music all evening.

I provided a blanket and a lambskin for the silent auction.

Diane, Chris, and Shelby enjoying before-dinner beverages.

When it was announced that those people wearing their own hand-made garments would be first in line at the food table we all put our outerwear back on.

Check out this bicycle-powered drum carder. The power-source for the new mill will be the sun, not bicycles!

The highlight of the evening was the fashion show. Models wore clothing created by local designers from local fibers for Rebecca's Fibershed project as well as many natural-colored cotton garments sewn from Sally's cotton fabric stash. This is the sweater knit from Meridian Jacobs 2-ply yarn. Note the straw-bale runway!

This model is wearing natural-colored cotton garments. The slide show in the background was going on throughout the event. Paige Greene is a fabulous photographer and she, being the daughter-in-law of a fiber grower, has documented the project from it's inception.

Those are my rams looking on as another model passes by.

Great event, great friends, and you know what is really great? There is so much enthusiasm, especially from people younger than me. I want to keep producing fiber, teaching about fiber, weaving, but not only do I not have time to adequately market my products, I don't have the energy  to think about it or the expertise to do it successfully.  There are people out there who appreciate what people like me are doing and want to help!

A Rainy Farm Day

Farm Club members braved stormy weather to make the March Farm Day a fun and productive day. As usual I had more tasks on the list than we could hope to accomplish in the morning but we made good progress.

First on the list was a lesson on using a halter and tying a rope, using a knot that can be easily released. I didn't mean that the people had to wear halters, but Shelby is always ready for anything.

Everyone helped catch lambs and record the number of horns and whether or not there were any eyelid defects.  (Split eyelids are not uncommon in 4-horn sheep.)

Next task:  Empty this wagon that has been accumulating electric fence parts and who-knows-what-else for a could of years and sort it.

Good job, ladies! Now the trick is to throw out the true garbage and keep everything else sorted.

Tina, Shelby, and Lily cleaned lambing jugs.

Shelby volunteered to brave the lake and dump the loads.

Can you see the rain coming down in the background?

Shelby holding Shelby, the sheep's, lamb.

Tina's turn.

Dona holding her favorite.

Here is the crew ready to have lunch and spend the afternoon in visiting in the warm, dry shop.

Thanks to all of you for your help and cheerful attitude!

Sheep flipping

Several years ago after my second back surgery I bought  a turning sheep squeeze chute. I used it for a few years and then stopped because I felt like I needed a second person to help with it. It seemed to work better if someone held the sheep's head still. My theory is that sheep with horns struggle when their horns get stuck in the spaces between the expanded metal side (that's what my husband says that mesh is called). The sheep with 4 horns that have stubby side horns don't seem to have as much of a problem and I think it's because they don't panic as they would if they felt their heads trapped. I'd been thinking of selling the chute, but then decided that maybe I could modify it. I started by securing cardboard over the side with the mesh. That will not be a long term solution because the cardboard is pretty much destroyed now. But its a start.

Shelby and Jackie were here to help take fleece samples from all the yearlings (19) and trim their feet.

After you squeeze the sides of the chute you can turn the whole thing on its side.

Then you drop the floor so that you can easily get to the feet.

There are a few bars on the side of the chute that you can release so that you can get to the side of the sheep. I take fleece samples of all the yearlings so that I have at least one micron measurement and it's taken at a consistent age.

There are still some bugs to work out. I think that if I could make a space for the head that would accommodate the horns but that the sheep didn't think it could climb through the whole thing might work better. We'll have to work on it.  I think the last time I used the chute it was with a couple of teenagers who were called in to help and argued until one or the other left the scene and then the other sulked. This was much different and vastly more pleasant. I must say that Jackie and Shelby got along just fine--no whining heard. Thanks!

Almost spring

It sure looks and feels like spring today.

Twenty ewes have lambed so far with 38 lambs. Only about one third of those are rams.

A few days ago I took photos of lambs for the website before putting the ewes and lambs into group pens. Do you think Rusty showed restraint?

Maybe I like knitting after all!

Today I had a great time in a KNITTING class! Nancy Jane Campbell from Cool, CA came here to teach her Caps, Caps, Caps class. It was a fabulous class. Nancy is a great teacher and we were all so inspired with the variety of caps that she brought. She taught us a method of knitting caps that gives complete freedom to use whatever yarn you want, whatever needles are available, and end up with a unique cap that fits.

Look at the pile of hats on the table--all different!

These are mine--the start of two different caps. The purple one will have a light and dark purple design after I get past the increasing. That yarn is a superwash wool that I sell. I need a sample for upcoming shows so this was a good opportunity to knit something with it.  The cap on the right is my handspun Jacob wool.

This was such a fun class and we all left with a sense of real accomplishment. Besides learning how to create these caps, Nancy also gave us all kinds of other knitting hints. She and I will plan another class to offer here later in the year.

Warm feet

What's better for cold feet than sheepskin slippers with wool socks? Well, I won't be short of wool socks any time soon. I just got the wool socks that I had made. Unfortunately they weren't here in time for Christmas, but I think I'll still have some for next Christmas. There are over 400 pairs!

These are the Jacob wool socks. From left to right: 1/4 sock size 9-11, crew size 9-11, crew size 11-13, crew size 13-15.

These are Rambouillet wool socks in the same sizes.  I'll be putting these on my website next week after I figure out labeling, etc.

Last blanket...almost

I just finished two twin size blankets using a customer's natural colored yarn and her yarn that I dyed. This will be shipped tomorrow  along with the king-size blanket. I've had the heater on in my shop all day so that I can get these dry. I also finished a couple of v-shawls.

The blankets have the same warp. This one is woven with 2-ply light brown weft.

I didn't have enough of the customer's yarn for weft in the second blanket so I used some of mine. I took a chance on using 2 strands of singles yarn wound together on the pirn. Normally I wouldn't try to wind 2 together using an end-feed shuttle, but in this case the yarns wound around each other and I didn't have any trouble at all.  So this weft is one strand of light gray and one strand of dark gray yarn together. I think it gives a nice depth to the blanket.

I have one more custom order, a king size blanket in several colors, but it will wait until after Christmas. The last time I did that (last year) I broke my arm before I got the left-over weaving finished.

Weaving blankets

I'm making progress on the weaving orders but I'm not finished yet.  I need to get these in the mail by the middle of the week.

This is a king-sized blanket for a customer in Oregon. I don't know what kind of sheep she raises, but the yarn is beautiful and the blanket is very soft. It measures 90 x 100".  The only place I can spread a blanket this size to dry is the floor of the shop, so I have to plan my finishing around classes, open hours, etc. The shop is too cold right now and after leaving the blanket spread out overnight I needed to get it off the floor (partly because I'm teaching a chenille scarf class tomorrow).

The blanket is folded in half and hanging over the loom on which I'm weaving a v-shawl for a customer in Nevada. This customer has Jacob sheep and I'm using her mill-spun yarn and handspun yarn. The blanket below is for the same customer. The stripes are handspun.

Here is a detail from the king-sized blanket at the top of this post. This customer also wants two twin blankets and she wants some of the yarn dyed. Here is the yarn for the next warp.

The next two blankets are woven with singles Jacob yarn. These were in a previous post while still on the loom. They are for sale at the Artery right now and will be on my site shortly.

Artery

Wednesday was Display Day at the Artery, the artists' coop where I sell my handwoven pieces. We expand into the Gallery area for the month of December so all of us get a little more space for our items. Here is my area:

Those are all chenille scarves on the left, v-shawls in the middle and a couple of Jacob blankets on the wall.

This is my newest idea--pet leashes. Here is a close-up:

Now I'm working on custom weaving orders.

This blanket is for a customer in Nevada. The gray yarn is her Jacob spun at Yolo Wool Mill and the stripes is her handspun. This blanket will be finished tomorrow and next on the loom is a king size blanket for another customer.

22 Weaving Days Left

I have weaving orders to finish in time for Christmas. I thought I would have plenty of time after the Crocker Show. Now I'm feeling a bit panicky. Before starting other people's blankets I had to get my own blankets off the loom. Here are 2 of the 3 blankets as they were being woven.

This warp is Jacob singles at 12 epi. I have learned that if I'm using a relatively loosely spun singles for warp to wind 4-6 extra threads at the edges so that there will be extras when those edge warp threads break. Those extra threads hang off the sides and I pick up one of them when one of the threads at the selvedge weakens and breaks. This was more of a problem in the first blanket and I was ready to cut the warp off. I changed shuttles and the next two blankets went better. I love these 16-H twills. Here are close-ups:

There will be lots of fringe-twisting before I can wash these. That may have to wait, although I'd like to be able to get these blankets ready for sale this season.

Two busy weekends

I spent the last two days in Placerville teaching Weave a V-Shawl to the Hangtown Fiber Guild. Here are the results:

Ladies,  please turn around.

These are the warps for shawls not quite finished:

Quite a variety of shawls!

Last weekend was Lambtown in Dixon, CA. The fiber building was so busy that I barely got outside to snap a few photos. The sheep-to-shawl contest was one of the most popular events. Teams come with looms already warped and they need to prepare and spin the yarn and weave the shawls during the contest. This year the fiber for the weft was Jacob wool from my flock. It got great reviews from the spinners.  Here is the winning shawl woven by the Silverado Guild from Napa:

And a close-up:

The Del Oro Guild got second place:

I didn't get photos of the other shawls, but I did get one of Hangtown Guild's portrayal of their theme of  "Au Naturel":

There is a new use for all that roving that you don't have time to spin! Hangtown always does it with a sense of humor!

One last photo taken at Lambtown:

Do I want to swap out my sheep for a flock of these  cuties? Hmmm...what is a group of chincillas called? Covey--no, that's quail. Warren--isn't that where rabbits live? Crowd? How about Cloud?

Finally weaving

I have started to work on the projects that are backed up from BBA (before broken arm). This is a Jacob wool blanket for a local Jacob breeder. The wool was spun at Yolo Wool Mill. It's very open right now at 4 epi but I have notes from the last blanket I did using this yarn  and the blanket came out great. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. But now I'll have to wait a week (at least). I'm leaving in the morning for Michigan and Vermont! I'll take photos!

Another weaving class

I taught the Weave a V-Shawl class in Stockton this month. Judy Allen of Gilmore Looms organized it and we used the space at the shop to hold the class. Five students took the class and here's what they created. These shawls are right off the loom so fringes and wet finishing will be done later. Aren't they incredible? And all so different.

In the photo above you can get a feel for the warp. It's the photo below that shows what happens when the shawl is woven--you get fun plaids on the back. The second, third and fifth shawl are out of my Jacob wool. The first is a cotton mix that Judy wove for her mother (modeling the shawl).  The 4th shawl is out of beautiful handspun and the shawl on the far right is a variegated alpaca yarn--so soft.

One of the most fun things for me was that I took an old Gilmore loom I have to the class on the 2nd day and Bob spent a lot of time fixing things for me. This loom was made in 1962 and I acquired it a few years ago. Bob fixed the space where the reed goes in the beater so that I don't have to jam it in. He cut slots so that the top bar that holds the reed in place will slip out without having to undo the bolts. He showed me how to fix the reeds that have the tape coming off of them. And most exciting--he turned the beam into a sectional beam for me. Photo to come later.

Thanks to Bob for the loom work and to Judy for organizing the class...and of course the students.

Changing Clothes

I thought you might be interested in this project and website by Lea Redmond. Lea contacted me several months ago to buy some black and white Jacob yarn. She planned to weaving clothing labels. Huh? About a month ago she contacted me and said her project was finished and she was having a show at The Cheese Factory http://www.artatthecheesefactory.org/ near Petaluma, CA. Lea used my wool for a giant size clothing label as part of her Changing Clothes project in which she "investigates politics and ecology of clothes". Go to this website-   http://www.leafcutterdesigns.com/projects/changingclothes.html and explore more of what she is doing in this project. There are some interesting ways that all of us can participate.