Fair Fall Weather

Sunday at the Fair I bought a couple of fleeces and a Turkish Spindle.

Also visited my sister-in-law's goats, who had just won four prizes. Among the ribbons is one for Reserve Champion of the Colored Angora Goat Show. Well done, girls.

It was a  beautiful day for the fleece sale!

These are "early birds" at the fleece sale -- waiting for vendors to get the fleeces laid out.

One of the many vendor booths at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

Turkish spindle purchased at the fair.

My sister Karen's goats with four ribbons they won this weekend

A Shetland fleece purchased last Sunday

It seems impossible to resist washing some of the purchased fleece the day you get it home

Mummy Wrappings, Sailcloth, and Old Carpets

The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival began today at the fairgrounds in Canby. Wool growers, store owners, and spinning teachers and students were arriving from all over the west coast.

My spinning teacher told us that the sails of Columbus' ships were made using the same primitive tools we had come to study in Festival workshops.

Between classes I made some pictures of sheep and llamas whose coats provide us with rugs and warm clothing.

In the gallery I saw some linen, which if one had wanted to wrap up a mummy "back in the day," would have been spun on a stick and disc similar to the ones used in today's classes.

Spindles have been around for thousands of years!

These shetland sheep will be in the show ring tomorrow

Border Leicester buddies

Young shetland sheep

How often do you meet a friendly llama?

Sheep wearing a coat to keep her fleece clean

30 Minutes of Agitation

Four ounces of yarn scraps remained after knotting the tiny rug last week. Knitted up, it made a swatch measuring 13 1/2" x 13 1/2", once blocked.

I soaked the square in warm, soapy water and rolled and rubbed it for 30 minutes. Happily, this "fulling" yielded a firm, but still drape-y fabric.

("Felting" is the term most often heard to describe the process of agitating wool. "Fulling" seems a better word since I wanted pliable fabric, without the density of a hat or a purse.)

After 30 minutes, the square had only shrunk to 12", 88% of its original size. So much effort for a subtle result!

I can see why devoted felters prefer washing machines to bubble-wrapped rolling pins. Still, one can dream of a knitted, fulled winter coat in one's future.

Bubble wrap, soap, and a washboard were used to reduce a knitted square to 88% of its original size

Knitted square measured 13 1/2 " before being agitated in soapy water

Fabric is more dense after fulling, but still drapes enough to make a garment

Completed 12" square, after fulling (or felting, as the process is usually called)

Airport Knots

Last week I began a tiny rug in Central time and completed it in Eastern time (Kentucky and Indiana, respectively) before returning to Pacific time to post it.

This is another knotted pile carpet (7" x 7", 52 warp ends), woven mainly to try out another cartoon. Graphing a "readable" design for the coarse yarns I use isn't so easy as I thought it would be.

To attain wysiwyg (what you see is what you get), I will have to simplify and widen the graphed images some more.

7" x 7" hand-knotted rug finished just as our plane pulled up to the gate

Graph, or "cartoon" of the little rug

Loom and comb for weaving a rug smaller than one's foot

Done, Done, and a New Goal

The cat pillow is completely hooked.

The 13" x 15" hand-knotted rug is off the loom.

And new warp yarn is being spun. To keep the tension consistent throughout the weaving, I am going to have to spin a much stiffer yarn, probably by running each element through the spinning wheel twice. See example of correctly spun warp, below.

Hooked pillow cover (14" x 14") - hand spun and dyed yarns

Hand knotted rug, 13" x 15"

On the left, a middle-eastern carpet with firm warp yarn. On the right, my project's soft warp yarn (grey fringe)