The start of the Autumn round-up!

Fibre Fest Here

So, it's been awhile since I posted! A long while... I have lots to write about, it's been a busy autumn. 
I couldn't decide what to write about first... Rhinebeck, my Hodge Podge Farm yearly residency, Vogue Knitting Chicago... So, I decided to go way back and go in chronological order. I'm going to start with the Wolfe Island Fibre Festival!

It would be great to go back with bikes.

Back in mid-September, I attended the Wolfe Island Fibre Festival with my friend, who had a booth selling her amazing fibre.
Wolfe Island is a short ferry ride from Kingston, ON. It is near the Thousand Islands and is absolutely gorgeous! The weekend of the fibre festival was also a gorgeous September weekend, we couldn't have asked for better weather.

Pretty September sunflowers in full bloom.

Andie has been working on building her amazing new line called, Well Turned Out Fibre House. She makes beautiful rolags, braids, soaps and will be adding lampwork beads to her repertoire. 

Some braids.

Pretty, pretty braids.

Wolfe Island, as I mentioned, is a beautiful little island full of farmland, beaches and quaint shops and cafes. The festival took place in a few buildings on the island and, so we got to walk around and explore.

Andie on the beach.

Stone table.

It was a welcoming, wonderful fiber-y weekend getaway! Not to mention, it was a nice break from my year-three spinning homework - which I need to get back to ( a whole other story)!

Beach-y shadow fun!

Dip, dip, dip - dry....

By the way... this is the first puppet I ever made. I was maybe 5 or so...

Lock Washing

I started washing fleece for my hand-spinning programe.  There are several different kinds and the students have to decide, based on the end use of the wool, how to wash and prepare the wool.  Some of it, I washed in a bag in the sink and some I lock washed.  


Lock washing is my new favorite way of washing fleece.  It's very time consuming but also very meditative for me...  basically, you separate the greasy fleece into individual locks then dip each lock into very hot, soapy water, rinse in hot water and lay flat to dry... 

The Set Up

At first, I kept burning my finger tips in the water, then Boomer gave me her surgical forceps. They sound scary but are really just small, tightly locking tweezer-y things.  I could grab onto the wool and tightly lock it and dip away without burning my fingies or having the lock fall apart. The whole purpose of lock washing the fleece is to keep it all organized as far as the tip of the lock vs. the end that was attached to the sheep. 

Washed and Drying!

Now I have a whole pile of different fleeces all washed and ready to go! Romney, Lincoln, Corriedale and some Merino - maybe some other stuff too!

Bags-o-Wool!

I'm getting ready for my Hodge Podge Farm Residency too!  Lots of natural dyeing will take place as well as some weaving. This will kick off a new body of work for me!  Well, actually, I'm hoping a class I'm starting tomorrow will kick it off!  It's an Abstract Quilt class.  I'm going to get all surface design on that quilt!  I just can't decide on a theme....  hmmmm.....


I have a Granny Square Class coming up at Greenwood Quiltery that will be a blast!  Get in touch with them to register!


OH!  The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada is amazing and everyone should sponsor a donkey there!

A Sheep Friend for the Donkeys

Boomer Brushin' a Donkey

September was busy.... I'm back!

Me doing a demo at the Wellington County Museum and Archives!

Wow! I'm glad that things have calmed down a bit and I have time to post!

First of all I'm going to be teaching several classes over the next few months at the beautiful Greenwood Quiltery! Beginner Knitting, Entrelac, Sock Knitting and Drop Spindle Spinning! Please contact them for more details : 519-822-2790.

I will also be offering some children's classes though The Children's Art Factory. I met with Melissa, the amazing owner of this new space for kids. The space is inspiring and so much fun. I will post more when the details are all worked out! In the meantime, if you have a little one, please bring them to this creative space!

This past weekend was the Harvest Home Festival at The Wellington County Museum and Archives. It was a celebration of the history of the area and of fall! There were antique tractors, delicious pies, sheep shearing, lace making, candle making, music and wool preperation and spinning (by me).

Showing the kids how it's done:

Drumcarding up a storm:

Creepy Museum Doll:

I had a great time talking to people about the art of spinning and how wool is taken from a sheep and made into something you can make hats, sweaters and socks out of. There were many children that were so interested which made me very excited for the future of spinning! My father even got into the festivities by being pulled into a square dancing demo - he did well!

I also sent in my OHS homework. Second due date and one more to go. The October due date is sneaking up on me and I have to get a move on it!

S and Z homework before and after:

In The Grease homework before and after:

Grist homework before and after:

Next? I'm off to the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY..... I can't wait to see my friends Cal Patch, Jill Draper and Christine Eschback.

I'm taking the train down to the Hodgepodge farm and I'm so excited to watch the county zip on by! I'm sure I'll have many pictures to share.

Dye, Spin, Baaa!

I've been keeping busy with my hand-spinning coursework! Last weekend I went to visit my friend Andrea Leigh so we could play around with dyeing some yarn. We have to produce an 11 step gradient for class... We had a great time spinning and dyeing and eating vegan delights.

Vegan fish and chips!

It was my first time using the Greener Shades acid dyes. They were a little bit spotty and we were not sure if it was because we crammed too much fibre into each jar or if we needed to add more acid to the dye-bath or if we needed a leveling agent. So much more experimenting to do!





We were also lucky enough to be invited to a friend's farm to meet her Shetland Sheep! They are so cute and all different, wonderful colours. We even got to take off with a bag full of fleece each to spin up and experiment with!


My continuing course work is going well. I've been working on my Homo/Ortho spinning this weekend. The exercise is to produce a yarn that both singles are of different colours (orthogeneous) and another yarn where the colours are carded before hand then spun and plied to produce a yarn that is all one colour (homogeneous). I finished the Ortho part and prepped the rolags for the homo part.... I really have to practise more spinning from a rolag though, I'm finding it difficult to get a smooth yarn there are lumps... practise makes perfect though!


I've also been working on my "in the grease" homework. This exercise involves flick carding greasy fleece and spinning it without washing it. So the wool still has all it's waxy goodness in it. My hands are very soft! Half the fleece is spun "in the grease" the other has to be washed and carded then spun. I wanted to try washing the fleece in very hot water only. This is the way one of my classmates from Germany washes her fleeces. The idea is that the hot water melts off the wax, you don't let the water cool too much or all the waxy grease will coat the wool again. So you soak the greasy fleece for about 1/2 an hour then dump the water and repeat. I did it 3 times and the fleece seems pretty clean. I'm going to see how it spins.