April is Poetry Month

And so ... a poem about spinning --

A Spinner's List
The old woman whispers -- come to me
and I will tach you to make magic,
cast the spells of Gideon and Arachne.
She folds my fingers around a stick
of warm basswood with a maple whorl
and slides wool across my palm,
shows me how to draft each curl
into a feathered fan, and feel the balm
of thick fragrant grease
and breathe the incense of lanolin.
I flick the spindle and release
the fragile fibers into thin
air, where they embrace emptiness and make it whole.
Now, she murmurs, chant the spell --
qiviut, bombyx, tussah, merino,
rambouillet, jacob huacaya, suri.
She whispers again, be slow --
the spider at her web does not hurry.

Where exactly has May gone?

Obviously, not to blogging. May is one of my busiest months -- we have an annual gathering of all our editors to plan the upcoming year. Getting ready for it and hosting takes more time and energy than I thought I owned. I'm also on the committee for our local historical home tour event -- so I spent last weekend dressed like this -- I got more spinning done in two days than I've done in two months. And thank God it was not too warm. If I had actually lived in the 1800s, I think I would have gone quietly mad with the clothing. The thigh-high woollen stockings, the petticoats (plural), the hoops, the separate sleeves and collars, the voluminous dresses ...

And as a side note, I love how the clothing adds about 30 pounds. Charming.

Memorial Day weekend means a trek to Alma, Michigan (Scotland, USA) for the annual watching-guys-in-kilts event otherwise known as the Highland Festival. The bands were great -- sorry I don't have sound, but hum Scotland the Brave to yourself.


And really, is there anything sexier than a man in wool knee socks?

I am... the fleece police!

OK, now doesn't that give you visions of me in a shepherdess outfit, brandishing a shepherd's hook as if it's a billy club? The reality is a tiny bit different ...

Yesterday was the Spinner's Flock Fleece Fair -- for spinners and knitters, the equivalent of being a squirrel let loose in a peanut factory. (Yes, I know it's an odd analogy, but I didn't want to use the cliched kid in a candy store, and my brain is a little fried from hours at the emergency room this weekend with my brother.)

There was roving ---

There were spinning wheels -- There was handspun yarn ---

Spinners, teachers and shoppers --


And miscellaneous "stuff" --

It was great!

So what does this have to do with fleece police? Well, someone needs to make sure the products are all really handspun, that nobody has hung his or her skeins of yarn over someone else's, that the fibers are all grouped together appropriately, etc. Mostly, it's a great excuse to do some early shopping.

Which, of course, I did.
I scored several balls of roving --
I really like this one from Spinning Moon Farms -- it's 70% Corriedale and 30% mohair. I think it will make fabulous socks. I've spun Edie's roving before to make my daughter a hat, and the colors were amazing. Meet Janice -- a lovely and clean (I mean amazingly clean) Border Leicester fleece from Linda Koeppel's flock. I think I could just shake out the little bit of chaff that is in this. I'm really looking forward to processing it -- but since I only wash wool outside, it will have to wait for spring.

Spring is coming at some point, right?
I also succumbed to the temptation to try needle felting. A couple of the members were demonstrating -- And so I bought some foam and needles to get started. Actually, Scott and I are working on a collaborative project for his next woodturners' guild meeting, and I want to needlefelt a bowl.

I'll keep you posted how that turns out -- those of you who know me know that I am a bit of a klutz, and these needles came with warnings about tetanus shots. I just hope I don't bloodstain everything I try to make.

And my real score were these --
A boatload of old Spin-Off magazines. The earliest is from winter of 1985, before I had started spinning. I cannot wait to go through all of them -- not only as a spinner, but as a magazine editor. I'm fascinated with the design upgrades and changes throughout the years.

So, you can see that my Sunday afternoon is well spoken for. If only I didn't have that pesky work thing tomorrow -- I could spend the whole day in fiber heaven.

Lovin' knit night

Wednesday is always great -- it's knit night at Trees of a Feather in Brooklyn. Carol, the owner, is fabulous -- warm, welcoming and incredibly generous. And the other knitters are the best.

This Wednesday was doubly wonderful because I spent the morning at a creativity workshop based on Julia Cameron's, The Artist's Way. I've tried this book on my own before, but I get stuck at the chapter where I'm supposed to give up reading for a week. Not happening. Maybe I'll do better with group support.

And it's COLD -- we dropped about 30 degrees over the last few days. Lovely weather for shawls and sweaters, but I was remembering that just last week, I was here


happily spinning in the courtyard. Today's weather was a reminder that this is just around the

corner--

Sigh.

On the plus side, I did get a lot of spinning finished for the quaker rib shawl/wrap I want to make -- after the Christmas gifts, ornaments, socks for my son, sleeve to my sweater, Lucy Neatby mittens.....

It's three-ply, two from roving I got at Allegan and one from Spinner's Flock roving. I did another bobbin of all one roving, and I'm going to grade the shades throughout the shawl. It's the first three-ply I've done in a long time -- I think I'm going to like it better for this project than my usual two-ply.