Janaury 31, 2014

Opalyn:


Last month Monica and I attended the White Salmon Wassail and had a lovely time sharing our knowledge of spindling and weaving. We even had a project for the kids. After the event, the head librarian asked me if I would be willing to create a display. The library has two display cases and each month a different person fills the case. In December, one of the display cases was filled with Gingerbread Houses and the other with origami.

I said yes and decided to do a variation on the theme of sheep to shawl which is a common competition. My theme would be from sheep and rabbit to sweater. Since sweaters are such an undertaking, for me at least, I decided to make miniature sweaters as Holiday gifts for my family, since tree ornaments are a tradition.

Bottom Shelf: displaying initial fiber processing steps.

I started with the bottom shelf and included a picture of Luna, one of our sheep, and Sweet Pea, a German angora rabbit, then walked through the initial steps of shearing both animals and washing the sheep wool. Since rabbits keep their fur clean, Sweet Peas' was ready to go.

Middle Shelf: displaying hand cards and mini combs as well as angora spindling.

On the middle shelf, there are hand cards and mini hand combs that are used to orient the fiber. I also used a drum carder to blend the angora wool with the sheep wool which produced bats in center of the shelf then added a pair of books. To round out the display, there's a drop spindle with the blended wool, a miniature skein and a miniature sweater.

Top Shelf: displaying hand made spindles, yarn, and a niddy noddy.

I reserved the top shelf of the display for sheep's wool and spindles. There are eight spindles hanging but it is a bit difficult to make them out with all the books in the background. I also have a 200 yard skein of yarn that I hand combed and spun on a drop spindle, along with a miniature niddy noddy and a miniature sweater.

Over the past year, I've been developing my wood working skills as well, and all the spindles in the case were for sale.