Needle Point

Antique spinning wheel

That's the way it was explained to me. Women who participate today in the women's crafts of spinning, dying, weaving, knitting and crochet represent our female fore bearers. We are just the tip of the needle pulling a thread of continuing traditions that date back hundreds of years in this country alone. Those who are furthering these arts have a big responsibility to get it right, and a lot to live up to.

A Cotswold ewe

I have been playing with processing the wool from my sheep since I sheared them all last Spring. As I became in touch, (literally,) with the resulting fiber, I began to cast about for someone to show me the ropes. Of course, online, I found any number of tutorials about washing, picking, carding and spinning wool, but I was looking for something more. I met lovely, amazingly talented women, both in person and online, all of whom had a slightly different take of how and what to do with wool. I bought books and magazines, learned a lot in a relatively short amount of time, and I began to tinker.

Wool on a set of hand cards

I washed wool, I picked wool, I bought some hand cards and I made rolags, cigar-shaped bundles of separated wool fibers that are ready to spin. I even sold some wool online through Ravelry, a website for spinners, knitters and crocheters. But, I knew I didn't have it right, and I still wanted a good teacher. I found a very nice lady who spun beautiful yarn, and had some of the right equipment, but her studio was her tiny livingroom, and she seemed disenfranchised to me. I picked up some good tips, and kept looking.

From Handspun Yarn

I bought some ewe lambs from a friend, and she told me about a talented fiber artist who was teaching her to weave. Karen gave me her business card, I called the number and Pat and I talked on the phone for an hour. I had a good feeling. Pat hosts open houses for her students a couple times a month in her sprawling hilltop home, and invited me up. Suddenly I was in an airy, high-ceilinged room with a view surrounded by mature, confident women who were spinning, knitting and talking about sheep, wool and fiber art. I was in the right spot.

Pat's first love, and my interest is wool preparation. I want to learn to take raw wool, literally off the sheep's back, and process it into clean, separated wool fiber that can be used. I want to dye it too, but I'm getting ahead of myself. As I was talking to this 50-year fiber artist, the similarities between us became apparent, mainly a shared passion for perfection, and doing things the slow way, which is so often the best way. Pat takes no shortcuts to her finished product, and it is very clean, very soft, incredibly uniform wool for which there is great demand. From experience, I understood immediately that learning the basics her way would be the cornerstone on which I will build my way. It had been the same with my mother and her approach to business. No shortcuts, no nonsense, and in 1975, no pants in the office. I chafed under my mother's tight rein, but was admired by future employers for doing things well.

Pat is extremely talented at her craft, and this beautiful woman is excited to teach me. Apparently, there's lots of women who want to learn to spin and weave, but not that many who want to wash and pick. I want to get my hand's dirty, and can't wait to work by her side. While she showed me around, we talked about her equipment, the Pat Green Studio Carder, and Picker in her studio. Of course we talked about wool, we examined it, handled it, and talked about sheep breeds. She talked to me about lost traditions, and the differences between artistic expression, and craftsmanship. I've never considered myself artistic, but as Pat explained it to me, I would very much like to become a craftswoman.

Scoured, Flicked and Teased

Nope, I am not describing my latest internet dating experience. Firstly, because if it went that badly, I would nevah admit it, and secondly, because I've never had one. No, I am describing the processes by which I am preparing wool for spinning. Recently I made the executive decision to learn to spin. It calls to me, even though I am not in the least bit "crafty," or artistic, or patient. There is just something there that intrigues me.

The idea of sitting quietly, mindlessly running home-grown, fiber through my fingers while rhythmically treadling a spinning wheel seems like an altogether pleasant experience to me, even though my first encounter with a wheel was far south of satisfying. In fact, it was altogether frustrating, but I could sense a peace about it that I look forward to acheiving.

My circumstance of raising sheep for dog training results in loads and loads of raw wool laying about, and is something others can only dream of. In the meantime those same others are spending big PayPal dollars buying up fiber from the 4 corners of the earth while I have big plastic bags of it, open, of course, to let the fiber breathe instead of mildew. Eventually, I'm hoping to attract some of those PayPal dollars myself. I even bought a used book on how to start a cottage wool business. Don't you just love Amazon?

There is a vibrant culture that exists around spinning, weaving, knitting, crochet and felting that includes swapping, buying, selling, processing, creating and communicating all things fiber. I have just stuck my big toe in by joining a few online forums, visiting a local group, and meeting some incredibly talented fiber artists who fortunately live nearby. Lucky me! On my way to fiber fulfillment, here's what I've accomplished so far.

I've bought a must-have-hat from an incredibly talented fiber artist named Janice Rosema

The Hand-Knitted Rasta Hat

I've bought Blue-faced Leicester & Wensleydale ewe lambs from Namaste Farms. Wait till you see next year's wool clip!

BFL & BFLxWensleydale ewe lambs

I've scoured (read washed) 3 fleeces given to me by Jennifer Ewer's at Canine's N' Ewe Stockdogs

Scoured Rambouillet wool

I've flicked, (read brushed) to separate and further clean my wool

Flicked Cheviot fleece from my flock

I've teased, (read combed) the cleanest locks

The good stuff. Cheviot on the left, Rambouillet on the right

And I've bought a used set of Hand Cards, for the next step, creating roving.



Ready-to-Spin,dyed wool Roving


My hand cards have not arrived yet, so no picture, and I haven't summoned the courage for dying, but I honestly can't wait to get my hands in a dye pot. Of course, I've shopped and lusted over every imaginable fiber tool, all of which are completely out of my current financial reach. These handy inventions include a spinning wheel, a wool picker, (danger! danger!) and a drum carder. Someday...

In the mean time, you can find me in the gargage picking away with a dog brush and comb, edging ever closer to my holy fiber grail, a finished skein of art yarn. Everybody's gotta have a goat, I mean goal.

Makin' Changes

I bought 3 ewe lambs a week or so ago, and picked them up today. 2 are Blue Faced Leicester, one is a Blue Faced Leicester/Wensleydale cross, and all 3 are lovely. The ram pictured here sired 2 of them. Very handsome, don't you think? 

This Blue Faced Leicester ewe is mother to one, and I love her intelligent eyes and bright expression. That's a jacketed black Wensleydale behind her. His fleece is being protected for hand-spinning.

This is the mother of the other Blue Faced Leicester lamb and is standing in front of a Blue Faced Leicester/Wensleydale cross wether. He was a triplet, and I have his full brother standing in my pen. He was never castrated, and I plan to use him, not only on my Cheviot ewes in the Fall, but on the new BFL ewe lambs as well.

And here are the new arrivals. The 2 lambs in front are the Blue Faced Leicester lambs, and the one behind is the BFL/Wensleydale cross. I have segregated them for now to ensure they're good health and that they settle nicely. Eventually, I'll have them out with all the ewes grazing tall grass in the big field.

For me, sheep are a bit like crayons in a box. When I was a kid, I always had a favorite color or two, and that would change to something different over time. I have gone through many breeds of sheep trying to find the right combination of what works in my climate, what works for dog training, and any other utility that I can incorporate. Leicesters and Cheviots are my favorites for adaptability and dog work, but I am getting more and more interested in fiber production, so I'm making some changes. It's a process...