a saint in a previous life to deserve the life I am living now. I think it has become my destiny to be surrounded by brilliant women in bucolic settings. ah me oh my. I suppose if someone has to do it, it might as well be me!

Yesterday was the first of my spinning lessons and it was fantastic! The lady who is giving the lessons is named Peggy E. and I met her through our spinning guild. Further, I am taking these lessons with my friends Peggy and Ricki. If you remember, Peggy bought her wheel at Rhinebeck and Ricki just got her wheel last week. Peggy E. lives much further out on Long Island – so as soon as the kids left for school, we hit the road. It wasn’t a formal lesson as much as it was a guided tour through fiber. Peggy E. had her coffee table filled with all sorts of fibers for us to try – soy silk, angora, merinos, dorsett etc. and as we experienced spinning them, she would explain why. Rather than lecture first, try later – we approached it from the beginning with the hands on and then the this is why. The mantra of the day was that we had to feel the fiberand let it speak t us, that the fiber would let us know how much to spin it, how thick to spin it etc….. that the technicalities would follow the intuitive.

view from the front of the house
view from the back of the house

her fiber studio and a jumble of samples for us to try!

my results of playing with color & texture

would it reveal too many inadequacies in my romantic life to say that this may have been the best Valentine’s Day ever?

While waiting for the storm to start on Saturday, I busied myself with fleeces. I have joined a smaller group within our Spinning Guild called the Explorer’s Club. This group gets together about every other month – together they make a decision to do an in depth study of a particular breed’s fleece, buying the fleece, washing it and taking it through all the steps of preparation and production and sharing their thoughts. This month is the Corriedale. My friend Peggy has also joined this group and Friday we were hard at work washing the fleeces ……

before the bath
it may look like hot chocolate
but it didn’t smell like hot chocolate!

All of this Friday fleecy goodness led to a great amount of drum carding on Saturday. I have been collecting bits of fleeces here and there and have never worked up the confidence or the energy to do anything with them. Well, that all changed and through the drum carder they went! Some Coopworth and loads of Jacob – I can’t remember why I have so much of the Jacob, pounds of the stuff. At the moment I have some on my wheel – don’t know if it is my rudimentary fiber prep skills or something about the Jacob fleece itself, but it is very tricky to spin and the results are a tad coarse ….. thank goodness I start those spinning lessons tomorrow!

We ended up with about 18 inches of snow, although I am hearing 20 and more for the city. Schools are either closed or having delayed openings (D#2 just left to catch the bus) and it is a winter wonderland for now. Temps will be on the rise during the week, so by Friday it will all be a slushy mess.

there’s a new man in town. He’s fast and he’s smooth.

behold!

The Woolee Winder

I am in love with this thing. Check out how much more even my spinning has become. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am – I don’t even want to blog, I want to spin! If I haven’t left you a comment, it’s because I’m spinning – not skimming, spinning.