Cleaning a fleece, part two

After some conversation with Linda, I tried a new tact to clean the fleece. I filled a plastic tub with cool water, put it in the bathtub, and then added the fleece making sure it could float freely. This lead to very dirty water after soaking overnight. This morning I emptied it out on the grass and filled the tub back up with cool water to soak again today.

Tonight I'll add some hot water and soap before rinsing and drying. Another friend had an absolutely beautiful Wensleydale fleece that came out pure white when she cleaned it so that is what I was expecting. Mine is a mixture of Perendale/Romney/Coopworth with a very nice small crimp. After the first cleaning, it is actually quite pretty.

Cleaning a fleece, part one

Now I need to learn how to properly clean the fleece I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. The fleece is about 6 pounds and a mix of Perendale/Romney/Coopworth. I put some of the raw fleece in a lingerie bag and made sure the water was very hot before immersing the bag.  Wow, the first wash water was really very brown so I washed it again and then again. After rinsing, it went on a sweater dryer to really dry. 

Ohh, now I need to meet with Linda again to see why the fleece is still a little yellow. Guess I need a lesson on washing fleece. I remember years ago, I washed a fleece on my own but I think I read too much on the web as to how to wash fleeces. Sometimes, too much knowledge will overwhelm you.

Spinning lesson

Yesterday Linda and I met for dinner and then a lesson on spinning with a spindle. I brought my Navajo spindle from a Navajo weaving class years ago. Linda was a very patient teacher and really explained why we were doing the steps. We played with a roving from the spin-in at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  Then Linda brought out a very simple spindle that she had bought several years and I played with a beautiful green and red roving on this spindle. Linda spun on her Turkish spindle of zebrawood she bought several years ago. A very beautiful spindle and now I see why you end up buying a bunch of them!

Then off to home where I spent the night spinning more - had one major boo-boo when I realized I wasn’t paying attention and started spinning the opposite way. Yarn tends to fall apart when you do that! 

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival highlights

What can I say about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival other than way too much fun. If you are a fiber/sheep/yarn fanatic, the MSWF is a great way to spend a weekend.  Several of us drove up Friday so that we wouldn’t have to get up way early in order to beat the crowd. Found a Chick-Fil-A near the hotel so with an Arnold Palmer and spicy chicken sandwich, it was a great start to the weekend.

Saturday was the best Festival weather-sunny and cool. Helped a friend of mine drop off items for the spinning and weaving equipment auction. Saw a box of early Handweaver and Craftsman magazines as well as some McCall’s Needlework magazines from the 70’s.  

Once we unloaded the car, it was time to go visit my favorite vendors-- Knots and Treadles (great selection of the old yarns), Maggie’s Farm (soap, hand creme, and roving), Davidson Yarns, as well as the fleece sale. 

I spent the afternoon sitting through the equipment auction which was interesting to see what was for sale and how much it went for. I really wanted the magazines and they were the last item to go. A great Danish loom went for $150! Where was it hiding and of course, after it sold, I really wanted it. Now I know to wait until the Festival and watch for a loom. The magazines I wanted were the very last 2 items to go and they are mine!!

Saturday night we went to the Ravelry and Storey Publishing party. The authors of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, Carol Ekarius and Deborah Robson, spoke on their trials and tribulations in writing the book. If you haven’t bought this book, you need to as it is the source on animals and the fibers from them. 

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday with lots of sheep watching, browsing, and just people watching along with purchasing a fleece.

I did pick up some plants at the Festival including Japanese indigo. 

After the fun weekend it was hard to go back to work when I wanted to stay home and play with my purchases.

Maryland Sheep and Wool

This weekend is the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival - a great way to meet sheep up close! You can also learn to spin, weave, knit or crochet. Or perhaps you've thought about owning your own sheep - the Festival also includes classes on shepherding or how to read forage reports.

The festival also includes lots of vendors selling everything wool related  from fleece to yarn. You can even buy a fleece there and send it home with a wool processor. The wool processor will take your fleece: scour, dry, comb and card it into roving.

One of the fun things to watch is the blade shearing of sheep where you can see how sheep used to be sheared. This is the only blade shearing competition held in the U.S. A very back-breaking job leaning over and using blades and keeping those legs out of your face. Or perhaps you would rather watch the working sheepdogs demonstration.

Vintage clothing

The DC Big Flea Market was held this past weekend. My sister was looking for stuff (no other word to explain what she was interested in!) to use in the assemblages that she creates. I was planning on looking for items from the 50's and 60's. Until I got there and stopped at the first booth where I found lots of vintage clothing. I found a very fun 60's style evening wear with feathers and sequins, a leopard print coat, black velvet hat and the piece de resistance-a Victorian dress.


The dress is absolutely so much fun to study and understand how they made clothing during the Victorian times. Needless to say, those dresses would cost a pretty penny if they were made today!

Sale of Japanese textiles


For those of you who are interested in Japanese textiles and related items, John Marshall is holding a sale until March 9th on some select items. See the offerings here at his website.


Several years ago I took a class from him on clothing design. This summer he will be offering it at his studio in Covelo, CA in August.

Exhibition of SAORI banners

As part of a SAORI explorers community on Yahoo, I have had several opportunities to provide a weaving for exhibition. The most recent event occurred in August 2010 in Worcester, MA where 66 banners were created to cover two bridges in Elm Park. The banners were displayed August 25-29 in the Park. To read about the event see Nat and Mihoko's page on the display. You can also see the individual banners here and even buy notecards of the display here. I am banner number 29.

We were provided the widths and lengths of the banner but the colors were left up to us. I decided that I would weave mine in two widths and then join the two by tying the fringes. Alas, this did not really work. To make the pieces look pulled together, I had to keep track of the lengths and colors that I wove on the one loom to use for the second loom. The free form style was lost a little by having to track the lengths of colors and then there was always the fear of running out of a color before I had woven all of the second piece.

The fringes were too loose to tie together so I ended up sewing the two pieces together which created a ridge down the center. To me this added a 3-d look which I will use in future pieces.

free form weaving

Some of us in the weaving world, don't follow patterns or the traditional style of weaving, such as select your warp and weft colors. We prefer to weave from the heart/mind choosing colors as we weave rather than a pre-designed set. I have been known to pick whatever colors I like for the warp, put it on the loom and then once I decide to start weaving, select the colors for the weft.

This style of weaving first surfaced in Japan many years ago. The style of weaving is officially known as SAORI. Mihoko and Nat, Worcester, MA have a great explanation of what SAORI is and who can use the term. ( http://saoriworcester.com/what.htm )