A spinning story

Once upon a time I was a weaver with loads and loads of projects that needed to be done.  Then I gave a talk about card weaving to a group of spinners on their distaff day.  As a reward the sponsors put me in for a door prize.  I won.  I cannot win the lottery but I can win a spindle and some fleece to practice with.  Note that one of the requirements of winning this spindle is that my name was entered into the door prize.  I think the moral here is in order to win one has to play.

my first spindle and combed fleece.

Time moved on and I attended my first fleece sale.  Again it was to demonstrate card weaving.  I saw this fleece and thought that if  it was there at the end of the day I’d buy it.  It was.  From that point on I didn’t gamble with fiber.  Not at any point throughout the rest of the year did I say publicly or to myself that I would take a risk about getting fiber.  Yet, I managed to get  three alpaca fleeces: one white, one brown, and one black; a spinning wheel, and a spinning video.

My spinning wheel. Much faster than a spindle.

It is a new year now. Part of how I celebrate the new year is to see the stock show. This year I specifically went on days when sheep were showing.  Also this year there was a new thing: a silent auction for fleeces. There were two Jacob fleeces. The minimum bid on both was pretty cheap so I jotted my name down on one. See? This time I didn’t say it silently to myself, I shouted it out to the rest of the spinning world that I wanted this fleece. My first hint that I might get it was that my name was the only name on the list after being shown for two weeks. The auction only had three more days to run. Still, people sometimes want what others want.  It was also before the days when they had fleece sheep shows which meant a lot of people in a high traffic area walking by with fleece on their mind.   Surely one of them would like the fleece from a cute Jacob sheep.  This was my way of encouraging someone else to buy the fleece.

Jacob sheep from Moose Mountain ranch ( http://www.moosemtnranch.com )

The stock show ended Sunday. Monday they called and said come pick up the fleece. Wednesday I rode my scooter for the first time this year to pick it up.   There was some wind. Thursday I washed some because it was a nice sunny day with no wind.  That way the sun could dry it. The small selection was almost dry last night when I brought it in.   Today it is snowing.   Somehow I don’t think it is going to finish drying outside.

unwashed Jacob fleece. White and black.

Not your ordinary Stock show trivia

box cut for a fleece sheep

1.  Showing a sheep requires different hair cuts depending on what type of sheep is being shown.  Sheep that are to be used for meat are clean-shaven.  Fleece sheep have this type of box cut:  along the back there is a straight line cut close to the back to show off the back bone while the sides are shorn to show off the staple length and crimp.

Proper way to show a meat sheep

2.  Judging requires being able to look at the back bone of a sheep.  How the animal is held is therefore important.  One wants a straight line for the back bone and a line from hip to hip:  rather like a T shape.   The head is the key.  Hold the head at a certain angle will force the back to become a very straight line.  Lining the feet up nice and straight will show off the hips.  This is not as easy as it is written.  Sheep like to move.

a lot of sheep, but closer to 50 than a 100

3.   In order to make a decent living at ranching, one needs a lot of room.  One rancher family needs enough room for at least a 100 cows.  Cows are big!  This pretty much confirms that I want a hobby ranch.   5 sheep, 2 yaks, 2 goats, 1 dog  and a couple of cherry trees will be perfect for me.  This is a fairy tale dream after all but even in a fairy tale dream I want just enough work for me to keep busy.  I cannot imagine working with 100  of anything all by myself.  Ranching  is truly a family enterprise.

4.  Being a fiber judge is an impressive field to get into.  Take a look at www.starweaverfarm.com   for a very detailed and thorough resume.

Wini Labrecque fiber judge for yak fiber.

I met Wini Labrecque while I was visiting the Yaks.  She was talking about fiber and I, being my nosy self, asked her what it took to get into that field.  Her primary answer was money: money for the classes and then taking the test for certification.  Then she started talking about all the traveling needed to get to the classes and the testing and my admiration went up.  She is a very proactive advocate for fiber as well.  Yak fiber is just starting to have a market in the US and part of what she was doing at the show is setting standards.  To sum up there is a lot of dedication and education as well as money invested in becoming a good judge.

5.  My daughter has a new web site.  She is at http://majesticallyme.weebly.com/ .  She went with me the first time I went to the stock show this year.  She talks about Yaks in one of her posts.  She also took a picture that has four key elements of Colorado:  cows, trains, mountains  and sun.

cows, trains, mountains, oh my

Animal Tack

Girth. Made with horse hair. *

Yesterday, my daughter and I went to the National Western Stock Show.  I love going to the stock show.  When I first started going it was because there are amazing things to look at and dream about buying.  In other words, great shopping!  There are products that are only sold at trade shows like this.  Artists whose work I only see at the stock show.  If you want a great photograph, go to the stock show.  Metal art anyone?  See it at the stock show.

rope *

My current love is looking at animal tack.   Way before nylon existed there was hair.   Horse hair when the culture held horses. However, not all cultures are near equines so one can substitute fiber from yak, alpaca, curro sheep or anything else that can be spun.  Since tack is used to hold and manipulate animals, the qualities needed for the fiber change.  Strength of the fiber is more important than the softness of the fiber.

tack used on a Yak

A 1500 pound bull isn’t going to care if the rope is soft.  The handler, on the other hand, will care if the rope breaks.  Ropes don’t have to be a pretty color either.  This allows the rope to be made with colors other than white.  Tack is going to get dirty so why dye it another color that is going to be smothered in brown.   Within those two restrictions comes great beauty.  There are a great variety of colors in animal hair.  There are all kinds of browns, blacks, whites and any mixture in between which can make a wide variety of patterns  with the express purpose of moving animals.

Isn’t rope grand?

Rope work made with horse hair *

*  Made for Vaquero Real Cowboy Stuff.  E-mail vaquero_brand (at) hotmail.com

When I am not writing

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I enjoy writing.  It is part of a creative process.  Sometimes though, words are very hard to find.  This doesn’t mean I’m not busy.  Words might not come easily but I am still busy.  Above are pictures of what I have been up to in between looking for work and making candy.  This doesn’t include the two rug square samplers, the pair of socks, or the half spool of alpaca that is spun.

I will be going to the Stock show is this week.  This Saturday I will go, by myself, to see the breeding sheep shows at the stock show.  Earlier this week I’ll drag my daughter to see the rest of the stock show.  I don’t see the rodeo part but I like seeing the animals and what animals help us produce.  It is a way of life that I get to dream about once a year.  I have gone almost every year since I was twenty or so.  Each time I learn something new.  In all that time, I’ve only gone to the rodeo part of it three times.

Stock Show

Just a quickie as I like to have pictures with my post.  I don’t have any pictures but I am aware that I haven’t written anything since last Sunday.  So a short paragraph about a favorite Juanuary Event.

The National Western Stock Show started this Saturday, the 7th day of January.   The first ever wool judging for spinners took place two days before the official opening.  I missed it because I didn’t look at the schedule until the 6th.  Oh well.  I did look up sheep to find out when they are going to be featured in the stock show and that doesn’t happen until the 17th.  There will be Shearing from the 17th to the 20th.  Then Breeding Sheep Shows (wool breeds, Natural colored) on Saturday, 01/21/12.

I visit the stock show almost every year.  It reminds me of my roots.  By roots I don’t mean where I grew up as I am a city girl through and through.  My grandparents, on the other hand, from both sides of the family lived the majority of their life on a farm or ranch.  My parents spent their childhood in that kind of environment.  I don’t want to forget that.

Every day we eat.  City people go to the grocery store, buy the food, take it home and cook it.  Country people get up and plant the seed and then 3 months to a year later they eat it.  A cow does not come out fully grown but takes time to grow.  At least a year of time is invested before the food even sees the shelves.  Yet, city people, myself included, sometimes forget that.  Visiting the stock show is a good way to pretend that I know how much work goes into food.

have a good day.

This and that for the New Year

 

1. 

new warp for the new year. 5 yards times 330 strings is a lot of string.

  New Years Eve, the wind blew.  I went to get yarn for some socks and had to fight to keep my jeep in the lane.  Jeeps are great vehicles because they are so light….except when it is windy.  Then the shape (all boxy) and the wind (lack of weight) all conspire to make driving a challenge.  To make it worse, the lights on two major intersections were out.  One had two cops directing traffic in the biting wind.  One has to admire their fortitude.  One policeman was even wearing a hat!  Some people might not think that is a big deal but finding  people who are sensible in cold weather and wear hats are hard to find.  This morning there is   no wind.  I think it is prophetic.  Sweeping out the old year and letting the new year settle in peace.

M and W twill. Lots of fun. Still sampling.

2.  Continuous Weave on a Rectangle loom is possible.  There are some rules:  the number of nails on the length needs to be a multiple of the number of nails on the width.  For example, if the width has 3 nails, the length needs to be a multiple of 3:  3, 6, 9, 12… and so on.  This is for only one type of continuous rectangle weaving.  I haven’t figured out if it is possible to weave with a non-proportional nail set  and still end up with a rectangle.

3.  I have started listening to the Harry Potter series again.  I have all 7 books on disk.  Wizard money is based on prime numbers.   “The gold ones are Galleons. Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it’s easy enough.” (Harry Potter, Sorcerers Stone)  Both 17 and 29 are prime numbers.   I wonder if that is signficant in any way.  Our money is base 10.  Makes it easy to figure out costs.  I bet Wizarding people are really good at math.  Or at least prime numbers.

4.

candy: most of it is edible.

Candy is harder to make than cookies.  This years candy experiment went as follows:

chocolate covered chow mein noodles:  a total failure.  Who knew chocolate dried out over the year?

marshmallow creme with walnuts:  formerly known as divinity that  didn’t set.  I don’t think I whipped it long enough or something.

peanut caramel:  Success.  Formerly known as peanut brittle.  As it happens old corn syrup doesn’t work as well as new.

Meringue cookies:  Total success.  Notice that  I didn’t change the name of these?

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Happy New Year.  May this year add one new thing to your life.