two knits of ivory

Back in September I went up north to spend the weekend with my Dad's wife, Chris. The reason was the Vermont Sheep and Wool festival. VT Sheep and Wool is a small festival that held several delights. One of these delights was a sheep shearing demonstration. The demonstration sought to illustrate how old "skool" tools work, rather than the art of shearing. The docents used a hand cranked shearing tool. It was extremely labor intensive. While the demonstration was fun, Chris's being able to walk away with the fleece, free of charge, was priceless. That they gave it away surprised us so much, I realized later I never got a decent picture of the completely shorn (shorn is so a word, blogger!) fleece. I was further surprised, and deeply impressed, that Chris was over the moon with the prospect of transforming that greasy, feces encrusted pile of mess into spinning fiber. My sensory idiosyncrasies bar the thought of such a thing, never mind the the deed. Througho...

I probably should have saved last week's post title for today. As of Saturday afternoon I became the proud owner of a third-hand wheel, a Louet s10. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The hubster and I hit the road Friday afternoon, with dogs in tow. We headed north to my Dad's house in the Adirondacks to celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday. My brother had flown in from Pittsburgh and I think Dad was looking forward to having us both at the pancake breakfast being held directly across the street at the local heritage museum . In the afternoon on Saturday, my dad's wife, Chris, brought out the wheel. She inherited it from an old family friend, and as she has another wheel she prefers, she was more than glad to part with this one when she saw learned how interested I was becoming in spinning. Chris gave me a quick demonstration. I marveled at her spinning ease. As is to be expected, when she gave me the reins I fumbled terribly. I was unable to keep the wheel goin...