Tag Archives: spinning wheels

Spring!

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There has been a lot going on since last I wrote long ago. Spring is definitely here. Weeks ago our pear tree bloomed.

pear tree blossom

Before that we started being puppy sitters one weekend a month for the NEADS organization which trains service dogs. NEADS.org  They want them to spend weekends in a home so that they get experiences outside of the Early Learning Center where the youngest stay before being given to inmates to train during the week. This time we have a bigger guy and he and the chickens entertain each other. They show no fear of him and he is calm but I imagine if they were out running around and he was not on a leash that interaction might change out of excitement. They are dogs after all! We won’t be testing that idea out.dog with chickensI feel a little sad when we drop them off and wonder about them afterwards but our mindset is that we are doing this because we like being around dogs but don’t want one full time. We know that their higher purpose is to be a loving companion and helper for someone with a disability. As an OT and a person who would very much want a dog if I were disabled I feel purpose in having one each month. After all the training is complete including training with their soon to be owner they have graduations for the people and their dogs.  At orientation they told us that the prisoners are allowed to go and most end up crying. I feel tearful right now thinking about seeing these puppies we watch all grown up and leaving with their person with whom they will share such a special bond.

My high school and college friends and I are experiencing our big 60th birthdays which seems kind of bizarre. It is getting me to look back on life a bit. College friends and I will be renting a house on a lake in Maine in July and my high school friends and I will be gathering in NC in 2018. How does this happen?

We feel the same inside as we did then, and now.

Heather just gave me a treasure- her family’s heirloom spinning wheel! In high school for the seven of us each other’s families were our extended family and having this means so much. It is clear I am not much into hair style changes and so glad I don’t choose pants like those anymore. 🙂mag 7 young

In April we had a wonderful Easter with my niece who came from Atlanta to see a childhood friend of hers – we Burnhams are big into our long time friends- run the Boston Marathon. She wore Steve’s BMX racing jersey so her friend could easily see her.  marathon

She and Kyle got to hang out in Boston after he picked her up at the airport on Saturday. Then she got to meet the chickens. She thinks they live in a chicken resort and she isn’t that far off.cousins with chickens

I learned that we share a fear of snakes. We came upon a little one- they are all small and none are poisonous around here but that doesn’t matter, my view is that they could still slither back and forth over your feet if they wanted and they just might if you stick around   🙂  from which I ran and she screamed. She said it got our neighbor’s attention in the next yard but I didn’t look out of embarrassment. No time was taken to snap a picture of that creature before I left the scene. He has several friends around here who love our old stone walls as much as we do.

I have been doing a lot of spinning and fiber preparation teaching and the fall is crammed with more. fib prep zzFirst in September are three classes I am teaching at the Fiber College of Maine. fibercollege.org  Again the 5 class Sheep to Shawl workshop at Assabet Valley Vocational High School’s adult ed program called Assabet After Dark, an overview of the Sheep to Shawl process at Weir River Farm in Hingham MA, then we are bus trip leaders to Rhinebeck for the Sheep and Wool festival. In November I will share a booth with my friend Dorothy at the New England Fiber Festival Nov. 5-6.  2 more workshops are pending. More on all of those as the time gets closer. Lots of excuses to dye. As if I need any. dyeing may 2017

Fiber, friends, family and animals (except those conniving snakes)- clearly I don’t need much more than that to be happy. Something that hasn’t changed over all these decades.

me with angel

A neighbor’s Shetland pony, Angel, one of her 3 ponies who I was lucky enough to be able to be around whenever I wanted.

Bringing Out Old Friends

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We’ve had a few moves in the past few years and some of our things stayed behind. Everything is with us now. My Ashford Joy wheel and my fiber processing tools were at my side every step of the way.

 

joy wheel and tools

Ashford Joy spinning wheel and fiber processing tools

As was my spinning partner. Is she trying to correct my technique?

cat spinning

Friends don’t let friends spin alone. Apparently.

Now I am renewing my acquaintance with my first wheel, a Country Craftsman. The Joy is much easier to transport when spinning with friends and I was having some trouble with the drive band falling off the Craftsman as I spun so it hasn’t done much for a number of years except look pretty and sometimes be a prop when I took  pictures of my yarn and knitted items.

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My first spinning wheel

There is a funny story connected with the Craftsman. Years ago one of my son’s girl friends told me she had a dream that he had a party at our place and that some friends were making the wheel spin. She went over and made them stop and told them that was the most important thing in this house! She sure had my number! (Besides of course the living and breathing things and the pictures of my children as babies and toddlers.)

But today I decided to try it again and if I had problems that would be hard to fix I would, well, do something else so it wouldn’t take up space in this small house. My test was to see if I could spin ten minutes without a problem and it spun like a breeze. Maybe it healed during its long rest.

There are many differences between the Joy and the Craftsman besides ease of transport. Although I didn’t know any of this when I bought each I now know that the Craftsman can spin faster because of its construction. When I was taught to spin years ago I was taught to create different yarns by how I used my hands and feet rather some of the more technical methods that people with technical minds, and I am not in that category for sure, can now apply to get yarns with certain attributes. So I have studied the technical ideas just to understand them simply because I want to know everything about spinning even if I don’t use it. I do pay attention to ratio but that is for another time. The rest, for example twist angle of the yarn-I won’t explain it because my eyes are glazing over even as I only type it much less try to use it- is knowledge but doesn’t enter in to the ways I use to create the yarns I want. Different strokes for different folks.

Now I look forward to doing more “production” spinning-getting more yarn more quickly- on the Craftsman as it has larger bobbins and can spin faster and thus make yarn faster. I don’t usually think much about speed since I am usually too busy enjoying the leisurely process but I may try out speed for fun. When I am alone and not distracted by other talk around me. I will mean business! 🙂

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Mrs. Mc’s wool winder

 

I have a few other truly antique wooden friends I have been using right along. Several years ago while on PEI I bought a smaller old wool winder that I use all the time for the purpose for which it was made. I love the big old nails, and in one spot I can faintly see the penciled name  Mrs. Mary Mc (I can’t read the rest of her name) which makes it even more fun to use. It is very rustic and may have been made by Mr. Mc…I also have a large clock wheel wool winder given to me years ago by a friend which now is mostly another nice prop for my yarns and project bags.

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Everything has multi purposes.

 

toy wheel with rolag

Toy spinning wheel with rolag

Of course I also have this wheel:

 

 

 

 

rigid heddle loom

Rigid heddle loom

 

New friends too.

 

 

 

Human friends and family, pet friends, perennial flower friends, spinning wheel friends- they all bring warmth to our lives and we can never have too many. Except maybe too many pets at one time!