Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2016

Last week we attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in West Friendship, MD. Click here for the pictures. 

We decided to leave on Wednesday morning since my hubby didn’t want to drive all that way just for a 2 day festival. So, we left home about 7:30 and drove north. We took I85 to I77 and then caught the Blue Ridge Parkway at Fancy Gap. It was a beautiful drive and we stopped at the many overlooks. When we reached Roanoke, we had lunch at the Roanoker Restaurant which always has wonderful food. Then we returned to the parkway only to find out that we had to take a detour. The parkway was closed from a little north of Roanoke to Bedford, VA due to paving which was expected to be completed until September. About 4pm, I called the Comfort Inn in Waynesboro, VA to make a reservation ($79.99) because a lot of hotels were sold out for the James Madison University graduation.

On Thursday we had hoped to go to Harper’s Ferry and the C & O Canal but it was raining all day. Instead we headed to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport). I will post about it tomorrow so come back and read about our awesome visit there. We ended up at the Comfort Inn in Herndon, VA ($89) for the night.

We were going to get on a shuttle that would take us to a metro so we could go to DC today but due to the rainy weather, we changed our mind. We headed to Linthicum Heights where our hotel was – Hampton Inn ($98/night) but we were too early to check in. The Arundel Mill Mall was only about 5 miles away so we headed to the mall. We walked around the huge mall and had a great time. We also found a Chick-fil-a to have an early dinner before going to the hotel.  

We left the hotel at 7:15am on Saturday morning and got to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival by 8. I’m glad we wore our hiking boots because even though it didn’t rain, it was really muddy everywhere. The first place I went to was Miss Babs so I could get the special skein of yarn dedicated to this year’s festival. Then we walked around the vendors and met up with friends from NY. We had lunch with them before I went to the podcaster meet up at 1pm. Then we walked around some more and I bought lots of goodies. By 4pm, I was ready to go. We went back to the hotel and rested before going to Bob Evans for dinner and it was awful.

On Sunday we left the hotel at 7am so I could see the sheep to shawl competition. Then we watched the sheep shows before leaving around 10am for home. We got home about 7:30pm.

I’m so glad I went because we had a great time.

Things I Learned:

1.     Bring hiking boots always in case of mud!

2.     Next time, see how much hotels are in Frederick.

3.     Don’t eat at Bob Evans.

4.     Check gauge for yarn before bringing it as a project on a trip.

5.     Have back up plans in case of rain.

6.     Even though I could have bought a lot of these things on line, it was much more fun to touch and pick things out in person.

Original photo by Pat Hensley

Fiber Lesson

Recently I sat in on a class that my colleague taught on fiber and dyeing. I had mentioned a year ago that I wanted to learn to dye my own yarn and she invited me to sit in on this class. I’m so glad that I did!

She started off by passing around a cotton boll. We learned to gin the cotton which means we tore the seeds out of the cotton. Then we took the cotton and pulled it slightly apart to try to spin it with our hands. We also tried some spindles and a spinning wheel. I was surprised how different cotton is from the animal fibers that I usually spin. Cotton is much harder! I also learned that it is illegal to grow cotton in South Carolina without a license. From my research, I think the government is afraid that the boll weevil will demolish the cotton crops and devastate our farmers so only licensed growers may grow cotton. The penalties for growing cotton seem even worse than being caught growing marijuana!

Next we learned how to process flax. We took the bundles of flax and did some “breaking and skutching” which breaks the stalks and removes the fiber. Next was hackling where we threw the fiber on a bed of nails and pulled them through as if combing them. What was left was the fiber that a person would spin. To spin the fiber, you would need a distaff (a long vertical pole) and you would need to spin it wet. We didn’t do that part but it was interesting to see how much flax you start out with and how little fiber you end up with at the end of the process.

Next we learned to dye things in the indigo bath. The indigo bath came out in a garbage pail and smelled really stinky! We used rubber gloves to put our items in the bath. The students dyed tshirts but I dyed some raw Knit Picks fingering weigh yarn that was in a skein. My yarn had to be wet in order to absorb the dye. I dipped the dye in the bath and held it under the water to absorb the dye. Meanwhile the stench made my eyes water! When I thought it absorbed the dye enough, I squeezed as much liquid out of the yarn as I could. Then I hung it up to dry but left the class before it dried. When I brought it home, I rinsed it in water and gentle soap (Soak or Euclan) and a lot of the blue dye came out. Then I hung it up to dry. I love how it turned out!

You can see the pictures from the class HERE.

Original photos by Pat Hensley

A Lesson On Yak

If you are like me and old(er), you are probably singing that song that goes “yakety yak, don’t talk back!” But this isn’t about talking back. Instead, it is about yak fiber and spinning it into yarn. I recently told some friends of mine who have climbed Mt. Everest that I was spinning yak fiber and realized that I didn’t know very much about yaks. I know the fiber I am spinning is quite soft but Ron seemed to think it was quite coarse and scratchy. So I decided to do some research about them and their fiber. I got a lot of this information from The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius.

Yaks are hairy animals that resemble cows and are found in the Himalayan Mountains. Their down is used for wool and the outer hairs are used for rope and rugs. Their milk is used like we drink cow’s milk and they are also eaten for meat. Yaks are used as farm animals and for sports such as racing and polo.

White yaks produce more fiber than dark ones but there are more dark yaks than white ones so dark fiber is more common.

Yaks have different layers of fiber. They have a long coarse outercoat that is used to make ropes for tents, bags, or rugs. There is a midrange layer also that is used in clothes that are waterproof and warm. Then there is the undercoat that has elasticity and bounce and can be almost as fine as cashmere and qiviut.

The down can be combed out before shearing or the whole coat can be shorn and then everything sorted later.

Fleece weight can vary a lot. Down yields anywhere from 7 ounces to 2 pounds.

So now I’m spinning some grayish yak/merino blended fiber and I love it because it is so soft. I’m going to make a 2 ply yarn with it but I’m not sure what I will make with the finished yarn yet.

Have you ever spun or knit with yak? Please share your experience if you have!

Image: 'Tibet-5812 - Yak at Yundrok Yumtso Lake'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22490717@N02/2212600119
Found on flickrcc.net

From Hoof to Handspun all on my own

When a friend of mine gave me this free alpaca fleece, I had no idea what I was getting into. I was so excited because I have heard about getting a fleece and making yarn but never imagined that I would get that chance.

After asking for lots of advice, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. Luckily a friend came over to help me. We washed the fleece in plastic tubs in my bath tub. I was back breaking work and was pretty nasty. The water was so filthy that it looked like chocolate milk. We plucked out as much veggie matter as we could. When we finally got it clean (the water was pretty clear), we laid it out in the sun on sheets in the middle of my yard. I looked at this mess of stuff and wondered how in the world it would ever become yarn!

When it got dark, I brought the mostly dried fleece into my house and let it sit and air out for a few more days. After buying hand carders, I began to card the fleece and it was exciting to watch them turn into fluffy white balls of fiber. Another friend lent me a drum carder so I could see how that worked.

Before I carded all the fiber, I decided I would try dying some the fiber and see how it turned out. Then later I would spin some of the raw fiber in yarn first and then dye the yarn. After doing this, I would decide which process I liked best.

Here is what I did to dye the fiber:

1. I soaked three 1 oz. of alpaca fiber for 30 minutes in separate pots of water.

2. In three separate plastic cups, I mixed 2 c. of water, 6 T of vinegar, and two easter egg dye tablets (blue in one, red in another, and green in one).

3. After 30 min. I moved 1 oz. of fiber into a glass microwaveable bowl and poured the blue liquid in it. Then I covered it in saran wrap and microwaved it on high for 3 min. When it was done, it wasn’t enough so I cooked it for 3 more minutes. Still not enough, so I let it cool for 5 minutes and then put it in for 3 more minutes. More cooling and I had to cook it again for 3 more minutes. (Later I found out that after heating it for about 2 times, I could have let it set overnight to soak in the dye. I will try this technique another time.)

4. When done I put it back in the soaking pot filled with cool water. I let it cool there to rinse out the vinegar for about 10 minutes.

5. Then I took it out in the back yard to dry on a wooden clothes dryer.

After it was dry, I ran it through the drum carder and decided to spin it up into yarn. I like the way it turned out. The yarn is so soft. Since it is 100% alpaca, I’m sure it is going to be very warm so I will make either a hat or cowl out of this yarn.

Original photos by Pat Hensley