Fleece Day 2010

Saturday was Fleece Day for the Oxford Guild of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers at Stanton St. John. This was kind of a guild open day with demonstrations, fleece and yarn to buy, and lots of cake (which I totally failed to take any pictures of).



[Oxford Downs fleece]

I arrived early with Megan just as Kate and the other dyers were setting up the dyeing tent for demonstrations.



It was fascinating to see Megan's dyeing process. I've seen and worked with lots of the finished product so I was so interested to see how she gets those lovely results.







There were lots of lovely items on the sales tables. This hand felted alpaca cushion found its way home with me (after some dithering) as a house warming gift to myself. I can't tell you how soft it it. Not only is the cover made from felted alpaca but it's stuffed with alpaca fibre too.



Between eating cake and watching Megan and Kate's dyeing demos I got on with some spinning, answered questions, and taught three people to spin (or at least gave them a go on my wheel).



It turns out that Clare (from Bluestockings) is a natural. Megan and I will be continuing her fibre education/corruption by pushing a spindle and fibre on her in the very near future - I think we have another convert to the dark side.

To market, to market

I spent yesterday with Felix and Ruth (who came along for moral support and the knitting) at the Sunday art and craft market at the Oakford Social Club in Reading. I was so pleased with the lovely display that we were able to make for the owls using the luggage tags and stamps that Felix had brought along.



I like that the stamping prevents any of those awkward questions about "what is it supposed to be?". Business was pretty slow for most of the afternoon - I think largely due to the absolutely miserable weather in Reading for all of Sunday lunchtime (constant drizzle is not good going out weather) - but Felix made quite a few sales by the end of the afternoon and I sold two owls (one of them to a complete stranger).

At least the fact that we weren't rushed with customers gave us lots of time to get on with our projects. I finished the big moss stitch scarf (one mass of bulky yarn moved from the stash to the FO box) and got started on a simple hat in Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds chunky in Grey Suffolk. I had purchased a single ball of this along with some needles in John Lewis as I realised by the time I reached Oxford the station that the remainder of the scarf would not keep me busy for the whole of the day. I cast on on 48 stitches in the pub with the intention of making either a neck-warmer or a hat - depending on whether or not it was fitting over my head after a few rounds. Felix was working away on the mansweater - luckily Mark was on hand for occasional fittings - which is now looking excitingly close to being finished. By the end of the day Felix was raring to be getting home in order to check out the instructions for steeking the placket.

I really enjoyed my afternoon at the art and ctaft market. The guys in the pub and the other artists were really friendly and I had a lovely time sitting and knitting with Ruth, Felix, Mark and Phil (the latter two not knitting) and eating the Oakford Social Club's yummy sandwiches. I might go back again before Christmas but in the meantime I will be taking the owls along to the OGWSD meeting next week for the sales table and also looking into a way to sell them online via the blog.

I'd finished the hat by the end of yesterday evening (hats in chunky weight yarn take no time at all) so there will be pictures of hat and scarf and probably a pattern for the hat coming your way in the next post.

Down on the Farm

I had a great time yesterday at the OGWSD Fleece to Blanket day in Bledlow. The day took place at Gina's beautiful farm and we were spinning the fleece of her male sheep, Bo, a Blue Faced Leicester cross. Since Bo died at Christmas when only 20 months old we would be giving the finished blanket (or at least the knitted squares) to Gina to keep as a memento of him.

First of all Carole showed us how to grade a fleece and showed us where the coarsest and softest fibre was to be found.



After skirting the fleece she told us how we could feel the difference between the sides (quite coarse), the back (much softer), and the neck fleece (very soft). She also told us to watch out for kemp which the OED defines as "A coarse or stout hair..occurring among wool" and which is the thick, plasticky feeling, white or black hair that you sometimes find in fleece. A fleece with a lot of kemp is to be avoided.

Once Carole had explained what was what we all grabbed a handful and started spinning.



Most of the group were sat under the big gazebo but there also was a group of four spinners (not pictured) a little way away under a tree leading to lots of jokes about break away groups and the main peloton. If it was a race then Megan was the winner as she completed the first knitted square with Kate second and myself third (yay).



Whilst knitting my square I wandered over to see the sheep. They were very friendly and inquisitive. They started off over there.



And gradually ended up here.



By the end of the day we didn't quite have a blanket but we did have a decent collection of 6" squares (I'm afraid that Gina is going to have to sew up her own blanket).



My log cabin square is centre right. I really enjoyed spinning in the grease and it was quite a challenge to spin the uncarded fibre. I ended up with a somewhat lumpier but still knittable yarn than I usually go for. Knitting in the grease, however, is something that I can't really recommend. It's just so sticky. For that reason I've cheated a bit and washed my final skein of yarn which I hope to knit up quickly and pop in the post to Gina. I'll post a picture once it's dried so you can see the amazing difference in colour and feel.