Sorry, no pictures today, but there were a few catch-up items I wanted to get out of the way.
First, the Fleece Sale I went to last weekend. It got some chuckles on Facebook when I said I was being "dragged" to a fleece sale, but seriously, that was the size of it. I felt like crap. This cold, that is now in its second week, was at its nasty peak last Saturday and I really wanted to stay home. The Big Guy, however, wanted to avoid yard work take a ride, so I went, kicking and screaming. (Well, screaming, anyway: when we were about ten miles from home and I realized that I had left the instructions for the knitting I brought for the ride back on the kitchen table. Grrrr.) And what, you might ask, was this fleece sale, anyway? It was sponsored by the Dutchess County Wool Growers, those same fine folks who bring you that annual October wonderland known affectionately as RHINEBECK!
So, off we went to Red Hook, NY. Out I-84 west to the Taconic (love that road!), west on 199, then, at The Fork in the Road (there really IS a big old fork in the road) we went north to Red Hook, skirting around Rhinebeck village itself. I had learned of this fleece sale from the festival website....just happened to catch it in a sidebar...and was intrigued because of vendors I had met the week before in New Hampshire. Sara Healy and Dan Melamed operate Buckwheat Bridge Angoras (I'll check that link, not sure) in New York State and are in charge now (thank the Lord) of the Workshop committee for the festival. It was sooo well run last year compared to years past, that I had to stop by to compliment them. And try to get a sneak preview of this year's workshops, but that didn't happen! Anyway, I never had sought out their booth before because I'm not crazy about mohair, especially, but was surprised and pleased to learn that they also raise Cormo sheep! And had several gorgeous fleeces in New Hampshire, but I resisted. Oh, yes, I did. I didn't resist about a pound of their dyed Cormo blend roving, however! And now want more.
I can only imagine, after seeing what was left by the time we arrived, 45 minutes after the start of the sale, what I must have missed. There wasn't a dog in the batch and most were incredible. The one that followed me home (even The Big Guy was impressed) was a Cormo from Buckwheat Bridge. Six pounds of the most incredible whiteness that I have ever seen! This fleece was almost beyond description. (Note to self: bring the damn camera wherever you go. Do not leave it home because it's "only a fleece sale". Dummy.) I kid you not....I have never seen anything this white or this perfect. Needless to say, this quality of fleecy yumminess does NOT come cheap, but whatever. Worth every penny. (And the building where the sale was held, a 1700's inn on the main drag in Red Hook...well, that alone would have been almost worth the trip, it was so interesting.) I did talk to Sara about getting more of the dyed roving, but will have to wait till Cummington on Saturday to see if there was any left after New Hampshire.
The day's surprises were not over, however. The BG pulled the Prius off the road suddenly as we were heading south and stopped at a little roadside antiques shop. Um, shack. Cute, though, with a colorful old semi-toothless character as proprietor. We did score a couple of pieces of McCoy pottery, and haggled his price down, but whether they are "rare", or even authentic? Who knows? Again. Camera left home. Dummy. Back in the car, now heading for Rhinebeck for lunch, when we approach the Dutchess County Fairgrounds and....what? The parking lot is full of cars! FLEA MARKET! Again. Camera at home. You all would have loved to have seen all the stalls and buildings and tents, normally full of yarn and tools and spinning wheels and fleece, filled with, for want of a better word, utter crappola. Sigh. We did not buy a thing. (There was one really nice pair of old wood and gut LLBean snowshoes in great condition, but they had a great big old price and we passed them by.) You'll just have to imagine the whole Flea Market scene at Rhinebeck, though, because.....Dummy left the camera home!
Lunch was eventually procurred (did you think a man that size would go without lunch?) at a great little place in Rhinebeck called Gigi's. I had a fabulous chicken, apple, cheese and arugula panini (half, with a cup of minestrone) and he had....well, I don't remember, my panini was so good. And we had a cone of their incredible, maybe the best in the world, fries. Diet be damned. Know what they serve as a dipping sauce? Homemade tartar sauce! IN-credible! (Do try mayo sometime, like the Belgians do. Much better than ketchup, seriously.) So, that's how we killed a whole Saturday. Could have been worse, and two glasses of a really delish Sicilian white wine didn't hurt.
And the fleece? It was huge when I opened that out on the foyer floor, but as I've spent the better part of the week sorting it, I found TWO pieces of grass. Period. If there is anything in that fleece, it came up off my foyer floor, that clean. (They "fall coat" their Cormos.) Just pristine, and did I say white? Very, very white. Meticulously skirted, too, so there is almost nothing that will go in the compost bin. My first inclination was to sort out about a pound of the best of the best (it's really all excellent), wash it myself, then comb. That didn't go so well. I'll save what I discovered about washing Cormo fleece for another post, because it is useful information, but I finally came to the conclusion that it all needs to go out (probably to Spinderella's Creations in SLC) for processing. Not because I couldn't wash a pound of the stuff, or because, as Laurie says "life is too short and death is to long to be handwashing fleece, lock by lock", but because I calculated that I needed every useable bit to end up with enough roving to make a special sweater! (Spinderella's has a price calculator....Cormo has a tremendous grease loss after washing.) So, instead of washing locks this week, I've been clipping the tiny slivers of less-than-perfect stuff off the tips of all the locks. What is going out to Salt Lake City is going to be perfect! And I'm not totally disappointed that I won't have that lock-washing albatross hanging around my neck for the rest of the summer, either!
Finally, a word about the little comment I made on Facebook last night about a spinning breakthrough. If you are my "friend" on FB and read this blog, when I say "spinning" I mean yarn, of course, and don't really have to specify. But, see, my son reads, and he's a cyclist, so I have to explain that I'm not talking about bikes! Anyway, here's what happened. When I was first involved in my old spinning group (yeah, I think that door has closed...long story that I'd rather keep off the blog) I was loaned a little book called "Spinning for Softness and Speed" by Paula Simmons (Green....she's the wife/partner of Pat Green of drum carding fame) and was told to try the method outlined in the book. It was interesting, so I went in search of my own copy. Seventy five bucks later on Amazon and I had it. Of course, six months after shelling out seventy five bucks on Amazon, the book had been reprinted, was selling at SOAR in Park City for $20, and Paula herself was there to autograph it. What's new? Stuff like that always happens to me, but I digress.
I've been trying to master this technique ever since and have gotten soooo close. I usually call what I do "my version" of the S&S method, but I knew I wasn't really doing it just right. (Hitting self in head for not getting Paula to demo this method at SOAR!) The closest I've ever come was with some Bartlett Yarns pencil roving. So, I've been spinning this batch of Black Welsh Mountain roving and kind of struggling, but something happened last night and it was THERE! I got it! Everything is clear, even the part about "combining this draw with other draws". Even why it's NOT Long Draw (the forward hand in no way controls the amount of twist going into the yarn as in true long draw, and a bunch of other stuff). The trick is in the fiber supply hand, and while I have always been able to hold that hand in the position shown in the book, I had never before understood how lightly the fiber has to be held for it to work. The minute a finger clamps down on the fiber....fuggedaboudit. It's like playing keep-away with the twist at the same time the fiber is slipping out of your palm.....scary and exciting at the same time. I still have a way to go (I cannot put my other hand behind my back yet, or not watch what is happening) but WHOO freaking HOO! (When you "get" this, you cannot believe how soft and even your yarn can be or how blazingly fast you can fill a bobbin!)
The bad news? It's REALLY hard to explain to someone...unless you are Paula Simmons, and even then. Will someone PLEASE get this woman to do a video?!
Off to Cummington on Saturday....see you there?
ETA: I'm gonna "need" a WooLee Winder for the new Schacht wheel (heh) and therefore am going to sell the older Ashford Traditional ST that I bought from a woman in my now-previous spinning group. It was well-maintained by her, totally refurbished by us (taken apart, cleaned, sanded, restained, oiled, waxed, etc) and comes with TWO complete flier assemblies. Will not ship, but can bring it to MASW this weekend, the Nutmeg Spinners' Guild meeting in June, or will drive up to 2 hours to meet someone halfway. Price of wheel is $150.
