All things wool

Ooh it’s so exciting.

We now have an amazing drum carder AND both of my spinning wheels are up and running AND at last I have conquered the use of the drop spindle.

We have got about 2/3 through the fleece and now with the drum carder we can whizz through and yet still be using our own bodies as the energy.  While our lovely Tina had a perfectly good and reasonable argument for the use of the hand carders, there are some of us who find using the hand carders hard on joints and S l o w………

The drum carder is still painstaking but the size of the batt is immensely satisfying and the carder itself is really great.  It is, for any out there who are interested, a “Classic Carder” in oak of course!  Here is the link if you are interested. http://www.classiccarder.co.uk/opencart/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=57

Isn’t it beautiful? 

And what about my spinning wheels?  They are both Ashford’s and beautiful too. My older one needed TLC after living in the loft with unruly boys who didn’t appreciate their intrinsic beauty.  Poor thing needed a new orifice bracket, new brake band knob, new flyer, (goodness knows where that could have gone, it is so big after all) and a new leather bit for the footman.  I spent some time looking on the internet for the right bits and supplier of said bits,  then I contacted them by phone.  What a delightful couple they were.  They run a spinning and weaving centre called Hilltop and their names were Sue and Bill Chitty.  You can find them on www.handspin.co.uk. 

I had the most lovely phone call ever and it was more like chatting to friends than suppliers.

Any way, the parts were ordered and duly came along and now it is altogether beautiful and working. 

The other one just needed a good polish up. 

Lovely lavender polish.

Well we had fun…. Well I did anyway.  And here are some pictures to show us using the bits and pieces mentioned.  Now I am the one behind the camera so don’t go looking for me okay?

 We carded using both the hand carders and the drum carder.  We spun using the drop spindle and wheels and I took some pictures.

Heath and Radish also had a go with the drop spindle but I forgot to take pictures and will try to get  some the next time for you. However, here is a great picture of Radish using the hand carders, doesn’t he look grand with my piny on?

Everyone had a go at the drum carder and here is Michael, looking up at just the wrong time.  I was trying to capture him concentrating and of course the fleece has already gone through on to the drum. 

Why am I so pleased?  So satisfied about all of this?  Because who knows when/if the old skills may needed to be used again and of course they are of value in their own right.  These skills at the very least develop a true appreciation for the process and product produced. We so easily purchase goods in the shops if we have the money, but we are totally divorced from the real work that goes into them.

When the energy to produce anything comes from your own body, a part of you is intrinsically integral to its makeup.  This is as true of a garment, or handmade machine, as it is of cooking.

For many years my gran used to say “Better a dinner of herbs cooked with love than a banquet cooked without.”  She is not here to say that any more but I say it now because now I really understand what that means.  I used to often share a simple bowl of bean soup and wholemeal bread with homemade butter with an amazing lady called Molly.  It was always a simple meal as she lived frugally, but do you know what?  I remember those shared bowls of soup with such fondness and a sense of fullness even now after all these years as they were made with such love and the company was loving and enriching in every respect.  Yet I have also been to grand meals where everything was turned out to perfection and looked beautiful but there was no love involved at all, and there was no sense of feeling satisfied.  Maybe a part of the cause of peoples poor relationship to food may be found in this root?  Food has to be satisfying on many levels not just nutritionally and if one is just stuffing the face on the run how can one really appreciate food?  Where is the love?

I love my ‘electric free’ things, I love making and creating things; how grand to think that perhaps in some small way in my doings, and sharing those doings with others, we are not just learning new skills but reconnecting with another way to love, through the creative impulse and work with dignity.

Blessings of all green and growing things.

Turning a wooly jumper into a wooly jumper! Or such similar things

Hi there all.  Once again it has been some time since I blogged, but life has a horrid habit of getting in the way of fun things.

Here I am now though.  Today I have pictures for you of all of us working on carding wool for a later workshop on spinning.  Preparation is all and the wool has to be carded beautifully before we can even begin to spin.  So here are some pictures for you. Sadly, none containing yours truly were printable, but imagine my smiley face there any way. Lol. 

We are so lucky  to have access to a lot of fleeces, and potentially lots of carding and spinning too.  Michael, whose jolly face appears further down the page was able to help us get some, and so was Adam, who does not appear. 

So first of all Tina took out the fleece, after placing a sheet on the floor first.  After all it had just been hoovered. I assure you all it does happen at least once a week! We have lots of cats, and here is Willow showing an interest in all those lovely smells.

The size of the fleece amazed some who were there who had never before seen a fleece up close.  Tina talked about the staple, or length of the wool,and where the finest, softest parts were to be found.

  Then she showed everyone how to load the carders.

Then she showed us how to do it, and what not to do. There was some surprise as it was harder to do than expected.  

But everyone got on with it and we tried to get step by step photo's for all to see.  Here is Michael showing us his 'rollog'.  NO!  I am not swearing, truly that is what a carded roll of wool is called, and you need a fair few of these to make balls of wool.

Here is Jack, concentrating greatly on taking the rollog off the carder, and Mimz with her first ever rollog.

So lots of fun was had by all, but despite the hard work, the fleece did not appear to be any smaller than when we started, although 10 rollogs were made.  We will do more next week as we are determined to have plenty of fun with the spinning. Between us we have three sets of carders and three sets of spinning wheels, plenty enough for my little home to accommodate any way.   However certain kittens have shown a great deal more interest in my spinning wheels than they should have done, and now they need to have the tension band reapplied, and the tension band now refitted!  They are in to all sorts, those kittens, and will no doubt be up for more photo opportunities as the weeks go on!

Any way, we carded and talked and ate loads of Tina's delicious lemoney pie which landed on top of Jack's wonderful grass hopper pie.  Yummy very nice.  Fun was had by all and more fun expected.  

I will keep you all informed. 

I have a plan!

Hiyah…. Well as of this minute the weather is glorious.  Just the kind of autumn day I love, with trees ablaze with colour a cool breeze and sunshine.  Though I am not fooled.  I know that pretty soon it’s going to be grey days, wet pavements and of course longer periods of darkness. Winter is coming my friends.

However, I have a plan.  Or rather my darling friend Tina and I have a plan.  We have fleeces and we are going to teach our little community how to card, spin, weave and felt wool straight from the back of the animal.  We even know the names of some of the sheep the wool came from!  How’s that for starters?  Between us we can rustle up three spinning wheels, two large looms, a number of small ones and a few felting tools. 

My wheels are both traditional Ashford’s like the one above.  However mine is darker as it has been used a lot.  Tina’s though comes from the 17^th or 18^th century and looks more like this… when one pauses to consider the necessary hours spent at the wheel to provide cloth for the family it’s rather awesome. I love that sense of continuity and tradition. I also feel it is of great importance to keep our old crafts and traditions alive – hence our winter project.  I can’t wait.  If you have never spun for a length of time, you can’t quite realise just how relaxing it can be.  You just treadle away and feed the rolog through your hands, feeling the thread form between your fingers, treadle and feed, treadle and feed,and on it goes and  your mind drifts, and drifts and dreams……..

Well I guess you get the picture.  Don’t knock the drifting and dreaming, many things sort themselves out or manifest during those valuable times and winter is by far the best time for dreams and stories. 

Winter -it is a strange season isn't it?  In our hemisphere (Northern European) the weather gets colder, the days get darker and shorter and it can seem quite gruelling to get through. We have the usual highlights of winter solstice/Christmas/Diwali/Hanukkah but then it gets darker and colder.  Or worse!  Working indoors in over warm buildings can insulate one from what is real and a process that is valuable to us all.  When we go out in and experience the reality of winter we connect with the land and its cycle.  We find our thoughts turning inward, become more reflective.  We want to create a nest, make a store cupboard, have time to plan for the next year.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I like to be warm and dry; but, in over heated homes it is a real treat to go outside and breathe in the cold air and feel it cleansing your whole system.  Taking a walk in the winter weather can really connect you to the land and its cycles, and give you an insight in to the ways of the old ones upon whose shoulders we build our modern lives. No easy comforts for them.  All their summer was geared towards stocking up for a winter that could be harsh, unforgiving and brutal. Although some work had to stop in winter due to the weather, other work, put aside during the pace of summer was taken up again, such as spinning and weaving, making and crafting, and of course story telling around the fire.  Let’s face it, your hands may be busy but it shouldn't stop you talking.

Story telling too is an important skill we should not lose.  I love to tell stories and the fortunes earned and spent in the film industry tells us that this is a common trait across the world.  At the college I work at, one of the loveliest sessions I do is traditional story telling.  It is an opportunity for the group to share their stories, retell old favourites, including fairy tales and of course to listen. Some of my shyest students can shine when telling fairy tales.  The familiarity gives confidence and a receptive audience encourages a bravery that often they would not experience elsewhere.

So long winters – pshaw who cares?  I will have my fire, my wheel and my stories to keep me going.  What about you?