tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67659613468522152342024-03-13T02:46:50.637-04:00spinknitfeltanddyeA way of sharing any interesting tips, techniques, inspiration or news that passes my way relating to knitting, spinning, felting or dyeing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-12660433220714119142016-09-26T09:21:00.003-04:002016-09-26T09:21:49.708-04:00A textile find in Greenland.....and the National Museum<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My sister's friend, Maryann, recently spent 2 months with another spinner/weaver in Iceland to recreate a garment based on a textile fragment (which can be seen at the National Museum in Reykyavik) which had been discovered at a dig in Greenland. The dig was at one of the early Icelandic settlements there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Maryann wrote an article for an Icelandic magazine about the archaeological find and about her experience recreating the garment and we're hopeful that she can get either Interweave or Ply to publish it here in English. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Based on the textile fragment discovered in the dig (apparently a metal brooch helped preserve the textile enough that they could determine the fiber, dye, twist, and weave structure) she and another colleague reverse engineered it and then hand sp<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">un</span>, dye<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">d using woad</span>, sett and <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">then <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">made the handwoven fabric in the same twill weave</span> </span>structure <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> to complet<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ely recreate the jumper<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> based on this tiny fragment!</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What a wonderful spinning, kyeing and weaving project to take on and see thru from reverse engineering to <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">re-creation! You'll have to keep your eye out for t<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">he article here in the US with pictures and so much more detail about their journey!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Unrelated to that Greenland textile recreation, Maryann (who has studied the historical textile traditions as part of an MA degree, I believe) has been handspinning a very fine 2 ply thread from the "tog" (see an earlier post about the difference between tog and thel in Icelandic fleece if you're interested). Apparently, this is what the Vikings used for thread. I purchased some from her to use in stitching the fish skins I bought in Iceland to felt bags I have planned with some Icelandic fleece. Here is a photo below showing the fine tog threads - three natural colors and the red is dyed with a berry. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span>he National Museum in Reykyavik is well worth a visit. We <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">visited it</span> on our<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> previous </span>visit to Iceland 4 years ago. The textile highlights for me were the nalbinding mittens and sock (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the word they used for the techni<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">que <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">describing these items technically translated into "</span></span></span>needle coiling" and mentioned that it was a technique which predated knitting<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-</span> which didn't come to Iceland until the 16th century). <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The museum also had a</span> couple of crudely felted saddle blankets, pictured <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">below the mittens</span>. But there were other exhibits - non textile related - that were fascinating<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> as we<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ll. And if you can't make it up north to the Blon<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">duos Textile Museum, the Reyky<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">avik museum had a <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">few handknit mittens<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and shoe s<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">oles to show (but <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">make an effort to get to the Textile Museum if you are goin<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">g to Iceland!)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With so many digs going on in Iceland, they are constantly updating the exhibits at the museum. While we were in Iceland, some hunters were out walking a field in the south and came across a Viking sword in the ground! Can you imagine how exciting that must have been for them. And there is a big dig going on in the eastern fjords of a longhouse that I believe they said was over a football field in length!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That sort of ends my photos<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and synopsis </span>of the textile/sheep aspects of our trip that I thought any knitter, spinner or felter reading this might be interested in. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But of course, there <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are lots of other aspects of Iceland that we e<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">xperienced, sa<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">w and enjoyed personally, so if </span></span></span></span>anyone is planning a trip to Iceland and wants to ask me anything non-textile/sheep related about visiting the country shoot me an email. I'm happy to share what I have picked up during our last two trips there. From car rental issues to driving in Iceland, to riding, hiking or white water rafting there, f<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ood, literature, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">local brews </span></span> - or even air bnbs to stay at. I can tell you what to look for or avoid based on our experience<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> with these 2 trips, anyway.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> It is an adventurous place....driving in the interior can be a bit nerve-racking as many roads you want to take are actually "tracks" criss-crossed by raging <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">waters</span> for which there are no bridges! I don't have a picture of my sisters having to ford rivers on the drive along a "track" to come pick me up <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">after my hike in </span> Landmannalauger (thankfully, after a glass of Vana Tallin and maybe a winning Penuchle hand<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, they</span> forgave me!), but I snapped a shot of <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">one such </span>car<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> crossing a river as I wait<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ed for my siblings to come get me<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">! </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a side note<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">...</span>if any of you are </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">runners, you might find this interesting. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span>his Run the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">World lead car was for a group of runners <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">from all over the world that were in Iceland running 100 miles of the mo<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">st difficult/remote terrain. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y </span></span></span></span>w<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">were</span> running the drive into Landmannalauger the day I was there - crazy people!<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> We passed them at about <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">8:30</span> in the morning as they began the run and on our way into the area to hike for the day and <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">cheered</span> the last one to <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">arrive</span> at about 5 p.m. that afternoon<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">! <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was a smart destination for<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> them to run to since there was a great open hot spring to soak in at the base of the mo<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">unt<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ain we hiked (and <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ir run ended!).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tho' I'm done u<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sing th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is blog to </span></span>shar<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e </span>the textile aspects of our trip, I may use this blog to record my experiences tanning fish skins and incorporating the fish skins from Iceland into some felt bags. I'm thinking it is better to write it here than in a paper notebook that I won't be able to find next year when I want to review what I did!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> So if you're interested in seeing what happens with my experiments, check back in now and then to see if I have any results to show and tell! </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-35663932298353365052016-09-23T10:51:00.000-04:002016-09-23T10:51:48.990-04:00Check out these knitted garments.....<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The museum in Akureryi wasn't particularly exciting, except for the following exhibit of clothing worn by the first elected woman head of state of any country, <span class="_Tgc _y9e">Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who was president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996<b>.</b></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The exhibit included 2 hand spun and knitted outfits that were pretty amazing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> The first outfit was a suit designed and knit by a local Akureyri knitter (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Steingerdur Holmgelrsdottir</span>) who sent it to Vigdis with the understanding that it was to be worn only if she won! So on June 30th (or was it April 30th?) 1980, the first day after she'd been elected, Vigdis made her first public appearance as President wearing the dress, vest and jacket featuring the natural Icelandic colors.</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next handspun/handknit piece was designed and knit by another artisan ( AStrid Ellingsen) a year later. It was quite fine lace weight singles (not plied) and we wished that the information plaques had shared information like how many yards were spun or how much the entire garment weighed! But obviously the museum curators were not knitters since they didn't think to include this important information! I've provided a closeup shot so you can see the detail in the stitch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And this next photo is actually from the Textile Museum in Blonduos, but when I wrote the post featuring the textiles from that museum last week, I couldn't find this particular photo. It just shows some lovely historic <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">garter stitch wristwarmers.</span> Since they also feature the lovely natural colors of the Icelandic sheep's fleece it seemed appropriate to share this photo here with Vigdis' handknit garments!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIi4BF664zia3XjjKS6lbOumY8Xq6z6xWiZMMnsRAoPBRdLgD5zk3ffawGA21QEaIKTPOgWk5p24eUPt8lseU0GGniMJCMYbrGO3nWdoYzCken9FQ3kGJVuAuCb4tEv0gg01aEb5rvDfBg/s1600/vik+horses4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIi4BF664zia3XjjKS6lbOumY8Xq6z6xWiZMMnsRAoPBRdLgD5zk3ffawGA21QEaIKTPOgWk5p24eUPt8lseU0GGniMJCMYbrGO3nWdoYzCken9FQ3kGJVuAuCb4tEv0gg01aEb5rvDfBg/s320/vik+horses4.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> And this next paragraph is totally unrelated to fiber, but on the subject of the natural colors of Iceland, I thought I'd share <a href="http://www.horsesoficeland.is/">this new website</a> which was just launched about the equally colorful Icelandic Horses which I love! </span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-36427198201732545752016-09-21T11:08:00.002-04:002016-09-22T10:24:18.793-04:00Horns - nonje, 2, 3 or 4. And something new I learned about the Icelandic "leadersheep"!<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well this trip set right some misconceptions I had about the breed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Somehow I thought all Icelandic sheep had 2 horns or none. But it turns out that they can be polled (no horns or nonje in Icelandic!), have one, two, three or even four horns! And the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n there are sheep with <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">different combinations of ho<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rn "buds" which appear....it's all very confusing genetics. Add the horn differences in with <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all the 28 colors and patterns, the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"thoka" gene (attributed to <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">some e<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">wes that have many lam<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bs), and the "leadersheep" oddity and you've got a very complex breed!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Polled and 4 horns are dominant, genetically speaking, but 2 horned sheep make up 70% of the flock in Icelan<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">d</span>. I believe this has something to do with the focus on breeding for the more lucrative, "white" fleeces<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span>Though<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">horn number</span></span> varies by region since some farmers prefer the ease of handling a polled sheep (no danger of injury if there are no horns!) and others prefer the regal look of a 2-4 horned sheep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Icelanders </span>try to use every part of an animal, the horns are used for buttons, tools, needles, etc. I purchased a few horn tip buttons at Alafoss - thought they might work into some future felt bags. Anna's workshop was full of sheep horns at various stages of use. She also had a reindeer rack (reindeer are not native to Iceland, but a few years back they brought some over from Norway - I don't know why). She intends to use them for buttons as well but said the smell when cutting <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a reindeer horn</span> up is so bad she is waiting for the "right moment".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The color genetics of these sheep has always been a tad convoluted and nothing about the trip made it any clearer to me. Really....since when is white considered not a color but a pattern!? Anyway I wrote a little summary of the genetics of these sheep for a yarn CSA a couple of years ago if you're interested in reading it. I also have a great poster in the workshop here at the store which shows each of the 28 potential colors/patterns that these sheep come in, so check that out next time you're in if you want!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another </span>surprise<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> was</span> to learn was that the "leadersheep" (forystufe) are not necessarily dark brown with a <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bad<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ger</span></span> face! For some reason, I thought that specific coloring was how you distinguished these unique leadersheep from the rest. I took this photo at the Hildarett roundup, sure that this was the leadersheep since he had the coloring I always associated with leadersheep! Now I realize he may be just as "ordinary" as the rest of the group!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In case you haven't heard about these leadersheep before, they are a unique subset of Icelandics ( less than .5% of Icelandics) that are exceptionally intelligent. Contrary to what I thought, it turns out that the leadersheep can be any color. And have any number of horns - or none! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Leadersheep are generally taller and trimmer than the other Icelandics. But what sets them apart most is their intelligence. They are somehow endowed with a tremendous sense of leadership, guardianship, and acute sense of direction and keen anticipation of weather changes. They herd other sheep much like border collies. So these unique abilities make these select sheep the ones that lead the flock out of danger and to safety. So I guess the only real way of identifying them is to observe them in the flock?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are about 1500 of the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">se "leadersheep"</span> today, thanks to an effort in the 1970s to have leader rams at the AI insemination stations around Iceland. Obviously, this is not dominant if on<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ly ..5% of <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all the she<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ep turn out to have this <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">distinct ability<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And then lastly, I have felted and spun Icelandic fleece <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">before but have always chosen lamb fleeces (to get the s<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">oftest) </span>and then carded the tog and thel together<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, knowing that the tog was coarser but not as coarse as it could be since I had bought a lamb! </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">'re just joining this discussion, t</span></span>hese 2 aspects of the Icelandic fleece were discu<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ssed in an earlier post<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>But <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">havin<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">g seen the </span></span> handknit/handwoven articles in the Textile M<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">useum in Blonduos that feature either the tog or the thel made me want to <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">work with another Icelandic fleece just so I could go thru the process and experience <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">such a fleece as 2 separate components<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, rather than one! </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm embarking on a project to separate tog from thel <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of some fiber </span>I got there and am going to spin them separat<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">el<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y and then </span></span>knit<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> something with each element spun separately. Why not<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> add one more project to my <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ever<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> increasing bucket list of "fiber-want-to<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">dos</span>" !</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So below I </span>share a few photos <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of my start on this journey as I've separated the tog from the thel this week<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. The separation was easy by hand. A bit faster using a brush. But in both cases, I still ended up putting the tog <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">thru my St. Blaise combs beca<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">use I needed to pro<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">duce a nice sliver for spinning. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So in <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">retr<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ospect I should have just used the combs to begin with! They <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">obviously did, since we saw Viking Combs in both the Textile Muse<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">um in Blonduos and also in the Turf Village we <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">visited.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In this <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">first photo, I laid a lock as sh<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">orn off the sheep ne<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">xt to the "tog" <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(long coarser 12" length) and the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> "thel" (shorter, softer <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">clump) which I separated by hand.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This next photo shows some of the tog laid on my St. Blaise and then the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">photo below it shows the tog comb<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ed (took about 5 seconds!).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpQBavpk_3Ljy-uSLMssRpGAmcwu2Or06gmgbud82Xjwzpm_miFgT3uQrJJyOAevJE2lc844H1aH86M8CO5Bc83HDs-5Wge6KmXUa7888Dzc-whBNeNW_d7IgWBSSNM1TbU265sovkBcr/s1600/DSCN2341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpQBavpk_3Ljy-uSLMssRpGAmcwu2Or06gmgbud82Xjwzpm_miFgT3uQrJJyOAevJE2lc844H1aH86M8CO5Bc83HDs-5Wge6KmXUa7888Dzc-whBNeNW_d7IgWBSSNM1TbU265sovkBcr/s1600/DSCN2341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpQBavpk_3Ljy-uSLMssRpGAmcwu2Or06gmgbud82Xjwzpm_miFgT3uQrJJyOAevJE2lc844H1aH86M8CO5Bc83HDs-5Wge6KmXUa7888Dzc-whBNeNW_d7IgWBSSNM1TbU265sovkBcr/s1600/DSCN2341.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIpQBavpk_3Ljy-uSLMssRpGAmcwu2Or06gmgbud82Xjwzpm_miFgT3uQrJJyOAevJE2lc844H1aH86M8CO5Bc83HDs-5Wge6KmXUa7888Dzc-whBNeNW_d7IgWBSSNM1TbU265sovkBcr/s320/DSCN2341.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUf1nEqK5TLRPhdCC1bwJxYyxug5nAypJ_Chg-ECkmNI1tWxWi_twwjTAPCpT8Tq1pwUphUQWiwuNKGa8b7KHwUpYulgLjcMVFGzLroJUUGGooCxkFb1mIwUlXA1jX-A7irsKkDRMCb5IV/s1600/DSCN2344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUf1nEqK5TLRPhdCC1bwJxYyxug5nAypJ_Chg-ECkmNI1tWxWi_twwjTAPCpT8Tq1pwUphUQWiwuNKGa8b7KHwUpYulgLjcMVFGzLroJUUGGooCxkFb1mIwUlXA1jX-A7irsKkDRMCb5IV/s320/DSCN2344.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lastly, here is the l<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ovely sliver I<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"m pulling thru a diz. </span></span> </span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pDnehzuTbeUolEGqcJcCzO3CTKzGskZfstVExLfVFJY67xsSq9TD1IPZWGl8d6-Q1WOqzN0K3i9aseLDmD7N0xJTz6ObGzVeoxrtGAOlaJobxXka9j6mCJjD4ZfwkEbZZ5xASZ8PjSoY/s1600/DSCN2345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pDnehzuTbeUolEGqcJcCzO3CTKzGskZfstVExLfVFJY67xsSq9TD1IPZWGl8d6-Q1WOqzN0K3i9aseLDmD7N0xJTz6ObGzVeoxrtGAOlaJobxXka9j6mCJjD4ZfwkEbZZ5xASZ8PjSoY/s640/DSCN2345.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-32502197672559844442016-09-21T10:23:00.002-04:002016-09-21T10:23:50.569-04:00Anna Gunnarsdottir...<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While in Akureyri we met with a felter that I'd been in touch with about teaching here, Anna Gunnarsdottir.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVPadqel3k3Xj5ABWdBqVv51RZQTrciFzvpk00MeAFvSmpWt3bQ2y3VLACR2wZBB84rvZquIbFKKtau9k4aHArrK3XT4AFU8p1Em6STH5p4B5DNEgE8kMTn7NVtsgTBM2Zsd24WwpHQ7C/s1600/today+203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVPadqel3k3Xj5ABWdBqVv51RZQTrciFzvpk00MeAFvSmpWt3bQ2y3VLACR2wZBB84rvZquIbFKKtau9k4aHArrK3XT4AFU8p1Em6STH5p4B5DNEgE8kMTn7NVtsgTBM2Zsd24WwpHQ7C/s640/today+203.JPG" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've known her for her lovely sea-inspired sculptural shapes that are al<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so </span>exquisite as lights/lampshades. But our visit also made me aware of her love for leather work too! Particularly with fish skins - she showed me 2 dresses and a jacket she had designed and sewn from fish skins for a show recently.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> And so EXTRAORDINARY were 2 bags she made from leather she tanned herself (but I didn't get photos - sorry) . What was unusual was the source of the leather she used. She went to the slaughterhouse and got the stomachs of a cow and of a sheep. She tanned the stomachs and then cut/stitched them into bags. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As she said thru a grimace remembering her slaughterhouse experience - we try to use every aspect of what we have. What was so interesting about the bags was that the stomach has a hexagonal (or maybe it was pentagonal?) structure to it (I didn't know this since I don't eat tripe). Particularly the sheep's stomach had very pronounced hexagonal/pentagonal cells that were quite deep and this gave a very interesting design/surface texture to the bags. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyXCdp8xLt5Oe6-5xAqDhtwC7InW78G6mQt7i2yl3RFzEyb9bbzDMqZruhwjZofCU-4qHoJ2ko0BlOvskjXM8TdhLZqDTMtUAtc8kp3Gp2vfBTZncuUfY8jXAdldAh9koALaW1NFO5xEH/s1600/today+201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyyXCdp8xLt5Oe6-5xAqDhtwC7InW78G6mQt7i2yl3RFzEyb9bbzDMqZruhwjZofCU-4qHoJ2ko0BlOvskjXM8TdhLZqDTMtUAtc8kp3Gp2vfBTZncuUfY8jXAdldAh9koALaW1NFO5xEH/s320/today+201.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These are some photos I did ask permission to take to share - the one above shows Anna standing in her gallery in Akureyri . <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">beneath </span>some lovely light fixtures she has felted and <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">one to the side here</span> is of another wall hanging she made which I originally mistook for bolts of eco-dyed fabric! You can see more of her sculptural work on her facebook page<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hvitspoiartgallery/?pnref=lhc"> here</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">It was at first surprising to hear from Anna that there isn't really a big community of felters in Iceland. But when you consider how few people there are (under 350,000) and how spread out they are (remember the 2 square kilometers per person from a previous post!!!), I guess it is inevitable. I guess it is also the reason why yarn is sold in grocery stores and grocery stores sell horseshoes too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Tomorrow....some handknits for Vigdis!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-13698825222865467822016-09-20T13:44:00.001-04:002016-09-20T13:44:22.998-04:00Fish Skins and the Tannery in Iceland.....<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So we went to the only remaining tannery in Iceland . It was in Saudarkrok<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">u</span>r, up north. They are known for tanning fish skins, not just sheep skins! And of course, that makes sense since fishing represents a large industry for them - <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it employs 9% of the population.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiZ3CniAc1z4k-cdFHnPJnn1HbKX7CW62DjrbrYaLtQCmOWRk6C8UEgmkBg1jgUk8H-WgUjDhSoj3PmXI0HeiY9ARNsqzwva4QPt5s21mVcmcaRUSVB96K9YNxmUe2kPAI_fGLb36SRPP/s1600/0902161502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiZ3CniAc1z4k-cdFHnPJnn1HbKX7CW62DjrbrYaLtQCmOWRk6C8UEgmkBg1jgUk8H-WgUjDhSoj3PmXI0HeiY9ARNsqzwva4QPt5s21mVcmcaRUSVB96K9YNxmUe2kPAI_fGLb36SRPP/s320/0902161502.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We found that <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the tannery</span> was closed despite signs indicating it should be open on the day and hours<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> we were there</span>. And thru the window we could see all sorts of beautiful fish skins and products made from them. It was like having a bowl of chocolate chip cookie batter in front of you and not being able to take a bite!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">had looked forward to </span>learning about the process- since fish skins are so thin it seems it would be a challenge to tan them? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There were about 20 palettes like this one - stacked 3 palettes high- of sheep skins just waiting to be tanned too, but sitting in the parking lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">W</span>ith no hope for a tour or opportunity to shop, we went on our way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After stopping at an old turf village ( I've included a picture here since the pattern the turf wads are laid down in is intriguing and maybe inspires a knitting design?) and then we went on to Akureyri<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> where we learned the fate of the Lodskinn tannery!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjRJdgA6sikSDwqpgv8Km2YkPHNuXUuJ3dXMp_qAO36tWFw6bIJXQQO0dw78_i6UycTXkjdVnr2f2wMyOBGqYv4wi9udZgRwBfeKI7i5hIHOSwusXvq0Y6k5kSjRjy_V-k7SJceoQhzHi/s1600/today+058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjRJdgA6sikSDwqpgv8Km2YkPHNuXUuJ3dXMp_qAO36tWFw6bIJXQQO0dw78_i6UycTXkjdVnr2f2wMyOBGqYv4wi9udZgRwBfeKI7i5hIHOSwusXvq0Y6k5kSjRjy_V-k7SJceoQhzHi/s320/today+058.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It had just filed bankruptcy and closed its doors most unexpectedly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fortunately, Anna (more about our visit with <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">this felter</span> in tomorrow's post) called around and found a few places for us that had some fish skins for sale. We also had a chance to talk to her about the process and I'm quite interested now to try it myself!.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4C1qFHAw9lETFHA0gq4habbkKAC1X4sKDFXwSQiwYh2Obeup0hOr8tQ2K1G86U7l0HCZdCsEEcD97NCTCYTQY4aQwsYQf9-H-i07ACE4cGgN9lDStR7tbaXp8ad35sx6peHug6Mi5rBa/s1600/today+263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4C1qFHAw9lETFHA0gq4habbkKAC1X4sKDFXwSQiwYh2Obeup0hOr8tQ2K1G86U7l0HCZdCsEEcD97NCTCYTQY4aQwsYQf9-H-i07ACE4cGgN9lDStR7tbaXp8ad35sx6peHug6Mi5rBa/s320/today+263.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here is a photo of some of the fish skins I purchased there. I look forward to working them into the design of some felt bags in the future! The leopard looking ones are for real - that is a spotted fish and one of the skins was dyed ochre (the white is natural). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Obviously, the red fish skins shown below are dyed, though they are salmon and feature an interesting chevron pattern.. The blue almost looks like an eel to me? And the black one is just BIG and has a nice texture! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qndQbJ0VPHNR247QJHDqZdOOJvAP60szbA1d18MFl_kx5411EumRRIKcCrt_2XPnIVYhy3rXCD0nVg3j4kM7WVvZ0MbgukxxiCud5h_kAIq4JbFhJgjurKXeL2og0QhDSF5a5wlMc2G8/s1600/today+264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8qndQbJ0VPHNR247QJHDqZdOOJvAP60szbA1d18MFl_kx5411EumRRIKcCrt_2XPnIVYhy3rXCD0nVg3j4kM7WVvZ0MbgukxxiCud5h_kAIq4JbFhJgjurKXeL2og0QhDSF5a5wlMc2G8/s200/today+264.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lcBPh2pnX8vfzOAgo0Ebsxh4JDyqtjeTaiWXrC48TmaUfGtHmu3fuV1dWoXN5kKyf_sR-XqpetRX5nsJRYmWGr83Qy4pGv9Ng-k7OIgFJe9Fny3_bnRAGqG9kKR0vHW3eu7cIY8lIeD2/s1600/today+260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_lcBPh2pnX8vfzOAgo0Ebsxh4JDyqtjeTaiWXrC48TmaUfGtHmu3fuV1dWoXN5kKyf_sR-XqpetRX5nsJRYmWGr83Qy4pGv9Ng-k7OIgFJe9Fny3_bnRAGqG9kKR0vHW3eu7cIY8lIeD2/s320/today+260.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As you can imagine, the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> fish skins are quite a bit thinner than camel or cowhide. And even a bit thinner than lamb's skin which is the grade I use to make gloves. Anyway, it will be fun to experiment with these in some bags. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I have a brother who is a<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n avid</span> fisherman down on the Outer Banks so I'm hoping he can catch a pretty bluefish or something and I can try tanning it myself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So this weekend in Maine I picked up a bunch of birch bark and this morning at Shaws I got a whole snapper.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A</span>fter a call to Eric for advice on how to <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">skin a<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nd descale a fish, since I've not done that before, I'm going to try tanning a la Vikings!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Stay tuned to next week's posts if you're interested in how that process works out! </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is how Anna has tanned fish skins before and she said it is the "traditional" way they did it in Iceland: </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">you boil the
tannin source hard in water for 2 hours in a big pot. Then put the fish skins in
and let them sit (with occasional rotation/stirring) for 2 weeks. Then
remove, dry, dye (if desired) and voila! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">In theory, anything with tannin should work. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I believe my sister Roby is experimenting with oak galls, since she has a bag of those and they are very high in tannic acid.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It all sounds very easy. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I guess w</span>e'll see!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-78674782380548843882016-09-19T10:20:00.000-04:002016-09-19T10:20:48.777-04:00Some interesting things I learned about the economics of farming sheep in Iceland.....<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've always thought of the Icelandic sheep as being desirable for their triple purpose of meat, fleece and milk (compared to most sheep which offer the dual purposes only of fleece and meat). We didn't see any sheep milk's cheese for sale anywhere and apparently <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Icelanders</span> are just starting to think about developing this third purpose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While there are a few Icelanders that have sheep for a hobby (some 500 or so Icelanders keep sheep for their own consumption - the average Icelander eats 45 pounds of lamb each year and since the average amount of meat from a lamb is 37 pounds, that is 1+ lamb per person), most farms need to have 200 - 400 head of sheep and still need to keep other animals like dairy<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, in order </span>to make ends meet<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An aside about horses for those interested:</span></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>Some sheep farmers keep horses to sup<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pl<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ement the income from sheep. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since the horses are left out in the rangelands all winter (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">no stable for the horses in winter even if the sheep are brought in !), it is little cost to the farmer to keep them overwinter. Then in the spring<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, summer and fall, they lease their horses to the many riding centers that take tou<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rists thru the landscape! So <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ho<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rses offer an income stream that costs very little. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">lthough in the past the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">horses would be left to fend for themselves completely thru the winter, the guide I had said that now <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">farmers will put out hay for them<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> In order for a farmer to depend solely on income from sheep, it is estimated that he/she must <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">overwinter</span> around 600 ewes<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The sheep farmer that we talked to in the Lake Myvatn area (shown in the picture below) has 400 to overwinter and then he also has dairy. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According to my brother-in-law, who ha<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">d an extensive conversation with this farmer's wife, this farmer</span></span> had already sent many of<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> his</span> lambs to the slaughter house and on this day he (in yellow overalls) was supervising the rounding up of about half his herd. The other half he expected he would roundup the following weekend. These next photos show the kids herding the sheep home from the Hildarett rettir where they were sorted from sheep of other farms. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The sheep rounded up in September <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">will</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> graze on the pasture by his house (photo below) until around December. During these next 3-4 months, he will decide which ones to breed and which ewes to cull from the herd.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> And, of course, they will shear them. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Most ewes will have twins, so his 400 ewes becomes around 1200, and once the lambs are strong enough, and the weather permitting, the sheep will be released into the "wild" in late May/June to forage for themselves until roundup. But not before they are shorn again - so most farmers get two shearings each year: when they bring <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">them indo<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ors in late fall and just before sending them out<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> to forage again in the spring.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most of the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Icelanders</span> raising sheep are doing so for the meat, not for the fleece! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lamb makes up about 25% of the meat that Icelanders eat each year. I don't eat a lot of meat, but I do love lamb. And Icelandic lamb is so incredibly tasty! They attribute the great taste of Icelandic lamb (as opposed to Australian, which is what we get around here) to the nature of the plants that the lambs forage on all summer in the highlands. And it makes sense - you are what you eat! They graze on arctic thyme and whatever other<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> arctic </span>grasses are growing in the summer months in the highlands of Iceland and these plants flavor the meat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With so much focus on raising sheep for meat, there is less attention paid to the fleeces! Most farmers <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">just </span>shear and send their fleeces in bulk to the Istex Mill (formerly Alafoss), makers of Lopi<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> yarn. </span>When Alafoss went bankrupt years ago, a group of the employees along with the Sheep Breeders Association in Iceland purchased the mill and now operate it under the Istex name. The sheep breeders group owns 50% of the mill. This is the "main" Istex mill <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pictured below just north of Reykyavik. </span> There are several other <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Istex sites around the country </span>- we discovered one up north in Blonduos which is where much of the wool is washed - 1000 tons of wool washed here in 2013!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It is apparently not uncommon for sheep farms in Iceland to be as large as 1200 - 3500 acres in size! The Sheep Breeders Association there takes great care of their sheep tradition. Almost 90% of all sheep farms participate in a national program for quality assurance which ensures ethical husbandry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Because during a short <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">period</span> in the early 1930s when Iceland relaxed its rules about importing other animals to Iceland there was a terrible disease spread by karakul sheep imported from Germany, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Iceland now restricts the import of sheep, horses, etc.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> And the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">government has built </span></span></span></span>thousands of miles of fencing to keep the sheep in different sections of the country contained in order to control the spread of disease should something get into the herd. There are 26 such "containment" areas around the country<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ah ha! That explained the ridiculously long fences we saw built up nearly vertical mountainsides! We didn't understand who in the world would bother to build these insane fences we saw here and there since the sheep, afterall, seemed to be free range! But reading about these 26 "containment" areas, answered that mystery. I <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">wish I </span>had a picture to share of one such fence because you just couldn't imagine anyone building<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a fence in the remote and steep areas we came across them!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And this next fact was surprising to me. Contrary to what I would have guessed, f</span>armers actually get more money for white fleece than for the colored. I'm always drawn to the range of beautiful natural colors myself, so this was une<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">xpected given my "handspinners" point of view. But thinking thru the lens of the commercial yarn industry, it makes perfect sense! White fleece can be easily dyed any color the yarn industry wants. </span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">W</span>hite is genetically dominant, too, so today 87% of the Icelandic flock is white. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And I was shocked to learn that the farmers don't get anything for the pelts of the lambs they send to slaughter! When we were in Gotland many years ago, the pelts were selling for $900 - $1000 a piece! But apparently in Iceland the slaughter house gets the pelts in payment for transporting the sheep to the slaughterhouse for the farmer (minus, of course, the cost of tanning). Here is a photo of one of about 20 such palettes of sheep skins sitting outside the tannery in Saudarkrokur.........but more about the tannery tomorrow!</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-36037504902493694162016-09-17T10:19:00.002-04:002016-09-17T10:19:26.520-04:00Hildarett Roundup<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">H</span>ere is the map published (in that same newspap<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">er I<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> mentioned in an earlier post)</span></span> which provides the dates and <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rettirs </span>(rettir is the Icelandic for corral) for the roundup: It may be too hard to read from my photo, but each name <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">identifies a</span> particular "rettir". The "rettir's are permanently standing corrals. Many are made of wood, like a fence. We saw one made of turf.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I believe there are about 170 of them around the country.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span> Generally, they <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">feature a center </span>circle with pens built in wedges radiating out from it, like the spokes of a wheel<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> .</span> Sheep are brought down from the highlands/rangelands by horses and her<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ded </span>into <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the c<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">entral</span></span> pen. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span>hen the sheep are sorted by ear tags and sent <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the</span> "spoke" of the wheel <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">which is designated for their tag</span>. Each tag - which might be an ear notch like the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I shared on Facebook, or might be a plastic colored tag<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - identifies the farm, the region and the sheep<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span></span></span> Once sorted, each farmer <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">then herds </span>(with the help of lots of kids, family and friends) his/her sheep home by foot<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, </span>along the road or across <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">fields</span>! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">W</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e were fortunate on our visit to the Lake Myvatn region to witness the rettir at Hildarett. Hildarett is one (if not "the") oldest rettir in Iceland. And it is a beautiful stone structure<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, as hop<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">efully the next pictures show. It is so large, I couldn't get a si<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ngle </span>photo showing the en<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tire <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">structure</span>!</span></span></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But h</span>opefully you can get an idea from the photo above on the right that there is a central circular pen (currently empty) and radiating out from it are the wedges (or spokes) of a wheel, some of which still have sheep in them (like the wedge in the foreground) and others <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">are empt<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">y because those sheep have already been run home.</span></span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">photos below</span> you can see that it takes a lot of people to herd the sheep from the rettir back to the home pasture. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">K</span>ids of all ages are participating in the occasion and helping to keep the sheep in line! Even young adults now living in Reykyavik, like the hik<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ing guide I had in Landmannalauger, head home on <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the weekends to help their parents or grandparents with the roundup. It is clearly a celebratory event.</span> </span>The<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> young kids in particular were having a grand time - </span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">first herding <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">one batch of </span></span>sheep back to the farm and then hopping into the back of a truck - laughing and smiling - to be driven back to the "rettir" to get the next batch to herd home. Afterwards, they all gather for a feast. In fact, the Cow Shed Cafe which we had hoped to get some geothermally steamed bread from was closed on this day <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bec<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ause they were participating in the roundup and readying for the meal aft<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">erwards. So it is an "all hands on deck" event.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Here are just more photos of the corrals and some individual sheep to show the great range of colors. I learned so much more about the sheep and the farming economics etc, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">but</span> I'll save those for<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>tomorrow's post!</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-13694262991099737192016-09-15T10:53:00.001-04:002016-09-17T10:22:35.956-04:00sheep, sheep, and more sheep...<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I found an article in the local newspaper while in Iceland last week which featured articles about the sheep roundup and about fleeces, about horses and the local business, Varma, which knits socks that you can find for sale throughout Iceland. How I would love to have such a weekly publication here so focused on wool and agriculture!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepkPa97eKU9nSJZ3HK-YuQL0cNZ9eT9yxd8wWIdC0yuJedKSGZy3AEz6T_p9im42PtZM7DGRYHhKRK58voxTZEPrE-Vfi3PHCXGZe9jD8SL42XyHME8SImLMCSEs23oGnoZiyWfLKUMB_/s1600/0910160704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepkPa97eKU9nSJZ3HK-YuQL0cNZ9eT9yxd8wWIdC0yuJedKSGZy3AEz6T_p9im42PtZM7DGRYHhKRK58voxTZEPrE-Vfi3PHCXGZe9jD8SL42XyHME8SImLMCSEs23oGnoZiyWfLKUMB_/s640/0910160704.jpg" width="480" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, my sister's friend Maryann (who lives in Reykyvik) translated the gist of one of the articles for <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> me since I was curious to know what <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">point the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> article was</span> making <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">about the fleeces</span></span></span>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> It turns out that in 2013 a couple of Icelandic farms decided to breed for characteristics more like Gotland sheep and this article was reviewing the progress they are making in that effort.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although I questioned the wisdom of trying to change the Icelandic sheep (I love Gotland too, but for different reasons - so in my estimation both breeds should be preserved and cherished for what unique characteristics they each offer to spinners and knitters), as Maryann pointed out, it is nice to diversify so hand spinners in Iceland have more variety of wool to spin with. And I'd have to agree with that! As much as I <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">enjoy the unique colors of the Icelandic wool, I would miss not having variety in fleeces to spin - and something softer and bouncier <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">than Icelandic</span>!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">N</span>ot all farms that are involved in this effort to "Gotlanize" the Icelandic so there will still be traditional Icelandic sheep <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">to preserve</span> the genetics that go back to the original sheep the Vikings brought over in <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9</span>00. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And m</span>aybe this effort to introduce some of the Gotland features to Icelandic will lead to an entirely new breed - one that <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">has</span> less variation in color<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, is a bit finer </span>and more ringlet formation (?) - that we'll <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all scramble to spin ours<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">elves! </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another reason to return to Iceland in a few years!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I</span>n <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">tomorrow's</span> post, I'll share some pictures of the sheep roundup and some interesting things I learned about the sheep and the farming of the sheep here<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">B</span>ut first I thought I'd share a few photos to show the range of environment that these sheep inhabit<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> because, well<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">....</span>it is <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazing to find <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sheep grazing 2.5 hours drive from absolutely <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nowhere!</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And some of the land seems <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">so inhospitable<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No pic<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ture can quite convey the vastness of open land there, so maybe some of these figures will help:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">78% of Iceland's land is un-arable<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, unproductive for agricultural purposes </span>(it is glacier or lava fields)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of the 22% that <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is arable, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">only 1% is <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">actu<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ally cultivated - and 9<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">9</span>% of that is with hay and fo<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">dder - the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> remainder <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is </span>for potato<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">es<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I</span>n the north, where we focused <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">this trip, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the ratio of <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">acres to p<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">opulation is 2 sq km<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> per person (if you include the south and Reykyvik, I think the number of acres/person goes down to 1<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> square km!)</span>. Think about yourself standing in the middle of a 2 square kilometer (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">almost <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">4.5 </span></span> miles) area and imagine that every neigh<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bor has that same amount of land to him/herself as well! </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are about 325,000 <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">p<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">eople in Iceland<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> (t</span>he vast majority in Reykyvik)</span></span> and they wintered over about <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">00,000 sheep<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> (in the summer after lambing and when the sheep are all out in the open land grazing, there are over a million - these figures are from 2013).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span>he sheep are let out to roam the highlands <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on</span> their own devices for grazing and water from late May/early June<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span> thru the "roundup" which happens from early Sept thru early October<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span> They roam on both "afrett" (which is publicly owned land up in the highlands) and also on the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ir own<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">er's "wild" land (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">rangel<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and that is not level and not fertilized). Since most farms in Iceland are on the order of 1500+ acr<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">es, there is a lot of land to be grazed!</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span>T</span>he arctic fox is <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">really the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>o<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nly</span></span> predator sheep have to worry about, tho' I'm told ravens <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and eagles can be a problem for lam<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">bs. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The dates <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">for</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">letting the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> sheep</span> out and rounding them up</span> are depend<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e</span></span>nt <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e</span> year's weather, of course. In 2012, an early freak snowstorm before the roundup <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">resulted in some s<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ignificant losses.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And </span></span></span></span> while we were <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">in <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Iceland</span></span> a farm on the Skagastrond peninsula moved up the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> dates</span> to roundup sheep because they were concerned about an eruption-Iceland has 130 active volcanoes. </span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A side note about <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">his "eruption" concern</span>: </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the last month, Iceland had 4 times as many earthquakes as usual (the week before we went, I looked online at the earthquake monitoring site and there had been 35 earthquakes that week alone ranging from about 1.2 to 3.8!). The day we were at the Textile Museum, there was a 4.something-or-other which caused <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the </span> farmer some concern. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apparently</span> Hekla has erupted every 10 years consistently until now (it is 4 years overdue) so scientists expect it to blow sometime soon. </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And although neither lava nor flooding (that's the big issue when one of the volca<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">noes that is<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> beneath a <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">glacier erupts) </span></span></span>would impact the northern area we were in had Hekla erupted, a heavy ash falling on the grass the sheep are grazing could prove a significant problem<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span> So <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hrafnhildur,</span> who opened the Textile Museum for us<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, said she </span>was going off the next day to help her friend's family bring in his sheep</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>earl<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ier than planned</span>, just in case!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqznrpcVUSJuMa_kOFWGpP-VMiBKpLIfTbpaGQOc5dGNAfSu63RKcK_JX1UchjqaRxTEpJDCnCVnyIm3-7BGJ-3ljnHBOIDUljStuXl2QEDdzg0EskCu4YF4S-vUVmfW9WmaN8X4I3Vxl/s1600/0909161314d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqznrpcVUSJuMa_kOFWGpP-VMiBKpLIfTbpaGQOc5dGNAfSu63RKcK_JX1UchjqaRxTEpJDCnCVnyIm3-7BGJ-3ljnHBOIDUljStuXl2QEDdzg0EskCu4YF4S-vUVmfW9WmaN8X4I3Vxl/s320/0909161314d.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">W</span>e saw sheep everywhere - from the seashore to the lava fields, to highland pastures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> The landscape there is so vast that at first glance you don't see any sheep. Then you see a few and think it is only a <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">couple</span> sheep speckling the hillside. Then you see movement <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where you thought there was nothing</span> and realize there are<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a lot</span> of sheep on the hillside! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The sheep pictured <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">above</span> was up a significant mountain (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">a few of the hikers I was with stopped below this point because the grade was too steep) and <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">she <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">was</span>s enjoying the warmth from a steam vent (see th<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e mist above <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">her?) nearby.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the Whale Fjord we spotted sheep on the <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">water's <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">edge where it appeared there was only seaweed to be had.</span></span>This photo below showing the sheep grazing on <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the seashore </span>is along a gorgeous fjord just a bit north of Reykyavik. This f<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">jord <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is</span></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">where</span> Johannas goat farm, Haafell, is situated<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and it is a popular stop for the many knitting tours that come here.</span> Since we had visited her on our last trip, we didn't stop by this trip. As some of you may know, there was a Kick Start Fundraiser for her a few years back to help her keep her family farm of goats. I participated by selling off a bunch of store models to help raise money. She raised over $100,000 and has kept the farm in her family, but reports suggest that she is trying to do too much (meat, sausage, cheese, fiber, soaps, etc) and still struggling<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, so that is <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sad</span> to hear. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBzD1nlpl63oZjDTfgJBjQ47TGIqE6Wr7ZOS-3aoPwxJoe5aI69p0T7v0UaohmKiLsPNK3KNkpp9PCuNwCt7yHSRxsbwC1edFE1s5TYreGvR9YRkS1NgOk2B1lA0LmNkasj9x-aN0dPrr/s1600/0901160935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoBzD1nlpl63oZjDTfgJBjQ47TGIqE6Wr7ZOS-3aoPwxJoe5aI69p0T7v0UaohmKiLsPNK3KNkpp9PCuNwCt7yHSRxsbwC1edFE1s5TYreGvR9YRkS1NgOk2B1lA0LmNkasj9x-aN0dPrr/s640/0901160935.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This next photo shows <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">sheep </span>on a hillside up north. You think you only see a few white specs, but then you see movement in places where you hadn't seen sheep before and realize the<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">re are actually hundreds there!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At this point, you might be asking yourself why all the sheep seem to be white, when the interesting thing about Icelandics is the range of colors! I know I kept wondering about this. More about that topic tomorrow or the next day, I can't remember what I worked that into!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the next photo shows sheep </span></span>in an area that would seem un<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">inviting</span> (right near the base of Hekla) <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with not</span> much to graze on! There were occasional patches of moss and a few hillocks of grass, but not much<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> in this area. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The sheep must have been passing thru to greener pastures! But It was miles and miles to greener pastures from where these sheep were.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the things we all noticed is that because of the vastness of the land, we could see for miles and miles and so things in our view looked close, but in fact were a long ways off. As we drove towards them we could see so many more sheep in these vistas than the camera could catch from this long distance off. The hills in the background<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> of the photo below</span> were an hours drive from where I took the phot<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">o! In such vastness, distance is really hard to judge.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">During a guided hike, w</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">e found some sheep enjoying the steam vents up in Landmannalauger (<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">photo below)</span>. Lots of strewn lava and bright green Icelandic moss, natural hot water springs and tons of steam vents made this an appealing spot for sheep even tho' it was a 2.5 hour drive thru absolutely nothing to get there. And then about an 1<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.5 hour hike, UP. </span>And underfoot is really rocky terrain. And steep, too! Not a house, not a shed, nothing but rivers to drive thru and bumpy <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">dirt roads </span>for 2+ hours and still there were sheep here! It is really hard to imagine how they all get rounded up!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">se sheep </span> didn't join us in the natural hot spring we soaked in after our hike, but they grazed all around it and enjoyed the warmth of the vents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />And <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">look how clean this next sheep's fleece is!! </span> When I was <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">riding up in the nor<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">th (in a valley south of</span></span> Varmahild) <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I rode</span> pas<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">t</span> lots of sheep in the highlands and they were <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">unex<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">pectedly</span></span> clean!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apparently being</span> out of doors fending for themselves for over 3 months <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">keeps them cleaner than being in a fenced pasture or barn. </span>Here is a photo of the area I was riding in (the photo doesn't capture it well, but hopefully it gives you a sense of the vastness of the landscape) and another photo of one of the sheep we came across which seemed more curious than nervous<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> about our presence.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you can make out the little white dots in that vast landscape, they are sheep!</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-40600888783170339562016-09-14T13:16:00.000-04:002016-09-14T13:16:21.026-04:00Textile Museum in Blonduos<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I'm re-starting my blog posts now that I'm back on US soil and can easily type/upload photos. For those of you who read this post about the Textile museum.....I've updated it with more information now that I can easily do so. So it may be worth a re-read! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And I spent yesterday writing one post for each day I was in Iceland to share all sorts of interesting information about the sheep, the roundup, the fish tannery, etc. and I intend to upload one each day until I run out!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So check back tomorrow for more news!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For now.....I'll start at the Textile Museum which was the first "fiber related" stop we took.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For
those of you planning a trip here in Sept., be sure you call ahead and
arrange for someone to open it for you. I knew to do that so a very welcoming young Icelander, Hrafnhilfur, was there to open it for us. You will need to pay 10000ISK (the equivalent of 8 visitors entrance fee and it works out to about $85 USD today). That may seem expensive (most museums here charge between 12,000 ISK and 15,000 ISK to enter) ......but if you enjoy wool and textiles I assure you it is worth it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There is
currently an exhibit there by a local felter, Anna Pjordastdottir, who has created a series of
circular wall hangings using Icelandic wool - some just using the "tog"
and others combing the "tog" and "thel" to produce more surface texture
from the differential shrinksge of the fibers, much like the ochre
colored bag I felted and have on display at the store in which I used
Karakul and BFL for differential shrinkage and texture. Here is a photo of a few of her pieces :</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For those of you who aren't familiar with Icelandic fleece, the sheep have 2 different fibers - tog and thel. The tog is the coarse outer long hair-like fiber that protects the sheep from the elements and the thel is the softer, shorter, more downy undercoat that keeps them warm. Lopi yarn, which most knitters are familiar with, mixes the two together. But handspinners who purchase a fleece have the option of separating the tog and the thel. In the next series of photos, I first show a lock of Icelandic fleece I purchased while there as it is shorn off the sheep. You can see the top whiter part is quite thick and then the "tip", which turns back at almost a 65 degree angle, is darker and more "defined". In the second photo you can see the tog and thel separated, next to my glasses to give you an idea of the length of the fibers. All I did was hold tightly on the tip end of the "tog" and lightly hold the fluffy "thel" and gently pull apart and you can see how easily they separate. The softer thel is quite short compared to the longer and coarser tog. And as the photo shows, they can be quite different in color.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here is a shawl at the museum which was spun and knit from just the tog. Despite the tog being coarser and not so soft and cozy, this shawl had an AMAZING drape to it. I'm so inspired now to make my next spinning project one in which I separate the tog and thel and spin them separately so I have a tog shawl to share at the shop! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They museum also has an unusual basket of spindle spun yarn. Unusual because it is spun from horse tail! Horses abound in Iceland about as much as the sheep (and in as beautiful an array of colors too!) and the tail hair is regularly used to braid gorgeous ropes and hobbles (not just for horses,
but I was told a traditional gift to the newlywed bride!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In a room showing traditional garments worn by Icelandic women were lots of examples of naturally dyed and embroidered clothing. Here is a lovely example of one. And a photo of the detail embroidered on a sleeve, too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> And of course, they had quite a few examples (middle photo) of the traditional knitted insoles for the fish skin shoes they wore (first photo shows the fish skin shoes with a striped pair of insoles). Here, in particular, I have shared a closeup of the detail embroidery on one insole (last photo). I am always struck by the fine detail that crafters/artisans from long ago- when life was so much harder than we have it today - took to make their work exquisite. I felt this so strongly after visiting the felts in the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg too. Such attention to beauty and detail when struggling to eat and have shelter against harsh weather would make you think they'd forego such details - but they didn't. I love that they didn't short cut and that they paid such attention to details. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And to see such a lovely array of patterned mittens and gloves knit using the natural Icelandic colors - we guessed from the size of the stitches that some of these were knit on 000s!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This "apron cloth" woven plaid shown here is the finest ever fabric woven from Icelandic fleece - spun as a singles and sett at 200 dpi! WOW.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There was an entire room full of hardanger lace, examples of weaving, carding, combing and spinning equipment, and a bit of bobbin lace too. But what I shared above were the highlights for me. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-35876060155760892692016-09-13T12:12:00.001-04:002016-09-13T12:14:14.770-04:00Shoofing for Sheep....<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm off tomorrow to shoof sheep. I just love saying that...it sounds so nice rolling off the lips!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And I love that I have found a bridge between my earlier trip to Morocco this spring where I learned what "shoofing" meant and the trip starting tomorrow to the land of Fire and Ice!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ironic that the PBS Newshour tonight aired a segment on how many Icelanders have mixed feelings about the country being such a "hot" tourist destination now. With too few hotel rooms available to accommodate their 4 year running 25-30% growth in tourists landing, many locals are being run out of the rental market because home owners/landlords can make more money renting their housing to tourists thru Air BNB. Not too dissimilar to what is happening in San Francisco where the housing market has out priced locals and only the dot.commers can afford anything to rent or buy there!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyway, I'm expecting it to be more touristy than our last visit. But hopefully not too much so! What is so appealing about the place is it's natural beauty and remoteness and the lack of people in sight! Every direction you look in is just nature....at least that is what I experienced 4 years ago when my sisters and I first visited this lovely country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyway, I thought I'd share a couple of book recommendations if any of you are planning a trip to Iceland. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Where the Shadows Lie - Ridpath is the author. I thought this was a light and fun mystery that gave me some insight to the people and landscape to expect. I read this before our last visit to Iceland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Iceland's Bell - Nobel Prize for Literature awarded author Halidor Laxness. I got great insight into the mindset and heritage of the people thru this book, but it was not an easy, light read like Where the Shadows Lie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I Remember You - author Yrsa Sigurdardottir. I just started this earlier in the week and am enjoying another mystery set in Iceland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A Traveller's Guide to Icelandic Folk Tales - author Jon Hjalmarsson. A compendium of short sweet tales about different places around the country. I read them before this trip, but we're taking the book with us to reread the ones that feature the places we're staying! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And of course there is always Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and a whole plethora of Icelandic "sagas" - most by unknown authors and recorded in the 1100 - 1300s based on the word of mouth passed down from ancestors in 900 - 1100. Lots of gory death and fighting, but interesting insight to their way of life back then! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fun Fact #1 - The PBS Newshour shared this one tonight during their segment on the mixed feeling the local have about the increased tourism to their country: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>The population in Iceland is so small (around 300,000) that there is a phone app to be sure you aren't dating a cousin!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fun Fact #2 - the way Icelanders are named is quite unusual. There is a list of acceptable first names (one has to petition a government board if you want to use something outside of this list!) and the sons and daughters of a man take his name and add either "son" or "dottir" to it for their last name. For example, I'm going to meet with Anna Gunnarsdottir (a felter in Akureyri) while I'm there. If she has a brother, his last name would be Gunnarsson! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Wall Street Journal did a nice job of explaining it all<a href="http://wsimag.com/culture/2248-the-peculiarities-of-icelandic-naming"> here - </a></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-10478182532429233192015-01-20T15:05:00.001-05:002015-01-21T14:09:49.752-05:00Camellamangorayakalcashelmersilk Vest!Maybe, if you are stuck on one of those projects you just can't seem to complete, this story will give you solace that you are not alone! We all have these stumbles. <br />
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In keeping with both my infrequency of posts and my desire to use this blog to record particular projects that were full of "learning" (you could read that to also mean "a pain in the neck"!), I have recorded here my journey thru the final Camellamangorayakalcashelmersilk Vest (I call it the CLG Vest for short). <br />
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May I never walk this path again!<br />
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About 10 years ago I made few sheets of felt as follows: 1 very fine layer of extrafine merino wool topped with a fine layer of either llama, alpaca, yak, camel, cashmere, or angora (moving from darkest to lightest, top to bottom) and then covered with some very heavy (I was into texture at that time, apparently) wisps of bombyx silk. I didn't take pictures of the pieces, just jumped into making a jacket from them.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Note to self: don't be so heavy handed with the silk!</b></span><br />
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I was left with a bunch of scraps, not much bigger than what is pictured below. And at about that time, a lovely and very talented local quilter and teacher (Christine Fries of Loveabideth.com) took a nuno felting class here. In the course of talking with her about felt and about her quilting techniques, we decided she had a lot to offer felters with respect to using freeform machine stitching to create surface design on felt.<br />
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So we scheduled a class and in preparation for it she requested any scraps of felt I had so she could play with some different stitching/surface design ideas in advance of the class, which we scheduled for almost a year off. I gave her some of the scraps from the felt jacket I made (honestly, thinking she was kind of crazy for thinking she could do anything with such small scraps!).<br />
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She came back to me a couple of months later with several examples for me to use to entice felters to the workshop. And on the side, she gave me a "reconstructed" new piece of felt from all the scraps of the CLG Vest. It was long and rectangular (should have taken a photo of it) and what she had done was use some creative stitching to stitch together all the little pieces!!! Here is a closeup that maybe will let you see some of the stitching. It is there, but is freeform and so adds to the texture and design of the piece!<br />
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So, with a freeform attachment to my machine and inspired by both Christine's effort and the rug hookers and quilters of early America (who used every bit of viable cloth from old clothes to make rugs or quilts), I decided to take this piece of "refurbished felt" and do something with it.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Note to self: Not every piece of felt must "become" something useable. It's ok to take the learning from it and just throw the tangible part out. </b></span><br />
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About all I had enough for was a vest. And I didn't really even have quite enough for that. But since I hadn't given Christine all my ends from that project, I pulled out the rest and began stitching them to the piece she gave me. This allowed me to make a large enough sheet to make a vest.<br />
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While at the time I remember thinking that once I had cut out the fronts and back and stitched them together I was basically "done" (the hard part behind me!), it turned out that the journey had just begun. (this is the back of the vest pictured below)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpKuhwDVjmFzRYkEf3_9MOM3PkQoc8BgQRH_r78UbTfd-fV2-IOaNuu4X38gXZ-MQzNc3bSJ5DeQR52a1gzHgV-knN3i1qP1d1qpnc8NrwtOcF6l-suxgHqYMf9_jJwL2f0i8lt240mEz/s1600/camellamagoracashmeryakbestsetupback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpKuhwDVjmFzRYkEf3_9MOM3PkQoc8BgQRH_r78UbTfd-fV2-IOaNuu4X38gXZ-MQzNc3bSJ5DeQR52a1gzHgV-knN3i1qP1d1qpnc8NrwtOcF6l-suxgHqYMf9_jJwL2f0i8lt240mEz/s1600/camellamagoracashmeryakbestsetupback.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Note to self: my ideas/projects are never as easy or as quick as I think they will be!</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPYAfd_IDRkbeVA2pCByLqUhJP95d1GGI9aT4LMz9FDeLh153aptLkjLc-gGDnBAmeNlEwow-YrccqakFhndPzn_juT85MrzqA7SC5-BExC8DV-R2uCVX5goLUHi4XyYncYq5IZipa90VH/s1600/camellamagoracashmeryakbestsetupfront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPYAfd_IDRkbeVA2pCByLqUhJP95d1GGI9aT4LMz9FDeLh153aptLkjLc-gGDnBAmeNlEwow-YrccqakFhndPzn_juT85MrzqA7SC5-BExC8DV-R2uCVX5goLUHi4XyYncYq5IZipa90VH/s1600/camellamagoracashmeryakbestsetupfront.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
First, to strengthen the edges, I used some high twist reeled 100% silk thread to stitch a decorative chain around the front opening, neck edge and bottom edge. My intention at that point was to knit a collar using this gorgeous baby alpaca yarn that I had just started stocking called Eco Duo. You can see how lovely it matched the colors and "nature" of the fabric. So this silk chain stitch was not only going to reinforce the delicate edges of the felt, but also serve as a means to pick up stitches.<br />
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So I took picked up stitches all along the front neck edge and knit a garter stitch collar using short row shaping and it looked awful. So bad, I didn't take a photo to record it (some things are just so bad you don't need a photo record to remember!). Basically the yarn (a worsted weight) was just too bulky and heavy for the delicate fabric. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAqoe1GxhLetfeTWmTAUL896QYmJ9GhbS2a0hyphenhyphenELJT2sfgJX7Wj52U_myFcoEOWa7Ruq9J1HPfOIJtnqwvxisNb7qqCf2LrGrbeGm9G-mSJQsp_l6UU2lAm9sktMZ6wMULs9E2Ux6LAcQh/s1600/vestthreads.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAqoe1GxhLetfeTWmTAUL896QYmJ9GhbS2a0hyphenhyphenELJT2sfgJX7Wj52U_myFcoEOWa7Ruq9J1HPfOIJtnqwvxisNb7qqCf2LrGrbeGm9G-mSJQsp_l6UU2lAm9sktMZ6wMULs9E2Ux6LAcQh/s1600/vestthreads.JPG" height="127" width="320" /></a></div>
So after ripping out the alpaca yarn collar, I decided that since "bulk" seemed to be the issue with the baby alpaca, I'd just use the 100% reeled silk thread I had stitched around the neckline edge with (see picture, right). I chose the slightly duller white (2nd from the top) to use. I picked up and knit a garter ridge and decided after about 6 ridges that maybe it wasn't the "bulk" of the alpaca that had bothered me since I didn't like this either! I think I just really don't like the combination of knitting with felt. I should have known this....I've never liked when weavers sew a jacket and add knitted sleeves, so why I thought I'd like this is beyond me.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Note to self: remember that you just don't like garments that combine some knitted component with either weaving or felting...so don't go there again!</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-SQ6UC9r3kp3CeoNLe_EeWksomxe9Wbyde6aLG_7Bv9y2KcdE0leJALN6Igw-Y8feaEiB7q1-j95X7DXtvwVnN9pnQ7VDQk7nC0k5Gv76A5Ww0_CHphSTcchNCNpAwnQ9cAJvY9TpWFEo/s1600/0923131812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-SQ6UC9r3kp3CeoNLe_EeWksomxe9Wbyde6aLG_7Bv9y2KcdE0leJALN6Igw-Y8feaEiB7q1-j95X7DXtvwVnN9pnQ7VDQk7nC0k5Gv76A5Ww0_CHphSTcchNCNpAwnQ9cAJvY9TpWFEo/s1600/0923131812.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a> Then in an "ah-ha" moment, I wondered why I hadn't made a nuno felted collar? Duh! It would be delicate, in keeping with the "felt" and the same fibers! <br />
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So I nuno felted a collar (see photo right) and was totally underwhelmed by it. So I took that off.<br />
(BTW....those are safety pins marking where I planned on making a silk frog for the front closure)<br />
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At this point that I was so disgusted with the whole project, I let it sit in the shop without a collar for a while. My friend Lynn thought it was ok that way, but I was determined to have a collar.<br />
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So my next strategy was to use a plain white silk chiffon fabric. Sew it on and maybe tuck/ruche it in a few places.<br />
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Rather than go thru the bother of sewing it on first and then ripping it out as I had with the 2 knitted collars and the nuno felt collar already, this time I tested the effect by simply draping it on the mannequin as shown below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4hlSIbVOSXbO8Ubbabgtu5mASib8IaSpz-kFSYExhCTIf-HUs_Mknfb4tOqu9rjzvpqysIse0UyZi8K1hUv7shfmdPq-PlmqjhkI69A1q3TqrHjrIpgGZkmx2B3xFYrB3Ng9Wy2p8GqF/s1600/0923131812a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk4hlSIbVOSXbO8Ubbabgtu5mASib8IaSpz-kFSYExhCTIf-HUs_Mknfb4tOqu9rjzvpqysIse0UyZi8K1hUv7shfmdPq-PlmqjhkI69A1q3TqrHjrIpgGZkmx2B3xFYrB3Ng9Wy2p8GqF/s1600/0923131812a.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I liked that look basically, so went ahead and cut and sewed a silk chiffon collar and then tucked/ruched it here and there.<br />
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And hated it.<br />
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In disgust, I literally ripped it off!<br />
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I was so frustrated with it this summer, that I remember tossing it into the workshop and deciding to go bake my favorite cake to feel better!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6q4nMQ4j2qgKB4h2H7JpxbtCwZVfMXYDltMHU5zb4oXdbxiVe_OaT27y8Cyd5K0umaf3ZgKGR08QrpoHIZjpLK-IwHN5ZLkO34JBwRLEcF2wOMr7fJ0aCxt-pytspya1SXT7VkH5z8rPA/s1600/cake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6q4nMQ4j2qgKB4h2H7JpxbtCwZVfMXYDltMHU5zb4oXdbxiVe_OaT27y8Cyd5K0umaf3ZgKGR08QrpoHIZjpLK-IwHN5ZLkO34JBwRLEcF2wOMr7fJ0aCxt-pytspya1SXT7VkH5z8rPA/s1600/cake.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
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This was the cake I baked to feel better...chocolate cake with swiss meringue (or as we called it growing up - marshmallow) icing.<br />
It gave me strength to go try a different silk fabric that Lynn had given me that, which instead of being as sheer as the chiffon was heavier and had a bit of a texture to it. I didn't like that either and ripped it out as well....but somehow after a piece (or two) of cake, that failure didn't seem so bad!<br />
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So I hung the vest back up in its' unfinished, collar-less state in the store for the summer and I've been tempted a few times to sell it to a customer who has asked about buying it on several occasions. I should have just sold it to her so it would be out of my line of vision. But because I had this notion that the vest was "unfinished" and the challenge of figuring out the right collar had eluded me, I just couldn't let it go!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Note to self: Let it go! Especially if a customer wants to buy it! Let it go, let it go!</b></span><br />
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Around Thanksgiving time I relegated the vest to the back weaving room.There it hung all fall until over XMAS break, while getting out leather to work on my most recent eco-printed bag (putting leather trim on it-so excited about this project!), I came across a piece of white Tibetan lamb and in a flash, knew it was the answer to the collar dilemma.<br />
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I've sewn it on (a bit asymmetrically by design) now and FINALLY, am calling the CLG Vest done. Not sure why this version of the collar allows me to say "ok, done" (since I don't really think I like it...no, no, no... don't go there), but I'm not questioning it! It's Done. Fini. Off my to-finish list. And it feels so good to be free to move onward wihtout this nightmare on my mind!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqGBNUl8VdEwnPXDycKwcIWce6wTTYzuBq3K8zLZtjg7d5_AbQKMSV9H_v28PATg9cFeOUyDMLRRxJ3-fFV5t6Jbj3IfSGfv3ZfKFBmFgbcfQKjzdqwhDAFTQCwjqdAJuUq2M5MZk1evE/s1600/camlvestover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqGBNUl8VdEwnPXDycKwcIWce6wTTYzuBq3K8zLZtjg7d5_AbQKMSV9H_v28PATg9cFeOUyDMLRRxJ3-fFV5t6Jbj3IfSGfv3ZfKFBmFgbcfQKjzdqwhDAFTQCwjqdAJuUq2M5MZk1evE/s1600/camlvestover.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-61085158860954413892013-07-20T15:51:00.001-04:002013-07-20T15:51:52.905-04:00Quilt Felt Bag : Iteration #2July has been a time to finish up some old projects, namely completing my 2nd iteration of the QFB (Quilt Felt Bag). <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQ7lsXpYVF86WiAFD5yd6CNFKCilkVqNW_BEbuB3ReSz-StbWSiapMTK4VAzRNYhQvjly-AFPjF0XxcdrOLKt0c58OSQper3D6i3glpkyK8cICpDZgNOAOMfqKjbiLDhyphenhyphenWFjZdLjjgtHs/s1600/quiltbagfrontt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQ7lsXpYVF86WiAFD5yd6CNFKCilkVqNW_BEbuB3ReSz-StbWSiapMTK4VAzRNYhQvjly-AFPjF0XxcdrOLKt0c58OSQper3D6i3glpkyK8cICpDZgNOAOMfqKjbiLDhyphenhyphenWFjZdLjjgtHs/s1600/quiltbagfrontt.jpg" /></a>My first QFB (shown left) I adore. There are some messy things about it if you look closely and it was a nightmare to make since I was working out the design process on the fly. But I love the colors and each square's design speaks to me in some way. And, I got to use some gorgeous orange silk fabric my niece brought home for me from her stint in Bangladesh....so it is particularly special.<br />
But as is the case when exploring a new design idea, the execution of this first one gave me all kinds of ideas for making the bag again....both more efficiently and neatly. <br />
So last year as I was stitching the felt for this first bag, I felted up new fabric in some lovely neutrals and just this month finally got around to completing the surface design, lining, handles & assembly of it.<br />
It went together SO much more neatly and efficiently than the first. But of course, working on it only gave me new ideas about another approach to the bag!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rw9JwQ8pk6IXhepA5AYn39dyD684eThC8MCUGc9FGbEyygb236lyXA7die2pD7AfTcNH-5xNUZLPgTXdlzRwjA9_h1HCuXNML7f_MzYK8nJI4A6fAzJfruhb93aEnSp5sgb0LRe7634Z/s1600/iteration2back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rw9JwQ8pk6IXhepA5AYn39dyD684eThC8MCUGc9FGbEyygb236lyXA7die2pD7AfTcNH-5xNUZLPgTXdlzRwjA9_h1HCuXNML7f_MzYK8nJI4A6fAzJfruhb93aEnSp5sgb0LRe7634Z/s1600/iteration2back.jpg" height="320" width="290" /> Here is one side </a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8Ykios75s9brn8cLo0hhan-r5pAtuJoJuFTZ28sPFBZnI1AgWMr0Z29wU0yfejbhyNaD_163IRBq6_yPsbJ2t36uUnDzhRBexgbbj1p4BVwz1ucIpVMx7LMy1wtQmN4B19E6zTGbGNmh/s1600/iteration2front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8Ykios75s9brn8cLo0hhan-r5pAtuJoJuFTZ28sPFBZnI1AgWMr0Z29wU0yfejbhyNaD_163IRBq6_yPsbJ2t36uUnDzhRBexgbbj1p4BVwz1ucIpVMx7LMy1wtQmN4B19E6zTGbGNmh/s1600/iteration2front.jpg" height="297" width="320" /> And here is the other side....I can't really decide which is front and back since I like both equally! So I put a button on each and will just sew in a magnet closure on the inside to finish it off.</a></div>
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Since so many customers have asked me to offer this as a class, I plan on starting Iteration #3 (which I expect to be the best, when I return from vacation mid August.<br />
The Quilt Festival must have had some impact on me as now I'm seeing everything in geometrics....<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQAzF-tbWXlI05M7wH2XB-rJVg_6CEgED8aywi-f-qaoknQyWffQWyuunl3V9jyJosOMkIgPn5pQVgFizSo1KNyrGrwRp4RBkJC8tstxPSAH1RAPw5CMCtzfxWrJu2h5Kz1Nm7atRaHi8/s1600/silkpaperfeltbagfront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQAzF-tbWXlI05M7wH2XB-rJVg_6CEgED8aywi-f-qaoknQyWffQWyuunl3V9jyJosOMkIgPn5pQVgFizSo1KNyrGrwRp4RBkJC8tstxPSAH1RAPw5CMCtzfxWrJu2h5Kz1Nm7atRaHi8/s1600/silkpaperfeltbagfront.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Here is a quick bag I worked up last Thursday night when I wanted a sample for the Silk Paper Making class showing how silk paper could actually be felted INTO felt fabric and also how it could be stitched ONTO fabric.I'm still braiding the leather handle for this bag....the color of the leather matches the linen nuno felt strip at the top of the bag, perfectly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-70204755531849642042013-06-20T21:57:00.001-04:002013-06-20T21:57:52.937-04:00Knowing when to hold 'em or when to fold 'em?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What a process this piece has been!<br />
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Usually when I take workshops, I'm not vested in the piece I make "being" anything. I don't have to be able to use it, wear it, even like it. I just use it to learn the techniques and explore the options. I think that "frees' me up to just "play" since I'm not worried about it "coming out".<br />
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But for some reason, I felt differently about the piece that I worked on in Sachiko's class last year. And what a roller coaster that has made it! <br />
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<em>Note to self - don't EVER AGAIN get vested in a workshop sample!\</em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfedfQxYFt1wwbgAfAY83u73sRhbtDkV3N7ch5lyUSNVv0ghDzEHCt00pCH0sWRA0JJYAZ3Nif1SeANxlsIimMcnaIQ0-3kMrBMo_IlaCGeUCUR1ZIDuRqIu4i6O0_jSFEWg5dFs1rkXoi/s1600/sachikonearcompletion2t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfedfQxYFt1wwbgAfAY83u73sRhbtDkV3N7ch5lyUSNVv0ghDzEHCt00pCH0sWRA0JJYAZ3Nif1SeANxlsIimMcnaIQ0-3kMrBMo_IlaCGeUCUR1ZIDuRqIu4i6O0_jSFEWg5dFs1rkXoi/s1600/sachikonearcompletion2t.jpg" /></a><br />
At various points through out the year, this piece was in the trash can, the cabinet, the trash can a second time, pinned on a mannequin as a vest, in the trash can a third time and then relegated to a series of cabinets!<br />
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It all started as a double-sided, orikiri and weft felt sample from Sachiko's workshop here last year, which at layout covered 2 tables! <em>Note to self - make smaller samples in the future!</em><br />
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After felting, it measured about 7' x 5': so big I hated wasting it, yet so big and so busy I had no idea what I could use it for! I had learned a lot in the workshop, which was the point, so I should have just tossed the piece and moved on. But there were a couple of "elements" in it that I really liked. And it was so big I hated throwing it out. <br />
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<em>Note to self: sample and sample small when exploring a new technique!</em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyu5NAmlWebxYfEaPI40p9UeVs9vCNB-Pm0XTI9bubHtl4v01IZybTOapHT7GWFN6N4ZqmG5xv0pb_uXa0tcck6-jbN699btzkH_cUKy6qsZW1k9kNpnZ4YTsbst-M3CrmhJXg8w3GJY0O/s1600/sachikonearcompletion1t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyu5NAmlWebxYfEaPI40p9UeVs9vCNB-Pm0XTI9bubHtl4v01IZybTOapHT7GWFN6N4ZqmG5xv0pb_uXa0tcck6-jbN699btzkH_cUKy6qsZW1k9kNpnZ4YTsbst-M3CrmhJXg8w3GJY0O/s1600/sachikonearcompletion1t.jpg" /></a><br />
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So I cut out the elements that I liked and threw away the rest. Now I had about half the fabric I started with!<br />
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I played with the saved "elements" thinking maybe I could use them in a bag, but one particular aspect that I had saved said "vest" to me. So I pinned the pieces all together on a mannequin and, pleased with the outcome, went to bed.<br />
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The next morning, I got a chuckle at what had the night before had looked good to me....<br />
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Could it have been the wine?<br />
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Shown left is the back of the vest....asymmetric with 1 short sleeve off the right shoulder. The only part I liked was the bottom piece....the gold edge with the turquoise 3d flower!<br />
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<em>Note to self: hold off on the wine when working thru a design process!</em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj678gO4n6d0D3vmkotiU6cqc92O2LHDoEFh99tpxo3Ha8imrdMc6H6OU2VluUF8ml1JSxAGSw3xS-2KNG1OqaPKZXVtgxkgp42UUAor5tiWOjokAiE0PFxVhTcUGQNWbGwOw7wuT5_RtJS/s1600/reducedtot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj678gO4n6d0D3vmkotiU6cqc92O2LHDoEFh99tpxo3Ha8imrdMc6H6OU2VluUF8ml1JSxAGSw3xS-2KNG1OqaPKZXVtgxkgp42UUAor5tiWOjokAiE0PFxVhTcUGQNWbGwOw7wuT5_RtJS/s1600/reducedtot.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj678gO4n6d0D3vmkotiU6cqc92O2LHDoEFh99tpxo3Ha8imrdMc6H6OU2VluUF8ml1JSxAGSw3xS-2KNG1OqaPKZXVtgxkgp42UUAor5tiWOjokAiE0PFxVhTcUGQNWbGwOw7wuT5_RtJS/s1600/reducedtot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj678gO4n6d0D3vmkotiU6cqc92O2LHDoEFh99tpxo3Ha8imrdMc6H6OU2VluUF8ml1JSxAGSw3xS-2KNG1OqaPKZXVtgxkgp42UUAor5tiWOjokAiE0PFxVhTcUGQNWbGwOw7wuT5_RtJS/s1600/reducedtot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><br />
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So I took it apart, cut away more pieces, threw them away and repined another vest before, with disgust, tossing it back in a cabinet. I was down to a bare minimum....<br />
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Wasn't it Ansel Adams that famously replied, when asked by an interviewer what his favorite piece of equipment was, "the trash can"!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8gdUDZRbwhcOGRY7lU0NSYIAdxxDYkGbaERpvOZYfDKTk7x7ZxNs_GSOhT1BLOVm2MnIDbtwhoJjh-RoRBhZahwpWHRFAQvjGeT7VZa_RmHzh15tIdIHES4BKTlt3FKAU2D7FN00Xh52/s1600/shawl3layoutt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8gdUDZRbwhcOGRY7lU0NSYIAdxxDYkGbaERpvOZYfDKTk7x7ZxNs_GSOhT1BLOVm2MnIDbtwhoJjh-RoRBhZahwpWHRFAQvjGeT7VZa_RmHzh15tIdIHES4BKTlt3FKAU2D7FN00Xh52/s1600/shawl3layoutt.jpg" /></a><br />
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The next time I came across it in the cabinet, I decided maybe a shawl/cape would be a better goal for the pieces. So having reduced the original felt rectangle to the pieces shown above, I took some time to play with various arrangements of the pieces on the table -next couple of photos.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrcC3CVKzanmj7j5oPI7drM4MpBnH9N0OBC_hnYRej_-0dq7Cu-QL5BlaU1CtnRyzbD1ZxB_h0dfLWw3aC6wLleCuMqxtmwwzcehacaOZHI974alQEtNH-cUFGFsnTV6eGTzxIVXJ8TTv/s1600/shawl1layout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrcC3CVKzanmj7j5oPI7drM4MpBnH9N0OBC_hnYRej_-0dq7Cu-QL5BlaU1CtnRyzbD1ZxB_h0dfLWw3aC6wLleCuMqxtmwwzcehacaOZHI974alQEtNH-cUFGFsnTV6eGTzxIVXJ8TTv/s320/shawl1layout.jpg" width="320" /></a> When I found one I liked, I diligently photographed the layout (since I didn't have time then to stitch it together at that point and knew it needed to go back into the cabinet once again until I had the time to pull it out and stitch it up .</div>
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But of course, when I finally found time a couple of months later to stitch it together, I couldn't find the photos I had taken such care to record the arrangement with, so I was back to square one!<br />
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<em>Note to self: remember where you file photos!</em><br />
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So this arrangement, shown left, is what I finally ended up with.... Not anything I could/would wear. I suppose the process of cutting and throwing out, of arranging and re-arranging, and of "trouble-shooting" some of the issues that came up when I finally pushed thru to stitching it together, taught me some things that I'm sure will come in useful on future pieces. And in the end, I certainly like this shawl better than any of the earlier shawl arrangements and far better than either vest or the original 8 x 6! <br />
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<em>Note to self: less is better, sometimes.</em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LzVbnmLgMVRGJr0CcQIFHpORDq-KPMV8miaWyYRRhDPkhrBrZfVxq_qHYzd2iZQT_4znmla_2yL4Nw5kSuUTvWKXHfltj6j-1Zt0tioXajk6w5WbtSwhky2RqbhPlvkJrgsa25sZc_EQ/s1600/sachikofinalfrontt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LzVbnmLgMVRGJr0CcQIFHpORDq-KPMV8miaWyYRRhDPkhrBrZfVxq_qHYzd2iZQT_4znmla_2yL4Nw5kSuUTvWKXHfltj6j-1Zt0tioXajk6w5WbtSwhky2RqbhPlvkJrgsa25sZc_EQ/s1600/sachikofinalfrontt.jpg" /></a></div>
But in retrospect I wish I hadn't gotten so caught up in the outcome of the "sample" piece. Instead, all the time spent working on this piece could have been put into starting fresh and coming up with a piece I might actually be able to wear in Burlington. <br />
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<em>Note to self: I work better if I approach workshops as a time to SAMPLE and EXPLORE and NOT CREATE.</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-27746537461393388042013-06-06T12:47:00.003-04:002013-06-06T12:47:51.724-04:00It's been a while!I had just geared up with lots of new ideas and inspiration for the blog when a yarn rep was visiting and in the course of conversation said that "the people who blog need to get a life"!<br />
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And of course that brings me right back to how I felt about blogging when I rather begrudgingly started this, if nothing else, inconsistent blog about everything fibers! I couldn't imagine how I'd find the time to fit it in (and from the long lapses between posts, I obviously still struggle with that!) and I certainly didn't know why anyone would care to read anything I had to say or share. But encouraged by customers, I launched it and now, probably just as interest in blogs has moved to the latest online/social media phenomenon, I'm getting back to it!<br />
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ANyway, if for no other
reason than my peri-menopausal mind forgets so much these days, I feel like I need to record my fiber endeavors for my own sake so I have a record somewhere. And in the process of compensating for a bad memory, if the learning I post from my own experiments is of any use to others, then great!<br />
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Lots of experimentation this last year to share, but I'm going to start with the quickest. <br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">Dehairing Cashmere!</span></strong><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlt02fO_bvq9FUy4OEIQAJ1MXUoSPDpnUNuY-Zs45_ifLUFEqF4qPaL-XbIR5ExRe_haWOcQP9PitnCKCZ7UVaLxhvZ63asaFncLt74zbbTWaknmgNUuLH7dpel0jilw1rl1wbDZPIvnT/s1600/johanna+goat+good+shot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlt02fO_bvq9FUy4OEIQAJ1MXUoSPDpnUNuY-Zs45_ifLUFEqF4qPaL-XbIR5ExRe_haWOcQP9PitnCKCZ7UVaLxhvZ63asaFncLt74zbbTWaknmgNUuLH7dpel0jilw1rl1wbDZPIvnT/s320/johanna+goat+good+shot.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I love to felt and spin cashmere....a little goes such a long way and it is so soft and insulating (and if you're selling your finished goods, a bit of "cashmere" in the label goes a long way!). I've always worked from prepared cashmere. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhySk8-UNOR6V0R8acGoi6hTaRyuOaNda1pmuD1IMwFmB7nOUpugnaErgmQUd_3HrmjqzgajTMEvu19CXu1feNg2pVw37uZx71vwDuTVn5UUFRyKVg3uiawj_m2cW3R7rRiAZmqhNMiEH4H/s1600/johannas+goats.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhySk8-UNOR6V0R8acGoi6hTaRyuOaNda1pmuD1IMwFmB7nOUpugnaErgmQUd_3HrmjqzgajTMEvu19CXu1feNg2pVw37uZx71vwDuTVn5UUFRyKVg3uiawj_m2cW3R7rRiAZmqhNMiEH4H/s320/johannas+goats.JPG" width="320" /></a>But when in Iceland last month with my sisters, we visited Haafell goat farm, where Johanna has taken the last 4 remaining goats in the entire country and brought back a herd of about 140, preserving the unique genetics of these animals that were brought over and kept isolated for hundreds of years.<br />
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While Johanna has mostly focused on the meat, milk and soap side of the goats, she is starting to learn the fiber end of the business and had a bit of her first batch of yarn back from the mill in Norway. She didn't have any for sale, but had some, no, it was lots, of fleeces piled on a table in the barn. So as my sister Roby (who teaches quite a few classes on spinning mohair) looked eagerly thru the piles for fleeces she might buy for upcoming workshops, she mentioned that some spinners dehair the cashmere themselves using the dryer and taking advantage of static electricity!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFUwFr1tSyZiSd-84QsZYc9hKi9gosHBwLIWIerzD2hq79wqQC15eDogjWg_XJ3TdgXrAUeYmNvgNbPOQBNow6Sgodr608rxyaJwgGploqjMar_RyCZWSCSICrZGAx03QdgA4I7e4i3G-/s1600/cashmeredryersheet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmFUwFr1tSyZiSd-84QsZYc9hKi9gosHBwLIWIerzD2hq79wqQC15eDogjWg_XJ3TdgXrAUeYmNvgNbPOQBNow6Sgodr608rxyaJwgGploqjMar_RyCZWSCSICrZGAx03QdgA4I7e4i3G-/s320/cashmeredryersheet.jpg" width="320" /></a>Having seen raw cashmere before and looking at the state of the raw fleeces on the table before me, I was skeptical to think that would work. But I was intrigued enough by the "dryer" method of de-hairing, I decided to give it a go.<br />
So first I washed the fleece, primarily because I didn't want goat smell (and worse) in my dryer! After drying it, I put it in knee-hi's and some more open mesh lingerie bags.<br />
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I popped them in the dryer under NO HEAT and FLUFF cycle for about 15 minutes and took a peek.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6s1irSPaImk1Ix3SARYRDvhz_AQrSiEgD-1Uc-LAqZmRL3HBwR4G-FJa3k62p5esubV75x5EEatjUPAjGjGZIZ31BvvXQ575yjGQIyd7iqt9lI6M8Gf4gJAkMHGYEAlrbeg058NX40Y5/s1600/cashmerepost12bagst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip6s1irSPaImk1Ix3SARYRDvhz_AQrSiEgD-1Uc-LAqZmRL3HBwR4G-FJa3k62p5esubV75x5EEatjUPAjGjGZIZ31BvvXQ575yjGQIyd7iqt9lI6M8Gf4gJAkMHGYEAlrbeg058NX40Y5/s1600/cashmerepost12bagst.jpg" /></a>Wow...at first glance, I thought it might be a success since the lint catcher was chock full of coarse hair (see photo above, right). There was a lot of guard hair still caught on the outside of the bags/knee his, but it was easy to pull off (see photo of knee his showing how the guard hair was pulled thru and then the photo of the mesh lingerie bag next to the additional wad of guard hair I was easily able to pull off the outside of the bag. I was pretty optimistic after cleaning the lint trap and pulling what I could from the outside of the bags off...there were a lot of guard hairs in those piles!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnNgd8drRQAKoURqIK8zKxIanyR1xOCddFQby7oiUdmhShBsFudNiIGyO3GwtgwQ5jAAGJkM0ev9zsDOlB4HvZ7qlyv9XUTWCvwR3SlTBCoCWXXhyphenhyphen1oTnl2d9MMV77rnyvxhNgquZNFVtf/s1600/cashmerepost12bags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnNgd8drRQAKoURqIK8zKxIanyR1xOCddFQby7oiUdmhShBsFudNiIGyO3GwtgwQ5jAAGJkM0ev9zsDOlB4HvZ7qlyv9XUTWCvwR3SlTBCoCWXXhyphenhyphen1oTnl2d9MMV77rnyvxhNgquZNFVtf/s1600/cashmerepost12bags.jpg" /></a>But after opening up the knee hi's and mesh bags, I still saw lots of coarse hair remaining. Definitely, the more open mesh bags had worked better, but still they had a ways to go.<br />
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So I took the cashmere out, fluffed, plucked and teased it apart so it was even a little more open, thinking the coarse hairs would have more chance to escape. And I tossed the mesh bags back in for another go round.<br />
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Again....the lint trap was full....but still so was the cashmere.<br />
So I picked up the phone and called Stillriver mills in CT. They have processed yarn for me in the past and they just did a run of cashmere roving for one of my customers (I'll have that in the store soon) that was lovely. He was nice enough to share with me how the industrial de-hairing equipment works. It is not based on static, but centrifugal force. Apparently the de-hairing equipment is basically like a regular drum carder but that moves at high RPMs so that the finer downy fibers stay stuck to the teeth in the drum and the coarser, slicker & heavier guard hairs are pulled out by the centrifugal force.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIUh157GU25oy1CMYgvGAnOs55ZbyA5XkBYVA-L-USIla3VB1fRN_HRQFXzEOhYIY6H2dMfz-OxnWXfMdRnlzifbY_efvXZVUpCNpYQWh4HrPrwBZhyphenhyphen-1ioyt4KN0bcX2d7ykyZjtYZTD/s1600/cashmerepost1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZIUh157GU25oy1CMYgvGAnOs55ZbyA5XkBYVA-L-USIla3VB1fRN_HRQFXzEOhYIY6H2dMfz-OxnWXfMdRnlzifbY_efvXZVUpCNpYQWh4HrPrwBZhyphenhyphen-1ioyt4KN0bcX2d7ykyZjtYZTD/s320/cashmerepost1.jpg" width="320" /></a>With that in mind, I put the bags in for a third try in my high RPM Haier workshop washer....but only on the "spin" cycle.<br />
That also worked, but still lots of hair remaining (see photo left of opened cashmere after 2 dryer runs and 1 in the Haier spin cycle).<br />
I think with about another hour of high RPMs, dryer sheets and plucking out a bit of hair between sessions, I probably will have 90% of it removed and I'll enjoy spinning up enough yarn to knit a scarf or shawl as a remembrance of our visit to Johannas, but if given the chance to buy a "raw" cashmere fleece again, I think I'll adopt the attitude "been there, done that"!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-13327311042912130572012-09-06T19:19:00.000-04:002012-09-06T19:19:05.286-04:00Felting Challenge Invitation!<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My sisters came for a Labor Day felting party and between the conversation, laughs, nibbling and Vana Tallin, I managed to share a couple of the techniques I learned in Sachiko's workshop with Wendy and Roby while Joany & I made bags for Anniemae Koenen's upcoming Felt Yurt Bag workshop here. The bag is incredibly dull....a perfect canvass for stitching....but it used up the last of a jet black Karakul lamb fleece I had. So I feel really good about "finishing something up"! Yeah....one less thing to store. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-98U_nFdC-nKp3uj-0OCZExz11R_khLSOVYuVP1N-0WmTjAvjqtaGOZTOpt2khDHwH4Kt3MVlLv6JXmxylqAah2IWU6SU5HzSefXxpisObhPOXhhvWMSz_qd-gMDMpgVfKA8rg7ebh_mW/s1600/quiltbag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-98U_nFdC-nKp3uj-0OCZExz11R_khLSOVYuVP1N-0WmTjAvjqtaGOZTOpt2khDHwH4Kt3MVlLv6JXmxylqAah2IWU6SU5HzSefXxpisObhPOXhhvWMSz_qd-gMDMpgVfKA8rg7ebh_mW/s320/quiltbag.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> As a result of this Labor Day diversion, I confess I haven't made a lot of progress on the two bags I'd been so focused on before...so still neither the Cotswold nor the Quilt Squares (shown left) is quite done yet. I did at least get a handle on it...but still a closure and some final stitching to do)! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And now I've got to turn my attention to the next "challenge" that my little felting group and I are working on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are there any felters out there reading this that are up for joining our "challenge"?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I want to invite any of you who are felters to join our little group thru this blog! These 4 friends and I meet monthly to motivate, inspire, show & tell, and trouble shoot our felting endeavors (and share a few laughs, catch up, eat!) . Plus, each month we pick out a "challenge" from a hat (which we filled with bits of paper listing all sorts of ambiguous felting ideas we wanted to explore). Then we reconvene a month or so after we've each had a chance to explore/play with that "challenge" on our own. When we get together again we bring our sample challenge to the meeting and share our thoughts & experiences of the challenge with each other. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's a great way to make yourself explore some new technique, design concept, color, or other element that you might not undertake on your own. You know...stretch your creativity a bit. And for me, its a great way to force some samples....I have a way of jumping right into a big project because my time feels limited and this forces me to work samples, which is a good discipline.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, it occurred to me after some conversations at Sachiko's workshop, that other felters might like to participate - virtually! So if you're interested, our "challenge" this month is </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"6 inches square"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We're meeting on the 23rd of the Sept., so if you are so inclined to explore something within that challenge description, send me a photo of what you explored along with any comments you may have about it and I'll post it on the blog that following week along with the "live" group's challenges/comments. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And if anyone has any "challenge" topics to contribute, we're open to ideas. In the past we've done "texture", "self-portrait", "inlay", "interpreting photographs", "blue", "whats in is out"....just to give you an idea of the range of ambiguity! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Anyway....if you're so inclined, we'd love to have you join us! Just email me your challenge at <a href="mailto:northeastfiberarts@gmail.com">northeastfiberarts@gmail.com</a> </span><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-18128449087324354042012-07-24T14:16:00.000-04:002012-07-24T14:16:07.445-04:00Go with the flow!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm generally one to "go with the flow" when it comes to my felt projects. I always start with an idea or plan in mind....a color scheme and a basic form or project, an approach and an idea of the desired outcome... but then I usually feel free to go where the project takes me as it starts to take shape and develop. Often this approach takes me down paths I didn't anticipate and I enjoy many happy little discoveries enroute. But I see felting friends who start with a specific idea and work thru frustrations and changes to make it come out how they envisioned, so I've often questioned whether my modus operandi when it comes to felt, was good.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So my two current felt bag projects have been an interesting case study for me in this regard. One of them, the Cotswold bag, I've been approaching the way I usually do....an idea in mind and going with the flow. The other bag, by quilt felt bag, is one I'm trying hard to see thru as my original design idea was envisioned. And what a difference between these experiences! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For this quilt felt bag, I did have a specific visual in mind and I'm determined to see it thru! No "happy little discoveries" here. I've definitely learned some things and am happy with certain aspects of the project, just as with my cotswold bag, but sticking to a hard and fast original idea makes what usually I think of as "happy little discoveries" feel like " pain in the neck roadblocks"! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">From earlier posts, you know the genesis of this felt quilt bag project....my attempts to complete it, continue! With a bit of angst.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since 4 of the 29 squares I needed were MIA this spring, I had to recreate them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then because I didn't think about how much shrinkage the zig-zag stitch (which I used to attach the felt design squares to the background felt) would cause, I had to resquare the squares to a smaller size - now I'm down to 4.5" square!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidCJK1hgqoocM8eFECtqOKC7Zh6A33oyPsTB2csYc86E-kJM_65rnSRUSa9_NzGMboeNf8Vf7fYS7fpjWs_YgoRzOfEB27__oLExzi1XlVY6Cgb3goaWSwhgfP_zvQ89tdtuCcrQKUxUBg/s1600/pinnedquiltbag2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidCJK1hgqoocM8eFECtqOKC7Zh6A33oyPsTB2csYc86E-kJM_65rnSRUSa9_NzGMboeNf8Vf7fYS7fpjWs_YgoRzOfEB27__oLExzi1XlVY6Cgb3goaWSwhgfP_zvQ89tdtuCcrQKUxUBg/s320/pinnedquiltbag2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before heading to Sebago for a vacation, I was determined to complete the bag, so I pinned it all together and -ICH! It was too much on the eye! I can be bold in my tastes, and I love contrasts (the pumpkin oranges and blues is not for everyone), but this was too too much! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I realized that there's no place to rest the eyes on my bag as originally intended! Quilts use an array of fabrics and some of the fabrics allow the eye to rest. My bag was all of one fabric - true, each square is unique but the basic colors and arrangement are the same - and it was too much.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Determined to stick with my original idea, I decided to intersperse some solid blue blocks among the fancy felt squares to give the eye a place to rest. But that didn't really help, so I left for vacation thinking the 29 pumpkin squares for my bag were going to become 3 pillows and 2 coasters when I returned!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIuqJfnLESZgG0BflborPuhWDnk-JvUMGSCsXHoDHjP5K4gz0LDgKVXdby1mcL6QdnjdXSZ3sbQEI2fJajmKd51jI07zUF1Ztvwlcbm8rDdt_-1GH5xpLuo8k6Rs9_W8qvFd0pZ1xcKPR9/s1600/trickybraidstartfin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIuqJfnLESZgG0BflborPuhWDnk-JvUMGSCsXHoDHjP5K4gz0LDgKVXdby1mcL6QdnjdXSZ3sbQEI2fJajmKd51jI07zUF1Ztvwlcbm8rDdt_-1GH5xpLuo8k6Rs9_W8qvFd0pZ1xcKPR9/s1600/trickybraidstartfin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I've decided I just need to see this bag thru as originally conceived. So I stitched all my squares to a lovely piece of pumpkin colored silk fabric this weekend and I've pinned it together... again (photo above)....and tonight I'm tackling the handles and final stitching so I can cross it off my to-do list. Maybe when all is said and done, I'll feel happy with this bag, but rigidly sticking with the original idea has been a frustrating experience for me. And this experience has confirmed for me that it's ok to start with a general idea and go with the flow! No need, if you're not filling a custom order, to stick to the original plan! The experience is more positive, for me anyway, if I can go with the flow....as I have on the Cotswold bag...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIuqJfnLESZgG0BflborPuhWDnk-JvUMGSCsXHoDHjP5K4gz0LDgKVXdby1mcL6QdnjdXSZ3sbQEI2fJajmKd51jI07zUF1Ztvwlcbm8rDdt_-1GH5xpLuo8k6Rs9_W8qvFd0pZ1xcKPR9/s1600/trickybraidstartfin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIuqJfnLESZgG0BflborPuhWDnk-JvUMGSCsXHoDHjP5K4gz0LDgKVXdby1mcL6QdnjdXSZ3sbQEI2fJajmKd51jI07zUF1Ztvwlcbm8rDdt_-1GH5xpLuo8k6Rs9_W8qvFd0pZ1xcKPR9/s320/trickybraidstartfin.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After all my excitement figuring out how to make the "tricky braid" (see starting piece of leather for a 3 part braid right and it's resulting braid top) I've determined these handles are just not the right aesthetic for the bag. At first I thought it was just that I'd made the first set of handles using thicker 3 part braids (photo above right) so I made a set of finer 5 part braids (photo below). But that didn't do it either! So I'm back to the drawing board on how to deal with the handles for that bag! But I have 2 sets of Tricky Braid handles for future bags!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwh_5Y9AsIDUsP9w0PLXLV71pL80H3qHst_JQWAxcme5D7LdTVlQmdZXugx49UtmrO2dsr1cdIUm5-v4zBjPL0lBoFoM6w3Nwy9uAuptUnOpePfFXBqwLCwXV6UaI7P5x0XwJvUFkxbfD/s1600/trickybraidsdonet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWwh_5Y9AsIDUsP9w0PLXLV71pL80H3qHst_JQWAxcme5D7LdTVlQmdZXugx49UtmrO2dsr1cdIUm5-v4zBjPL0lBoFoM6w3Nwy9uAuptUnOpePfFXBqwLCwXV6UaI7P5x0XwJvUFkxbfD/s1600/trickybraidsdonet.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When all is said and done, I'll be curious to see if the outcome is better with one approach than the other. Certainly from a process standpoint, I know I prefer the "go with the flow" approach! </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-27349221839014924902012-06-30T13:22:00.001-04:002012-06-30T13:22:55.755-04:00Dad was right!My father always used to say that time passed faster the older he got. In my teens, I'm sure I rolled my eyes...."sure Dad". During my twenties and thirties, feeling invincible & as if time and the possibilities in life were limitless, I smiled..."I know, Dad" (even tho' I didn't really "get it"). But in my early forties, I began to experience it myself! And now....WOW...<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_perception">where does the time go?</a><br />
Or maybe time is the same and it's just that we're not as efficient & fast at things as we used to be that we can't accomplish as much as we think we should?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpsa1AB-HcdNQecAE2zbaJjLa7t-acO1lkfvX1riMi3TJ_o8kWsm_l8_YjW3FkSAklUyWjXTr9jyJB8V7r6Wv_yxq83Q2u3oEILx_rM2rQoxJUjIJLxjemkDRSfMAB_tUXW0Sov2Ub0pP/s1600/organiza2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpsa1AB-HcdNQecAE2zbaJjLa7t-acO1lkfvX1riMi3TJ_o8kWsm_l8_YjW3FkSAklUyWjXTr9jyJB8V7r6Wv_yxq83Q2u3oEILx_rM2rQoxJUjIJLxjemkDRSfMAB_tUXW0Sov2Ub0pP/s320/organiza2.jpg" width="320" /></a>Well, whatever the explanation for this phenomenon, I clearly need to adjust to it!<br />
Having organized the workshop (yeah...now all 62 knitting, felting & spinning projects in the queue are neatly labelled!) I truly expected that in my free time last weekend I could complete 3 experimental felt bag projects I had in various stages of completion. Yet I finished only 1 of them! And it's not like I sat around eating bon-bons all weekend (tho' I did get side-tracked reading an advance copy of the next Chief Inspector Gamache investigation by Louise Penney)!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZjc_ly0g7zDkCXawhfsLmRAVQpluOtGderK_oxUpiCBJpX0c6RYaIz_jzWT5WEm1FZn2F_Jbd4QLEBFauuEDiH0-SUnACWQPAzE8ErR8aXYrCgf-RnJdtheLwimujC2Sa1EytQmeGjAJ/s1600/cotswoldlocks1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinZjc_ly0g7zDkCXawhfsLmRAVQpluOtGderK_oxUpiCBJpX0c6RYaIz_jzWT5WEm1FZn2F_Jbd4QLEBFauuEDiH0-SUnACWQPAzE8ErR8aXYrCgf-RnJdtheLwimujC2Sa1EytQmeGjAJ/s320/cotswoldlocks1.jpg" width="302" /></a>Anyway, the freshly washed Cotswold fleece that I introduced last post was taking up so much room in the workshop, I split it into 3 color/fiber groups. The finest and most lustrous of the locks are a gorgeous silvery grey (see photo left). I packed the silvery grey and medium grey into a bin for a future spinning project. The coarsest and darkest fibers (far right in photo) I carded on the Petite by Strauch and this is what I felted with this week.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4HmU9k2uMHiSPdhMNEtb4apucE_CaEIn5hbzqYCEIOXisNVbJhWEm9pfGqkJ0Z9j1w_Pwcze1oMkFZkE2yWgITVv3hOMvYAemARfPmXK3xdQ4N-oU4wuwgDZfiNJo53i63fuLlsVhsTZ0/s1600/trickbraidsample.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4HmU9k2uMHiSPdhMNEtb4apucE_CaEIn5hbzqYCEIOXisNVbJhWEm9pfGqkJ0Z9j1w_Pwcze1oMkFZkE2yWgITVv3hOMvYAemARfPmXK3xdQ4N-oU4wuwgDZfiNJo53i63fuLlsVhsTZ0/s320/trickbraidsample.jpg" width="320" /></a>I still can't get over how fine this particular Cotswold ram lamb fleece is! I
guess this is why I enjoy trying new fibers I haven't worked with
before.....I end up being surprised that the reality is different from
my preconceived notions!<br />
It felted SO quickly and densely...like many of the Scandinavian wools I've used (C1, Gottland, spelsau). Because I wanted to add leather trim to this bag, and I hadn't worked with leather in a while, I had to refresh my memory on some techniques so I don't have the finished bag to show and tell yet. But I can share a view of this little test handle I worked out. I'm thrilled to have figured out what is called a "tricky braid"....tricky because it is a braid formed with both ends intact! So I've now cut out larger lengths of leather and am making the handles for the Cotswold bag using this newly discovered braid.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9fK2VQvmZ6ces4tqfp95-EKC_ziU31Nqda8-p_y4mUbMe1KLs9nvFxyCGS2TMnEkrvLHiBUDTeKrlLTjc_GLQwisWSJ4SEZhyphenhyphenpQzOpGLT5LO_xngLfFarT27H8kN-ixZThfuze4kR-gh/s1600/quiltsqaures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm9fK2VQvmZ6ces4tqfp95-EKC_ziU31Nqda8-p_y4mUbMe1KLs9nvFxyCGS2TMnEkrvLHiBUDTeKrlLTjc_GLQwisWSJ4SEZhyphenhyphenpQzOpGLT5LO_xngLfFarT27H8kN-ixZThfuze4kR-gh/s320/quiltsqaures.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
But having conquered the "tricky braid" last Sunday, I learned that the Vermont Quilt Festival was in town this weekend. So I decided I had to turn my attentions to a quilt inspired bag I started last year, just after the 2011 VQF! Where does time go?! Inspired by the quilts at the festival, I had designed and felted 27 unique squares, and then after taking Christine Fries machine stitching workshop here last November, I practiced my machine embroidery/stitching on the squares (while learning about my new machine). So this weekend, I pulled the squares out again, determined to complete the bag before the festival ends on Sunday. I felted a larger piece of felt in an interesting blue for some contrast and I am stitching the original squares onto this so I will have bigger (5" sq) squares to work with in assembling the bag.<br />
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But I got so side-tracked playing with various configurations in which the different squares could be assembled, that I haven't yet assembled the bag! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTvtCuLQNhWzL76Fb0ar1yuqVSQ7_Wf7N03ozNkdBG9qn1hVVqdwxvuKtdGAQQThGEkgiU_tsMRa9-4KQhC_q17KqjaYxTLZNTN4Wiw9aUb14MSeWSbsaNhS9wzRY1z1DGREp5r3PI7s2/s1600/goldbagopen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTvtCuLQNhWzL76Fb0ar1yuqVSQ7_Wf7N03ozNkdBG9qn1hVVqdwxvuKtdGAQQThGEkgiU_tsMRa9-4KQhC_q17KqjaYxTLZNTN4Wiw9aUb14MSeWSbsaNhS9wzRY1z1DGREp5r3PI7s2/s320/goldbagopen.jpg" width="302" /></a>So in the end, the only bag I actually finished was one that I used to test out a new closure that I'm stocking in the store. This bag I felted using a jet black Karakul lamb fleece on the inside (so it would be nice and dense) and a gently carded (I left some of the locks un-teased because I wanted a textural element in the felt surface) Border Leicester cross that I had dyed a lovely gold. The bag design is not so special (tho' I love the surface color and texture of the felt), but I am very pleased with this closure, so am happy with the experiment's results. And glad to at least check one project off the "to-do" list!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-32244253251495445032012-06-07T09:10:00.000-04:002012-06-07T09:10:19.025-04:00Working off the Stash...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FzcXWU2Af9IWcl5JByUucuoBC5t-jLm54h5-lM_csXKmgoKDXkyAYCj9hWZEFkIw4pE3rj-M0yiflKS2UnJXLqdYHJCG7GbvAgfyx3rfR2IveOmVWuOZ_6oS0M9rPzNZTKbK-5Yj-knO/s1600/cotswoldpiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1FzcXWU2Af9IWcl5JByUucuoBC5t-jLm54h5-lM_csXKmgoKDXkyAYCj9hWZEFkIw4pE3rj-M0yiflKS2UnJXLqdYHJCG7GbvAgfyx3rfR2IveOmVWuOZ_6oS0M9rPzNZTKbK-5Yj-knO/s320/cotswoldpiles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's been a while</span> since I've posted. Time was hard to find this year. And, frankly, my usual enthusiasm and passion for all things fibers was MIA last year too. I came back from the "5 sisters" trip to Gotland, Estonia & Russia so inspired, but somewhere along the line I lost focus. Well, we all go thru those phases at some point so I'm guessing you understand that. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WgYrHaliLZ1_wSbqUgAUY8Y1hSk1nO2igGuyn3mvniuu-yXMEARob6Pt-VPsrmmxzoJlnZErCttFjLvRt9CJIr7oVIL2vu0VsRII-lqjKV3JTHwIl1VgalPjx3hS7i6MaieLj7zlmkrI/s1600/orangefront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WgYrHaliLZ1_wSbqUgAUY8Y1hSk1nO2igGuyn3mvniuu-yXMEARob6Pt-VPsrmmxzoJlnZErCttFjLvRt9CJIr7oVIL2vu0VsRII-lqjKV3JTHwIl1VgalPjx3hS7i6MaieLj7zlmkrI/s320/orangefront.jpg" width="279" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But taking a semester of millinery in the University of Vermont's Theater Dept. to fine tune my hat making skills and now some recent changes at the shop have reinvigorated my enthusiasm in a HUGE way. My creative mind is firing on all cylinders again and the project ideas are coming in at a mile a minute! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But where to start? So many bags of yarns, fiber and fleece surrounding me. And I want to dive into them all! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I have to start somewhere. So here it is!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This isn't the oldest project....so much for FIFO! Ironically, this is probably the ONLY fiber I don't even have a project in mind for! I bought the fleece at Maryland Sheep & Wool in early May - smitten at first sight with it's lustrous locks. It is barely even dry from having washed it over the weekend! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But it is the project that is out and on the table. So I may as well start here...after all, it occupies the work space so in order to start with something else I'd have to pack this away. And that's just an extra step! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOHjEqYDXs_3r9KgmYK38Qb0LtvrUEQazZJ7my4ccDn1mTThfyzt7u7aMMkBDL6z4HwIByDsqvSXXtGyz1hHSCqZBXpznDLsfKS4tpw-nrIYtYFxqwSS1C4e1t-r3mJgD4k9P7n13DBe36/s1600/cotswold4locks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOHjEqYDXs_3r9KgmYK38Qb0LtvrUEQazZJ7my4ccDn1mTThfyzt7u7aMMkBDL6z4HwIByDsqvSXXtGyz1hHSCqZBXpznDLsfKS4tpw-nrIYtYFxqwSS1C4e1t-r3mJgD4k9P7n13DBe36/s320/cotswold4locks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOHjEqYDXs_3r9KgmYK38Qb0LtvrUEQazZJ7my4ccDn1mTThfyzt7u7aMMkBDL6z4HwIByDsqvSXXtGyz1hHSCqZBXpznDLsfKS4tpw-nrIYtYFxqwSS1C4e1t-r3mJgD4k9P7n13DBe36/s1600/cotswold4locks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So the Cotswold fleece it is that I start with. This is from a lamb ram in California. It is GORGEOUS. I wish you could feel it. It is so surprisingly soft and fine for Cotswold. Anyway, I separated it into 3 basic colors (see photo above). The lighter is finest and most lustrous and the darkest is coarsest. In fact, as you can see from the photo here that some of the darkest is coarse and has a very different lock structure, so I think I now need to go back and sort just the darkest color into two categories.....the coarse (far right) and not-so-coarse dark (3rd lock from the left). For reference, the lightest lock on the left is 6" long.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm thinking at this point that I will felt a project with the darkest/coarsest.....I'm thinking a yurt bag? That way I get to see how Cotswold felts and, providing it felts well based on the sample I intend on doing first, I'll have a bag to embellish when Annemai Koenen is here from the Netherlands for some felting workshops in October. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lighest grey and medium greys are so lustrous, soft and rich that I definitely plan on spinning them.....now the search for a pattern is on! I've had a classic pattern from an old (8 years ago maybe) Knits magazine dog-earred and it might be just right.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-12992299607326802402011-07-06T13:25:00.009-04:002011-07-06T15:37:12.583-04:00Rooing Gutes!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3rQhsjnW0Shu1G-rk_VKc1WXq7l_fdMjsc5ofuK62RwDf0UiQe05cFMyES90VwX91Q4lyC-BEAOHbnxcrxd0HM3gwfPL7doq4m5v8Y_OpB7bLJXMBFiNVhCaMfQ3mUkfXC8ahj26ZwGA/s1600/2gutesrooing.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 312px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3rQhsjnW0Shu1G-rk_VKc1WXq7l_fdMjsc5ofuK62RwDf0UiQe05cFMyES90VwX91Q4lyC-BEAOHbnxcrxd0HM3gwfPL7doq4m5v8Y_OpB7bLJXMBFiNVhCaMfQ3mUkfXC8ahj26ZwGA/s400/2gutesrooing.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626298199054636258" /></a><br />Sweeping up the tufts of dog furballs around the house yesterday made me think of the Gute sheep we saw on Gotland. They were "rooing"...naturally shedding their fleeces... the way primitive breeds of sheep do, and I was able to capture a pretty good picture of it.<br />I took these photos of a small flock of the Gutes that remain on the south western shores of the island. In 1920 only 20 of these Viking age sheep remained, but thanks to efforts on both Gotland and Faro, this breed seems saved from extinction (tho' I wouldn't say it's thriving based on how hard they were to find!)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNhvUOPMz09PyLQJhQB7X_IrBzGxTncIgZ13w7NBWs2B8xEIEqK7ylnST6GlYC02JfQE4r4Pw3jUd-s8Z-zV_T_IpThM0PaGnQ57eSwJFboNQPrC6m03rr8NnRYbYzndp_wf4kOOK0mV_/s1600/gutescolor.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNhvUOPMz09PyLQJhQB7X_IrBzGxTncIgZ13w7NBWs2B8xEIEqK7ylnST6GlYC02JfQE4r4Pw3jUd-s8Z-zV_T_IpThM0PaGnQ57eSwJFboNQPrC6m03rr8NnRYbYzndp_wf4kOOK0mV_/s400/gutescolor.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626298887692671794" /></a><br /><br /><br />Originally belonging to the Finnish Landrace family of sheep, the Gutes from Gotland were horned (even the ewes and sometimes with 4 horns, not just 2!) and came in many colors, as you can see from the various photos here. The Vikings, who frequented Gotland, crossed them with Romanov and Karakul sheep that they brought from their travels in Russia. As a result, the Gute genes were diluted, the animals lost their horns, stopped rooing and became all grey. This crossed sheep, then became it's own breed and is what we know today as the Gotland (Palsfar) sheep.<br /> I'd have loved to have found a fleece of Gute to buy while there so I could experiment with it- I imagine it felts really well- but the Gutes were hard to find and, as you can see, they still had their fleeces on anyway! Bunches of their wool was lying all about the paddock that the sheep had already rooed (sp?), but I could only reach a few locks that had dropped on the ground and nobody was around to inquire about purchasing a Gute fleece, so I'll have to content myself with felting this absolutely gorgeous Gotland fleece I was able to purchase there. The Gotland ewe pictured here with her triplets was grazing in the yard of an amazing 13th century church in Tofta. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2If1Nto1k8yUR57SceK3hEfHYF_EWpOzPIb-9iy1PAcR16b0gHcS_h6yJY-jcKgd8YrGE4F48EGYsbkyoDDAYSIiL-v3WoWuXFR2x1tyQlvJLjgmY-xlHV2o1TWIMpwlTLQYapMerpK9k/s1600/momandhertriplets.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 243px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2If1Nto1k8yUR57SceK3hEfHYF_EWpOzPIb-9iy1PAcR16b0gHcS_h6yJY-jcKgd8YrGE4F48EGYsbkyoDDAYSIiL-v3WoWuXFR2x1tyQlvJLjgmY-xlHV2o1TWIMpwlTLQYapMerpK9k/s400/momandhertriplets.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626299216875948706" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-74149725082170250972011-06-23T15:18:00.007-04:002011-07-05T13:54:45.088-04:00Do you make to sell or sell what you make?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC94_B5A4GDKUvcU1R2u3MGm4z9w7svz4HSspDKEq7xihF3tyQLuV4gD6uZ1dx7ZjJu8eDF71cbtz-O2cV6CJMXaT88ltFD5zHMJvTI0XCc433FTO21z5AWJ8QDm73GtqvuVvHtXSmo3N7/s1600/prefeltscarfdetailcloset.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 211px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC94_B5A4GDKUvcU1R2u3MGm4z9w7svz4HSspDKEq7xihF3tyQLuV4gD6uZ1dx7ZjJu8eDF71cbtz-O2cV6CJMXaT88ltFD5zHMJvTI0XCc433FTO21z5AWJ8QDm73GtqvuVvHtXSmo3N7/s400/prefeltscarfdetailcloset.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5625924091171300194" /></a><br />The quilters were in town for the big annual Vermont Quilt Show last week. Groups of them stop back in each year when they're in Vermont and new ones find me. As one group checked out & left the store, I heard one say to another "oh, there was just so much to see and so much to feel there wasn't enough time"(they'd been here over an hour)to which another in the group responded "that is just the coolest shop we've ever been in, seriously, EVER, don't you think?"! <br />So I had to share (not because these remarks were so unusual... I am paid compliments directly about the shop remarkably often) but because it caused me to think about what aspect of the shop it was that made it stand out so memorably with that group that had essentially "knit-shop-hopped" the eastern seaboard on their way to the show.<br /> This reflection led me back to that recurring dilemma I grapple with constantly ... for those of us who have turned our passion into our livelihood - do we make/do what we think will sell, OR, do we reserve our time & energy to make what we creatively want to and then hope the money will follow? I usually do some of each, but always ending up erring on the side of doing what I think more people would actually make and wear than making what I creatively want to (afterall, it's not the ohs and ahs that keep kibbles in Chloe's bowl!). <br />And yet, it seems to be these "outlier" projects that elicit the oohs! that seem to leave the lasting impression and which seem to be one of the main reasons so many out-of-towners hyperventilate when they visit(I wish I had tape recorded 2 ladies who stopped in from Montreal last week....it was about an hour of that famous scene from When Harry Meets Sally!). <br />So this year, newly reinspired by the art and traditions witnessed on my recent vacation to Russia, Estonia & Gotland, I'm testing that "field of dreams" approach and going for broke....I just chose 6 projects from my queue of "projects-I-want-to-do-that-probably-nobody-will-buy-material-for-because-no-one-in-their-right-mind-would-want-to-take-the-time-or-spend-the-amount-of-money-they-cost-to-make-them" and I've decided to treat myself to the indulgence of putting the time and money into them even if nobody ever buys the materials to make them too!<br />A new approach for me....let's hope I can stick to it. It sounds so obvious... of course you do what you're inspired to do and the money will follow, but since my vendors don't accept oohs and aahs for payment there may be times throughout the year that my resolve wavers!<br />If you struggle with the create vs. make to sell balance, I'd love to hear your thoughts.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-74199964237905480482011-03-22T09:38:00.007-04:002011-03-30T15:07:05.741-04:00Pink Silkworms!<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNWodPJw8OpBHS21VS4vbVHjU4tXvFtDM1h1ZXQAX9WRjOjoMGLQqGWKyBvg3EaPYe2n-kw5oNidztXiRHSObpeje_B3Fri-hANlCbLmbBQ9er2ZspWJl_CNNI0eocpAUva5tQ20ym3pRa/s1600/silkcocdyed.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 285px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589946483706408226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNWodPJw8OpBHS21VS4vbVHjU4tXvFtDM1h1ZXQAX9WRjOjoMGLQqGWKyBvg3EaPYe2n-kw5oNidztXiRHSObpeje_B3Fri-hANlCbLmbBQ9er2ZspWJl_CNNI0eocpAUva5tQ20ym3pRa/s400/silkcocdyed.jpg" /></a> <br /><div>If you've been to sheep & wool shows or seen colorful silk cocoons for sale on line (like the ones I dyed here), they are cocoons that have been dyed AFTER the cocoon was spun. And, importantly to the fiber artist, the dye will disappear from these pretty little cocoons once you enzymatically remove the sericin (the substance the worm ejects along with the silk protein to makes the cocoon hard and help protect the worm from predators while it develops into the moth). And you'll be left with either white or tan cocoons, depending on whether the cocoons dyed were the cultivated Bombyx Mori (bright white) or cocoons of the wild type moth (which eats leaves with tannin in them so the silk they spin is "discolored" a lovely earthy tan color). But now the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and REsearch has come up with a way of integrating the color into the actual protein as the cocoon is spun! So the cocoon is colored and the silk remains colored after removing the sericin. Even the worm turns the color of the dye it is going to produce (see photo below)! I'm not sure how I feel about this advance in fiber technology yet. The aim is to reduce the need to commercially dye silk to make it cheaper and I suppose this might be a better thing for the environment? Anyway... <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpxxhkZaXfwqbOKsgnctXn0bXFiJmb5Ho72-sZbhgQJkmwtoRAg-W78ABva5UmgOZoaYu7nzGjizC7nOg_ANVBXKxz87eDLWl64MRFfDCjNCuVQ6-6qTSB_a69T7ddrxipiOVbN3oO1_2/s1600/pinksilkworm.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 161px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589950422454937042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpxxhkZaXfwqbOKsgnctXn0bXFiJmb5Ho72-sZbhgQJkmwtoRAg-W78ABva5UmgOZoaYu7nzGjizC7nOg_ANVBXKxz87eDLWl64MRFfDCjNCuVQ6-6qTSB_a69T7ddrxipiOVbN3oO1_2/s400/pinksilkworm.jpg" /></a> this week a customer (whose husband is a chemical engineer, I believe) brought in an article from one of his trade journals about introducing fluorescent rhodamine dyes in with the mulberry leaves so that the worm eats the dye right along with the leaves so the dye molecule is actually integrated into the fibroin protein of the silk and becomes a permanent aspect of the silk fiber. The range of colors so far developed are nothing to write home about (in my mind, anyway) and the story is still out on whether the color will be light fast and also whether the integration of the dye into the protein molecule changes the strength, sheen, or softness of the natural silk. But I thought it was interesting to know about, so thought I'd share it... <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wL34Uos96T6ClcQN8IqelYAv_1z1ADWqE2bOw37KtRK-_Yxpui8AglCqm08rF0wYq0PkP_m5QdV-9mSwkRzdvkwZZq9QpIgdEaUmC9EJxt2A2Q1T1qiOB7s07y5SWYw7tD43KLADDf-a/s1600/silkcocovalofficet.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 211px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 152px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589951393307470802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wL34Uos96T6ClcQN8IqelYAv_1z1ADWqE2bOw37KtRK-_Yxpui8AglCqm08rF0wYq0PkP_m5QdV-9mSwkRzdvkwZZq9QpIgdEaUmC9EJxt2A2Q1T1qiOB7s07y5SWYw7tD43KLADDf-a/s400/silkcocovalofficet.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div>And by the way, if you want to learn more about how silk is harvested from cocoons or how to knit directly from the coccoon, I have more information <a href="http://www.northeastfiberarts.com/fiberchallenge/knittingfromcoccoon.php">here</a> on the website. Here are a few last photos of some 8th generation Vermont silk cocoons I raised here a few years back! </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-24609563061176482032011-01-08T11:51:00.004-05:002011-01-08T12:21:08.047-05:00Back to the Future?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWv_oMhfznB01acTlqf55PTlUaX6CMwv8_ysVruzOWZbZ6ExEsJmUH4NZil6yNRppbLb-QniThQLsm5c7_bq7__NnoKE8peECxF5WooCUUOsqyY_TB1VL7OtcP9AivvwWHKQfx9EW2xz_Q/s1600/californiaredprepost.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559865469798819970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWv_oMhfznB01acTlqf55PTlUaX6CMwv8_ysVruzOWZbZ6ExEsJmUH4NZil6yNRppbLb-QniThQLsm5c7_bq7__NnoKE8peECxF5WooCUUOsqyY_TB1VL7OtcP9AivvwWHKQfx9EW2xz_Q/s400/californiaredprepost.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxSjZz3RzIE3FsY4vzY1zsvqm7M52acXB5Xy8-5XKtPlnFx9Zd-W4nkevJWVDgRRbqlXfcyJKAiICxyPx4-Vm6QP8X0tEhuBLeXO4ynlI8ZfRfXv4UhwpaXmdOaIaSpu4hM0rB8BF-uDu/s1600/robywendyaccessorybags.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 294px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559862760171922866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxSjZz3RzIE3FsY4vzY1zsvqm7M52acXB5Xy8-5XKtPlnFx9Zd-W4nkevJWVDgRRbqlXfcyJKAiICxyPx4-Vm6QP8X0tEhuBLeXO4ynlI8ZfRfXv4UhwpaXmdOaIaSpu4hM0rB8BF-uDu/s400/robywendyaccessorybags.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>I finished up my Gottland project but forgot to photograph all the finished projects before shipping them off for XMAS gifts, so I only have these 2 knitting accessory pouches for show & tell....I ended up using them as a canvas to play with some embroidery stitching and as good practice for putting in zippers....after knitting 4 of these, I think I could add zippers to knitted garments in my sleep! The only mittens I ended up knitting -so far- from the Gottland fleece was a pair of solid dark gray pop up paws for my brother Eric, who resides on the Outer Banks and spends lots of cold blustery winter days casting from shore with his fishing buddies. </div><br /><br /><div>The fleeces were lovely to work with....I really enjoyed the way they felt to spin and knit. The lanolin was quite nice for my dry fingertips. I still have quite a bit of the fleece left and will spin it up at a finer gauge later this month so I can knit up a couple pair of the Gotland mitten patterns for store models. I was disappointed that the patterns I had intended to knit for XMAS just didn't look great at the gauge of yarn I had spun originally....so you work with what you have and these accessory pouches were fun to make and will be well used.</div><br /><div>In the meantime tho', I've taken a break from spinning the Gottland and returned to a felting project I've been working on "on and off" for the past couple of years....felting every breed of sheep I can get my hands on! It's been fun to seek out representative fleeces of the various breeds...some typical (Cormo, Shetland, Icelandic, Wenslydale, etc) and other more unusual breeds (California Red, CVM, Tunis, Polwarth, Teeswater, etc), to see how differently they felt and how different the fabrics rendered are. </div><br /><br /><div>In addition to felting a 30 gm 10x10 sample of each, I'd been making a finished product of each, but realized recently that I'd either gifted or sold many of the finished goods. So now I'm embarking this winter on the task of re-making either a hat or bag or pillow in each of the breeds that I didn't keep a "finished" representation of so that in the end I'll have a pretty comprehensive "library" of samples for teaching purposes.</div><br /><br /><div>One of the interesting samples I came across as I was sifting thru my documentation last week was of a California Red fleece. The fine red "kemp" in the fleece wasn't so obvious in the batt, but after felting, it is really what predominated in the sample....not sure my photograph tells the picture as much as it shows "live".... and the difference in the finished felt is quite remarkable! </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-77105657139892260842010-12-15T15:17:00.007-05:002010-12-15T16:08:41.380-05:00Worldwide wool market & Gottland Mittens update<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjdA_BF9AMc6HhQ_CSNK7AkJK3gqiXN8OOAlPeLPRmQZhBOOjO5FWW6x-GIjaVcy2SdY8g-NP3vleMX0UpupF6bSe0au4aHibVPp5mvSZz1zHtpLBRZIJkrg2WQhZ3WajXvqkx9JKlXbk/s1600/ligonberryt.jpg"></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28on5en6aW1tah3_5Bj2spzBDik3PXCFi0UEtxkxf-CQqbJopOD_umY6w72-Iz5JrZM_te1M1l9no0JeUTUJe0fiLh1IzjmQMq4NclzFO4ndgZaTgOeIVwdhtJ-8mVLCPvNeM_sN5GQOB/s1600/hangvart.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 211px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551018217384591858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh28on5en6aW1tah3_5Bj2spzBDik3PXCFi0UEtxkxf-CQqbJopOD_umY6w72-Iz5JrZM_te1M1l9no0JeUTUJe0fiLh1IzjmQMq4NclzFO4ndgZaTgOeIVwdhtJ-8mVLCPvNeM_sN5GQOB/s400/hangvart.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPuTleKsmHXgUkC2xNEKmpqK9X_JrXjJGyUZRkK4W-PkKd3W5RYumWfDIdDcdaj0Wuoj66aFowxy3_Pp02IdaYQZ4ag-ofdI8OjQjoVX870KLW2bX4HqmcUXzGB3Oo1rtYqVtEI3zw9Nd/s1600/checkerst.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 211px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 197px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551018098415441826" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPuTleKsmHXgUkC2xNEKmpqK9X_JrXjJGyUZRkK4W-PkKd3W5RYumWfDIdDcdaj0Wuoj66aFowxy3_Pp02IdaYQZ4ag-ofdI8OjQjoVX870KLW2bX4HqmcUXzGB3Oo1rtYqVtEI3zw9Nd/s400/checkerst.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggaHWbA5InL9ClfRFlauHdbEkXeSRTXsqge9VntKJnFP5oK0Hbw3E0lctsDpWsbMDdRn7JR7zlHguOAfdIL9r8LH1nTplwU5xe7Sniz9W28wPmUhEabxNY2t0fPXoIqVEMX214WKanWiYQ/s1600/yarncompletet.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 211px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 158px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551011674707182482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggaHWbA5InL9ClfRFlauHdbEkXeSRTXsqge9VntKJnFP5oK0Hbw3E0lctsDpWsbMDdRn7JR7zlHguOAfdIL9r8LH1nTplwU5xe7Sniz9W28wPmUhEabxNY2t0fPXoIqVEMX214WKanWiYQ/s400/yarncompletet.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>OK, so I've fallen behind on the Gottland mitten project! The yarn is all spun (these are the final 5 colors) and the first pair underway, but.....just 10 days left to go. So....</strong></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>First I cut out the idea of lining them all with angora. Then, thinking that my sister in law would not really wear mittens anyway (maybe I'm trying to justify my actions here?), I thought I'd use one of the Gottland mitten designs (a couple of the graphs are shown above) and knit her a little knitting accessory case (what knitter can't use something to store stitch holders, ring markers, snipets, etc?). </strong></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>And then this morning, I decided that maybe the knitting accessory pouch is a more useful gift for EACH of my sisters too! So now the Gottland Mitten project has evolved to the Gottland Knitting Accessory case to better suit my time (and sanity) and their needs!</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>So don't be surprised next week when you see little lined accessory cases and not mittens!</strong></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>When spinning the fleeces, it was REALLY noticeable how much softer the American Gottland fleece (that was upbreeded from Finn) was compared to the New Zealand Gottland fleece (that clearly used one of the long wool breeds for upbreeding). Although it was clear from the original photos of the 2 fleeces that the New Zealand Gottland was more lustrous, as you'd expect from a long wool foundation cross, the Finn foundation fleece is still lustrous and so much softer. </strong></span></div><br /><div><strong><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#660000;">I guess the takehome learning from this is that, since the American Gottland association allows so many and varied foundation breeds, the American Gottlands will be quite a diverse group!</span></strong></div><div> </div><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#660000;"><strong>On another note....I've been speaking with wool brokers lately since I'm trying to procure a bale of fine wool (a bale is about 660 pounds) and having trouble. Apparently, because last summer was so cold in New Zealand (I didn't realize this, but they had so much snow after lambing that over 1 million lambs died) the fine wool available from the last clip was much less than usual. And with demand from China, there is no merino wool anywhere that isn't spoken for. Not S. America, not downunder, and not S. Africa...unless you want 11,000 pounds! Which, needless to say, is beyond my current requirements! So I guess I have to wait for the fall clip this spring (since they're all in the other hemisphere!).</strong></span></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-48116247277334367752010-11-27T12:02:00.010-05:002011-04-20T16:36:35.745-04:00Sweaterhag or Lace Shawl Knitter?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQUZGDNYQ89TXKhDI0WXrzJ8l5eThWRmh4BMlpxduT_PBAkcT0arW5JCzLxBb3R4S9asBVIVlWedCoo6FTzaWHqdvdqk_CUbhgiS-wbe5Zwbxfr0KGy02gIJxO2L17jj9vYmQEj5ZQZRhU/s1600/BLUEGOWNS.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 300px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597766409302792082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQUZGDNYQ89TXKhDI0WXrzJ8l5eThWRmh4BMlpxduT_PBAkcT0arW5JCzLxBb3R4S9asBVIVlWedCoo6FTzaWHqdvdqk_CUbhgiS-wbe5Zwbxfr0KGy02gIJxO2L17jj9vYmQEj5ZQZRhU/s400/BLUEGOWNS.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#660000;">In reading for our upcoming "sister's trip" to Gottland, Estonia & St. Petersburg I keep coming across little tidbits of historical information that are not really useful to anyone but they are kind of fun and interesting, so I thought I'd pass a few along....for whatever value or insight they might have for you!</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#660000;">In the 1950s the Haapsalu shawl knitters were required to deliver a MONTHLY quota of either 9 scarves or 12 shawls to fill the enormous Soviet demand for their product.... it rather shames me that I'm still working on the same 6 projects I started last month!</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#660000;">In the early 1800s, the women of Gottland, who used to go around the island collecting handknit sweaters and mittens to take to Sweden to sell, called themselves "sweaterhags". I guess it was common for them to knit as many as 100 sweaters a year themselves...again, I feel just a little embarrased at how little I accomplish by comparison!</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#660000;">This next bit of historical insight I read in Wild Fibers magazine (which if you haven't seen or read this magazine, you need to check it out)....</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#660000;">The Vikings used Gute wool (Gute is a type of sheep from the island of Gotland...but it is not the same as the Gotland sheep) to make their sails. Some Swedish historian, interested in recreating a true Viking ship, wove some sails in the traditional manner using first Gotland wool, and then when that failed, true Gute wool. The Gute wool, which would have been the sheep breed around at the time of the Vikings, failed as well. Both wools failed because as soon as the sails got wet, they were useless. But then (because the third time is always a charm!) he wove the sails using wool that had been rood, not sheared. "Rooing" is the process by which ancient sheep "shed" their fleece naturally in the spring...it is not cut from them. When "rood" wool was used, when the sail got wet, it did not absorb the water and maintained it's functionability. That's because when fleece is "rood" both ends of the lock are sealed whereas when fleece is shorn off the sheep, of course 1 end of the wool is cut and the water was able to get into the lock and the sail lost its' functionality.</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#660000;">The photo has nothing to do with these little curiousities.....I'm just so happy it's spring and the garden is actually full of blooms already I had to share.....crocus, scilla, bloodroot, daffodils, miniature iris, and these....not sure whether they are blue gowns or wind flowers.... does anyone know?</span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765961346852215234.post-77255442083469331872010-11-17T13:36:00.004-05:002010-11-17T13:49:30.934-05:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitU2214PtdBjifXTwStASjL6KUBIq1IfUWzOQgs9-85fZxHcF7gc7Ktmj1FKwW_mBZLlQvEpkFLcJYQefSLFgqCIprZXmieFiIYOajS07ujczahuPQkfFI7-tMSoeuZILBQl4VXOocrbNt/s1600/yarngoldt.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 149px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 199px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540591551432532930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitU2214PtdBjifXTwStASjL6KUBIq1IfUWzOQgs9-85fZxHcF7gc7Ktmj1FKwW_mBZLlQvEpkFLcJYQefSLFgqCIprZXmieFiIYOajS07ujczahuPQkfFI7-tMSoeuZILBQl4VXOocrbNt/s400/yarngoldt.jpg" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRi7WwvHzaqSQnDyqyTRARt99yf4rBrpTj3osrh3WJ0zZiUaTUnM3i0u2OiGIGrBU3x7GB0g2hZMtw5ZozLIGKzVyXDzwzXzVSo54LPtBJhg2ZnpIqwvbCtIVdyM9w1evgg1WYaywzG7m/s1600/yarngreent.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 149px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 82px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5540591454727879858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRi7WwvHzaqSQnDyqyTRARt99yf4rBrpTj3osrh3WJ0zZiUaTUnM3i0u2OiGIGrBU3x7GB0g2hZMtw5ZozLIGKzVyXDzwzXzVSo54LPtBJhg2ZnpIqwvbCtIVdyM9w1evgg1WYaywzG7m/s400/yarngreent.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;">Two colors spun; three to go. And only a couple of days left in the week to stay on schedule. Yikes! <div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;">I did pick out the patterns this week so at least once all the colors are spun I can cast on "right out of the gate".</span></div><div> </div></span></div><div></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;">Isn't the yarn lustrous? I really love it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#660000;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;">So far, I've only spun the American Gottland. And although I've read that Gottland are not supposed to have much lanolin (and I certainly noticed how little there was when washing the fleece) my fingertips had that lovely silken coating after spinning up the gold and green this Sunday. I've got to keep in mind that added little benefit of spinning in the dry winter months when my skin needs every bit of moisture it can get! Perhaps it has to do with the American Gottland fleece being from a fine wool foundation breed (Finn)?</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;">This exercise is also a reminder of how much darker the spun yarn always is compared to the fiber preparation. I think the photos do a good job of conveying that principle.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#660000;">Anyway, I'm hopeful I can get the purple spun tonight and the 2 greys this weekend. If I am successful, that will keep me on track for having these done by XMAS! Then once it is spun, I'll just have a week to knit each pair....maybe I won't line them with angora!</span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0