Spinning on the River - February 2009

Note from the President

100% silk 2-ply from caps This spring I will try to cover all the entry categories so you will be ready when the Delta and Mid-South fairs call for handspun. One of the fair categories is 50 yards of blended yarn; you can plan on setting up and starting your entry!

January and February have me up to my elbows in warm things. The February program will be on Angora Rabbits. Learn the differences in rabbit breeds, how to harvest that silky fluff, words to look for when purchasing fiber and the properties of angora - straight and blended. Patricia has graciously agreed to provide combings from grooming her stable of bunnies. Bring stash of your own fiber (whatever you want to blend with angora) and a pair of hand cards.

Our March meeting will be all about silk, the second fair category we will cover. The entry must be 50 yards of 100% silk. Members have asked if we can reel silk. A crock pot, old tooth brush and cocoons will be provided. Bring your own small sample niddy noddy or card to wind your sample onto. Other forms silk comes in will be discussed as well. Tips on spinning the various silks will be covered.

If you have something you would like to see as a program, let me know. Things that are fresh and interesting to you might pass under my radar unless you send me a hint.

I am trying to contact Instructors for another workshop. So far I haven't had much luck. I would appreciate any help you are willing to offer to get this off the ground. Let me know if you would like get together and help set it up.

Mary

Minutes from December 21st, 2009

Members attending: Susan, Jackie, Sandy, Sylvia, Patricia, Angela.

No business was discussed. Roc day festivities included blending from pot-luck fibers on a drum carder and try out each other's wheels including the Heavenly Handspinning wheel Jackie brought in for Karen, and yummy snacks.

Show and Tell

Jackie had a beautiful purse she made recently in class at a Klassy Katz quilt shop (one of our cellulose workshop sponsors), the blue jean purse that she made for my granddaughter with the embroidery butterflies, and the pj pants that Karen Saunders helped her finish - the right way! "I get by with a little help from my friends."
Susan worked out some trouble with some lace socks she's been knitting.
Angela brought an assortment of her dad's fiber tools including the new cross holder for warping a loom front-to-back.
Angela and Susan gave an impromptu swing dance demonstration.

Treasurer's Report: January 2009

December Balance:	$1414.64
Deposits:	0
Debits:	0
Current Balance:	$1414.64

Note: There is one outstanding check.

Member Gallery

Mary's Dragon hat Mary's gradient gloves

Mary competed the Dragon Hat to go along with the Dragon Mitts featured in the December gallery and worked up a gradient glove from the percentage-dye assignment of master spinner level 4.

Angela's spinning has come full circle with some acrylic yarn for an afghan repair job. Three colors of store-bought acrylic were unspun, blended, and re-spun to approximate the color of some early-70's light green.

Spinners - please send pictures of your handspun projects for future issues. Your work just might inspire someone else.

2009 - International Year of Natural Fibers

The United Nations declared 2009 as International Year of Natural Fibers.

The year was officially launched on 22 January 2009 at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome. The international recognition of natural fibers is to raise awareness of their value and promote the sustainability of their production. Read more or check out the different international events at www.naturalfibres2009.org.

Next time anyone teases me about being old fashioned for spinning or knitting I can tell them that what we do is "the happening thing!"

Jackie

Keep the Fleece - a handspinning contest

Share your love of natural fibers by entering Keep the Fleece - an international handspinning contest. Check out these fun categories:

1. Like a Virgin: Any fiber from a young animal for example kid mohair or baby alpaca
2. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: Plant fibers including but not limited to cotton, hemp, jute, and coconut.
3. Camelot: Camelid fibers: guanaco, vicuña, alpaca, llama, and camel
4. GI Joe: Any item made by a man
5. Climb Every Mountain: Goat Fibers: One hundred percent cashmere or mohair
6. Inch by Inch: One hundred percent pure or re-cycled silk
7. Island Life: Any fiber from a plant or animal that originates from an island such as Icelandic wool, or sheep native to North Ronaldsay, St. Kilda’s, etc.
8. Treks and Tracks: Any combination of yak, bison, or muskox fiber
9. Off with your Hat!: A hat made from any endangered breed of British sheep
10. What's up Doc?: Any item made of at least twenty percent angora fiber; the remaining content must be all natural.
11. Pro-create!: Any natural fiber garment made by a professional designer (A professional designer is anyone who has had more than five designs published in a craft or fiber trade publication.)
12. Triple Sundae: Any combination of three natural fibers - preferably your three favorites!

Entries are due August 15th. Read more at http://keepthefleece.org/

Mary and Angora Bunnies

100% Angora 2-ply from Blanch and Tinkerbelle When I was negotiating with my husband before I bought my first wheel in the early 80's he made me promise not to raise sheep. After I got my Traddy I was fortunate enough to have an enabler-er-good friend fix me up with two Angora Rabbits looking for a new home. I have been raising them since. I find them to be undemanding, cuddly and easy to care for. I've only bred them a couple times and loved the experience.

My rabbits have always lived out of doors. In Canada they had a wood shelter they could huddle in during blizzards. In Memphis I put 2 liter or gallon plastic jugs in the freezer so when the temperatures are going to be above 80 they can lay near them and lick the condensing humidity off the cold sides. Rabbits don't sweat, they cool themselves like dogs. I let my rabbits run free in the kitchen and out in the back yard when the lawn is dry. We don't put chemicals on our lawn and I dig dandelions for them. I also give them kitchen vegetable scrapings and carrot tops which I can harvest 12 months of the year. They thrive on any grass.

Angora is silky and slippery. When you spin it you must spin it with a high twist to keep the yarn from drifting apart and the fiber from shedding. The yarn isn't finished until you whack it well. I beat it against my house, which is brick. This slightly felts it and causes the halo to bloom. I have also knit it without whacking and bring the halo out later, it is much easier to tink without a lot of fuzz catching the stitches. If I'm concerned about any shedding I scrub (yes, scrub) the garment with a scrub brush and/or a fingernail brush. I haven't had problems with shedding after that.

I love to spin 100% angora but it limits its uses. It is 8 times warmer than wool so is very warm for our climate. Angora is not elastic and lacks loft. A garment knit with angora will tend to hang and grow as the yarn will also be heavier than a similar sized yarn made from wool. Angora felts. It doesn't take dye as intensely and the halo obscures the colors of underlying blend fibers. Angora should not be used for baby clothes and blankets due to the possibility of allergies and the baby pulling off the fuzz and sticking it in strange and unusual places-or ingesting it.

Adding about 30% angora to your other fibers will give the properties of angora to your yarn. Adding to an elastic, soft wool (think merino or other fine fleece) will give a warm, haloed yarn with body. I've used this percentage for mittens for my nieces in Minnesota and it keeps them toasty warm.

Alpaca Shearing & Open Farm Day

Cathy Stauffer of Coldwater Alpaca Ranch will be having a shearing day in April and an Open Farm Day in September.

She plans to have some vendors and sort of spread the festival across the front yard, especially since the alpacas will be on both sides by then and hopefully some goats up front by then too. Interested vendors, please contact Cathy now for April and let her know your interest for September 26th & 27th.

Coldwater Alpaca Ranch
Bucky and Cathy Stauffer
1812 Old Memphis-Oxford Rd.
Coldwater, MS 38618
www.alpacanation.com/coldwateralpacaranch.asp
662-560-0625 / 901-652-0128

Calendar

All meeting refreshments are Pot Luck.

Meeting - Sunday, February 15, 1:30-5pm
Program: Angora

Meeting - Sunday, March 15, 2009 1:30-5pm
Program: Silk

2009 dates, room 113, programs TBA
April 19 - Membership renewals due
May17 - Please note this date the room will be 112
June 14 - Please note this is the second Sunday
July 19
August 16
September 20
October 18 - Birthday Party
November 15
December 20 - Christmas Party and White Elephant gift exchange

Finishing for Knitters - Workshop

The Traditional Skills and Fiberworks Guild of Jackson, TN is presenting Finishing for Knitters, a workshop with Dixie Berryman on Saturday, March 7, 2009 9:30-4:30.

Designed for the advanced beginner to expert knitter, special techniques will be explored, including basics about preferred methods of picking up stitches, seaming, buttonholes, where to start sweater finishing, and blocking, A special exercise in "Yarn Diagnosis or What Should I do with this Yarn?" session. Bring a small bag or a few skeins of "mystery yarn" and we'll share ideas about how to use them. Some of these ideas and procedures are not generally found in most available instructions. A personal book stash and finished garments will be on hand for students to see. Students will bring swatches and practice finishing techniques on the swatches. More information on knitting the swatches and items to bring for the workshop will be provided when registration is received.

Registration is now open and ends February 21, 2009. Fees: $25 (covers lunch and instructor's fee), or nonmembers $35 (includes membership). Registration form.