Fiber Activities

The Northern Neck Spinners and Weavers group had a get together last weekend at the Hughlett Tavern Farmer's Market and completed a 24"X 72" shawl!

We started with a wonderful fleece donated by Judy M. which she pre-washed for us, carefully preserving the locks. It was a really nice fleece, soft and varigated in colors from warm brown to grey and black with very small touches of tan. Sandy, our weaver, donated yards and yards of a nice auburn colored wool yarn with with she warped the loom.

I spun up a couple of ounces of the fleece prior to the event just to give us a little head start and give Sandy and opportunity to experiment a little.

Most arrived about 8:30 or 9 a.m. and started flicking and spinning the wool. Sandy kept weaving. She's a trooper, too, because I think during the whole thing she took only about three breaks. In any case, the completed shawl came off the loom at about 2 p.m. so we did pretty well, I think for first time activity together, working at a leisurely pace and taking breaks to talk to passer's by.

June 14th is Knit in Public Day which is the second Saturday in June. I'm thinking of packing a picnic lunch and grabbing a comfortable chair and camping out at the Blacksmith shop and knitting while Ken works inside. Maybe some of my fellow locals will join me.

July 19th, Our group has been invited back on the third Saturday in July to spin and weave our way through another project. We will have to figure out what we want to make this time. Judy has offered to take care of the weaving portion of it. I'm donating a white Lincoln fleece (Larry) that has been made into roving (for the most part) but I'm going to bring along the washed locks I have left as well as some of the fluffy stuff that's been waiting to go through the drum carder. That way everyone can spin the material they are most comfortable working.

During our conversations at the event last weekend, several of us realized we really did want to get together regularly and one Sunday afternoon a month seems like the best time and commitment. I'm leaning towards the second Sunday of the month because it would precede the 3rd Saturday and if we were doing something at the Farmer's Market, it would give us a week to hash out final details.