Spinning yarn in public

Hi Folks.
The last two Sundays I took my wheel and joined friends spinning in public. On Sept 21 Verna and I manned out Spinners and Weavers Guild booth at the Munnell Run Farm Day. Below is a picture of our booth. The picture above is from our natural dye demo at the farm. Although there were a few hundred people wandering into and out of our booth to check out what we were doing. Very few people expresses any interest in buying anything. . It is a good thing that I do not depend on selling crafts and we did not have to pay a fee for out booth. The folks I saw seemed happy to be at the festival and just buy an ice cream cone and enjoy the sunshine and the company of family and friends. They did not come to shop. The economy cash crunch is even visible out here in the rural peaceful country.
This past Sunday I took my wheel and joined some friends spinning and knitting at an Alpaca Farm open house. The animals were fun to see and it was a good day to just enjoy being out of the house and in company of good friends. I was so caught up in the spinning and visiting with friends that I did not take pictures to post.I did not even think about it till later in the evening. I wish I had taken pictures of the alpacas.

Natural Dyeing at the Farm

Last Thursday our Spinners and Weavers Guild had their annual natural dye day. We met at Munnell Run Farm. I will admit that I was a little skeptical about being able to get everything together. However, to my surprise there was a alot of enthusiam and everyone pitched in and worked together to make the day a success.



We had a great turn out. There were 4 or 5 knitters from Otter Creek knitting group that came to help. People were feeding the fires and carrying water and stirring the pots. It was a lot of physical work. I thought I would have more time to just sit around watching the dye pots cook but that did not seem to be the case. We were moving around all day. I was so exhausted by the time it was over I did not have the energy to unpack my car. It is still filled with my dye stuff. I will have to take everything back to the Farm on Sept.21 next Sunday for the Farm Day Festival. Our group will have a booth and will have a natural dye demo. I am thinking about just leaving the pots and dye stuff in the car till next Sunday.

I ended up dyeing 4 skeins of sport weight Ultra Alpaca from Berrocco, 2 balls of Kroy sock yarn and 1/2 pound of wool roving. I brought a pot of tansy. The dye came out a wonderful warm yellow. some skeins were wrapped with string and rubber bands to get some interesting spots using Ikat and Shou bori techniques from workshops past. Judy brought Indigo and Lynn Brazilwood so I got blue and rose as you can see in the pictures. We also had pots of jewelweed, lady bed straw, onion skins, walnut , queen ann lace, and goldenrod.

We will have three pots next Sunday: Indigo (blue), Marigolds (gold) and jewelweed (apricot). So far only two people said they would come and help with the booth. Check out the poster for Munnell Run Farm Day on their web site. There is a link on this page in the right column. I am hoping to see more of my friends and customers from Otter Creek at the Farm Day Festival. Bring a lawn chair and sit and visit, add to the dye pot. I will have lots of yarn, books and needles for sale.

Natural Dyeing is fun.

On Sept 11 the Mercer Guild will be having its annual natural dyeing meeting.  I look forward to this event every year as we gather up our natural dye plant and cook them to release their colors into our yarns and fibers for spinning.  

      This year Judy will be bringing indigo and everyone is excited to see what shades of beautiful blues can come from this dye bath.  

   I will be collecting Tansy flowers and marigolds from my garden to dye with.   We will be dyeing from 10 -2 at Munnell Run Farm for our Thursday September meeting. The public is welcome. You can bring a dye pot and join the fun.

We will be dyeing again on Sunday afternoon Sept 21 at Munnell Run Farm Day Festival see the link for more information.