Went to my second meeting of the fiber group last night. More fun was had! It was a working meeting, carding wool to be spun and woven for Blacksmith Days. One of the ladies brought a bag of fleece, washed but otherwise fresh off the sheep. We newbies helped prepare the fleece, separating the locks and finger-combing out tangles so the fleece was all loose and fluffy and ready for carding. Others worked the drum carders (I tried it, but left most of the production to more experienced hands). We got about half the fleece carded and rolled into batts, which 3 of the spinners then took home. Eventually, the spun fleece (aka yarn) will be used in a weaving demonstration at an event called Blacksmith Days, which the local blacksmiths' guild hosts each year in May. Blacksmiths come from all over the country to this, it's 3 days of coal burning, hammer swinging fun for them, and also lots of local folks come out to watch them do it. It takes place at the Farm Museum, which is all about colonial American life, and other groups with interests that tie in with that time period also come out to do a little public outreach. The fiber group will be warping up a loom and weaving a shawl from handspun yarn.
Here I am playing with wool:
In knitting news, the Lion Suede sweater progresses. The body is up to the armpits now, time to dig out EZ's book so I get the proportions right for joining the sleeves to the body and progressing up the yoke. I'm very pleased with how far a skein of this yarn goes. It must have a lot of yardage for the weight. When I bought it I was afraid I would not have enough of the main color, so I bought a few skeins of a contrasting color thinking I could do something creative if I had to. But so far I have only used about 1/3 of the main color. At this point in the sweater, I think I have used about half as much yarn as I will need, so I'm doing just fine. Yay!
