Attendance at the 2006 Wool Gathering was up once again, with an estimated 4,000 on Saturday and almost that many on Sunday. We enjoyed Eugene Haudenschield’s sheep shearing and John Allread’s well trained Border Collies. Once again Jeb and Carolina made music with the children, and our many vendors brought not only a variety of fleece, fiber, tools, and yarns, but also the expertise to use them. Folks at the Wool Gathering are unflaggingly generous with their time and talent, and we do appreciate what they contribute. We enjoyed having immediate access to sandwiches, drinks, and ice cream...thank you to Young’s Dairy for locating a “substation” next to the Wool Gathering entrance! Thanks to Susie Smithers for our make-it, take-it crafts, and for donating an inkle loom as a raffle item. Thanks to Joan Arnold for her sheep and barn print for the raffle, and to Ruth Ann Rahim for framing it. Thanks to Marsha Kerr for the fall fruit and flower decorations. And thanks to Jill Fisher for her wonderful Wool Gathering design, which can be seen on our tee-shirts, sweat shirts, and tote bags. All of this will return in 2007, along with some new fiber surprises. We try to offer something for everyone–fleece and fiber for spinners, yarns of every kind for weavers, knitters, and crocheters, batts and rovings for felters, yarns and strips for hookers, and finished items of all kinds for shoppers. So mark your calendar now for the 8th Wool Gathering, September 15 and 16.  We’re trying something new this year...how-to classes! Members of our Midwest Festival Committee have volunteered to teach two-hour classes in fiber activities. Look for classes in needle felting, Russian punch needle, and (maybe) hooking. We’re still working out the details on times, places, maximum number, and material costs, and we will post these details, along with a sign-up form, on our web site. So keep checking at www.awoolgathering.com
Featured Near the Gathering..... As you know, September is prime festival time in the midwest, and our Wool Gathering is not the only event in the area. Just down the road, half a mile south of Young’s on Highway 68, is Peifer Orchards, which will be hosting a quilt show September 15 and 16. The Orchard held a quilt show last year, with 85 individuals and five quilt shops registering quilts...quilts of all kinds and sizes, new and old. This year’s show promises to be just as full and interesting and will feature a “Quilt Challenge,” with an orchard or an autumn theme. (The peaches and apples at Peifer Orchards are very tasty too!) More specific information about the show will be posted on the web site www.peiferorchards.com. Also, don’t forget about Yellow Springs, which usually has several art exhibits going on. For special events on Wool Gathering weekend, check the Chamber of Commerce web site, www.yellowspringsohio.com. Upcoming Fiber Events... 3 Michigan Fiber Fest, Wednesday, August 15 to Friday, August 17 pre-festival; Saturday and Sunday, August 18-19. Allegan County Fairgrounds, Allegan, MI. This annual festival, currently being
by Lois Pelekoudas Last summer I expanded my hit-and-miss dyeing to include natural dyes. Again, the fun for me is the element of surprise: the same plant does not produce the same results every time. The time of year–even the time of day–the plant is harvested, the duration of processing, the water and the pot used all contribute to the final result, along with the mordant used. Today’s chemical dyes do not require separate mordants, but most dyes from plants do. I’ve used alum exclusively; tin or chrome would give brighter colors. I could also use iron or copper as a mordant or add it to the dyebath to darken the colors. I pre-mordant fleece or yarn so I can dye it whenever I have plants that can be harvested and made into a dyebath. To pre-mordant, soak the yarn and then simmer it in carefully measured water and mordant for an hour, let it cool completely, wash and rinse the yarn, dry it, and label it. For one pound of yarn, use 4 gallons of water and add 4 tbsp of alum and 4 tsp. of cream of tartar. My favorite source for mordant recipes–and for natural dyeing in general– is Rita Buchanan’s A Dyer’s Garden (Interweave Press, 1995). There are color samples of anticipated results from a number of plants, and all directions are clear, non- technical and very encouraging. My most successful dyeing experiments to date have used dock (olive green), madder root (dark coral), bronze fennel (lemon yellow), and apple tree bark (bright yellow). Other dye sources–Hopi red amaranth, day lilies, and ground pomegranate–gave a light tan, not very interesting. The amaranth was really disappointing because the dyebath was a beautiful dark red. The apple bark experiment was this year’s success. When we pruned our apple tree, I saved one branch and peeled off the bark. I soaked the bark overnight, then simmered it for 2 hours, let it cool, and strained the liquid through a fine mesh. The directions I used came from Rita J. Adrosko, Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing (Dover Press, 1971). I now have a basketful of handspun wool yarn dyed with different plants, enough to combine into one item–a scarf, a hat, vest fabric, a small throw– as a memento to a summer of natural dyeing. And this year I’ll try some other plants...and more apple bark! Knitting can be an art form, a fact recognized by the New York Museum of Arts and Design, offering Racial Lace and Subversive Knitting, a show featuring 27 artists from 7 countries, January 25 to June 17. For samples, try www.madmuseum.org. Both knitting and crocheting offer many possibilities, and we do offer instruction in the most basic stitches at our Gathering. Most of our vendors carry yarn, and many of them also provide embellishments. It is even possible to knit with unspun wool (pencil roving); these “knit-large” items felt beautifully. Dyed silk “hankies” pulled apart and unspun can be made into lacy scarves. Fleece or roving can be wet felted or dry felted. Batts can be turned into flat sheets of felt with soap, water, and hand-rubbing (a washboard makes it easier). Flat pieces of felted wool become wall hangings or fabric or can be shaped into hats or bags. Dry felting, or needle felting, uses fine hooked needles to fuse wool into flat or dimensional objects–stand-alone dolls or animals, or pieces of jewelry. Dry felting also works for designs on other wool objects–hats or bags, for example. With the current interest in needle felting, more elaborate holders for multiple felting needles have become avail-able, but it is still a craft that can be enjoyed without major expense or storage space. A variation on the felting theme is the braided roving rug or chair pad described in a new book by Ann Brown and Lettie Klein, The Shepherd’s Rug. Braids of roving are felted and sewn together to make a traditional braided rug. The equipment needed is minimal, and the craft offers a way to make a classic item from wool roving, something many of us have much too much of! Another possibility is hooking. We often think of hooking fabric cut into strips, but the same technique can be used for wool yarn or for roving (unspun yarn) to make wall hangings, coasters, or chair pads. Canvas or burlap, a large embroidery or quilting hoop, and a hook...that’s all you need. A variation, to be featured at our 2007 Gathering, is punch needle embroidery, used to embellish clothing. A punch needle uses a single strand of thread or yarn and any type of pattern can be used. Dramatic looks can be created with flat, looped, or even sculpted projects. Punch needle work is easily combined with other fiber projects. It is a smaller, speedier project than many. Braiding is a traditional way of making embellishments–there is the classic Japanese braid, with a commercial or homemade marudai, and Peruvian finger braiding. Also, square braids can be made with a simple device called a lucet...great for sew-on braids or for shoelaces (The Rouge Loucette for instruction and lucets). For those of you who’d like to try spinning, we offer our CD spindles and instruction in how to use them. Different kinds of spindles are available from our vendors...lightweight spindles for fine fibers (silk, cotton, Merino), heavier spindles for coarser wools. Spindling takes longer than spinning with a wheel, but it is very portable and makes for conversation in airports or doctors’ offices. Beginning weavers can create with card- board looms or with boxes. An inkle loom is an inexpensive device to create warp-faced strips which can be used alone or stitched together to form wider fabrics. Finally, there is the rigid heddle loom, a two-harness loom which is perfect for placemats, scarves, or fabric. A quality rigid heddle loom is a modestly priced item with great versatility. |