Pleasantly tired this evening after spending a day with Jane Bisset of Kennixton Sheep http://thekennixtonflock.webs.com/ on the first of her Field to Fibre days. We met Dorset sheep on the hoof, and also Fen the collie who attempts to herd them! Jane took us through the whole process from fleece (mucky bits and all) to finished handspun yarn. Very well run day, delicious lunch, excellently led by Jane, and lovely to have the opportunity to meet likeminded people and spend a few hours playing with wool. What's not to like? I'd highly recommend one of Jane's courses if you can get to the Barry area of South Wales, whether you are a novice spinner or more experienced.
I particularly valued two things today - the chance to spend some quality time with Winnie, my lovely new wheel (regular readers of this blog will know how thrilled I was to get her a couple of months back, but I have had no real time to get to know her), and I am pleased to report that we suit each other very well and I think we have a rosy future ahead of us! The other thing was spinning 'in the grease', ie with wool straight from the fleece without having been scoured (washed) first. I have always been a bit squeamish about this, and not liked the idea of all that lanolin and pong, but actually if you start with a decent fleece, by the time you've teased it out and carded it into rolags, and then spin from it, it's actually perfectly fine and rather easier to spin with than scoured fleece, which can be rather dry and brittle. I think I may be converted to spinning in the grease...nice soft hands tonight, too!
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