By Tara, on October 22nd, 2010% Have you ever seen a sheep being sheared? No matter how many times I watch it, I’m amazed every time. Earlier this month I helped my mom plan a Shearing Day for her farm. We sold some tickets, had coffee, cinnamon rolls and yarn. But the main event was the shearing, which my little brother captured in these videos.
(If you’re reading this in a reader or via email, you may need to click through to the blog to see the videos)
Everyone wants to know: what will we do with the wool? Well, I’d love to tell you that you can find it in the shop, but you can’t! This year we’re keeping both fleeces to wash, card, spin and knit into sweaters for us. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of woolly things in the Boutique.
If you have any questions, please ask in the comments! And don’t . . . → Read More: Sheep Shearing – Fall 2010
By Tara, on July 16th, 2010% Videos of the wrap-stitch and the bind-off. And an offer for a free shawl pattern. . . . → Read More: The wrap-stitch and bind-off how-to
By Tara, on June 28th, 2010% This weekend I hung out with my sheep and I thought you might enjoy a bit of it.
(please ignore anything stupid that I may say, including my baby talk. I am powerless in the face of such adorableness)
Hope this brightens your Monday!
PS. If your Monday needs a little more fun, join me here.
By Tara, on January 15th, 2009% A weekly-ish feature in which I attempt to answer your question. This week – my spinning wheel! . . . → Read More: Ask Tara: How does a spinning wheel work?
By Tara, on November 3rd, 2008% Most everyone knows that fabric comes from yarn or thread which comes from cotton, sheep or synthetics. But how does it really GET there? From farm to cloth? In the past few weeks, I’ve worked through and documented the process. You can read them all here. Today’s the last step: The Spinning.
Finally! The exciting part – turning fluff into yarn! Every time I’ve posted a video about the process of turning this fleece into yarn, I get the question, “But how do you SPIN it?”. Well, here’s the answer. In this video I show I how I spin one of the LocalSpun batts into a Local Spun Yarn:
The finished yarn looks like this, all soft and squooshy:
This yarn is Hilly Bourn and is available here. The name (and all of those in this line) are inspired by the John Keats’s poem “To Autumn”. I . . . → Read More: How to spin from a batt
By Tara, on October 24th, 2008% The LocalSpun series is my attempt to share the process from fiber (on the animal) to finished yarn. Each is just a glimpse into a moment in the life of yarn and yarnmaker.
Most everyone knows that fabric comes from yarn or thread which comes from cotton, sheep or synthetics. But how does it really GET there? From farm to cloth? In the next few week’s I’ll be working through and documenting this process. Today: The Blending.
The one question I seem to get most often when doing spinning demonstrations is “How do you get the wool like…that” with a gesture to the roving I’m holding in my hand. Most everyone understands that the wool comes from sheep and the fleece gets washed and dyed…but what takes it from a pile of fiber to the fluffy batt in my hands?
The fiber can be combed or carded to . . . → Read More: Life of Yarn – Carding
By Tara, on October 3rd, 2008% The LocalSpun series is my attempt to share the process from fiber (on the animal) to finished yarn. Each is just a glimpse into a moment in the life of yarn and yarnmaker.
Most everyone knows that fabric comes from yarn or thread which comes from cotton, sheep or synthetics. But how does it really GET there? From farm to cloth? In the next few week’s I’ll be working through and documenting this process. Today: The Color
After the fleece is clean and dry (although, really, I don’t see why it needs to be dry), I dye the fiber. This is hardly the only way to do it. In fact, it’s time for a digression on the creativity of the process.
There are 1000s different way to move fiber from animal to yarn. I’ve been showing how I did it, for this one fleece. If you’re following along, planning . . . → Read More: Life of Yarn – Dyeing
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