Saturday, June 02, 2007

a day to dye for

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Once a week I usually try to go to the library and meet with a few other spinners, to spend a couple of hours together, spinning, or knitting and talking. We exchange lots of ideas, opinions, recipes, plants, laughter and sometimes tears. We are a small group, and not all of us can meet together all the time. We have been getting together for a few years now. It is a couple of hours each week that I cherish.

Once in a while, we plan a little something extra. And so it was that a dye day was planned at Grace Hatton's Farm. You may remember that not long ago, I was making reference to an article that Grace had written for Shepherds Magazine. This same article has been reprinted in this months issue of Fiber Femmes. If you get a chance, give it a read. It makes you think. I always enjoy going over to see Grace. She is a lovely hostess and a great cook, has beautiful gardens, gorgeous sheep and lambs....and SPINNING WHEELS in all stages of repair!

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I got to spin on this beauty which was for sale, but I heard it has already sold.

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And I spun on this beautiful PA wheel too. It is believed to have come from Berks County PA...and has the very wide rim typical of the area.

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And I spun on one of these. I could have spent the entire afternoon trying one wheel after the other! You cannot help but wonder about their past, and feel grateful to have spent a bit of time behind them. I wonder, how many women or men spent hours treadling on them? Fred Hatton has skillfully restored them to working condition so they can continue to do what they were made for. I always wish the wheels could talk!

While we were spinning and enjoying homemade rhubarb crunch (most yummy!)...our dye bath was cooking away in the oven. It was a great afternoon, that flew by all to fast. On the way home, I had a few moments to admire the new lambs.

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I was so excited to see that I had captured a glory over one of the lambs!

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Those are some special sheep!

7 comments:

kathy b said...

Oh just great colors on that roving. The images of the little herd is so lovely.

Cathy said...

Nice day - I'm envious! Thanks for sharing.

Jessica at Bwlchyrhyd said...

Those lambs are excellent! Have they had their tails docked or are they naturally short?

Artis-Anne said...

Oh what wonderful wheels . Its so lovely to try as many wheels as possible isn't it ? and the history they all have makes them all the more wonderful . Sounds like the perfect day to me thanks for sharing.

cyndy said...

I didn't know if Grace docked the tails of the lambs, so I asked her...and she answered, "Finnsheep, like Shetlands, Icelandics and some others have naturally short
tails. There is no docking involved at all. In fact if you do dock their
tails, you can't register them."

Leslie Shelor said...

Oh, oh oh! You get to spend time with Grace and her lovely sheep! I'm SO looking forward to meeting her!

vanessa said...

eye candy wheels!

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