Letter to a F/friend

Hey doll Pen,
Yes I do use both.

Icelandic sheep are a lovely breed, and their wool has distinct qualities, especially being double coated. The long outer hair is great for rope and bands for weaving especially card weaving. The downy under coat is especially lovely for fine yarns for lace, and softer yarns. Now what is the challenge is how many of the critters do you need to make enough yarn.
2 fleece per year is a lot if you don't spin much. Now I know that there are farm mini-mills that you could get it processed into ready spin-able roving, or batts for quilting (which is yummy to quilt with by the way. Learning to spin is not so hard and of course there are lovely upright wheels known as castle wheels (Majacraft has a beauty called the Tina I think, that is just wonderful) that take up minimum space but spin a mighty fine (or medium or bulky) weight yarn.
That said, Spinning can be done with a simple hand spindle, over time great yarn can be had! That said I am almost finished skirting and grading the largest fleece, and will hopefully wash it up over the holiday weekend. Oh glorious, how you send me off into my spinnerly brain.
I'm getting ready to empty the storage locker and bring it down to a
5x10 and the big loom comes home. For I do think of my small apt. in a vintage farm house in the middle of the town is home. I've been knitting lace and spinning lace weight yarn, going to work at my daily bread job not on my feet and looking at my art life as my full time part time job, preparing for fall and holiday markets. May kit some of my yarns suited for mittens or hats or scarves.
A small batch well spun is more precious than the vast quantities of ho hum that is to be found on the market.

I'm going to three fairs, Michigan Fiber Festival in Allergan (on a motor coach with a bunch of crazy women from the Knitters guild) Midwest Folk and Fiber Fest (in my back yard at the county fair grounds with the shop Wool Warp and Wheel, volunteering a bit and seeing friends). And lastly the Lake County Fair. (Ah a cosmopolitan, heartland girl in the rural space totally at home with it; believe it or not and I am at ease)
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I now belong to two guilds Windy City Knitters and Wcubed "Wise Woolly Women" at my favorite shop in Richmond IL about 20 miles NW, but has weaving, spinning and knitting and more.
Check out Spin Off magazine (Interweave press) either their web site or an issue (Summer is yummy) They have good/great resources about all things spinning as well as breeds for spinning and dinner

Spirit is strong and ever present, a feeling of sinking into my bones knowing. And so we progress forward doing what we can to the best that we can being in the first motion which is Love. Reading Rufus Jones this summer, some of his selected writings. I am enchanted with him. At least at the moment. Maybe for ever, definitely wisdom and a "hearing of his voice in my heart".