Spinning my wheels!

A really awesome basket of some of my hand-spun yarns!

I have had a love affair with the fiber arts since the age of 7.  My mother's mother taught me to crochet with both yarn and rags, and to embroider.  She, herself, made beautiful hooked wool rugs for her wooden floors.  I taught myself to knit in college, and I came to spinning by way of weaving.

I learned to weave when I was in college at North Texas State University, in the summer of 1970. It was a requirement for my art major and I fell in love with it!  The feel, textures, the way the colors worked with the various weaving patterns.  I hoped that one day I would be able to have a loom of my own.

Flash forward to the mid '80's and I am now living outside Springfield, Illinois, and very near Lincoln's New Salem, a recreated historic village where Abe Lincoln lived and worked before getting married and becoming our Nation's Sixteenth President.  It was in New Salem was where he did odd jobs, learned to read by firelight, and delivered the mail on horseback to the outlying rural areas.  The historic site needed someone who could weave on the old looms in the Museum and in the Trent brothers' cabin.  I was game!

I spent six very wintry Saturdays in 1985 with other new volunteers in seminars learning details about the time period of the village, and I became a docent.  I just adore history and here was a chance to "live" it!  I needed to wear authentic period clothing, so I made a calico dress of blue with cream, a bonnet to match, and purchased a pair of high top leather shoes from the old General Store on the square in nearby Petersburg, IL.

My son, Matt, joins me in the Trent brothers' cabin of New Salem, IL.  The loom I wove rag rugs
on in the cabin was a handmade two harness rigid heddle counter balance loom.  

During the Winter months, I wove on  the floor loom in the Museum.  The 4 harness counter balance loom was made from hand-hewn timbers and had cotton heddles, and I wove diligently on the blue and white overshot coverlet that had been abandoned years before by another weaving volunteer.  When it came late Spring, Summer and early Autumn of the next three years, I worked in the Trent brothers' cabin weaving rag rugs on a two heddle loom in my period clothing while, in the summertime, my two elementary-aged boys ran around barefooted in period clothing pretending to be boys of the 1820's. They played with a stick and hoop, climbed trees, helped the blacksmith, and helped make soap and cottage cheese.   We three had so much fun!

Youngest son, Ben, just being a country boy.  Notice his dirty feet!

Not sure what is on the other side of this fence, but Matt and Ben can see it!  I think it's a little pig.

Matt and Ben petting the ram outside the cooper's cabin at New Salem, Illinois.

I managed to purchase a floor loom for myself during this time as my love for weaving was renewed and blossomed. But a new love was soon to take hold!  One Winter weekend at New Salem's Museum, I took a workshop in spinning and learned to card and spin cotton on a Great Wheel, and wool on an handmade Irish castle wheel!  Oh, no!  Now I needed a wheel, too!  I began hyperventilating immediately.  My pulse was racing.  I had found a New Love, a new Passion!!!

A spinner demonstrating her craft alongside a dulcimer player at Lincoln's New Salem, IL.

It took three years for me to acquire that first spinning wheel, and, like my Harrisville floor loom, I bought a kit and put it together all by myself.  Not only was this the less-expensive way to go, but in both cases, it allowed me to learn the parts and mechanisms intimately.  You really need and want to be intimate with your looms and wheels.  Just ask any spinner or weaver!

This is my first wheel.  Her name is Betsy and she is an Ashford Traditional.

It took three more years and a move to Connecticut from Tennessee for me to finally get "real" lessons from another spinner, and not just reading about it in my subscription to "SPIN OFF" magazine.  My passion never wavered, however, and my spinner instructor, Anne Williams, also shared the art of dyeing a fleece with natural dyes from the garden and the kitchen!  Oh, no!  Something else to be passionate about! 

Soon I was experimenting with rhododendron leaves, Osage orange (aka horse apples), yarrow, onion skins, purple cabbage leaves and black-eyed Susans in a huge metal pot on the stove!  Then I tried solar dyeing in a garbage can covered with black plastic trash bags set out on my driveway to catch the rays of the sun.  My then-husband thought I had completely lost my marbles, and said so in no uncertain terms!  He was quite sure some of the neighbors had seen me playing with a garbage can in the driveway, and that was just not to be tolerated!

My Daddy was an enthusiastic woodcarver and was also handy at making just about anything out of wood.  He recognized the passion I was feeling with the weaving, spinning, and dyeing, and was very pleased to help me along.  He made me some drop spindles in several weights, my loom bench, a warping board, and the most used tool of all for my new found love ....  a niddy-noddy.  Actually, he made two for me .... just because that was how he was.

Part of my collection of drop spindles.  These are the ones my Daddy made for me, and on some he
hand-carved motifs on the whorls.  Quite special, indeed!

One of two niddy-noddies that Daddy made for me.  These are for winding off yarn from the wheel.
You can also use them as a way of measuring yardage of yarns, and to help set twist.  Daddy made
my niddies out of Parana pine and Philippine mahogany on his lathe.  I sometimes wonder just how
many miles of my yarn has been measured on my niddy-noddies!

Anne had told our class the story of how she came to be a spinner and it started with a drop spindle. She was of the opinion that everyone should learn to use a drop spindle before going to a wheel because it gave you a sense of history, and also helped your fingers memorize the necessary movements before adding the rhythm you needed for treadling a wheel.

Some of us are more impatient than others, but I did take that advice somewhat to heart, especially since my Daddy had made such special spindles just for me.  Naturally, I wanted to show him what I had made with his handiwork. So, I bought some wool dyed in lovely blues and greens and carded it into rolags for spinning.  And, I practiced with my drop spindle, and made lots of pretty darn good singles that I then plied on my spindle.  

I took great pleasure in showing off my handmade yarn, but most of the reactions I got were:  "Can't you buy that stuff at Walmart?  Why do you have to/want to make it yourself?"  Some folks will never understand, and that is all there is to it!

Mittens made from that first wool purchase and the mahogany drop spindle made by my Daddy that spun the yarn.

While living in Connecticut, I also received my second wheel.  My Daddy's older brother, John and his wife, Mary Anne, had come across an old spinning wheel in the 70's at a junk dealer somewhere on the East Coast.  They went through several boxes and found what they hoped would be all of the pieces, and they bought it because it looked "Early American" which was the latest style in decorating (along with orange or green shag carpet!).  Think Ethan Allen and you will know what I mean.

They took it home, put it together and painted it black and gold to go with the ambiance of their den. They were pleased.  They had absolutely no idea what they had found!  When my Uncle John found out I had learned to spin, he wrote me a letter about this "decorative wheel" they had found over two decades before, asking if I would like to have it.

I said sure, and in a few weeks a large box from my uncle arrived with an honest-to-gosh handmade Pennsylvania Dutch flax wheel, complete with the maker's mark!  There is only one bobbin for her, handmade of course, so I haven't really used her for any serious spinning, although I have played around with it at times.

She is extremely fast, double-drive, she is quite lovely even in the "stylish" black and gold.  I named her Priscilla, and when I retire and have the time, I plan on stripping the paint and getting her back to her Pennsylvania Dutch roots!

This is Priscilla.  She is my antique flax wheel of Pennsylvania Dutch origin.
That is one of many rag rugs I have woven that Priscilla is standing on.

Look closely and you will see the "mark" of the maker of this wheel: "I JACOB".  I imagine that 
he made it as a wedding present for his bride!

And yes, most spinners do name their wheels.  Each and every one, no matter handmade or factory made, has a individual personality all its own, even within the same manufactured model.  Getting to know your wheel is exactly that, for they have quirks and sounds unique unto themselves, and finding their name is a true bonding experience.  Next time you are near a spinner and wheel, listen for the creaks, squeaks, chirps and whirrs of that particular wheel!

My third wheel is another of the New Zealand-made Ashford models .... a "Joy," ... and she is just that. Although I tried out other names, I could not deny what a joy she was to spin on, and Joy! is how I know her.  She is a traveling wheel, and folds up wonderfully into her padded, zippered bag. She fits in the overhead compartment of an airplane with no problem, and is an easy tote from home to retreats, trips, demonstrations or wherever.  She arrived in my life during the winter of 2005 and she has been a constant companion ever since.

Betsy got her feelings hurt, however, and has to be sweet-talked into spinning properly again if I spend too much time away from her.  (I am NOT kidding!)  Priscilla, on the other hand, is content to be admired for her heritage and nothing more right now.  She probably has a lot of squeaks and clicks and wobbles at her age that she would rather no one knew about?!

My newest wheel, Joy!, is well-used since she can travel with me anywhere.
Spinning on my back porch has been quite a joy!

Learning to spin and work with fiber has led me on an exciting and fulfilling journey from Illinois, Tennessee, Connecticut, Missouri, and, finally, to East Texas.  Along the way, I have met some amazing people (spinners, weavers, craftsmen and craftswomen, and artists) and formed many friendships.  It was because of my love of all things fiber that I began to dream of owning my own sheep and llamas, which led to the birth of HeartSong Farm. I have had the pleasure of attending the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival in Upstate New York, the Bethel Sheep and Wool Festival in Iowa, and the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (along with dear friend, Stephanie), which happened to be an item on my Bucket List.

Here in East Texas, I was a regular attendee of the Wildflower Fiber Retreat each March, and am now looking forward to the retreats ahead with the Chix Packin Stix gals, and becoming more involved in demonstrations of spinning and weaving in my retirement years in the community.  I still dream of attending the Taos Wool Festival as well as the Kid 'n Ewe & Lamas, Too! in Boerne, Texas. The latter is bound to happen the first November after I retire!  I even have a place to sleep, right Judy H.??  Hint, hint!

A gathering of fiber sisters is an awesome event!  This was the final Wildflower Retreat, March 2014.

This Saturday, November 8, I will be spinning with two fiber sisters in Henderson, TX, at the annual Heritage Syrup Festival.  Joy! will be accompanying me, and if you are in the area, please come by and see us!

And now, I have a request for my niece, Heidi, who lives up in Washington State!  I promised her nine years ago when I learned that she was a knitter (I was so very excited!) that I would send her some of my hand-spun yarns for her to knit with.  So, Heidi, choose one of the two rovings below (merino wool and silk blends), and this will be my next big project on my wheel!  Let me know which one you choose when you get a chance, and I will get started spinning!  And I am sorry it has taken so long to fulfill my promise to you.

Pinks and greens.

Blues and purples.

!! NEWSFLASH FROM THE GARDEN !!

Garlic bulbs with cloves to plant (left) and the cloves too small to plant, but fine for cooking (right)
(resting on a blue rag handwoven woven place mat that I wove many years ago).

A friend gave me five huge homegrown garlic bulbs in August, and last week I put 50 garlic cloves in one-half of one of my raised beds.  I made sure to plant them before October 31, as instructed by Dan. Was that to make sure I would be safe from any local vampires on Halloween night?  Well, if so, it worked!  And, next May I should have 50 big beautiful bulbs to lift from the soil for my culinary needs, saving five out for planting next October.  A Circle of Garlic has begun!

It's time to get back to spinning here at HeartSong Farm!