To the Heritage Syrup Festival and beyond!

Spinning at the Heritage Syrup Festival  in Henderson, TX, on November 8th.

Bright and early on the morning of November 8, 2014, four happy spinners sat down at their wheels at the Heritage Syrup Festival that was taking place in the East Texas town of Henderson.  It started off a bit chilly, and never really warmed up, the sun preferring to hide behind the clouds most of the day. Nevertheless, there were probably close to 10,000 visitors at the Festival, and we enjoyed demonstrating our craft and answering some really great questions from the crowds. I have demonstrated at quite a few venues over the years, and I must say that the folks at this one asked probably the best questions ever!  I was very impressed.

And, of course, several times we were asked if we could spin straw into gold.  What would a demonstration of spinning in public be without being asked that question at least once?!

Tammy spun some bamboo and llama fibers.  Jo spun some lovely variegated purple Merino wool roving, while Donna spun some of her homegrown white cotton, and I spun up some Black Welsh Mountain/Shetland wool roving.  The crowd was fascinated with the various fibers we were working with as well as the variety of  our spinning wheels.  

Tammy, Jo and Donna spinning and fielding questions from interested Heritage Syrup Festival attendees.

In the early afternoon, a young lady of about 11 or 12, along with her mother and two younger sisters, made her way up to us from the crowd.  As it turns out, she was already a knitter and loved and appreciated yarn!  She and her sisters were all drawn into the motion of the wheels, the treadling, and the magical transformation of the yarn being made from the carded fibers.  She told us that she wanted to learn to make her own yarn, and being home-schooled, she thought she could incorporate that into social studies or history with no problem.  Wow!  That made our hearts really nice and warm!

To be able to pass on our love of fibers, spinning and weaving to the younger generations is always a thrill for us, and we were especially pleased to watch it happen right in front of our eyes!  The two younger girls seemed very interested, also.  Who knows?  Maybe, just maybe, right there on that spot, three future fiber sisters were created to join our ranks!

Donna is the one who invited me to join them at the Festival this year.
Her shawl is hand-knit from hand-spun mohair yarn!  Awesome!

It was mid-afternoon when a young couple with a pit bull on a leash came up to inquire about the spinning process, and, just before they turned away, I asked if I could pet their dog.  I told them I had recently been attacked and bitten by a neighbor's pit bulls, and that I wanted a chance to erase the negative energy that had covered me ever since.  Folks, I want you to know that this was a very beautiful, well-behaved, calm pit bull named Max.  He was a lovely shade of blue gray with white, and his breeding was impeccable!  He looked into my eyes and I into his, and I found reassurance that not all pit bulls were as vicious as those inbred, abused dogs that my neighbor owns.  I feel cleansed of my traumatic experience.

We were each awarded a quart of fresh (HOT!) cane syrup as thanks for
demonstrating our fiber craft with the crowds.  Yummy!   

Across from where we were seated all day, a mule turned a cane-breaking machine and the pulp was boiled nearby in huge iron pots to make the cane syrup.  I should have gotten a photo of that, but next year that will be first thing on my list.  And second will be getting a bag of kettle corn before the line gets to be too long!  I can see myself attending this Festival and spinning with my friends for years to come.

Spinning at the Heritage Syrup Festival got me back into playing with my fibers, finally.  I had been in one of those funky moods lately, where I just couldn't get going on my spinning projects, or knitting for that matter.  I was having a hard time making the transition from gardening and reading to spinning, knitting and reading.  Sitting and spinning with three fiber sisters, however, got me back in the proper groove.

Black Welsh Mountain roving (left), a blend of Black Welsh Mountain and white Shetland (right).

The fibers in the photo above are what I worked on while at the Festival.  I have been collecting Black Welsh Mountain roving, 8 oz. at a time, from Suzanne at Fire Ant Ranch (nka Fiber Arts Republic) over the last several years.  I was not sure what I wanted to make with it, but I knew that I wanted enough yarn to make a statement of some kind.  You see, I am of Welsh extraction on both sides of my family tree, and felt a connection to Wales and King Arthur long before I discovered my actual heritage.  And besides, I am the black sheep of my family!

Black Welsh Mountain ewe and lambs from Desert Weyr Farm, Paonia, CO.

Shetland sheep produce a longer, softer wool that comes in a variety of colors.

I have just recently decided on what I want to make from all Black Welsh Mountain yarn I have spun. Since the Black Welsh Mountain fleece is not for "next to the skin" projects, I had long ago decided I wanted to make a cape, ruana or coat, but which ?!, and what pattern ?!  Yep, decisions, decisions .... arghhh! Well, while I spin, I do a lot of thinking, of course, and I have finally decided to make a winter coat in a very simple style that I knitted for someone many years ago.

Skeins of my Black Welsh Mountain yarn collection so far.  The various colors are achieved by the
fact that some have Shetland or Gulf Coast Native wool or some dyed mohair locks added to the
roving for a bit of variety.  

It will be made up of knitted squares, joined for body and sleeves, with a ribbing all around the edges which will incorporate a collar of some kind.  And, of course, there will be pockets!  The piecing of the squares will make use of the fact that some yarns have a bit of added color in them.  There may or may not be a pattern in the center of the back, but I think that there probably will be.  I also have not decided if I will knit all of the squares and then join, or join as I go.  More decisions!  Meanwhile, I am back to spinning, and my heart is singing!

Part of the reason for my stalling on the spinning is because I have been in a dither about cleaning before my older son, Matt, gets here for Thanksgiving week.  But, I have finally reasoned, he is coming to visit me, not my house.  And, as long as he brings his allergy medicine, he should be alright among the dust and cat hair.  I hope.  Still, I do need to make some sort of effort on my weekends, but so many other things keep calling my name!!!

After the frigid temps of the past week that may continue into Thanksgiving Week, Matt also needs to bring some warm clothes with him from California!

Spinning happily along these days here at HeartSong Farm!

All creatures, great & small

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures, great and small.

These timeless words by Cecil Frances Alexander, published in her book, Hymns For Little Children (1848), have spoken to me ever since I was a little girl.  The past two weeks have brought a number of creatures to my farm's door, porch and wheelbarrow, and I wanted to share them with you!

Female cardinal feeling somewhat woozy after a slam-bang into my bedroom

window.

Sunday afternoon, November 1, the cats and I heard a very loud bang on my bedroom window that overlooks the back porch.  It sounded like a gun shot, louder than a bird hitting it, but it turned out that is exactly what it was.  I went outside, and huddling under the porch swing, was a very dazed and confused female cardinal.  She not only a had a really bad headache, her beak could not close, one eye was half-closed, and a dark fluid was coming out of one side of her beak!  Look closely above.  Poor dear thing!

Feeling somewhat better

After about 10 minutes of my stroking her feathers and talking to her, she was able to grip my index finger with more strength and stand straighter, although her left eye was still half-closed.  A few minutes more, and her beak (jaw?) could close and the fluid (saliva?) stopped flowing from her mouth.  She looked at me when I spoke and seemed to enjoy the stroking of her feathers.  I was able to admire up close and personal all her lovely shades of brown and red.

Feeling better and almost ready to fly again!

As I continued to stroke her back and to speak soothingly to her, her balance improved, and her beak was able to finally close properly.  As her grip on my finger-perch grew tighter, I gently tossed my hand, palm upwards, into the air a few times.  She kept her balance by spreading her wings, but she was not quite ready to leave my protection.  I decided that I would take her to the arbor between the backyard and the vegetable garden where I felt she would be safe from Max the Outside Cat.  Fortunately, he was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

I left the safety of my back porch and started toward the arbor.  A few feet from my destination, Ms. Cardinal took flight and landed near the top of the crepe myrtle nearby.  She was back on her own!

Tadpoles in the wheelbarrow full of rain water!  Several hundred of them, at least!

The weekend that I was planting my garlic and winter greens, I passed by my wheelbarrow and saw a very interesting, unexpected sight ....  tadpoles swimming around in the rainwater from a recent heavy downpour.  It brought back memories of scooping up ditch water full of tadpoles in mason jars, and watching them grow into frogs or toads!  I think that it has gotten too cold for the little fellas to survive to be frogs, but I will be keeping an eye on them, for sure.  It has been in the low 30's, or lower even, for several nights here this week.

A leopard frog, probably one of the parents of the tadpoles in the wheelbarrow.

Leopard frogs are really quite lovely with their spots and sleek, moist skin.  They can make almost as much noise as a bullfrog sometimes.  BURRUMPH, BURRUMPH!  Sometimes I find them in one of the llama water troughs in the pasture. I remember finding one several weeks ago, after a lighter rainfall, in this same wheelbarrow!

A yellow jacket (left) and honey bee (right) on a tassel of goldenrod near the wheelbarrow.

My little green (sometimes brown) back porch friend in a bucket of rainwater.

This little guy (a green anole) is the one who lives behind my door-facing on the back porch.  He has startled me a number of times this Fall when I reached to open the door and he jumped out.  I swear he said "Boo!" once! It is unclear to me as to whether he was intentionally swimming or he fell into the bucket accidentally.  But, he looked pretty water-logged to me.  I think he appreciated my helping him get out of the water when I did!

I put him on one of the vines that covers the arbor off the back porch.

Soon he was relaxing and enjoying the sunshine on his back.  I love these little creatures!

I grew up calling these cuties "chameleons" because they could turn from bright green to brown, depending on what they were perched on.  We loved to watch them run along the top of our redwood slat fence, and we loved to try and catch them, too.  Sometimes, we would grab them by their tails and we would be left holding only the tail as the lizard scrambled away!  You could always tell the ones who had lost their tails at some point because, when the tail grew back, it never quite matched the original.

The opossum on the back porch of HeartSong Farm.

Not a great photo, and although that is Max's food bowl, that is definitely NOT Max! What it is, is a
very plump opossum that has been regularly visiting my back porch the last few weeks.  So far, I have not been able to get it's face in a photo.  It is very wary, this 'possum!  And it has lots of tiny sharp teeth that I would not want to mess with!  It tends to "grin" at me, and then go back to munching on the kibble.

Now this is an adorable little fellow, don't you think?!

About a week after the opossum started coming around, a young raccoon began coming around about 30 minutes later than that early diner.  I guess word had gotten around that food was available on my back porch?! 

This is the second raccoon that we have had as a visitor over the years here at HeartSong Farm.  I think we will name this one Bandit.  The first one, Rocky, has not been seen for two or three years, and this is a young one, probably coming into its second winter.  When he stands he is about 24 inches tall, and is only slightly leery of me.  I can get within two feet of him, with no problem.  He has growled at me only once, and since then seems to have accepted my presence as non-confrontational.

I have always wanted a pet raccoon, for real.  My daddy's mother had one when he was growing up, in St. Petersburg, FL.  I am so tempted to try to catch this one, but I know it is really not a good idea.  So, I make sure there is always a bit of dry cat food on the back porch at night, and that way I get to observe it up close and to enjoy it in that way.

One night this week, I felt a pair of eyes staring at me as I sat reading in my den chair by the window overlooking the back porch.  I turned to look, and there was Bandit, front paws on the window ledge, watching me through the screen! Well, turnabout is fair play, I guess!

Ben says that he has seen this youngster climbing high in the pine tree near his "man cave," so it must have found Rocky's old nest.

A Hispid Cotton Rat.  Isn't he (I checked!) adorable?!  Looks similar to a hamster to me.

Last Sunday, I was at my computer in the dining room, when something caught my eye outside by the clothesline. It was Max the Outdoor Cat tossing something in the air.  Oh no!  I could see that it was a rodent of some kind, bigger than a mouse, but smaller than a gopher.  And, strangely, it seemed like it was playing a game with Max.  It was not even trying to get away, but would run around to his backside, then around him again, then leap up in the air on his own, and then crouch in the grass right next to him.  This was strange.  Strange, indeed!

I grabbed my camera and an old towel and went outside, intrigued.  Max walked off, but the little critter was hidden in the grass, crouched down and really quite hard to see.  After several attempts to locate it, and then capture it with the towel, I was at last successful.  What I discovered was that it was neither a mouse or a gopher, nor was it the kind of rat that I would have expected.  It's coat was rough, like a nutria, but he was way too small to be one.

He has a very coarse coat of dark brown and golden brown, and is about the size of my hand.

He was nervous at first, but, in no time at all, was relaxed enough for me to examine him and to release my tight grip on him.  He even felt comfortable enough to perch on the towel in my hand.  I had seen his sharp, yellow rodent teeth and I was not taking his calm acceptance of me for granted!  As you can see from the photo above, however, that Max had, indeed, injured him on his tail.

Eventually, I put him back in the grass near the clothesline, and he scooted off towards the back pasture fence.  I immediately went inside and grabbed my Peterson's Field Guide to Mammals of North America.  I discovered that he was a Hispid Cotton Rat, and are known for making runways and tunnels in high grassy areas.  I wonder how many are out there in my back pasture?!

And then there was this on the kitchen floor!

What the ..... ??!!!  This sure isn't one of the typical Dust Bunnies found in my home!  I have the feeling that Godfrey had something to do with this, whatcha wanta bet?!

Axl (aka The Big Guy) enjoys watching creatures, both great and small, from his perch at the dining room window. There is absolutely no way he could fit on the window sill like an "ordinary" cat.  He is, after all, a Maine Coon cat!

With the very cold temperatures here this week, out in the pastures the llamas have been looking like smoke-breathing dragons in the early mornings!  Steam rises off their woolly backs from their body heat.  I have been trying to get a photo of that, but I am having trouble pressing the buttons with my gloves on.  It is almost time to buy a new camera, I think.  The buttons on this one keep getting stuck!

There are a lot of interesting creatures here on HeartSong Farm!

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!