Learning about yarn

Today the yarn store in Yelm had their open house.  I have been waiting for it for weeks!  We were actually invited to go to this store a year ago.  We went to the Thurston County Fair and met two women.  One was spinning yarn with a spinning wheel and one was using a hand spindle.  Carl took his turn with the hand spindle and the woman was impressed with how nice his work was.  They were both very nice and their stories of the store reminded me of some of the knitting club books that I have read in the past.  Kind of like a quilting circle without the quilting.  Creativity and comeraderie. 

Well, then I read in the shopper's guide that we get in our mail that the yarn store was having an open house.  I read about it weeks ago and decided that I was finally going to go.  What a fun time we had.  Carl made felted soap.  Umm...not really sure how to explain this.  I will have to get Tim's rendition, but I do know that

the felt around the soap works like a loofah and exfoliates your skin.  I didn't get to watch the process as I was busy visiting with the animals and especially with the HUGE Great Pyrenees dog that protects the alpacas.  I don't think I have ever seen a bigger one than she was, and I have seen a few.  Anyway, Carl was very proud of his soap.  He picked Spider Man colors.  :-)

Then we learned about picking and combing the wool or alpaca fleece.  The lady giving the demonstration has been making yarn for 11 years!!  It is quite a process.  First you shear the animal and you let the fleece/wool sit for a while to make sure all the critters in it are dead. (She actually said that.) Then you have to wash it... in VERY HOT water and soap.  And then you have to rinse it in VERY HOT water.  (She told us all this too.)  You cannot handle it too much or else you will accidentally make felt out of it.  Then you pick it to pick the fibers apart, to take even more dirt out of it and to get all the short pieces out of it.  Then you card it (she had a carding machine that she explained is very rare to see).  She mixed some wool in with the alpaca fleece, as she said that it holds the shape better.  So because she was mixing it, she had to card it three times.  When we checked back in with her later she was at her spinning wheel spinning the fleece into yarn.  I talked to her about learning to spin, but she said that you have to be serious about it because you have to buy your own spinning wheel BEFORE the class.  Hmmm...don't think I have the time or money right now for that.  But it is a cool thought. 

What I thought was so interesting was that all the women that were there made it sound like this was just something that was done all the time.  It is surely a good use of materials that they get from their animals. 

They will be at the Thurston County Fair and they will be spinning and selling yarn at the Puyallup Fair too.  If you have a chance to check them out, it is worth watching. 

We had lunch with them and Carl got some really neat alpaca socks.  He is very proud of them. 

The rest of the day we spent at a BBQ for a very good friend of ours.  It was a lovely gathering to celebrate a really nice guy's birth day.  We had a lot of conversation and a lot of good food.  I wish I had more energy and I could paint a picture for you with words, but not tonight. 

By the way, the chickens are just about ready to begin laying.  They scratch little divots in the ground and sit on little pebbles.  I guess they are practicing. 

I hear laughter in the kitchen.  My sis and my son are playing a game together.  I had better go join in the fun. 

Love to you and yours.