October 17 Meeting
7:30, Wolbach Farm, Sudbury
FLAX PREPARATION and SPINNING WORKSHOP
Sue Bunker from the American Textile History Museum
will bring flax, a flax brake for us to break and a scutching knife to scutch to
obtain the fine inner fibers of the previously rotted or retted
flax.
Barbara Provest will bring extra flax stricks
(available from Webs) and then demonstrate the combing and arrangement of flax
fibers and attachment to your distaff and then with the addition of water will
attempt to spin it into gold for you; Rumple Stilskin was previously booked for
the evening.
BRING if you wish: a distaff, lap towel, strick of
flax fibers (if you have one), 3 yds of a colorful soft ribbon, like
grosgrain.
To make a waist distaff to use with a drop
spindle, bring a 34"-36" piece of 1/2 to 3/4" dowel or very straight
branch. A child's tube sock can be pulled over the dowel, stuffed and tied at
the bottom. Or, you can bring an old pillow case cut in half lengthwise and
stiff it with tissue paper and we can wind it on to the distaff in a cone shape
and pin it on. We will arrange the combed flax over this at the meeting. You
will need the 3 yds of a soft 3/4" grosgrain ribbon to criss-cross and hold
flax to the distaff.
To make a distaff for use with your spinning
wheel: Check to see if you have a hole in your wheel bed. Mine was the size of
a wooden curtain rod, so I used that as it fit. If you have very long flax you
will need a longer distaff. Some early American wheels have short distaffs as
their flax was shorter (not enough irrigation during the growing season). You
can always make a free-standing distaff if you have no hole in your wheel bed.
FIBER EXCHANGE
Come join the fun! The challenge this year will be to
start with 4 oz of gray wool and end up with a project consisting mainly of that
wool. You can overdye the gray if desired. You can add up to an ounce or so of
other fibers to enhance the original wool, if you want. At the October
17th meeting, each participant will receive 4 oz. of gray wool to
spin. At a future meeting we will pass on the spun yarn to another participant. The
second participant will create a finished object from the yarn supplied, using
any medium desired. The created object will be given to the original spinner at
a show and tell at our May potluck. There will be a fee of $4 to cover the cost
of the fiber.