A wooly hot day

Saturday, August 15 was hot and steamy, but not so much that we could not celebrate wool.  The Faribault Woolen Mill celebrated their 150th anniversary.  Alexander Faribault, a fur-trader/entrepreneur founded the town in 1852.  The city is situated at the confluence of the Cannon and Straight Rivers and is the county seat of Rice County, Minnesota.  Faribault is approximately 50 miles south of the Twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

We arrived early and walked around before the activities began.

I was really excited to see Jennifer and Tom's design, a sleeping bag,  for the Target competition/silent auction.

The Target designers' work for the competition/silent auction.

These little sheep were so cute!

I really liked the sauna hats!

Jim liked the beer caddy.

Jennifer and the sleeping bag.  It was beautifully designed and sewn.  It was good to see her!

There was even a teepee and camp chair in red and black buffalo plaid--very Minnesotan!

The outdoor shop next to the mill had a great display for the Pak-A-Robes, a 1970s Ford Bronco.

Jim was doing some shopping!

Pak-A-Robe colors 

The woolen blanket sign adorned the bridge over the river toward the park.

There was a running of the sheep event, which was pretty funny.  The sheep stayed in a group and at the end created a sheep-nado.

The sheep were well-organized...I cannot say the same for the humans!

At the end with nowhere to go, the sheep regrouped into an S-twist sheep-nado.

The lively sheepdog whipped the flock into shape.

It looked a bit like a scene from the movie, Babe.

Jennifer and I were particularly fond of the little Jacob sheep.

Doreen, of Goldfish Love and a spinning buddy, was having a fine time spinning up some arty yarns with the kids in the Textile Center's tent.

A blanket made from recycled wool and acrylic.
(To make the blanket washable and strengthen the fibers.)    

Jim surprised me with this scarf in scarlet and gray.

In honor of the anniversary, a past favorite, Pack-A-Robe was brought back.  The woolen mill had the zippered cases made by Duluth Pack.

The American flag in all her woolly glory!

With all the wonderful woven woolly cloth in my mind, I thought I would take the opportunity to try out the variable dent reed I picked up from Mary at Anoka Fiber Works.  Before I warped the loom with handspun yarn, I finished a small piece with the leftover Malabrigo Finito warp using some mohair handspun for the weft, which is some of my really early spinning circa 1997.

A little piece just the right size for a lamp. 

I saw the apron secured to the heddle in the Schacht Cricket video.

I am thankful for the videos on the Schacht website for warping the loom!

Time to use some of the old bits and bobs of handspun yarns--let's warp this baby!

I have been cleaning and organizing my yarn and the fiber in my work room.  It is a time-consuming process, but I can now see everything in the cubbyholes.  Eliminating the dreaded tubs is a plus, as I cannot stand to deal with the room they take up.  We found some collapsible crates that I can use for the unseen fibers I stored in extra pillowcases.  A work in progress...

The Jacob yarn is washed, the twist is set.  I need to calculate the yardage and then finalize the sweater design.

Twisting the turns and turning the twists

Progress..

Now that I have slain most of the knitting demons, the Aranmor is going gangbusters.  I'm past the first diamond and onto the next.  I can see in the photo in the book that there appear to be 3 1/2 or 4 diamonds up the front.  This is an enjoyable project.  I love how the Rowan Scottish Tweed is knitting up.  The natural color will show off the cable work nicely.

Jim is finally home from Ohio.  He visited his Mom, sister, niece, and her boys.  Mom turned 88 on the 28th.  She had a nice birthday and I am glad he was able to see her.  It has been quite a while since he was there.  I have not been back since a couple of months after my sister's funeral.  Jim had dinner with a couple we have known since junior high/high school.  They had a nice time.  We all keep in touch on Facebook.

...is going well!  Spunny inspects my work.

Tomorrow is the last of the wheel spinning classes.  One of my previous students will be there to make up her last class.  I am very proud of her.  She is spinning yarn for a project from A Fine Fleece, which is a really nice book.  Oh dear, here I go again!

While Jim was in Ohio, I made a couple of warm blankets.  Normally I wouldn't go for these because I love natural fiber, but Polar Fleece is so nice and cozy.  We got the scout fabric from the Wood badge breakfast auction and I just couldn't resist the gnome fabric.  The scout one is larger, I just squared off the gnome fabric.  I might make a pillow cover to take along camping.  I might need the extra warmth when I go to Okpik this coming weekend!  Okpik in Inuit for Snowy Owl.

Boy Scout blanket

Happy Gnomes

To make a simple, smaller blanket:  Polar fleece runs 60" wide.  Buy enough to make a square of fabric of the main color and a backing color.  On a large surface, trim the selvedge edges of both the backing and main color.  Now lay the backing and main color with wrong sides together.  Cut a 4" to 5" square from each corner (this determines the length of the fringe).  Now cut the fringe about 1" wide and 4" to 5" long all around the blanket.  Next tie every other fringe with overhand knots on the right side (the backing color should show up on the front), and then turn the blanket over and do the same on the wrong side.  It makes the fringe look better.  That's it!  It has been so cold here and these  blankets are lightweight and easy-care.