October 17, 2007, 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 yards 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 yards 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 freestanding 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.
