Contrasts

The week started with me sorting several Scottish Blackface fleeces and shipping them to the mill. They were a gift from a friend, and I am delighted to have them! But: they are a very coarse wool. Perfect for knotted pile, and I have classes coming up so I hope they are done in time for SOAR. I neglected to take a photo of the fleeces, but here's a pic of the Actual Sheep from my trip to Scotland two summers ago:



There was also dyeing this week and here we have the contrast:

This is Masham, also a rug wool (and one of those colors is my pathetic attempt at green)

and then these:


silk scarves. You can see once again my pathetic attempt at "green". ::sigh:: It just does not happen for me :).

I've been spinning silk on the spindles

(photo from last week in Carmel: imagine more silk on that spindle!)

and silk/cashmere on the wheel:


And weaving on the silk from this post (it does not look much different, there is just more of it now, so excuse the no-photo please!)

So from spinning silk, to weaving silk, to dyeing silk again, to silk and cashmere, to some of the coarsest wools we can find, back and forth from one end of the spectrum to the other. Gives one a perspective of just how broad the field of "Textiles" can be!

More gifts from friends:

thank goodness for fresh garden produce to sustain us!