Three Fliers

Fliers for fiber events just keep comin’ in the mail. Yipee!!

Next month, I’m headed to the Midwest Weavers Conference, “Northern Wefts”, in Hancock, Michigan. I so look forward to visiting the Keweenaw Peninsula again. This conference is going to pack a punch. The line up of instructors is quite impressive (and I’m not just saying that because I’m one of them!). There are workshops for everyone. There are also tours to go on and many exhibits to see.


I’ll be teaching a three-day pre-conference workshop entitled, “The Spin-Knit Nexus”. We’ll be exploring ways of spinning combinations of yarns that would be difficult to find among commercial yarns, and then knitting swatches and figuring out ways to use these yarns in knitted projects.

I then have one day off. My plan has been to spend most of that day at the Seaman Mineral Museum on the campus of Michigan Tech University in Houghton, Michigan. My first visit to this amazing museum was a few years ago. I spent hours there, and I only saw half of the exhibit. I can hardly wait to see the rest! Unfortunately, according to their website, the museum is currently closed for renovation and won’t be open again until July. How disappointing! I guess I’ll just have to visit it some other time.

Then I teach two 1-day workshops: “Beginning Spinning”, and “Blending Colors at the Wheel”. Both so fun!

Another flier that recently arrived is for the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in Jeffferson, Wisconsin. This’ll be my fourth year teaching at this wonderful event.


I love taking the ferry across Lake Michigan, I love seeing all the fiber animals, and I love all the fiber and fibery people!!! I’ll be teaching: “Creating the Yarn You Want”, “Spinning & Knitting Goat Fibers”, “Spinning Marl Yarns” and “Mechanics of Your Wheel”.

I also received a flier for the NYS Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York.


It’s a delightful drive (although it takes 2 days to get there) and a delightful event. I’ve enjoyed the folks who organize everything, I’ve enjoyed the folks who vendor fabulous mechandise, I’ve enjoyed the other fiber arts instructors that I’ve met there, and I’ve especially enjoyed the folks who’ve participated in my workshops.

This year I’ll be teaching: “Creating the Yarn You Want”, “Spinning with Commercial Yarns”, “Spinning Marl Yarns”, “Mechanics of Your Wheel”, "Spinning with Silk Hankies", and "I-Cord Edges and More!". A swell line-up.

So, go to one of these events. Revel in fiber. It’s good for the soul.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jog

The drive back from Duluth was under much nicer weather conditions than the drive to Duluth. The first day of my outbound trip it rained all the way to Marquette, and the second day it snowed almost all the way to Duluth. On the way back, all was sunny and bright!

I stayed with Judy and Jim McL. I’ve known Judy for a number of years. Judy and Jim summer in Beulah, Michigan and winter in Duluth!

Judy is part of the Duluth Fiber Handcrafters Guild, and she was responsible for encouraging them to invite me to teach some workshops. I’d been there three years ago to teach, and I was delighted to be invited back. The workshops were held in one of the Duluth Art Institute locations.

In addition to the workshops, the Guild asked me to give a talk the night before the workshops, in conjunction with a potluck dinner. I prepared a presentation that I titled, “The Value of Process”. This presentation prompted me to put together some of my thoughts on learning, mindful practice, creativity, and the process-product dichotomy. I took the opportunity to draw from my experiences in dance and neuroscience, as well as my work as a fiber artist. I hope that these disparate disciplines came together for the audience as well as they come together for me.

Earlier that day, Judy took me on a stroll around the boardwalk area of Duluth. Here is a picture of Judy near the lighthouse there.

Saturday’s workshop was “Spinning With Commercial Yarns”. Here’s the metaphysical question of the day: When you take a commercial yarn that is Z-spun and S-plied, and you re-spin it in the Z direction, are you “adding twist” or are you “un-plying”?

Sunday morning’s workshop was “Plying for Texture”; the afternoon’s workshop was “Spinning With Silk Hankies”. Everyone enjoyed the “hand spa” at the beginning of the afternoon session; I had everyone use a scrub on their hands called “Silk Spinner”, a Dermalove product. Makes for the smoothest of hands!

Oh, on Sunday, it snowed. I’d like to point out that on my visit three years ago, it also snowed…at the beginning of May. Could this be the start of a tradition?

Monday, Judy and I did some more sightseeing. I picked up rocks along the shore of Lake Superior just north of Duluth. Here’s a view:

Then, we visited a charming yarn shop in Knife River and later ate lunch at the Lighthouse on Homestead. I had an excellent grilled cheese sandwich with tomato-basil soup. By the way, they make the Best Potato Chips Ever.

The day’s highlight was our visit to Church Road Farm, owned by Marie and Paul Glaesemann. Marie and Paul have a wonderful spinner’s flock of sheep. Here are a few of this year's lambies:

I’ve been buying fleeces from them for several years now. I am happy to report that I was able to snag Lucy’s fleece again this year. And I was able to snag a picture of Lucy on this visit. Well, I got a picture of her rear end as she enjoyed her lunch.


Here’s a picture of Marie with her 30-year old Morgan horse, Winston. They raised and showed Morgans for many years.

I also bought Lizzy’s fleece, and Judy and I are going to split Puff’s fleece. All three fleeces will be processed into roving at Hidden Valley Farm & Woolen Mill.

Tuesday, I started the drive homeward. On Wednesday, I made a few stops at Scenic Outlooks along Lake Michigan. Here is a picture somewhere between Epoufette and Brevort, looking southeast onto the lake.


And here’s a picture of the Mackinaw Bridge from a couple miles away, still in the U.P.


All ‘round, a great trip! I do hope to travel Duluth-way again. Maybe next time without snow…

Stones, Snow, and Spring

It's Spring? Yes, that's a question mark. Yesterday I awoke to this world:

Despite the winter views, I am getting ready for this year’s Spring Fiber Fling. It’s a weekend fiber retreat held each year in Pickford, Michigan (in the eastern Upper Peninsula).


This year the dates are May 13-15. And the registration deadline is April 23. If you want to download a pdf file of the brochure, go to my website. Or, contact Lois Robbins, loisrobbins@gmail.com, 906-632-3689.

I’ll be teaching two workshops: “Spinning With Silk Hankies” and “Knitting Petoskey Stone Medallions”. This’ll be the first time teaching the petoskey stone workshop. I’ve been knitting medallions like crazy lately to make sure my pattern directions are correct.

Here’s a picture of a pile of mostly petoskey stones in my front yard perennial garden (before the snow fell):


And here’s a picture of a pile of recently knitted medallions and the yarns I’m using.

Sylvia's "Sylvia", Part 5

Last year, I started a fleece-to-socks project. The fleece was from a CVM lamb named “Sylvia”. I got 6 ounces of the lovely raw wool from my friend Sylvia (for whom the lamb was named). You can see my blog entries about this project starting with July 12, 2010.

“Sylvia” lives at The White Barn Farm in Blanchard, Michigan with several other CVM/Romeldale sheep. If you want to see classic pictures of this distinctive breed, go to their website.

Most of this project was completed in July of last year. Then it stalled. I was having trouble designing the sock pattern. I tried several stitch patterns before I stumbled onto the stitch that inspired me.It is stitch pattern “I.21” on page 17 in The Harmony Guild to Practical Knitting Stitches (1983)

This stitch pattern is made up of just knits and purls. No slips, no twists, no yarn-overs, no increases or decreases, no fancy loops. Just knit and purl.

But what a pattern! I would never have guessed that a knit-purl stitch pattern could surprise me so. As the pattern grew on my needles, I saw a wonderful construction of gently curving horizontal welts. The pattern as written has a modest amount of asymmetry, but it could easily be revised to be symmetrical, or even to be more wildly uneven.

Isn’t knitting amazing? After so many years of knitting, I can still find newness and excitement in the basic building blocks of this craft.

Here’s a picture of “Sylvia” with the two lambs she had this spring.

Here’s a picture of the finished socks.

Here’s a closer look at the stitch pattern.

Sylvia will soon receive her “Sylvia” socks as a belated birthday present.

Lots of Lambs

On my return trip from Wisconsin I made a brief stop at Hidden Valley Farm & Woolen Mill. Carol and Paul Wagner run the joint (see my blog entry about this marvelous place September 14, 2010).

They raise Coopworth sheep. Lots of them. And now is the height of lambing season. I arrived just minutes after one lamb was born. What an amazing sight!

Because the weather was still on the cold side all the lambs were in the barn, making photo taking (with my wimpy camera) a bit of a challenge. I wish more pictures had turned out, but here, at least, is one sweet pic:

Toby is Ten Today

It’s Toby’s birthday today! She’s a “mature” 10 years old now. And as cute as ever. Here she is in her youth:

And, here’s a more recent picture of her, upon her throne (aka, the sofa):

Now, to keep this in the realm of fiber arts let me show you what’s currently on my inkle loom. A few weeks ago, Marty Fox lead a program on “Inkle Weaving the Alphabet” for the Northland Weaving and Fiber Arts Guild. When I watched Marty show the pick up techniques involved, my first inclination was to avoid the alphabet and just stick with plain weave. But! I gave it a try. She had set up my loom in advance with my name (A M Y). During the program, I started weaving Toby’s name. I got as far as T O B.

I will finish the Y before the end of the week. I swear!

April Travels

I’m hittin’ the road next week. I’m travelling to Pewaukee, Wisconsin to teach at the Wisconsin Spin-In. I’ve heard loads about this event, but this will be my first time in attendance. I am looking forward to it. Starting on Thursday, April 7, there will be workshops, vendors, and spinning! What could be better?

I’ll be teaching three workshops: Spinning Marl Yarns, Mechanics of Your Wheel, and Blending Colors at the Wheel. Look!

So, that’s the beginning of April.

At the end of April (Apr 30, May 1), I’m travelling to Duluth, Minnesota to teach two days of workshops at the Duluth Art Institute: Spinning With Commercial Yarns, Plying for Texture, and Spinning With Silk Hankies.

This will be my second visit to Duluth. Two years ago, I was there at the beginning of May. It snowed. And Duluth is a city on a hill….a very steep hill. Slip slidin’ away!

For both these trips, I’ll be travelling through the Upper Peninsula…for the second and third time this year. And I’ll be headed up that way again in May and again in June. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Can you tell that I love the UP? I’m even getting used to driving over the Mighty Mac! (My mantra: “Don’t look at the water; look at the road….Don’t look at the water; look at the road….")