Sunday, January 10, 2010

DISTAFF DAY



I didn't know there was such a thing as a whole day devoted to the Saint of Spinning-St. Distaff. Evidently there is and I am grateful to him for it!
Yesterday this wonderful day was celebrated by the lovely folks at the Peachtree Handspinners Guild and I was invited to attend. Attend I did and had a great time! I'll be joining The Peachtree Handspinners Guild at their very next meeting!

The reason I got interested in attending was from a discussion on Ravelry about Gulf Coast sheep. I love trying new types of fiber and I'd never heard of it before,so, long story short, a lovely lady named Rosemarie raises these sheep, is a member of the PHG and offered to give me a fleece...free!!! I jumped on that, of course...dollars being what they are these days in our household, free is the right price!

One of the ladies there, Gale Evans, had braids of fiber for sale...I succumbed to purchasing one braid to spin some socks, or something, for Shannen. She had gorgeous fiber! I want more, please!
The other awesome thing was the Gulf Coast wool I got from Rosemarie. Oh my! She gave me a whole trash bag full and is it ever gorgeous once it's washed and carded....yummy! Photo above with rolags is the washed and unwashed fiber. It's so squishy that all I want to do is squeeze it! Gulf Coast fiber is not quite as soft as Corriedale, or some of the other "next to skin" yarn, but it is, nonetheless, soft and will make nice gloves, hats and could possibly make a nice warm shawl-I do plan on knitting a bit of it into my All Sheep Shawl.

I went to the meeting, it isn't very far from where I live, which is great, and I met and sat and spun the whole day! What could have been better? The people were really nice and I think I am going to enjoy belonging to this group. They meet on Saturday's, which is great for me-no weekday meetings-and they do a lot of things as a group. I like that too.

Peachtree Handspinner's Guild...you have a new member!