I have recently updated my "Available Classes" page with the new dates for next months classes. If you are interested in learning how to spin your own beautiful yarn be sure to check it out and sign up. 
But as always if you are interested in setting up a private class for a different day/time, simply send me an email and we can get something set up for you.

New Website

My website that goes along with this blog has just finished the update and makeover it was getting! So it is now up and running at sites.google.com/site/wildfloweracres   There are a lot of fun fiber art related things currently on it. Like a list of available classes, free online tutorials, and lots of info on different fibers. I plan to add more things as well, so be sure to check it out.    

   

County Fair 2017

This year I decided to try entering some of my hand spun alpaca yarn and other projects at the county fair. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed see everything else that was entered in the fair. Below is a picture of the yarn I entered. If you have ever thought of entering your yarn in a fair or fiber festival I highly recommend the current summer 2017 issue of Spin Off magazine. They have a wonderful article about skein competitions in it. Including great tips on how to prepare your yarn for the show, and what to expect once you are there. I really enjoyed reading it, and it helped inspire me to try entering my own yarn.    

     

Gossamer Threads and Orenburg Knitting

Gossamer thread is something you may not hear about every day. But if you love fine yarns you should defiantly look into it. It is an amazingly fine yarn that is used in fine Orenburg knitting. It is made with using a traditional Russian technique and a supported Russian spindle. A Russian spindle is normally made completely out of wood with the head carved right into the bottom end of the spindle. Both the top and bottom ends of the spindle tapper to a nice point. And it is best used by placing the spindle in a small wooden or glass bowl for spinning it in. The fiber is drafted with one hand, while your other hand twirls the spindle. There are some great DVDs about this type of spinning available [like the one pictured above]. But I wanted to let anyone who is unaware know about an amazing deal that is going on right now. The Orenburg Kit at the Interweave Store online is on a great sale. It includes a Russian spindle, gossamer tread spinning and Orenburg knitting DVDs and more! Normally is sells for about $125, but at this time it is on sale for only $54.99!
   

Antique Spinning Tools - The Distaff

  I love history, and when history and spinning are in the same sentence you definitely have my interest! So I love just about any antique type of spinning tool. Including an amazing tool call a distaff. There are different sizes of distaffs, but the type I am posting about today is called a belt distaff. It is about 3 feet long, and the bottom end is tucked in a belt while you use it. You are able to wrap a lot of fiber around the top of the distaff, giving you the ability to take most, or all, of the fiber for a project along with you. So you don't need to dig more fiber out of a project bag, it is already held neat and orderly on the distaff and is ready to use at any time. Below are some pictures of my belt distaff while it is bare, being dressed, and fully dressed and ready to use. I could have put a lot more fiber on it, but for my current project I only needed this much fiber. So as you can see you can put on as much or as little fiber as you need.    

   

The County Fair

Yesterday I picked up both of the items I entered in the county fair. My hand woven plaid tri shawl won 1st place in the loom woven items category! And my hand spun/hand woven purse won 2ed place in the same category! I had a lot of fun entering them and I am looking forward to next year already!

Fiber Fun Month ~ Ashford Niddy Noddy Review

  I am so glad I got a Niddy Noddy from Ashford! It has a simple yet lovely design and it works amazingly well! It is a great way to wind up your hand spun yarn straight from the spinning wheel bobbin. And it is a wonderful tool for telling how long your yarn is while you make it into a skein. The niddy noddy is made from turned Silver Beech hardwood and is really easy to use. I put a danish oil finish on mine and I love it! All I had to do when putting it together was just put both ends onto the middle bar. Some people like to glue the ends on, but I like to leave mine just the way it is without any glue. That way I can take it apart if I need to for easy traveling, storage, etc. And with the specially shaped crossbars the skein is easy to get off when you are done. It is a wonderful tool for anyone who enjoys spinning, and I highly recommend it!

Fiber Fun Month ~ Hog Island Sheep Wool Review!

  When I opened the box of wool to review from the Etsy shop, Woolfun, I had a wonderful surprise waiting! It was the most beautiful assortment of wool roving in natural colors, lovely dyed balls of roving for needle felting, and some amazing yarn! And I love how it is all made from the rare Hog Island sheep wool! It arrived wonderfully packaged and I received it super fast.    The balls of roving are perfect for craft projects, and they have been dyed in such lovely colors. The Hog Island sheep wool works wonderfully for needle felting! The wool felts very fast and does a great job. It holds it shape very well, and is one of my new favorite wools to felt with! And with all the colors they have available at Woolfun there are so many options. I received 5 different colored balls of their roving and I loved it!    The yarn I received was so lovely and knitted up really nicely. The natural color and spinning style have such a wonderful country look to it. I really enjoyed using it, and I know there are a lot more projects that I would have loved to use it in!   The natural colored roving I received spins up very nicely, and I love the bounce Hog Island wool has to it. It's also great how the Hog Island wool makes such a lofty yarn. And since the wool works so well for woolen spinning and for felting it is a great type to always have on hand. And I love how there are different natural colors available in their shop as well as the dyed colors. The natural white, dark brown lambs wool, and the light brown roving are wonderful colors. For people who love rare sheep with great wool the Hog Island wool is a must try!   One other thing I love is that with items bought from Woolfun you not only get wonderful products, but you also help support a great rare breed of sheep!      I received these products free from the owner of Woolfun for my honest review. The opinions are my own.

Fiber Fun Month ~ Shop Interview with the Owner of Woolfun

Hi Fawn, please tell us more about your lovely shop, Woolfun. What types of items can people find in your shop?
My shop has a variety of products from a rare heritage breed of sheep called Hog Island sheep.
There is roving both natural and dyed. I sell the roving in amounts for spinning and in smaller packs for needle felting.
There is also natural and dyed yarn. Lore hand spins and hand dyes the yarn here on our farm.
She also knits child and adult hats that she Ombre dyes.


What inspired you to start your shop on Etsy?
I got my first breeding group of 5 sheep about 7 years ago. It was the first time I had raised sheep and I quickly fell in love with their sweet temperament and easy care. When summer rolled around I got them sheared to help them stay cool and found myself with a bunch of wool. My life long friend Lore is an incredible crafts woman and she immediately took an interest in learning to dye and spin the wool. The next step was an Etsy shop.


Please tell us more about the Hog Island sheep breed. What kind of history do they have? What are the sheep like?
Hog Island sheep come from a barrier island call Hog Island off the coast of Virginia.
The first flock was established in the 1700's using local sheep of British origin. They lived there with people till the 1930's when a string of storms caused everyone to leave the island for the mainland. By 1945 all the people had left and taken most of their livestock with them. The sheep that remained would only see people once a year for shearing and tagging. In 1974 the Nature Conservancy bought the island and removed the last of the sheep or so they thought. Four years latter the Virginia Coast Reserve found a thriving flock showing how resilient these sheep are. That flock was removed in 1978.
They are still a very rare breed with less than 500 individuals alive today.
You can learn more about them on ALBC's website at
www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/hog-island
Because of their history of independence and isolation they are a very hardy breed. They are easy to care for needing very little worming and their feet stay healthy.
They are alert and stay in a tight flock but are not overly skittish.
I find them very intelligent and when bottle raised they love to cuddle and can even be taught to walk on a leash.  


What type of projects can Hog Island sheep wool be used in?
Hog island wool is good for needle felting because it is a quick, tight felting wool that holds its shape very well.
It spins into a beautiful dense yarn having good stitch definition and it wears well.


What would you say is your favorite part of having a shop on Etsy?
I absolutely love this breed of sheep and feel they are special animals with a unique fiber that more people would enjoy knowing about. I really enjoy having an Etsy shop where I can share my passion with other like minded people.


Thank you for taking the time to do a interview Fawn, do you have any final thoughts or up coming new items you might want to tell everyone about?
We will be introducing hand painted scarves soon.
I hope you have enjoyed hearing about these super cool critters and their special fibers.
Thank you for your interest in my shop. Enjoy!    

A New Shetland Sheep

We recently got a new Shetland wether! He has lovely gray wool that I can not wait to use come spring! He is getting along well with my other sheep and they all make such a cute little flock. The top photo is of the new Shetland, and the bottom photo is of some of my other sheep with the new Shetland.

Fiber Fun Month ~ Rose Fiber

  Roses and fiber? Now that is something amazing! Believe it or not there is such a thing as rose fiber. It is a cellulose fiber that is made from rose bushes. Rose fiber is similar to bamboo in looks and feel. Plus it is a very easy fiber to spin and is just so lovely. You can also easily dye it in many lovely colors with dye that is for cellulose types of fibers. Plus it is a biodegradable and environmentally friendly fiber.  

Fiber Fun Month ~ Banana Silk Fiber Info

Banana silk fiber... now that is something you don't hear every day! Who would have thought you could have amazingly beautiful yarn from a banana tree. And even though it is called silk it really is only made from banana trees! It is a renewable resource and is similar to Ramie and Bamboo fiber. Banana silk has great tensile strength and a lovely gentle sheen. It can be used in dying, spun into lovely yarn, used in felting, and more! So if you are looking for a wonderful yet really eco friendly fiber you should definitely check out banana silk!

Fiber Fun Month ~ Ashford Hand Carders Review

Let me just start by saying I love my Ashford hand carders! They are very well made and arrived very nicely packaged. They do come unfinished but I was fine with that. Because that way I was able to give it the same type of finish I put on my spinning wheel. And screwing the handles on was so simple. I love how they look once finished. I know they will last for a long time and get a lot of use from me. And not only do they work with raw washed wool, but they can even be used to blend different colors. Plus they have a wonderful curved-back design that I believe makes them easier to use than a flat back design. The carders have stainless steel wire teeth on a rubber backing. I got the standard 72 point and it has been working wonderfully! If you are looking for a pair of well made and lovely hand carders I definitely recommend you check out the hand carders by Ashford! 

Fiber Fun Month ~ Hand Carders

  If you have raw fleeces to process then you probably already know all about hand carders. They are one type of tool that works to separate and straighten the fibers for spinning. They work by putting your fiber on one carder evenly until the carders teeth barely show through. Then you hold one carder in each hand, the carder with the fiber facing up and the other carder facing down. Then you begin brushing the top carder against the bottom carder. Starting at the edge and working your way a crossed the bottom one. Then you trade the carders to your opposite hand and begin again. After you have done that a few times and your fiber is all fluffy and ready, use your empty carder to help roll the fiber off. After you are done you roll up the fiber you just took off the carder for a lovely rolag to use for spinning.     

Welcome to Fiber Fun Month 2014!

Welcome to Fiber Fun Month 2014!  We have a lot of fun posts coming this month so be sure to join us! Tomorrow we will be having our first post about a fiber tool that I don't think I could do without!  

Fiber Fun Month 2014!

  This December I am planning on having another Fiber Fun Month! Where every week there will be new posts about different fiber and yarn related topics! And I even have some reviews planned on fiber and fiber related tools. Like looms, hand carders, etc. So if you are interested in me also reviewing something from your shop just let me know. It should be a really great month with lots of fiber fun planned. So make sure to come back and check it out!

Snow Like White Fiber

I have a new listing in my shop for a ounce of purebred French Angora fiber. It is a beautiful snow like white and cloud soft! I only have one ounce available right now, so if you are interested in any feel free to head on over to my shop and check it out.  

 

New Fiber Listing on Etsy

I have decided to also start offering some of my lovely French Angora fiber on Etsy in smaller amounts for a lower price. So if you have a project that only needs a little, or if you are just wanting to try French Angora fiber out, this is a great way to get it. And since it is a light weight fiber, 1/3 oz. is not a really tiny amount. Below is a photo of 1/3 of a ounce of Fawn colored fiber sitting in a clear box.

Grand Opening Announcement!

I have a Grand Opening announcement over on my new blog, Annes Country Crafts, about my soon to open Etsy shop! If you would like to see it just click on the link below.

Annes Country Crafts

Fiber Fun Month ~ Fiber Review of Black Diamond Carbonized Bamboo

I had seen someone online selling Black Diamond Carbonized Bamboo and I though it would be a great fiber to check out for the review! So I asked her for one of her free samples she gives out. 

It arrived pretty quickly and it was packaged very nicely even though it was just a sample. I have never tried spinning bamboo and I was very excited to get a sample of the Black Diamond Carbonized Bamboo! I had been told it had a very long staple and was a little easier than silk to spin.

 And I must say when I got it, it was a amazing fiber! I can not believe it comes from bamboo! It was very soft, and when I gently rub it between my fingers it reminds me of the feeling of rubbing cornstarch between my fingers. And the color is a lovely dark gray/black.

Plus I love how Black Diamond Carbonized Bamboo possesses anti-odor properties and is resistant to ultra violet rays! And since it is suppose to adjusts well to both humidity and dryness it can work great for so many areas.
If you are interested in Black Diamond Carbonized Bamboo you can click here to see the wonderful place I received mine from. 
Thank you for joining us for the Fiber Fun Month and I hope you all had a good time!