A Coast Salish Blanket hidden in Alaska

While wandering the exhibits, my husband heard what he thought was an announcement about a Salish blanket and rushed over to me. I hadn't heard it so we headed to the front desk to inquire. It turned out a staff member had radioed another asking if they had seen the Salish blanket and that is what he heard. It seemed my earlier email had started a hunt for a lost Salish blanket. Apparently neither museum could find it! I said I was the one who had stared the panic. They were most helpful and apologetic for misplacing the blanket and they kindly showed me all the pictures they had on file. When we finished, somewhat disappointed but appeased by the photos and conversations, we followed the suggestion of the woman at the front desk and headed across the parking lot, into the State building up to the 8th floor where I logged into the internet. Surprisingly (and most fortuitously) an email from the curator 'Come back, we found the blanket!' So back we went and had a wonderful time looking closely at Judge Wickersham's blanket.

In a summer post, I had promised to tell you about a special find in Alaska. It is a relatively unknown Coast Salish blanket once owned by Judge Wickersham. He lived in Washington State, purchased the blanket somewhere there (more on this next year as I follow an interesting lead) and took it with him when he moved to Alaska.  And there it remains, in the Wickersham House Museum...although that isn't where I saw it and that is part of the story of fortuitous luck.
I found out about the blanket from another Salish blanket researcher, Elaine Humphrey, an expert in microscopes. Elain has been investigating the fibre contents of Salish blankets using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) - a fancy microscope for extreme close-ups (see my SEM post). She had been to see the blanket and collect some fibres from it. Most interestingly, there is a small patch of black fibres which when she put under the SEM, turned out to be human hair. There is just a little of this fibre in the blanket. Think about it. Was it the weaver's hair? The spinner's hair? The original owner's hair? Was the blanket dedicated to someone? I would love to know the hidden story behind it.

[Mark Kaarremaa Photo:
Close up detail
showing black hair fibre
next to the blue triangle]

I was already booked on a cruise to Alaska but somehow had the mistaken impression that the Wickersham House Museum was in Fairbanks and that would involve a plane trip from the Alaskan Coast to Fairbanks, not something I could fit in for this trip. I happened to be talking with Elaine the week before the trip when I mentioned this and she exclaimed " Fairbanks! No. The blanket is in Juneau." I practically ran home and phoned one of the state curators who was kind enough to start arranging with the Wickersham House a visit for me.
The day before leaving on the cruise I received an email. It seems the blanket had apparently been moved from the State museum back to the Wickersham House but we hadn't quite connected with the curator there to view it. I hoped that by the time the ship got to Juneau, we had arranged for a viewing.
Internet connectivity is on cruise ships is terrible! It should be inexpensive and a decent speed. It isn't. If you can send emails for free from 30,000 feet above the earth, then surely you can send from sea level??? To make a long story short, we arrived in Juneau and no word from the curator. I assumed that I just hadn't given them enough time. None-the-less, we decided to visit both Museums.

[Photo: Judge Wickersham's
blanket hanging on the wall.]

Cruise ships do not advertise things like local museums. It is a shame. The State Museum in Alaska (see earlier post) is well worth a visit! We entered, paid a minimal fee and the woman at the desk gave us some good hints on where to go next ( cross the road, through the parking lot, into the State Building, take the elevator,get off at the 8th floor for a good view, stop by the library where there is internet service, go out the far door from the 8th floor out to the upper street and then head for Wickersham Museum). We hoped we could remember all that but in the meantime looked around the incredible exhibits. 

Judge Wickersham was bigger than life. Statesman, author, Judge, pioneer, keeper of the peace in the gold rush. He was on the first team of white men to climb Mt McKinley. And wrote 43 diaries in which he recorded life. It is heart wrenching to read his entry about loosing his son. His diaries from 1900 until his death 1939 can be found here.

[Photo: Judge Wickersham]  

The picture at the top is the blanket as of 2013. Note the hole. There is another hole a bit smaller in the lower right just out of the photo. The Judge apparently liked to sit on the blanket on his chair, so the holes line up when folded and also lined up with his tush. Note the picture at the bottom of the blanket on the wall taken before 1940. It is hard to see if this size photo but click the link to see the full image and you will notice it has been folded. The stripe in the middle is really the right edge of the blanket but has been folded in to, I suspect, hide the two holes. Interestingly the blanket also hides the full story of the black hair.

Spinning. All the way to Alaska

'Eltaa' (shaman's spiritual powers)
by Kathleen Carlo, 2005

In July, I had an opportunity to go on a cruise to Alaska with my parents. This is a perfect trip for people who don't have a lot of 'travel energy' (not me! My parents).  They loved it and so did we. this was the year to do it, July was the calmest month for the seas, hardly any wind or waves for the whole trip. The food was fantastic which was offset by the best view on board being from the treadmills in the gym!

My wheel after being fixed
(note the large white
outline of the 'scar'.

I decided to bring my 'Joy', spinning wheel. The rooms are small but there was enough space to entertain two couples sipping daily rituals of gin and tonic and doing a little spinning before sitting down to a late dinner.
However, let this be a warning to others contemplating taking their wheel --carry the wheel on and off the ship yourself. Don't leave it to baggage handlers. I stupidly let them take it thinking the padded bag and the fact that the boat was only 100 yards away would be protection enough. No. When I unzipped the bag there was a horrendous dent in the wheel. Luckily this did not affect the way the wheel operated, but it would need repair before moisture worked its way into the scarred wood causing it to expand and possibly warp the wheel making it unusable. I have a clever brother-in-law who was able to fix it in time for me to take it on another trip the following week.

Back to Alaska...While the glaciers in Glacier Bay were beautiful, and the scenery wild and wonderful, it was the museums that held treasures for me. It is strange that on the cruise, they promoted and advertised 'adventure' activities - take a train to see the Yukon Trail Railway; charter a helicopter to see the glaciers; take a 2 hour float plane ride; ride a dog sled; hike the wilderness; zipline through the rain-forest, etc. etc. Not a word about the local museums. Some people enjoy hair raising, heart pounding outdoor adventures. I do. But a beautifully made textile makes my heart pound and the hair on my neck stand up too!
We lucked into a few things, a couple of which I will do special posts on later (one being a somewhat unknown Coast Salish Blanket).
The Alaska State Museum has an exhibit of Ravenstail weavings. Wow. This is an awesome exhibit, dance aprons, tunics and leggings. Ravenstail weaving is worth a separate post. For now, here's a teaser.

Oh, I did manage to spin 200 meters of plied linen and spin up samples for three assignments: fake cashmere (rayon) and wool blend; soy; and corn silk, between the G&T's and the meals.

Textiles Day 3

First impressions of Washington: People are very helpful. I noticed this earlier having received emails from staff at the Smithsonian but, well, it can be easy to convey kindness, thoughtfulness, friendliness and helpfulness from emails. More importantly, I found it to be true in person. Doormen, security guards, hotel clerks, curators. They are all friendly, relaxed and helpful. Even in the National Museum of the American Indian cafeteria where there was a lineup of people desperate for coffee and food, a potentially stressful situation for the workers, but no, they took it all in stride. The were relaxed and just kept producing and serving all the while with a calm smile on their faces. This was also true of the corner Starbucks downtown, where the lineup went out the door. People seemed happy.
Second impression. Washington DC is a professional, urban city. Lots happening, lots of culture, lots of government buildings, lots of suits and ties, lots of slim working women and a ton of tourists who just may learn something from the locals.

[Photo: National Museum of the
American Indian]

I rented a bike from one of those bike stations scattered about the city. This is the way to see Washington! Although, I also saw groups of people both young and old, scooting around on Segways, those two wheeled stand-up vertical scooters.
I biked over to the National Museum of the American Indian which is a stunning building. Designed by the same architect that designed the Canadian Museum of Civilization. See my blog post about that building here.  
Built into the wall of the atriums' 4 story high lobby are prisms aligned perfectly to cast their rainbows into the bulls-eye centre of the floor at summer and winter solstice.

[Photo:Salish spindle whorls]

While there, a drummer sang and beat his drum in the centre of the atrium. It was a powerful performance with the beat of the drum going right through your being.

And it was wonderful to see, right in the entrance of the atrium, four Salish spindle whorls from home, three old ones, and a new modern glass one 'Sacred Circle' by Susan Point. One of the wooden whorls is from Snuneymuxw (top right)1840-1900, the others are from Cowichan one whorl with salmon and raven carved onto it and the other with a double-headed serpent design both from 1800-1860.

Textile Week day 1

Day 1 was get-to-know-Washington and I started with the Eastern Market. Part farmers market (the local white peaches were mouth watering good), part flea market (costume jewelry is big), part flash back to the 70's (incense, leather goods) and part international (Mali mud cloth clothes, Indian scarves and shawls). But of most interest to me was a little shop next door to the Eastern Market, 'Woven History' - Silk Road Tribal and Village Rugs.
The small, wrought iron fenced front garden was draped in colourful carpets from Turkey, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbeckistan and half a dozen other ---stans.  Inside, carpets were stacked along 2 walls and in every corner.  Camel bridles, saddles, blankets and decoration hung on the walls, there were even shoes made from hand-woven fabrics.  I tried every pair on, hoping that the size 12 mens, or the size 6 women's might be a mistake and fit me, but alas, not one pair fit.  I felt like Cinderella, except I was looking for two woven shoes.  It was too much to take in one one visit so I plan to go back and find out more about the hand spinning that goes into all the rugs.

Textiles - full immersion

I have been blog absent for a few reasons. There was the usual summer R&R where the brain went on holiday and then the business of the university fall term starting up.  But a main reason/excuse is because I was preparing for a trip to Washington DC for a week of fibre. Three appointments with two museum research centers, a one day workshop on SouthWestern Textile Identification and Analysis and the 3day Textile Society Of America biennial symposium.
All this involved much research into collections databases, emails to collections managers, travel arrangements, scheduling and juggling appointments, etc. Then, a day before leaving I received a pre-reading list! I did a lot of reading on the airplane and have more to do.
You know when they tell you to turn off your electronic devices on planes because you will cause the engines to come to a full stop and the plane will crash and everyone will die a horrible death?  Hogwash.  Or so I thought until I sent a quick message just before take-off.  Well the engines stopped.  All of them.  It was a good thing we were still on the ground.  They had to get a mechanic in to do a reboot (of the engines, not my Blackberry).  I am not sure it was my email that did it but just in case, from now on I will be sure to turn my cell phone off until we are safely in the air.
So I arrived save and sound 9pm last night to find I made a mistake on the hotel reservation and only reserved for the last 3 days and the hotel was full! Luckily the one across the street had a room and at a very good price. Tomorrow is a free exploring day.

Shetland wool - It's a first!

Shetland wool has now received protected status. Just as Champagne, or Feta and Camembert Cheese is protected, ie. you can't sell products using those names, unless of course, you have produced them in those geographic areas that hold the right to use those names. So Shetland wool is the first non-food item to be protected in the EU.
More good news to the Shetland Islanders who are finally making more money from shearing their sheep than it costs to shear them.  

see earlier blog about the Shetlands.

[Photo: Not perfect but close enough
 to 1 TPI]

Speaking of Shetland wool, I have an assignment to spin a 2-ply yarn at 1 Twist Per Inch. Sounds easy. It wasn't! I finally achieved something close to that using a lovely Shetland combed top that I bought from Jamieson and Smith Woolbrokers in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. This is a beautiful wool, a pleasure to spin and knowing the fineness one can spin this, it was, in a way, a shame to spin it so thick. But, I was pleased with how it came out. Now I just wished I had purchased more. But you can order it online here.

From there to here

[Photo: There. Glasgow train station]

[Photo: Here. Ruxton Island, Salish Sea]

Paddling in the Shetlands

From there to here in 24 hours. Travelling is fun but when you live in such a beautiful spot, it's wonderful to return home.






Highlights:

• canoeing in the Shetland Islands
• seeing the tall ships in the Orkney's and Shetlands
• seeing puffins
• watching my mother eat haggis vol au vent
• watching my 82 year old father riding a skateboard on his stomach coming out of a 5,000 year old iron age burial chamber
• learning to spin on a tahkli in the car while being driven all over Scotland
• Salisbury Cathedral
• examining a Coast Salish blanket in the Perth Museum
• seeing a feather cape in the Pitt River Museum in Oxford
• coming home to summer in the Gulf Islands

Paisley - The Shawl, the museum

[Photo from Spurlock Museum]

If one is staying at Paisley, which is where the Glasgow International Airport is located, and if one is passionate about beautiful fabrics, then you must visit the Paisley Museum to find out about the famous Paisley shawls.
Paisley is, or was, a mill town.  According to our taxi driver, in its heyday, the two main mills (Coates-as in J. & P. Coats and Anchor threads) employeed 40,000 people.  Now they employ a mostly volunteer force to keep the Thread  Mill museum open 2 days a week. One of the mills has been turned mostly into flats.  The Coats mills still operates but on a much reduced basis.
I had hoped to visit the Paisley Thread Museum, the Anchor Mill and the Sma' Shot Cottage, a weaving history cottage, but these were only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays and this was a Tuesday.  Sigh.  But the Town Museum had some beautiful shawls and weaving equipment on display.
The weavers in Paisley based their designs on fabrics that came from Asia.  So they did not design the original Paisley shawls. Other mills were doing the same thing and producing copies of Eastern patterns, but in Paisley, they produced the shawls cheaper and quicker than other mills, hence they became more popular and more famous.  I thought it interesting that the museum pointed out that Paisley weavers were notoriously argumentative and British politicians always has a wary eye out for revolutionary actions emanating from Paisley.

The museum weaving expert was on holiday but we were allowed in to the weaving room to look at the equipment.  Pretty impressive.  There were a couple of Jacquard looms set up.  These looms used some of the fist computer concepts - the use of punch cards to control which warp threads were to be raised and which lowered.  This meant one could design complex and intricate patters -- voila, the Paisley patterns.

The shawl grew in popularity as the fashion trended to larger shawls and the design could be shown off by covering a woman's back from neck to ankle.  It was the bustle that killed the shawl. The whole idea of a skirt bustle was to highlight the rear and covering shawls were not wanted. So ended the power of Paisley.  It left me wondering how a town goes about finding jobs for 40,000 out-of-work people? And why didn't the tourist trade try to capitalize on that history?  I was all pumped up to buy a Paisley shawl but pickings were slim.

The Cotswolds

The Cotswolds sheep has what I think is a rich looking fleece with long, lustrous locks of curly ringlets. It is classified as a coarse fibre, but that just means it has a larger diameter than, say, Merino which is a fine fibre. But coarse is a description, not a comment on quality. A better description is that it is a longwool, and that, it is, measuring 6 - 12" in staple length. The locks are often sold as Santa Claus beard.  If you are making something that needs to be hard wearing, a rug, or a tough outdoorsy jacket, then you want a fibre like a Cotswold. But other, more, interesting things can be made. According to Wikipedia, the fibre was often a substitute for linen and was spun and woven very finely along with strands of gold to make rich garments for priests and Kings. And check out this wedding dress done by this shepherdess in an article by the Daily Mirror.

[Photo: Wedding dress of Cotswold locks.
Photo by  Jon Corken of the Daily Mirror]

Cotswold is also known as poor mans mohair because of it's luster. So let's forget the 'coarse' description.
If the locks are prepared in true worsted fashion, that is: hand combed so that all the fibres are parallel and any nips, noils (tangles), and short fibres removed; and then spun carefully also in worsted fashion by smoothing down the fibres and making sure you spin from the cut end to the tip end so that all the tips point in the same direction, then the lustre will be maximized and those who suffer itchiness from wool will find this preparation much nicer to wear.  A woman I know who teaches spinning and who did her Master Spinners research project on spinning for tapestry yarns, found that just by altering the tips to ends or end to tip or plying one with the other or plying all tips to end, the fibre could produce a variety of lustre or yarns that reflect light differently, hence one colour, say blue, spun in various preparations gave her enough reflection variation that she could use it for the ocean and have it showing different patterns of reflected light, just like water will do.
So there we were in the Cotswolds, coming back from an unsucessful trip to Oxford Pit River Museum where the Coast Salish Blanket I had hoped to see had been removed from display for an unknown period but I digress. So there we were on our way back to my brother's place, when we saw the sign for The Wool Church in Northleach, and did a quick detour.
When the British economy was built on wool, it was the Cotswold sheep that provided riches to the wool merchants and tax revenues to the King..

Baa Baa black sheep,
Have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

Three bags full.
One for the Master,
one for the Dame,
and one for the little boy 
who lives down the lane.

Children s nursery rhyme from mid 1700's, and was also the first song
 to be digitally recorded and played on a computer.

[Photo: John Fortey, Died 1458]

And it was here in this church that some of the wealthy merchants and their families are buried  with brass plaques memorials, with their image, some with their wive and some including small pictures of their children.
Take John Fortey, woolman of Northleach who died in 1458 and left $300 pounds, a magnificent sum in those days, to the church. His brass, which is five feet long depicts his image and tells you who and what he is: with one foot on a Cotswold sheep and the other resting on a bag of wool.
But that was then, now, sheep are being raised mostly for their meat and that does not bode well for the many rare breeds of sheep found around the world...although:  on Saltspring Island, where a friend raised sheep for meat and some wool for herself, now has switched to wool sheep since the new abattoir laws in BC which means it is now more expensive to take sheep off the island to officially approved and licensed abattoirs .

[Photo: John Fortey's feet: one on a
Cotswold sheep and the other on a bag of wool]

So while the slow local food movement takes a step back on Saltspring Island, on one farm at least, the wool sheep gains.  And on the Shetland islands where Shetland sheep are raised, they have lately been left to 'rue' that is to naturally shed their fleece.  Since paying for shearing cost more than they could get for their fleece, it wasn't worth shearing.  But lately, the price of wool has risen and now the sheep are getting shorn and the farmers are making some money on wool.
So maybe the wool fortunes will return to the Cotswolds.

[Photo: Small brass of a sheep and a bag of wool]

Knitting Mecca

[Photo: Fair Isle knitting on display
in the Shetlands]

If I were a knitting fanatic or, I suppose, a serious knitter, or just a good knitter, which I am not, but if I were, then knitting mecca would be the northern Scottish Islands: the Shetland Islands, Fair Island. Think Shetland lace, wedding ring shawls, FairIsle Knitting with multi colours And, of course, knitting meccas need fibre, lots of it, and spinning techniques designed to use the best characteristics inherent in that fibre. So knitters and spinners should head north to those islands.

[Photo: Knitted lace, with wool
 spun thinner than thread]

The Shetland Museum is a modern museum where many objects, too many to display, are also accessible in pull out drawers or pull-out wall displays. The museum, thoughtfully, provides lightweight plastic stools, useful when you just need to sit and gaze in awe for hours at a lace-knit bodice, a FairIsle vest, or try to see the ply in the cobweb yarn.

[Photo: Cathy's shawl based on a
design  of a shawl over
100 years old]

We quickly connected with a visiting spinner and weaver from California and joined her in an impromptu textile talk by two of the staff, appropriately sporting FairIsle vests as part of their uniforms.
Cathy show us a lace shawl she knitted for Cushla to wear at her daughter's wedding in New Zealand. See the picture to the right.  Cathy made up the pattern based on a 100 year old shawl on display.  No pattern, she just thought it through.
While in the Orkneys we also stopped in the small textile museum run by the Shetlands Islands Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild.  A small museum but someone is always there to demonstrate spinning or knitting or just to chat with you.  They have a small collection of knitting and woven goods on display.  Well worth the visit.
They told us the best quality lace knitting is done by the women of Unst.  So off we went to Unst, one of the smallest and most northerly Shetland Islands.  There we found another small museum with some exquisite knitting on display and for sale but the best pieces knitted with cobweb yarn had already been sold, leaving the very fine lace weight (and I had previously thought that was the finest until I saw the cobweb yarn).  Next door was a wonderful boat museum with a varietuy of small open boats and related gear on show.

[Photo: Unst bus shelter]

While on Unst and having done some advance reading before leaving home, I knew to look for the Unst bus shelter, the most northerly bus shelter in the UK.   Apparently the locals decorate it and each year pick a new theme and given the Tall Ships event in the islands, they picked a pirate theme.  We almost blinked and missed it but here it is.
Only a couple days after we had been, BBC did a 3 minute video on a Day-in-the-Life of the Unst Bus Shelter  The bus shelter even has it's own web site.
There isn't much on Unst but what there is is impressive.

The Perth Coast Salish Blanket

[Photo: Perth Coast Salish Blanket, photo from the Perth
 Museum web site]

As part of my research into Coast Salish spinning techniques I arranged for access to view what is known as the Perth blanket, as it is in the Perth, Scotland Museum and Art Gallery. There is a bit of a mystery surrounding the blanket. We are not sure who collected it, from where, when, or from who. Colin Robertson a Hudson Bay employee in the 1830's, had the blanket collected for him but it is not clear who collected it.   Robertson himself never visited the Fraser River area. The packing slips for Robertson's whole collection were filled out by James Tait ???? We do know it was shipped in 1833, so we know it is probably older than that. We also know it came from the Fraser River from near what was Ft. Langley and the Snuneymuxw summer camp was  the closest village to Fort Langley

Quest for Puffins

Up to now, I have only ever seen one puffin, and that was only a fleeting glance as it flew over us when we were kayaking off the west coast north of Tofino.  To see puffins, in the wild, up close, has been a quest of mine for years.
When we first moved to Protection Island, 20 years ago I happened to read a book that mentioned puffins nesting on the shores of Protection Island in Georgia Strait.  I immediately launched a puffin finding expedition looking for puffins or at the least, puffin indicators. Nada. I circumnavigated the island and found not even a feather. Later, I discovered that another Protection Island existed on the American side of the strait of Georgia.  It was there that puffins could be found.  Not here.

I mentioned this failed search to a friend and neighbor, Margaret, who, in a former life, made radio documentaries for the BBC. She told me of a documentary she did about puffins in Iceland on the island of Westmann Islands. There the puffins nest on cliffs above the village of Heimaey. At fledging time, the young puffs waddle to the edge of the cliffs and hurl themselves off. The idea being to join the puffin pack waiting for them at sea. Inevitably, the little tykes would take a wrong turn or catch a wrong wind current or think a street light is the moon, and end up in the streets of the village below the cliffs  Not an entirely unexpected occurrence and generations of young children would be sent out into to scour the streets with cardboard boxes, plopping wayward little puffs into their container. When the boxes were full, the children would trudge up to the top of the cliffs, face the right direction and fling the puffins back out into space, this time in the right direction, then race back down the cliff to collect another box full and repeat the performance until the streets were cleared of birds and the nearby seas were full of them.
I had hoped to see, if not this performance, at least a puffin or two when visiting Iceland a couple of years ago. Nada. Not even a feather. Although we did see puffins on the menu at a few restaurants  but that wasn't quite the same thing.

[Photo: Old Man of Hoy - puffin country]

So now I am back in puffin country.  The Island of Hoy, near the Ol' Man of Hoy (a stone stack off the cliffs) in the Orkney Islands, is the place to spot them.  So I stood on the deck of the ferry as we passed by and sure enough, there were sea birds to be seen.  I am absolutely positive, well, almost, pretty sure, well, I think I saw one chubby little guy fly past.  But, it could have been a gull.

So I missed a good view of puffins in the Orkney's but then we headed north by ferry to the Shetlands.  Once there (and that's a story for another blog)  we went down to the southern tip, to Sumburgh Head and there they were! Lots.  Many just a few feet from our feet. Puffin city central.
A man there told me about the puffin cam, so now you too can see them live by clicking here: Live Puffin Cam.

The Ronnies

[Photo: North Ronaldsey seaweed eating sheep.  
Photo by Ian Caldwell]

When I travel, I like to have a quest, an aim, something to search for on the trip. A ràison d'detre, so to speak. For the Orkney Islands the quest was to find some fleece from a North Rhonaldsay sheep. These rare breed sheep are rather unique in the world as they have evolved to be able to survive on eating seaweed. Not just as a side dish or in a pinch, but they really live on it. They have developed special bacteria to break down the seaweed into a usable carbohydrate.  Recently, in an attempt to create a few flocks and protect the DNA pool, some Ronnies (aka Rolies) were sent to mainland Scotland and England. Mysteriously, they started to die. It turned out that there is so little copper in seaweed that the North Ronaldsay sheep have developed super absorbency of copper.  So when they moved inland and ate normal amounts of copper, they died from copper poisoning.  Once identified, it was easy to treat.  Interestingly, after two generations, the sheep adapted again and could handle normal intakes of copper.


Our schedule did not quite allow or me to fly from Mainland Orkney Island to North Ronaldsey, so I was disapointed and very envious when I received en email from another spinner from the Qualicum Guild who had the week before I arrived, gone to North Ronaldsay (population 60), saw the sheep, met the one woman crusader who has established a fibre mill on the island, had a tour, met knitters and spinners and had a wonderful time on a knitting tour!  I emailed Karen and she emailed me some tips on where to find some fleece on the main island.

[Photo:Tall ships at Stromness, the Orkneys]

Not only did I find some fleece, beautiful light brown roving, thanks to Karen, but by accident I ran into another woman who keeps North Ronaldsay sheep on a different island.  We happened to be in the Orkneys for the Tall Ships races and the town of Stromness where the main street had been turned into a Fair as part of the welcoming of the tall ships.
And there, at a booth at the fair was fleece!  Rugs.  Stone slate spindles.  Yarn. And Teresa.   Teresa who, with her husband and three sons, live on the remote Isle of Auskerry (click on this link to read all about her life on this hauntingly beautiful island).  Remember, this is where the North Atlantic meets the Norwegian and North Seas.  The wind blows here.  It blows gales.  And often.  This means you, and the sheep, have to be pretty self-sufficient.  If you leave the island, you may not be able to get back for weeks...and vice versa.
Teresa has over, I think she said 300 Ewes and 600 lambs.  This is the 2nd largest flock in the UK!

[Photo: North Ronaldsay fibre.  Very fine
down fibres with longer guard hair fibres]

Teresa sells the tanned fleece hides (very soft) and yarns she has spun.  This is a beautifully soft fleece. The down is a fine fine down, about 28 microns thick. That is a medium wool and kid mohair grade.  It feels silky.  Silky in the way seaweed feels silky.  Or in Scotch brogue, It has a fine hand.  She also sells the fleece and her products over the Internet.  The wool throws she has woven by hand are warm and silky.  So support this rare breed and buy some of her products: http://isleofauskerry.com/

A taste of Scotland

[Photo: Dunrobin Castle]

Food is high on my bucket list. Many of my quests are quests for food (or fibre, or, come to think of it, food with fibre). So far, on this trip I can add these foods to my life list:

• blood pudding (ugg)
• sticky toffee puddin (yummm)
• fish and chips (okay, I have had this before but not in Scotland) (good)
• fudge (yumm)
• chicken stuffed with haggis (tasty)
• whiskey (so far, Highlands is the smoothest)
• cullen skink soup (Finnan haddie, potatoes and onion -- filling)

[Photo: Owl at Dunrobin garden]

The big non-food quest for this trip is fleece from North Ronaldsey Island in the Orkney's. These are sheep that survive by feeding on seaweed. Surely a seaweed diet must make for some interesting fibre!  

[Photo: Hedgehog at Black Isle]

First night was spent in a B&B far from the maddening crowd in the hills of the Black Isle, which isn't black, nor is it an island. Go figure.

Note to self: Read Course Supply List at least two months in advance.

[Photo: Spinning in front of Mt Rundle]

So there I was, the night before we leave for year 3 of the Master spinners course. I had not packed, nor finished my homework when I read the list and start throwing things into bags. Scissors, check. Niddy noddy, check. Lazy Kate, check. Dye pot, check. Gloves, check. 25 skeins, 10 meters each of hand spun, tied off and labeled ready for the dye pot Monday morning. 25 skeins! Holy cow. That's 250 meters! And it is needed for first thing Monday morning. 

[Photo: 23 skeins drying in the
motel washroom]

According to homework assignment #38 - Calculating time needed to spin-- that is about 250 minutes for a 2 ply, or just over 4 hours of spinning. It will take a day and a half of driving to get there which will give me a day to spin, but I have to finish my homework, re-paginate everything and double check all the assignments, as well as checking out the fleece judging. That cuts it pretty fine for spinning 250 meters.
So I spun in the car, I spun in the motel in Revelstoke. I spun with the spindle in the car from Kamloops to Banff. I spun while admiring Mt Rundle. I spun from Stony Plain to Olds. I spun in Olds. I spun up all the mohair roving I brought. All 230 meters. Yes, that is right, I am 20 meters short!

NOT Art yarn

[Photo: Jacey Boggs, wearing a
beehive coil-to-be]

I spent the weekend on Quadra island with an inspiring instructor -- Jacey Boggs, and 11 other students. We were there to learn 'hardcore and softcore' spinning, which is another name for textured yarns and is NOT another name for Art Yarn. Jacey rues the day when she coined the term 'Art Yarn'. The term was originally meant for yarn with integrity, yarn with structure, yarn that is usable and not just something to put on the mantelpiece. But that meaning has been lost and the term is now being used for yarn that is pretty to look at but not much good for making anything. For two days we learned how to create yarns with structure, with integrity. We learned how to make textured yarns, interesting, beautiful to look at, fun and usable yarns.  

[Photo: Stephanie's beehive coils]

We used some wonderful fibres. A beautiful hand painted merino top (sponsored by SpringtreeRoad) which we used for thick and thin yarn and for coils and an incredible batt from Sayra of Atomic Blue. You have not seen batts until you've seen these! Check out their products with the links embedded.

[Photo: AtomicBlue batt and yarn samples.
Much more vivid in real life]

Jacey has a book coming out this fall (December?) on making textured yarns --Spin Art: Mastering the Craft of Spinning Textured Yarn. I think this will be one of 'those' books that will have a tremendous impact on spinning. It will take spinning to a whole new level. I suspect it will generate a lot of buzz and a lot of new spinners. Keep an eye on her blog for this and for her new DVD (her current DVD covers this workshop). Heck, check her blog anyway. She's one of those special people that will inspire you and leave you envious of all her energy. 

[Photo: Michelle getting a kick out
of  being loaded into a tiny boat
and kidnapped]

I came away from the workshop just as energized (v. 1. to make energetic, vigorous or active. 2. another word for overspun kinky single yarn ) as the yarns we made. I also came home with Michelle, my soon to be Master Spinner Level 3 instructor! I have her tucked away in the guest cabin known as the Hilton. Yes. My own private spinning instructor. I may not let her off the island.