Slow Wool

This year I gave myself the gift of an online class with Jude Hill of Spiritcloth. She has one of the nicest blogs and class formats that I've run across on the Internet. Taking her class and working along with the other participants has made me think a lot about the work I do with yarn and fiber. Jude often talks about the concept of slow cloth, whereby a person creates artwork by hand with a lot of thought. The process takes time and evolves incrementally. Sometimes the artwork changes from the original inception and sometimes the artwork changes the artist through the process of working and thinking. Maybe all good artwork does that....
In my own artwork I tend to work quickly with a purpose in mind and the goal just out of reach. Those carrots keep me working diligently - which is a good thing when you work for yourself. But recently I discovered a way to use the mindful techniques that Jude has lead us through in class with my yarn and fiber preparation. I've been combing wool. Wool combs date back at least as far as the Vikings (some are even referred to as Viking Combs) and have been a primary way that spinners prepared fiber. I had recently purchased some raw wool from the Taylor Ranch up in Pinon, NM. Mr Taylor raises Rambouilett Columbia cross sheep and sold me two huge bags of wool.

 The only drawback was that this wool was some of the dirtiest stuff I have ever seen. It is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the girls up in Northern NM who coat their entire flock (See the previous post about the Rio Nutrias Ranch).

 This wool was so dirty I thought it was from GRAY sheep!!! Even after washing thoroughly

there was so much vegetable matter/stickers/thorns/holly in it that to touch it was terrible.

Then my fiber muse Betty suggested that it could be combed. I was apprehensive at first because the combs always looked to me like weapons of torture. (St Blaise was martyred that way.)

I borrowed a set of Wheel Thing minicombs and set to work. Initially it took me four hours to clean enough wool for a one ounce sample.

Fortunately I get faster with practice and was able to move more quickly. It is still a slow process but not nearly as time consuming as the first batch.

This is Rambouilett combed and being pulled through a shell diz.

These are three samples of two ply yarn entirely cleaned and combed by hand. The middle one that is white is the Rambouilett Columbia cross that came from the Taylor Ranch in Pinon - it is fingering weight.

 The black one is a naturally black Wensleydale from Rio Nutrias. The orange Rambouilett was dyed after being cleaned but before being combed and spun - also from Rio Nutrias. 

Of course it was not long before I discovered that it is possible to blend colors on the combs....

The entire process made me think about how I spin yarn and my relationship with the animals. It is important to me that the animals I spin from have a decent life, get to roam free and don't die to give up their wool. Knowing that makes the whole thing more life affirming and better all the way around. This brings me to the concept (via Jude) of Slow Wool. The objective is not to card as much as possible but to card with passion, attention and enjoyment. 

Fleece

With 30 fleece sitting around waiting to be washed and worked into yarn, it was hard to be patient. So what did I do with all that fleece? After washing it, I've been dying it in small batches like this:

Then I carded it on a fine tooth Louet drum carder and added some crystal mylar and sari silk waste - what is life without a little bling?

Then I corespun it into this yarn which is available over in the etsy shop here.

*Sold*

One difference between this corespun and others that I spin is that the locks carded on the fine tooth carder make a smaller and smoother corespun yarn. This is rambouilette with wensleydale locks and is very very soft. The wool takes color well and is not dull at all.

The Back of Beyond

 Usually the trip to the Wool Festival in Taos is a destination all on it's own - much anticipated during the year. This time the most exciting part of the trip took place on Sunday when we were invited to go to the Rio Nutrias Ranch and buy fleece. The ranch is located near Tierra Amarilla which is a couple of hours north and west of Taos through the Kit Carson National Forest. This national forest might be the best kept secret in the west as hardly anyone is up there. This time is year is even more beautiful with the aspens turning. We saw a few camps with hunters as it is elk season but even those were few and far between.

The Rio Nutrias Ranch is nestled in the foothills of this beautiful place. The sheep ranching part is run by two sisters, Veronica Montano Coale and Ana Padilla who I had met last year at Wool Festival. They raise mainly Wensleydale with a few head of Ramboulette to round out the herd of about 40 animals. This is sustainable sheep ranching at it's best. These animals are coated in winter and have one of the most beautiful and lush pastures I have seen in the west. It is unusual to find small growers like this who are not raising churro here as that seems to be the sheep of choice among those who don't raise the animals for meat. Churro is wonderful for colcha and rugs but not what I consider garment quality so to find these wonderful people raising garment quality sheep is akin to winning the lottery. 

 Sheep barns where the sheep and their dog spend the nights.

Sheep along the Rio Nutrias river. No fences in sight, just pasture and shade trees and clean water. What more could a sheep want?

This ranch has a good life affirming feel to it where you know that these animals are not dinner when they have been sheered. Veronica and Ana are building up their flock and I saw the new ram who is solid black. Most of the sheep are white but there will be more color in the future.

Updates in the shop as the week progresses - I'm busy washing fleece right now. I'll be back with you shortly.