The journey of wool!

Last week some friends and I went over to Saltspring Island.

One of them had to go to a meeting and afterwards we

went off to visit a small spinning mill.

Did you ever think of the journey which takes fleece to finished wool?


(Stella from Tugwell Creek Farm)

First there is all that growing of the fleece...the munching of grass and the

long wet winters and then the beginning of summer and off it comes!

Then it is brought to a mill...

           This is a small-ish operation but does quite a bit of processing

for people and shops on the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.

So we begin with raw fleece...

Then it's put into these big tubs for washing which is done with

cold water and NO agitation, otherwise it will felt.

After cleaning it goes into an old washing machine for just the spin cycle.

Then off to be air dried it what is basically a giant dehydrator

about 6 feet by 4 feet...

         Here is Amy who graciously gave us the tour.

She's from the East coast of Canada but lives on Saltspring now...

Here she explains the next step which is a carder...

            The wool is fed into a hopper and then feeds through these fine teeth

to separate the fibres...

It always amazes me to think of the person who invented such a machine!

Next it goes through a series of a few other machines of which I can't exactly

remember what they all do but eventually the one they call

"Rumplestiltskin" spins it into wool...

You do not want to get your fingers caught in these machines or

no more knitting for you!

And magically here you go...

Alternately your wool can be left in the 'roving' stage (which is what I use for needle felting) and can be spun yourself or put into this machine...

The unspun wool is put in between the two big grey trays which have a surface

to agitate the fibres. For now it was being used as a shelf.

It is closed down sandwich style and run for about

15 minutes and VOILA...

FELT!

Sure saves a lot of time and arm muscles!!

Here's some of the waiting fleece and roving (unspun clean wool)...

Tools of the trade...

The Mill...

Small but mighty.

So next time you pull on a sweater or go to knit yourself some socks,

think of the journey this amazing fibre takes to get there.

 

P.S

Just outside the mill is the gate to the recycling depot which had the greatest design!

Recycling at it's finest...

Last of the leaves...

As the weather gets colder and the rains continue to come down,

the last of the fall leaves are swept off the trees, carpeting the path

and eventually turning into food for the woods and the tiny creatures who live under foot...

Griff and I went out to the Boy Scout camp the other morning and I took a chance bringing my

camera. It's been so wet and unpredictable, that I've barely ventured out 

with it, unable to keep it dry for even a brief amount of time.

So glad I took it this day as the rains had ceased briefly 

and there was the world...going on anyway, despite the weather...

The colours are mine...warm and jewel tones.

Not yet painted with the brush of frost and winter.

Just hanging on for a few more autumn glows.

And then he flew over...

The raven.

Soon joined by a mate.

It was so sweet to watch these two tenderly preening and cooing to each other...

The larger birds have begun their mating season and I've seen the eagles playing

in the sky and heard the Great Horned owls calling to each other.

As I walked through the woods, the rain was soft and the constant drip off of the trees

muffled birds in the bush and kept me aware of any larger animal sounds.

When I'm on my own I occasionally stop and listen and look behind 

just to keep aware. Griffin is my sentinel on my walks and keeps me well informed.

 When it comes time for me to stop and take pictures of something, 

he sits down and patiently and waits...listens...and watches.

He knows I sometimes take a while.

He's in no hurry.

Today I found the most delicate oyster mushrooms growing on an alder...

 They were as thin as skin and small and beautiful...

This year isn't the best for our fungi friends though.

It was such a long dry autumn and I think that's why I haven't seen many.

These little chubby ones were only about an inch high...

Now is the time to spot birds nests too.

All of those times that I've walked by this one while a whole other world was

being hatched and raised without me knowing!

The salmon  have long since come up the creek and it's full and wild now, going 

where water wants to go...

So for now a bit of respite from the rain...glad I could share some of our December.

 

Song for Friday...new music

Discovering new music is like opening a gift.

If I hear even a snippet of a voice or a tune that catches me I will hunt it down.

Last week on CBC radio there was a story about Northern Mali

and how the fundamentalist Muslims have BANNED MUSIC.

Of any kind. No radio's, no ring tones on your phone, no cd players and

most devastating to musicians, NO PLAYING MUSIC.

Many musicians are leaving their homeland because they

can't bare to be stifled in their art.

Music is an intrinsic part of life in many parts of the world and

Mali is certainly no exception.

At the end of the program they played a piece from this woman.

Such a beautiful voice. Full of passion.

How can you keep something like that down?

So this week I'm spreading the news of this wonderful woman I've discovered.

Let's hope the "SIN" of music in Mali finds it's way to something better.

Have a great weekend all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpgMsiNkHtk

Wordless Wednesday...

Weather, projects and bird weddings...

This morning the wind was dragging clouds across the sky.

The weather has been soggy and unsettled which makes for lovely skies...

 The rains come pouring down these days and with them the ideas

flow just the same. This kind of weather finds me in the studio, looking out at the deluge.

It's cozy in there with the fire on, full mug of tea and chocolate of course!

The wet felting bug has bit me hard so more experiments and projects have been taken on.

Last Sunday, Norene (mosaic artist extraordinaire) and I made yet more gauntlets...

These ones I made for someone for Christmas.

They are black with purple-grey accents and a few pretty buttons...

My other gauntlets I made, which were too itchy to wear, have become a few

different things, some of which are these wee mittens...

 ...available in my etsy shop...

 ...new life to fabric unwilling to be worn against human skin,

but maybe the fairies can tolerate the feel of scratchy wool...

I've also been burning the midnight oil working on a commission, this time

of a lady and her dog. Apparently she had the same sweater as the one I made for

Dr Paul and Cino

The dog, Mikey, is sadly gone now but hopefully this little sculpture will

be a bit of a tribute to a favorite family pet...

Anyway that's all the news from here...haven't had the camera out and about

because of all the rain.

Maybe today there'll be a break and we'll see whats out there.

Oh, one more thing...there have been a lot of flocks of pine siskins around lately.

They swirl and move as one cloud of tiny wings, chattering as they dive and dip.

When I was a kid, my mom always remarked when she saw a flock of little birds

"look! there goes a bird wedding!"

To this day I always think that when I see a scene like this...