PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
President’s Message
We are in for a nice treat from the program committee at our upcoming February meeting. We have not one, but two learning opportunities provided by our own skilled guild members. Susan Torntore will demonstrate how to identify those mystery yarns we acquired, or annoyingly bought once upon a time, and now forgot what the fiber is.
Nancy Dietch will share with us the learning from her group studying different sheep breeds.
Mystery Yarns and Mixed Warps: Once you identify all those mystery yarns why not try your hand a creating and weaving a mixed warp? I created one several years ago after sitting in on a free program by well-known weavers, Janet Dawson and Tien Chu. I was pleased with my result and mused about the stash busting potential of doing this! The scarf I wove left with my niece but below is a picture of a second warp chain. I used 3 sizes of cotton (one may have been rayon) and linen.
Besides settling on a warp color order, the next challenge is to calculate the correct sett with all the different yarns and weights. Below are a couple of links to good resources for calculating sett of mixed warps.
Breed Study: Even if you aren’t a spinner right now, knowing the source characteristics of wool is an important and enlightening endeavor. Nancy will share (and I think fascinate us) with some of the vast information available on grading wool and the sheep that grow wool
To become further acquainted with the topic, the best quick reference, Nancy says, is the Livestock Conservancy Shave 'em to Save 'em program, 
https://livestockconservancy.org/get-involved/shave-em-to-save-em/ which focuses on Heritage Breeds.
Margaret Radcliffe, a spinner, knitter and instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School, gave a great presentation to the Mid Atlantic Fiber Association in September about her in depth analysis of the various breeds. Locally, Laurie Grow of Fuzzy Britches Farm runs an annual breed study at the Stanwood Library. It meets one night per month, Friday from 4-6 pm. The current class starts in February.
Additional Resources:
- The Field Guide to Fleece: 100 Sheep Breeds & How to Use Their Fibers by Ekarius, Carol; Robson, Deborah.
- A nine page document detailing the grading of wool and sheep that grow wool