Chitchat and the occasional in-depth analysis about fiber, knitting, spinning, crochet, cooking, feminism, self-image, and a modicum of personal blathering.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

An Anecdote

Been a while since an update.

So I have a story to tell.

A few months ago, I was at the Artists Market with my co-op, the Crafty Cats. I had just acquired my spinning wheel and was in the process of learning to use it. I knew I'd be sitting around all day doing not much of anything, and thought that maybe the wheel would get people to come over to our table and look at our stuff. It did.

I fielded a lot of questions that day. Most of them were of the "did you make that wheel" stamp. Babe's Fiber Garden got a lot of publicity that day! Mission accomplished as far as getting people to our table was concerned, at any rate.

I was working with some practice fiber, some brown wool that was pretty inexpensive, spinning a moderately worsted looking single, and a gentleman came over to watch. I said hello, he said hello. Then he asked...
"What are you making there?"
I answered "Yarn."
He said "No, really, what are you making?"
I said "Yarn, really".
"I don't understand. How are you making yarn?"
I grabbed a handful of wool. "With this. See, it's wool, fiber from a sheep."
He continued watching. I explained, a little, how feeding the fiber into the twist created a single ply of yarn which could then be either used by itself or combined with another ply. He was so mindblown at the very concept of making yarn that he couldn't take anything else in.

It was pretty funny. His worldview changed right then and there. Now he had to think about where things like yarn actually come from. Sheep? Who knew?

Better update tomorrow I hope. It's been a busy week at La Casa Di Fritz.

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