Back from Black Sheep Gathering

I'm exhausted and the kids have squabbled nonstop since I got home Sunday night, but otherwise I had a great time at BSG!
If you were there, I was the one with the plastic spinning wheel; apparently it was the only one there and it was cause for much comment. I should get a commission from Babe I talked to so many people about that wheel.

I even won one of the raffles--an Ashford charkha and a half pound of tussah silk roving! I was so excited I squeaked very loudly and tipped over my chair! It's the raffle I reallllly wanted to win. A charkha, for the non-fibery among you, is a kind of spinning wheel that you crank with one hand while you spin with the other. What makes it different from my other spinning wheels is how fast it spins--WAY WAY fast, meaning it's really well-suited to very fine yarns and short fibers like cotton. As an example, with my regular wheel every time the wheel goes around once the flyer goes around 3 to 6 times depending on how I have the wheel set--1:3 to 1:6. The charkha spins 1:19 and 1:60. More twist equals finer, thinner yarn and/or makes for stronger yarn with short fibers like cotton; cotton needs a ton of twist just to hold together.

Saturday my friend Deborah from downstate and skelling from here on TNH (and my knitting circle) visited with me in the spinning circle, and Sunday Karen, her daughter, Leslie and Anhata (from here and my circle as well) came down from Portland for most of the day, so I had someone to immediately share my excitement over the charkha.

I made some new friends, a bunch of gals who came up together from LA. If you've found my site, guys, here's a shout out to Mindy, Laura, Janet and Carol. And also Leslie from Poulsbo, who graciously asked me to sit with her at the potluck when I was wandering around not knowing where to sit.

So, fiber: I got five bumps of Romney wool (two in mostly blues with a little green, two in a color called "honeycomb" that's mostly yellows and golds with a little rose, and one in mostly greens with a little blue). Romney sheep produce wool that's a little rougher than, say, merino, which is very soft, but it makes for good sturdy outerwear and I really like spinning it.

I got a bump each of Wensleydale wool and kid mohair dyed to match in very nearly psychedelic yellow and pink. That's destined for the girls, though I'm commandeering 2 oz of it for some socks for myself. Wensleydale is a kind of sheep that grows very shiny fun-to-spin wool.

I got some naturally green Fox Fiber organic cotton to try spinning on the charkha. The more you wash it the deeper the color gets! It's a very very pale green now but it's just going to get darker. It's grown that color! Sally Fox, the woman who bred the cotton, was actually there and gave a presentation. I tried to spin some of it on the charkha yesterday and failed miserably; someone who knows how to spin cotton is going to have to actually *show* me.

And I got some very expensive-for-me silk dyed in a multitude of jewel tones, from topaz through garnet.

So anyway, this has been a major milestone for me. I drove all by myself two hours to Eugene and two hours back, made friends when I didn't know anyone, didn't buy everything in the barn and took care of myself pretty well. I'm very nearly recovered from this agoraphobia/heart attack thing.