The Independent Stitch

A few ways to help save rare breeds and species that produce irreplaceable fibers

I got interested in rare-breed conservation when I realized that the animals that produced most of my favorite handspinning fibers were on the watchlists posted by organizations like the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

That was a number of years ago. Because of the ongoing support of a number of people, some of those breeds are in much better shape now. Some are still very precarious. They all need our interest and help.

Here are some ideas and actions that can make a difference:

• Experience rare-breed fibers for yourself. Some are even clean and ready to spin, knit, crochet, weave, or felt! Check out sources like (in alphabetical order) The Spinning Loft and Spirit Trail Fiberworks.
• Join and/or donate to organizations like the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC), the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, and other organizations (list here). ALBC publishes an annual directory of breeders who may have yarns, rovings, or fleece you can buy. (Google searches can also be interesting, as can careful browsing of the booths at fiber festivals.)
• Support people who are raising rare-breed fiber animals; this includes individual farms as well as historic sites like George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens and  Colonial Williamsburg; help a nearby living history site with its livestock program (help it develop one if it doesn't have one already). When you make contributions, make sure people know you are especially interested in the fiber animals!
• Wear your heart sheep on your sleeve shirt. (With a rare-breed sweater on top for warmth.)
• Learn about the conservation of biodiversity in domesticated, as well as wild, animals; discover and support the work of the SVF Foundation and the National Germplasm Project (through ALBC).
• If it suits your lifestyle, make room in your life for some rare-breed animals. (For genetic conservation purposes, cross-breeding doesn't count. It has other uses. Just not in keeping rare breeds around.) Or help someone who does have them.

Okay, that's a lot. Just pick one thing to learn a little bit more about . . . or just pick up a skein of breed-specific yarn to play with, whether the breed is rare or not. Educate your fingers about what different wools feel like (although this isn't just about wools, of course; we've lost cottons, and we need to safeguard our flax quality, and . . . ). "Merino" and "100% wool" are just the entry points to an amazing universe of options. I've been engaged in this process for years. It's fascinating, and extremely rewarding.

A couple of books:

• Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools (out of print, but still available from some retailers; Google finds it): a small book, full of inspiration about what to do with rare-breed wools
• The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds, by Janet Vorwald Dohner: a big book, full of information and stories; borrow it from the library until you decide you want your own copy; she has the best information I've seen on Santa Cruz sheep

Have fun! And surprise yourself, as I just did in the discovery process of the most recent three posts.

News from Estes Park: Keep the Fleece contest

At the Estes Park Wool Market, I learned about an upcoming project being sponsored by Wild Fibers magazine, along with some other folks. Called Keep the Fleece, it pertains to topics I care a great deal about—and I'm working on a related project myself. There will be a web site, but it is not active at the time I'm writing this (at www.keepthefleece.com, when it's ready). So I'd like to share the initial information that I picked up at the Wool Market here. If you want to submit your work to a contest like this, you can't ever get started too early. It's good to have lots of imagining time, as well as working time.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, when I was editor of Spin-Off magazine, we sponsored a project called Save the Sheep. It included what turned out to be an international juried competition, a traveling exhibit (on the road for two years), a book called Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools (now unfortunately out of print, but still in stock at some vendors), a slide show, and a trunk show of rare-breed samples. It was an amazing endeavor to be involved with, and. . . .

It's definitely time for the next step! How nice that Wild Fibers is the primary catalyst this time.

Here are the basics:

• 2009 is the United Nations International Year of Natural Fibres.
• There's an international contest, with a deadline of April 1, 2009.
• There will be a book published in September 2009 (fast track from the deadline!) that includes selected winning entries.

Here's the front of a brochure on the contest (many details still being ironed out):

Here's what it says inside:

• "We want people from around the world to be inspired by the versatility of natural fibers, and to understand their importance not only as a natural resource, but to the environment and the people who are directly involved in the farming, harvesting and manufacturing process."
• "Four Simple A's (otherwise known as the contest rules): Anyone can enter. This contest is for everyone—professionals and amateurs alike. There is a separate category for professional designers although a single item may be entered in multiple categories where appropriate. For example, a scarf designed by Pam Allen made from Shetland wool could be entered in both the Island Life category (for the island wool) and Pro-create (for professional designers). Anywhere in the world. "Keep the Fleece" is focused on creating a universal fiber community including women who knit with feverish abandon Down Under and cops who crochet on the beat in Guatemala. Any fiber—naturally. "Natural" fiber includes any type of protein fiber (from animals) or cellulosic fiber (from plants). April 1st, 2009. No fooling—that's the deadline. A select group of winning entries will be published in a book available by September 2009—so get busy!"
• "Contest Categories (this is only a partial listing): Camelot, Fiber from camelids: guanaco, vicuna, alpaca, llama, and camel; Island Life, Any fiber that originates from an island, such as Icelandic wool, or sheep native to North Ronaldsay, St. Kilda, etc.; Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, Plant fibers, including but not limited to cotton, hemp, jute, and coconut; Inch by Inch, 100% pure or recycled silk; Like a Virgin, Any fiber from a young animal (kid mohair, baby alpaca, etc.) . . . "

Because the organizers haven't completed the categories, I'm not going to key in the rest, but that gives the idea. Whatever natural fiber anyone wants to work with, there will be at least one category and probably more to choose from.

Sounds like fun. My time's already committed, so it's extremely unlikely (one chance in a million) that I'll be entering, but many of the activities I'm committed to are related, so some of my posts may be helpful to those who will be participating.

I'm planning, for example, to talk soon about today's task: washing some rare breed wool that sure wasn't raised with handspinners in mind. But now I've got to go tend the soaking bowls again.

Estes Park Wool Market: some comments, and a few goats and sheep

The Estes Park Wool Market was held near the roof of the Rocky Mountains this weekend, and I was there both days. I just cruised around and visited and generally took a break from being in the office and beset by deadlines. Yes, I got some work done, but it was hanging-out-and-learning kind of work. It was both productive and low-key.

I don't have many photos, because I was knitting and listening and watching and chatting most of the time (I had a spindle, but never stayed in one compatible-for-spinning place long enough to pull it out).

If you just go to Estes Park and visit the vendors, it's worth the trip but you've missed a lot. In addition to the fiber-related vendors, the sheep-to-shawl, the skein and finished item competitions, the workshops, and the regular sheep and goat fleece show, the Estes Park Wool Market brings in a lot of species- and/or breed-specific shows. This year, these events included:

• Camelids: 2008 AOBA (Alpaca Owners and Breeders Association) Certified Alpaca Fleece Show
• Camelids: Paco-Vicuna Fleece Show
• Camelids: ALSA (Alpaca Llama Show Association) Llama Show
• Camelids: Llama Fleece and Fiber Show
• Goats: Angora Goat Show
• Goats: 2008 Nationals of the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association
• Goats: Cashmere Goat Show
• Sheep: Natural Colored Wool Sheep Show
• Sheep: 2008 Bluefaced Leicester National Show
• Sheep: Classic Breeds Specialty Show (Shetlands, Black Welsh Mountain, Icelandic, and Jacobs)
• Sheep: White Handspinning Sheep Show

There was even more, of course.

Whenever I go to a festival without a teaching agenda, I can't possibly see everything that goes on, so I pick a couple of activities that seem interesting and/or handy and that I don't know enough about and I settle in for a while.

Animal judging takes time. On Saturday I spent several hours around the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association contingent's 2008 national show. There were a lot of great goats, and I have no photos of them. I did complete about another inch of my blue Aran-style cardigan (I'm on the body).

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I wandered around the vendors' barn on Saturday afternoon, managing to see about half of it after the morning crowds had dissipated.

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And on Sunday morning, I watched the Youth Showmanship part of the goat shows, which was open to any young person with fiber goats to show but the part I saw was definitely dominated by the cashmeres. The three classes were: Novice, 10 and under; Junior, ages 11 to 13; and Senior, ages 14 and up. Most of what I saw were the senior exhibitors.

Here was one of my favorite goats:

This is, indeed, a cashmere goat, although the cashmere (undercoat) has been combed out. Each of the exhibitors carried a great big bag full of fiber so the judge could evaluate that as well as the animal. There's one edge of a fiber bag visible on the left side of the picture above. In the photo below, you can see one of the bags of fiber produced by the goat in the background: the exhibitor has goat lead in one hand and fiber in the other.

That goat in the front was called "Grandma" by the judge. This goat apparently has triplets every year. And, as the judge pointed out, she is "still covered in cashmere" (even though a bunch had already been combed out and was in the requisite bag). The cashmere the judge was referring to is the soft down that looks like fluff all over her. Grandma was awarded first prize in the "aged doe" (adult female) class, and she and one of her offspring took home the blue in the "mother-and-daughter" class as well. I liked that she won lots of recognition. The judge remarked several times on how old she was, and how good she was.

Later in the afternoon, I made my way through the goat, llama, alpaca, paco-vicuna, and sheep areas, with intervening forays into the vendors' area to see what I'd missed on Saturday and to visit with friends. Sunday is lots quieter than Saturday.

I'm quite fond of Karakul sheep. I like spinning their wool, too. Long ago, when I was learning to spin, I ordered three Karakul fleeces—black, white, and gray—and washed and spun them all. It was a great experience and I wove the results into a rug. Karakul makes fantastic rugs: colorful, durable, with appealing texture.

Here's a lovely red Karakul, with a black one behind her and a multicolored one on her left. I haven't seen mixed coloring like that lefthand sheep before (at least not on a Karakul).

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The Karakul's coloring looks like it has had an influence on our dog Tussah's. Tussah will be featured in tomorrow's post.

Getting started in weaving (in Israel, or maybe elsewhere)

I never know what I'll find in my e-mail inbox. Today I received the note included below. I'm not entirely sure how I got this set of questions, because not that many people know that I have been a weaver even longer than I've been a spinner (but not longer than I've been a knitter). I met the woman who sent this inquiry at a writing conference in New York almost exactly two years ago.

My son-in-law in Israel, who is a weaver, wants to buy a non-computerized floor loom and was wondering if you could advise him on how to go about doing this.

* Should he buy a new loom?
* Do you know how and where he might be able to find an old and good looms?
* Do you publish magazines on weaving or can you advise where he can obtain them?
* Where can he find classified ads for looms and weaving supplies?

My responses were quite quick, because my breakfast is cooling and my list of tasks is long. But they may be useful to someone else as well, and I've expanded a bit from the request for information on a "noncomputerized floor loom" in my comments below.

New or old loom—doesn't matter, as long as it works. For a multi-shaft table or floor loom, it's good to know ahead of time that all the parts are there, that they are all hooked up correctly, and that all the beams are precisely parallel. That's harder with a used loom, especially from a distance.

Prices for looms can be all over the map. You can get set up with a primitive-style loom for $25 or so (you can even assemble or build a simple and effective loom yourself). Table looms and small floor looms run in the hundreds of dollars, and big floor looms get into the thousands.

The quality of the weaving depends on the weaver, not the sophistication of the equipment. I like all looms that work well (some fancy looms don't). You can do a lot of superb weaving on so-called primitive looms, like backstraps and inkles and rigid heddles or with cardweaving, but your son-in-law is obviously interested in multi-shaft looms. There are lots of reasons that they are wonderful to work with, even though they are more expensive than and not as portable as the simpler looms.

In the more complex styles of looms, a table loom is fine to start with, and useful forever, as long as it's sturdy. Four shafts (or harnesses) are plenty to work with, and a four-shaft loom always comes in handy even if a weaver decides to get another loom with more shafts later. I have eight shafts on one of my looms, but there's so much to do with four shafts that I really don't need them often. Even though they're fun. The floor loom he's looking for would let your son-in-law balance the effort of weaving between arms and legs, and there's a rhythm to working on a floor loom that isn't available with other loom types. I have both table and floor looms (as well as so-called primitive equipment).

There's a site for used equipment (and fibers, and books . . . ) called Spinners', Weavers', and Knitters' Housecleaning Pages; it's a terrific resource. Participants are being asked to contribute a bit to support the site's maintenance, and contributions are well deserved. The trick would be arranging shipping to Israel. The sellers tend to be individuals who might be challenged by the prospect of arranging for the safe movement of a large, heavy piece of equipment across multiple thousands of miles.

There are undoubtedly looms closer to Israel, but I'm not sure how to find them.

There are lots of other great new looms out there, and a number of fine makers of looms. Schacht Spindle Company produces a wide array of excellent looms and has been around long enough that the folks there could probably figure out shipping to Israel. Schacht's offerings should definitely be on anyone's short list of loom prospects. While you're checking out the equipment, take time to discover Violet Rose, the blog written by Jane Patrick, a gifted weaver and writer and the former long-time editor of Handwoven magazine (noted below).

I don't publish magazines on weaving.

Handwoven magazine is the primary resource for weavers and includes superb classified and display ads for equipment and supplies. It's edited by Madelyn van der Hoogt, who knows an astonishing amount about weaving, especially magically complex weave structures. She serves up a continually fresh array of projects and ideas in Handwoven.

The best publication that I know of for systematic understanding of four-shaft structures and design—for weavers at any level of experience—is Weaver's Craft; a set of back issues would be a good idea for anyone interested in weaving on table or floor looms. It's written and published by Jean Scorgie, another former editor of Handwoven magazine and one of the best technical weavers that I've ever met . . . who also has one of the finest design abilities I've encountered. Jean can present a weave structure that I know really well and I'll learn new things about it.

But I've been so busy with computers and publishing that I haven't woven in way too long.