The Independent Stitch

Rare Breeds Survival Trust's 2011 Watchlist for sheep

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust, which monitors the status of livestock breeds in the British Isles, has published its 2011 Watchlist of breeds that need attention to stay, as they say, off the slippery slope to extinction. From the whole list (a PDF), I'm focusing here on the sheep:

Categories are based on numbers of breeding females.

CRITICAL (category 1)

• Boreray

ENDANGERED (category 2)

• Leicester Longwool
• North Ronaldsay

VULNERABLE (category 3)

• Castlemilk Moorit
• Devon & Cornwall Longwool
• Hill Radnor
• Teeswater
• Whitefaced Woodland

AT RISK (category 4)

• Balwen
• Cotswold
• Lincoln Longwool
• Manx Loaghtan
• Norfolk Horn
• Oxford Down
• Portland
• Soay
• Wensleydale
• Whiteface Dartmoor

MINORITY (category 5)

• Dorset Down
• Dorset Horn
• Greyface Dartmoor
• Shropshire

A few random notes:

* The Norfolk Horn is not the original breed, but has been bred back up from near-extinction (just a few sheep), using in part one of the more modern breeds that had previously been developed from a Norfolk Horn foundation, the Suffolk. Called the New Norfolk Horn for a while, the "New" part of the name has now been dropped, even though the successors may only carry part of the genetic heritage of the original breed.

* The Isle of Man cares so much about its traditional Manx Loaghtan sheep that during the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 the parliament, known as the Tynwald, cancelled one of the island's highest-earning tourist events (a massive and famous motorcycle race) in order to reduce the possibility that the sheep would be exposed to the illness.

* The Dorset Down and Dorset Horn are not the same as what is often just called the Dorset (also known as the Polled Dorset, which, oddly, originated in two different locations from two different breeding efforts). (The Dorset Down is one of the six basic Down breeds. The Dorset Horn and the Polled Dorset, while they have Down-like wool, are not on that short list.)

* The Southdown is not on the RBST list, but is on the similar list prepared by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC). The two organizations have different criteria for evaluating populations.

The information released with the new edition of the watchlist notes that some livestock breeds have recently become more vulnerable because of world economic conditions. People who could previously have kept a small flock have had to sell their animals.

I like the format of the new list. It also notes that, over time, the following sheep breeds have progressed from category 1 (critical) to category 5 (minority) and currently have large enough populations to have been discharged from the equivalent of the breed ICU (intensive care unit), at least for now:

• Black Welsh Mountain
• Hebridean
• Jacob
• Kerry Hill
• Lleyn
• Llanwenog
• Ryeland
• Shetland
• Southdown
• South Wales Mountain
• Wiltshire Horn (a hair sheep)

A separate section of the RBST site tracks breeds of sheep that are vulnerable because their populations are concentrated in very limited geographic areas. The categories are based on how small an area contains 75 percent of the breed's population. Breeds at risk for this reason include:

CRITICAL (category 1)

• Exmoor Horn 
• Whiteface Dartmoor

ENDANGERED (category 2)

• Rough Fell

VULNERABLE (category 3)

• Herdwick

AT RISK (category 4)

• Devon Closewool

MINORITY (category 5)

• Devon & Cornwall Longwool

You'll note that the Whiteface Dartmoor and the Devon & Cornwall Longwool face the double whammy of limited overall numbers and high geographic concentration.

Changes among the sheep from the previous list

I need to keep and archive copies of the official lists, marked by the year (the RBST PDF for this year is clearly labeled, but I think that's new). I do have extensive notes, and copies of web pages, and (somewhere) dog-eared copies of pages pulled from old copies of RBST and ALBC publications.

Breeds don't tend to move quickly up or down on either the ALBC or RBST lists: conservation is a slow process. For The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, co-author Carol Ekarius (the livestock person, to my fiber side of the equation) wisely suggested that we provide a label for "conservation breeds" instead of listing specific categories for the individual breeds. That overall status isn't going to change quickly, whereas the breeds' specific locations within the population assessments do move over broad swaths of time.

Handfuls of individuals can make a major difference in a breed's prospects—in either direction. Any shift in status, either up or down, is worth remarking on.

According to my notes, there were two shifts among the sheep from 2010 to 2011.

• Cotswold moved to category 4 (at risk) from category 5 (minority)
• Whitefaced Woodland moved to category 3 (vulnerable) from category 4 (at risk)

These breeds have both moved in the more vulnerable direction, toward lower populations. They are breeds with very deep histories, each located with a specific landscape.

Cotswold

Cotswold, one of the luster longwools, comes from the Cotswold Hills, on the western and southern edge of central England (how's that for a confusing description? check the map for the area I'm talking about). The breed once was a major support of the British economy.

It is a lovely handspinning wool, excellent for knitting and crocheting and exquisite for weaving. The breed contains genetics for a range of shiny fleece colors from black through a variety of grays to glistening whites.

Whitefaced Woodland

Whitefaced Woodland, from sheep with durable constitutions that originated in the southern part of the Pennine mountain range, produces fiber that is quite variable from animal to animal, with some coarser and some relatively finer (although none gets past "medium" in feel). The wool, like their faces, is white.

I knitted the swatch with Aran-weight Whitefaced Woodland yarn from Garthenor (spun at Sue Blacker's mill). The pattern is #107 from Knitting Patterns Book 250 by Hitomi Shida.

_____

P.S.

Sheepwatching notes: Even though its breed is not labeled, and I am (as noted above) a fiber rather than a livestock person, and I'm open to information that might correct my notes, if I had to say what breed is in the photo at the top of the RBST's list I'd sure pick Oxford.

The sheep in the photo is undoubtedly one of the six core Down breeds, because of its colored face and white wool—well, and the general shape of the face. Three of the six core Down breeds are on the current Watchlist (Dorset Down, Oxford Down, Shropshire; a fourth, Southdown, is on the ALBC rare breeds list; Hampshire Down and Suffolk are not on either list). There are other breeds that have colored faces and white wool, but the Down breeds have a kind of characteristic "puffy" look (that's a highly scientific descriptor that I just made up).

It isn't a Dorset Down, because they have lighter colored (generally brownish) faces. (It's not a Dorset Horn, because they have white faces and they also have distinctive horns on both rams and ewes!)

Shropshire is another possibility, and Shropshires' faces are darker than those of Dorset Downs, but they have a somewhat differently shaped profile and growth pattern of wool on the face.

Although not all Oxfords have as much wool on their faces as the sheep in the picture, many do (and some have even more). Plus the face shape is Oxford-y, if I dare say such a thing. Oxfords are sturdy sheep, and they are exceptionally large. Size isn't something we can gauge from that head shot, but we can get hints of posture. And that sheep looks like it's standing in an Oxford pose: sort of upright and staunch. I vote for Oxford.

3 pounds 10 ounces (1.6 kg)

Yesterday the first six (6) copies of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook arrived at the publisher's. This morning, I received an overnight box.

What you probably can't see on that package is the weight on the label: 5 pounds (that's 2.27 kg). Of course, that includes the packaging. Yet it's unquestionably a substantial shipment.

I want to share with you one of the most magical moments in publishing: the first glimpse of the completed book. It's still thrilling, even after all these years in publishing. Despite the fact that it's a given that the work will not be perfect (no book ever is, no matter how hard everyone works to achieve perfection). The experience of seeing and opening the REAL book for the first time is an event to savor.

There are lots of photos in this post. I have made them as small as possible; I hope they won't tax anyone's internet connection, so you can enjoy this process along with me.

Packaging components = outer carton, bubble-wrap, and lightweight brown paper protective wrapping.

The people at Storey understand how special this moment is. Editor Gwen Steege made sure this copy got shipped to me as soon as possible, prepared like the treat that it is.

Wonderful paper, tied with yarn. Need to examine the wrappings properly. There's a little hide-and-seek involved.

And a variety of critter variations—I'm only including those that regularly provide fiber.

Turning the package over to open it without tearing the paper, more sheep show up:

Inside: a real book. You mean we've been making a book? That's been the theory, but this is when it feels like something other than a mirage that keeps receding into the distance instead of getting closer.

It's thick.

I took it downstairs to the office and weighed it. Book alone: 3 pounds 10 ounces (1.6 kg).

Opening up: We ran out of room for the maps inside, so a creative decision put them on the front and back endpapers. Editor Deb Burns masterminded this piece. Easy to refer to!

Here's the official first spread:

And looking at a few familiar pages, out of order because I'm just browsing, seeing them finally in the form they have been destined for:

. . . I remember spinning those . . . and these. . . . 

Those are the Lincoln Longwool samples up there. Here's part of the treatment of the Romneys:

Co-author Carol Ekarius is especially brilliant at locating material for fascinating sidebars. We all ended up searching for just the right animal photos, but Carol did the heavy lifting on that part of the book, in conjunction with photo editor Mars Vilaubi at Storey. I'm especially fond of that Romney photo, although don't, please, ask me to choose favorite pictures. I can't; there are too many candidates.

Shortly after the book arrived, Carol and I were on Skype, typing messages back and forth. She had meetings all afternoon and was going to have to wait until she got home to see if she had a box, too.

Here's some of the Karakul information. . . .

And something I'm seeing for the first time: the index, prepared by Kathryn Bright, who is a fiber and animal person as well as a professional indexer (among her other amazing skills). I'm so pleased that she was available for this job.

Area maps from the back endpaper, and photos of two relieved writers (my photo was taken by Kristi Schueler, another multiply gifted fiber person—thanks again for making me look so good, Kristi!).

And the back cover, with a bunch of wonderful quotes by people I didn't know had seen advance copies and sent such encouraging words to introduce the work to potential readers (and browsers: the book is really friendly both to random-and-casual and to linear-and-comprehensive encounters).

Returning to the front. . . .

Both Carol Ekarius and I thought we'd see copies for the first time at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It's delightful to have this opportunity to get to know the book ahead of time.

Yes, this is the book I have wanted to consult myself. It's in a form that is beautiful and, unlike the clutter of research notes and files or even the proofing pages, easy to leaf through.

Wow. It's real.

___

John Polak, who took all the studio pictures, was interviewed recently on how to photograph fiber.

Interviewer: "Tell me about a particularly interesting shoot or challenge that you have taken on, in photographing fiber arts/textiles."

John's response, shortened: "A new release this Spring titled The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook authored by Deborah Robson & Carol Ekarius. . . . The process of shooting that book with the author and the art director, here in my studio, and keeping all these fibers organized and labeled was immense. But the result is probably the most beautiful book I’ve ever worked on."

___

It is indeed beautiful, thanks to all the folks associated with Storey who worked to make it so—more wonderful folks than I can mention here, but Mary Velgos devised and implemented the most amazing design concept I've ever worked with. Maybe ever seen. I'm very, very grateful to everyone involved.

And I'm delighted that it's almost ready to share with other folks . . . as soon as the main shipment arrives on the ship, clears customs, and gets delivered to the various warehouses. Soon!

This year's classes and workshops--all on rare-breed wools

With major help from Beth Smith at The Spinning Loft and Jennifer Heverly at Spirit Trail Fiberworks, supply-gathering for the workshops and classes I'll be teaching this year is proceeding as it needs to. I'll be at the Conference of Northern California Handweavers (CNCH, May, California) and the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat (SOAR, October, New Hampshire).

As of today, we have all the fibers for the May workshop! Now moving forward to prep for SOAR. . . .

I keep talking about this as if it's a big deal. It is. ALL of this year's workshops are focused on rare-breed wools (see that word rare in there?). Some are easier to get our hands on than others, but none of them is a run-of-the-mill [sic] fiber. For CNCH, we are making up 192 packets of fiber. For SOAR, we need 845 samples. I try to think about one breed and one workshop at a time. And that there will only be between 15 and 18 students in each class (otherwise we'd have even more packets).

Here's the line-up of 2011 classes:

Conference of Northern California Handweavers

One 12-hour workshop, over 1.5 days (8 hours + 4 hours)—Rare Breed Wools for Spinners

Some of the most wonderful and practical fibers come from what are now rare breeds of sheep. Come discover kindly wools and beaver wools, double-coats and singles, lusters that have shine and body, classics that have bounce and warmth . . . and, in a number of these breeds, a rainbow of sheepy colours. If we don’t use these fibers, we’ll lose them! We can’t use them—or know what we’re missing—if we don’t know what they are. We’ll explore the range of fleeces, with a focus on the rare ones but likely with a couple of baseline standards thrown in so you can feel the differences, and we’ll spin, play, and open doors of possibility. (12 breeds.)

Spin-Off Autumn Retreat

One 18-hour workshop, over 3 days—An In-Depth Look at Rare Wools

You don’t need a lot of experience to enjoy this class in unusual wools—just a willingness to have adventures. Rare-breed wools come in a huge variety of colors, textures, lengths, and descriptions. They can also be hard to obtain, and spinners often don’t know how to begin working with them. Come get your hands on a selection, and learn how to feel comfortable in the spinnerly wilds! Beginning with the shearing season and a group of special contacts, we’re collecting for this workshop’s pleasure fleeces from as many as 15 rare breeds of sheep listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. You should have plenty to experiment with in class, and perhaps a bit extra to take home and play with.

One 5.5-hour workshop, 1 day—An Intro to Rare Wools

Here’s an all-day excursion that will introduce you to some of the types of wool grown by rare breeds of sheep. We’re putting together a diverse collection of fleece varieties—aiming for 8, so we’ll have a very busy day—to whet your appetite and increase your confidence in dealing with unusual fibers.

Four 3-hour retreat sessions, two per day over 2 days—An Overview of Rare Wools

Come join a quick jaunt through the possibilities of rare-breed wools. You’ll get an overview of what breeds are rare, and why, and you’ll get your hands on samples of at least 6 breeds. Because of the time constraints, this will be a quick hike through the territory, but you’ll come away with a good idea of what the fuss is all about.

Last I heard, there was an available space or two in the CNCH workshop in May.

Registration for SOAR opened two days ago, on April 12. As of this morning, both of my workshops and two of the retreat sessions have waiting lists. When I looked, there were still openings in the Friday morning and Saturday afternoon retreat sessions. I haven't been to SOAR since 1999. It will be good to be back there!

I'm going to "steal" two of the photographs from the SOAR site. I think it's only fair. I took the pictures. They just added the rules around the outside and the drop shadows. (I like the effect. If I had more time, I might do that to some of the regular photos I post here.)

 

Because I took these photos, I can give you more information about them than is available on the SOAR site. The sheep on the left is a Cotswold (photo from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Parade of Breeds), the wool in the middle is Cotswold wool (the line underneath is 4 inches or 10 cm long), and the sheep on the right is a light-phase Soay ewe who lives in Cumbria (and is shedding her wool).

By the way, I love to hear ahead of time from folks who are coming to events that I'll be attending. It helps me feel like I'm going into an environment of friends. I also have a lot more fun planning classes when I know I'll have real people there and not just numbers ("maximum so-many participants").

I'm also planning for 2012, and am almost ready to talk about part of that. It won't be the same as 2011. Then again, each time I teach it's different anyway.

 

 

 

Certificate of excellence, part 3

Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

The Project, including The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook and Handspinning Rare Wools

In 2007, I got caught up in The Project, which was supposed to be a comparatively concise effort, completed by August 2008, and has so far grown to require almost four years and has resulted in the upcoming publication of The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, co-written with Carol Ekarius. I hope and believe the book will delight and inform other members of the textile community as much as the research, fiber processing, spinning, and writing required to bring it into being have supplied me with insight and increased knowledge.

 

 

And then there is the set of DVDs for Interweave, Handspinning Rare Wools. Plus teaching a few workshops on general breed-specific and rare-breed wools.

 

What next?

Well, I could undertake a certificate program (see part 1 of this sequence of posts). That would mean choosing not to write the next book I have in mind; perhaps not teaching workshops on wools, rare and otherwise; and likely not editing and producing publications that present other people's discoveries and support the creative growth of the textile community as a whole.

It would mean I'd need to at least temporarily abandon the exploration of sheep and of wool and of other fibers that truly fascinate me (to complete the initial parts of the certification process). Yes, some of what I know already and want to learn might feed into the in-depth study portion of a certificate program, but I would need to jump through a lot of hoops before I got to that point.

I'm not willing to do that.

When I have read through the requirements of the COE program in its past iterations (the specifications have been revised a number of times over the years, and I don't have a current set), I can already check off the majority of the experiences, although I would undoubtedly have to do them again in order to submit materials for evaluation. I would also need to pay more attention to my spinning in order to produce skeins of the consistency required for evaluation, something I'm loathe to do because it would require me to give up the adventures that have, for example, allowed me to produce the yarn samples for The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, some of which (even though they were all produced in a rush) hint at the possibility that I might have the concentration and skill necessary to complete a COE in handspinning. (Or would I get a COE in weaving? Or do a certificate program in spinning through an organization other than HGA? Or complete a TKGA Master Knitter sequence? Is there a certificate in other types of fiber manipulation, one that would let me further explore nalbinding, luceting, bobbin lace, braiding, and tatting?)

Most especially, there at least one book that I want to be researching and writing next.

A digression about something I've learned from yoga

I've been spinning for more than thirty-five years. I've been doing yoga almost as long. I take yoga classes now and again, and at one point, when I was studying with an excellent local instructor, I realized that I had "given" my practice to her. I was no longer doing it at home for my own pleasure. I was waiting for her to tell me what to do, and for her to correct me.

Because my personal, daily practice is vitally important to me, I quit attending the classes and reclaimed responsibility for my own yoga. Without question, I learned a great deal from that teacher and have incorporated valued elements of what she taught into what I do on my own. I also do continue to support my practice by taking occasional weekend workshops—if I'm lucky and if time, money, and location all coincide, as often as once a year—from people I particularly want to study with.

Despite all these years of yoga, I have never had more than a passing interest in teaching it myself, any more than I have been compelled to earn a Certificate of Excellence. The thought comes; the thought goes. I want to keep these aspects of my life for myself, not give them away, as I do with so much else.

End of the yoga digression

Because I am so curious about fibers, particularly wools and most especially about all aspects of the sheep who grow rare wools, my own spinning will likely never reach the levels of proficiency and consistency that I have admired in the work of others. (It's also a bit daunting to have been in regular contact for many years with yarns by folks like Stephenie Gaustad, Charles Black, Sara Lamb, Rita Buchanan, and Kaye Collins.)

I love spinning, and I love working with the yarns I make. I don't care if they are totally consistent. I can count twists and measure angles, and that type of information makes it easier for everyone to communicate details about spinning through media such as print and the internet. In my personal life, I choose not to count and measure very much. The yarns I produce make me happy. The process of spinning delights me. That's enough.

If I'm going to give in many and deep ways to the textile community, as it seems I am wired to do pretty much regardless of personal cost, I'd rather do so in a way that is both unique to me and, in my opinion, most effective and meaningful. My way seems to be through writing, researching, and supporting overall creativity in others. Not by earning a Certificate of Excellence in anything, as enjoyable and personally satisfying as that might be.

In my opinion, the sheep and their wools need a dedicated advocate more than I need a Certificate of Excellence, even if my concentration in earning such a credential did happen to focus on rare fibers.

So no, I won't be going there.

Stay tuned here for more information on where I will be going. Some of it I can talk about in the very near future. Other parts need to stay tucked away for a while. I do always aim to achieve excellence, although I'm going to need to forego the certificate part.

_________________________________________

Addendum

My editing, coaching, and publishing work is not all about textiles

P.S. As part of earning a living, I also edit books on non-textile subjects. As with the books mentioned in part 2, some of the works highlighted below were staff projects, although most have been done on a freelance basis. My roles have varied widely. Sometimes I've just gotten the writer past a stuck spot; a few involved simple manuscript processing and copyediting; and on others I've guided the process from initial idea to completed book.

 

________________________________

I think that's more than enough for now. I've been knitting a bit, and have some photos to share. Spinning in scraps of time, too, and need to take pictures of that. The knitting and spinning are for the delight of it, and to keep myself moderately sane.

30 days to Maryland Sheep and Wool

It's time to count days to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

Here's my major sign of spring:

The Maryland catalog. I love Maryland catalogs. I don't care if they arrive dog-eared from their travels through the postal system, as this one did, because they'll get dog-eared after they're in my hands anyway.

This year's edition . . .

has something new:

I think this is a fundraiser for the festival itself. I'm learning details by the minute: just got an e-mail with more (below). There have been several minor shifts to keep the festival free, including a request for a shipping and handling fee for mailed catalogs in 2012 and the announcement that there will be donation opportunities on the festival grounds. I think the book signing, a first for the event, is another creative way to support the festival and keep it accessible. (Another way to do this is to buy t-shirts, of course.) Note cash and checks; no credit cards.

So that's Sunday.

There's one slight problem:

Signing times are Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. near the information tent, and the Parade of Breeds is at 12:30 p.m. at the show ring.

Be warned. I am not addicted to alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs. I am addicted to the Parade of Breeds at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I will be taking my "lunch" break to go see the parade. The show ring, fortunately, is not far from the information tent. I'll take my signing pen with me, but I won't miss that event (which, thanks to the sheep, does not always run precisely on schedule, although the humans get it as close to on-time as they can). I'll be at the signing area near the information tent both before and after the parade, though. 

And stepping back a day to Saturday. . . .

I just learned what's happening on Saturday!

For the past several years, Guido Stein has organized a FiberCrawl "after party" for Saturday night. I've attended a couple of times and had a great time (met some new people and new spindles—first time I saw a Trindle—and won a door prize!—a matched set of Lexie Barnes bags). This year, Storey Publishing is collaborating on the party. It will go from 8 to 11 p.m., and will be held at the Sheraton Columbia hotel. There will be, as there have been, food and drinks. I have heard from reliable sources that there will be air conditioning and chairs (I wasn't there last year, but those who were suggest that I should mention this). Bring your knitting, spinning, or other fiber fun. It's that kind of party.

There will also be, or so they tell me, "some giveaways of the book . . . and your presentation." Which means Carol and I will put together about 10 minutes' worth of back story on how we did the book, likely with pictures. That's a work in progress.

Tickets ($10) are required for the after party. Because Storey is sponsoring the event (thanks, Storey!), all proceeds will benefit Star Gazing Farm, described as "a haven for retired farm animals and wayward goats." Check out some of the specific critters who have found a home at the farm, and the philosophy and activities of the place.

Here's a general web page about the party, with links to tickets. For those who are on Ravelry (membership is free), there is a discussion of the party just starting up.

Hope to see folks at Maryland! I will likely be a little spaced out. I'm really comfortable in small groups, prefer not to be the center of attention, and immediately forget my own name (along with everyone else's) when I'm in a crowd. Forgive me now and we'll all have a great time.

I love the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, I get a huge kick out of hanging out with other fiber folk, and . . . it'll be the first time I get to see the book in its finished form, too! And we get to give some copies away at the party! (Of course we'll sign them.)

! ! !

Okay, more Parade of Breeds photos to end this post.

Can you tell I like the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival? Especially the Parade of Breeds?

Lots of good things have gotten started at Maryland. Like the Save the Sheep project, and, ultimately, this book we're celebrating. What will be next?

Certificate of excellence, part 2

Part 1 is here.

Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot *

In 1985, when I began work as editor of Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot (SS&D), the quarterly magazine published for its members by the Handweavers Guild of America, the organization had just undergone some turmoil, and my first task was to produce an issue of the magazine within a month (normally a three-month cycle). Fortunately, I had been working in book and magazine publishing for a while, although not in conjunction with my interest in textiles. I had not produced a color magazine involving advertising. My learning curve was steep. I met the goal on time (a long story in a short period, and it occurs to me that if there were a COE in editing and publishing, I might have been granted an honorary one).

* It's true that there is no comma in the title of the publication.

I was significantly younger then. (Compare the picture below to the sidebar photo. . . .)

As I looked around in the initial stages of figuring out what to put in the next issue, Mary, the (wonderful) secretary (who taught me how to work with a secretary; I hadn't a clue), said, "There are some boxes under the work table that you should know about. They came from someone who has earned the Certificate of Excellence."

I opened the first box and was awestruck. I pulled out skein after skein of jaw-droppingly beautiful yarn. Those boxes contained the materials that Jane Fournier had prepared for her (of course) successful application for the COE in handspinning. Her yarns, samples, and projects had been shipped to the office to be photographed and featured in an article in the magazine. And then there were her clear, careful binders of documentation.

Highlighting Jane's work in the magazine was one of the most rewarding tasks that I performed in my time at SS&D (December 1985–October 1986).

 

I also published Iris Dozer's article taking a look at the COE program, and I attended a COE judging.

 

 

First Interweave, then Spin-Off

In late 1986, I moved to Colorado to be the book editor at Interweave Press, and began producing books on spinning, dyeing, weaving, and knitting by exceptional authors. A year later, in late 1987, I added to my responsibilities the editing of Spin-Off magazine, focusing on the work of handspinners. (The covers of the issues of Spin-Off that I edited are included at the end of the post that is part 1 in this series.)

The pictures above show only a few of the books I produced during my years at Interweave. The first book, begun before I was officially on staff, was Rita Buchanan's A Weaver's Garden. I edited Alden Amos's book as a freelance project after I left. 

For fourteen years, my job was to encourage and showcase the creativity of other spinners, artists, and artisans, in book and magazine form, and to give them resources they could use to increase their skill and satisfaction in their crafts. (Oh, and I was a single parent for all but the first year.) My own spinning, always present, took a definite back seat. I spun for relaxation, centering, and the feeling of yarn forming between my fingers.

Editing the magazines and books, I got to know the fiber expertise of many outstanding spinners. Those who had earned a COE had obviously found in the program a rigorous support for their natural tendencies to master the craft. Many other equally gifted and proficient spinners, of course, had not used the COE as a tool to guide their learning and growth. Yes, there is something special about the skill levels achieved by those who have gone through the program. Yet a program is not the only way to reach a desired goal.

Save the Sheep

I capped my years at Interweave with the inception, coordination, and manifestation of the Save the Sheep project, which included a contest for readers, a juried fine-craft show that toured North America for two years, and a book/catalog that both accompanied the show and served as a standalone resource on rare-breed wools. Called Handspun Treasures from Rare Wools, that publication is now out of print.

A major surprise of the Save the Sheep project was that I had expected to simply gather and print the background resource materials. When I went to do the research to collect the information, I discovered no one had previously assembled the details on rare sheep and wools that spinners would need to know in order to participate. Was there some mention of "spare time" at the beginning of this series of posts? I keep getting myself into these situations. . . .

Nomad Press

Following my time at Interweave, I took on responsibility for Nomad Press, which had been started by master spinner and knitter Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, in order to present her work and that of others who are documenting and passing along important knowledge.

 

Textiles + publishing

To sum up, over the years I have been involved in the production of a number of textile books, as a staff editor, freelance editor, or publisher. Sometimes I simply had the idea and knew who the authors should be (In Sheep's Clothing, by Jane Fournier and Nola Fournier). At other times I coached the author through a stuck spot. Once in a while I have just tech edited. Frequently I have been involved with all stages, from the first idea to the final layout and production. On rare occasions I have written the text from the author's notes and samples. (No, I'm not saying which books those were. The creative work—the heavy lifting—was the authors'. I was simply a conduit to their publication.)

Here's a sampling of those titles:

 

To be continued in part 3.

Spinning as a practice of empathy

There is much grace of action and thought in this video of Renate Hiller:

Thanks to Jean Scorgie for directing me to the short film (4.5 minutes).

On the web page where Jean sent me to find the video, there's a lovely introduction to it by Trent Gilliss, senior editor of "On Being," along with a transcript of what Renate Hiller says in the film.

Certificate of excellence, part 1

A question from Meg Caulmare (whom it looks like I will finally get to meet this year!):

I keep meaning to ask you if you have already earned the COE in handspinning. If not, is your work with rare breeds a base for that (which you would, of course, do in your spare time)?

COE stands for Certificate of Excellence, and she's referring to an extensive self-study program in handspinning skills devised and administered by the Handweavers Guild of America (HGA). 

Meg suggested that I could either answer privately or in the blog. The temptation is to drop her a quick e-mail, but I think it's a legitimate question. It will take three posts to answer in stages.

I have not earned a COE in handspinning, nor a certificate in any other textile craft. While my work with rare breeds might be a base for the focused study required as the final stage of the COE process, I won't be traveling that road in the foreseeable future. As Meg suggests, this choice concerns how I use my so-called spare time. While I do have time and I constantly consider how best to invest it, I can't say that any of my hours (or minutes) qualifies as "spare" {wry grin}. But there are deeper issues here, and a lot of history.

The thought of participating in a certificate-focused program has certainly crossed my mind several times, beginning in the 1970s, shortly after I began to weave for real, when I became aware of the Handweavers Guild of America's Certificate of Excellence program in handweaving, and then again when HGA started to formulate the criteria for the now well-established COE program in handspinning.

Thirty-five-plus years ago, I was spinning and exploring on my own, and with a group of friends. We gathered in my living room almost every Tuesday night and figured out among ourselves how to spin. We did not have access to classes, workshops, or readily available sources for tools or prepared—much less dyed and prepared!—fibers. Our guides were such books as Elsie Davenport's Your Handspinning (a quietly delightful piece of work, now almost completely overlooked) and Marilyn Kluger's The Joy of Spinning, one for techniques and the other for spirit. Our primary suppliers were a handful of mail-order companies. We placed a wholesale-quantity order with Ashford in New Zealand for a dozen spinning wheel kits, which was the easiest way at the time to get a wheel. We made our way forward through a lot of experimentation.

My copy of Marilyn Kluger's book appears to have been lost in the flood that hit this area in 1997. It destroyed most of my textile library, and my Glimakra loom. I'm very pleased that Elsie Davenport's book survived. I've been able to replace a number of the items destroyed by the flood, but The Joy of Spinning is not on my bookshelf right now so I can't take its photo.

In 1977, when an ad for the first (annual) issue of Spin-Off magazine appeared somewhere, probably in Interweave magazine (which I don't think had yet become Handwoven, although I've been digging in enough boxes that I don't think I'll check that fact right now), I immediately ordered it—oh, the wonder when it arrived in the mail! A magazine dedicated to this craft we had rediscovered! I read it cover to cover. I couldn't even have begun to imagine that only a decade later I would assume responsibility for editing the magazine, a role I would fill for forty-nine issues' worth of content.

 

The value of pursuing a certificate seems to me to be devoting one's energy and time to a systematic and careful exploration of an area of interest, of stretching one's capabilities and experiments beyond what one would naturally pursue, and of then putting together materials that represent the studies and having the presentation of words and samples evaluated by other knowledgeable folks.

My work has allowed me to do this in many respects. In other significant ways, my work has channeled my energy into contributing to the spinning community (as well as the general textile and publishing communities) in ways other than those provided by investing my time in earning a certificate.

To be continued in part 2.