Book Review: "The Spinner's Book of Fleece" by Beth Smith

I was given a temporary digital advance reader copy of "The Spinner's Book of Fleece" by Beth Smith through netgalley to review.

"The Spinner's Book of Fleece" is a treasure trove of information for the spinner!  It describes wool working tools, how to pick the right fleece, how to deal with pests, how to know how much twist to add, and how to finish yarns.  It even mentioned making thread for tatting!  (As a tatter, I appreciated that!).  The book also gives the characteristics of types of wool, how to work with them, and some of the breeds in that category.   In the back of the book there are a glossary of terms, metric conversions, frequently used measurements, USDA Wool Specifications, Reading List, and Resources.

This is definitely a book that spinners should have on their shelves!

"The Spinner's Book of Fleece" is available in hardcover:

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (August 12, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1612120393
• ISBN-13: 978-1612120393
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.4 x 0.9 inches

or for Kindle:

• File Size: 56552 KB
• Print Length: 256 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (August 23, 2014)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00GU2RLF4

Grand Rogue Encampment 2013

This weekend was the annual "Grand Rogue Encampment".  We forgot to get the request for time off in soon enough, so Dan had to work.  This meant we also didn't sleep in the tent, either.

Emily got a new dress as her old one was *really* small (I made it as big as I could with the fabric I had)

Andy getting Grandma a drink

The kids each made a batch of biscuits:

Our oven

Just an "artsy" picture of my mug with my drop spindle and wool

Someone made a "stick garden" - I just found it like that ☺

William was the keeper of the fire while Grandpa napped

Will didn't want to walk past the cannon, so he stayed at the tent most of the time

The other 3 kids "went exploring" often

Civil War "battle"

Apple pie we cooked over the fire

Playing tic-tac-toe

Day Two:

Our "Indian" friend.  The kids spent a lot of time over at his area.

He was cutting open one of his heritage watermelons so we could have the seeds.
We had gotten bean seeds from him a few years ago and the kids love growing
the Indian produce. He also gave us some black sweet corn to plant ☺

Our "family" picture

Putting the extra wood back

So I can find my list of things I need to do before next year, I'm going to list them here!

Sarah-new dress and pantaloons
William-let the hems down on his pants
Andrew-new shirt/pants/stays (big boy clothes)
Me-mend tear in Sunday dress, fix waistbands on slips

Happy Distaff Day!

Distaff Day, also called Roc Day, is 7 January, the day after the feast of the Epiphany. It is also known as Saint Distaff's Day, since it was not really a holiday at all. In many European cultural traditions, women resumed their household work after the twelve days of Christmas. The distaff, or rock, used in spinning was the medieval symbol of women's work. Often the men and women would play pranks on each other during this day, as was written by Robert Herrick in his poem "Saint Distaffs day, or the Morrow After Twelfth Day" which appears in his Hesperides.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distaff_day

As a noun, a distaff , also called a rock is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly used to hold flax, and sometimes wool, but can be used for any type of fiber. Fiber is wrapped around the distaff, and tied in place with a piece of ribbon or string. The word comes from dis in Low German, meaning a bunch of flax, connected with staff. As an adjective the term distaff is used to describe the female side of a family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distaff

Rogue River Reenactment 2011

The kids watching the opening ceremonies on Saturday

I'd found this info on a website (that doesn't seem to be working anymore):

Short hair was common for little girls and young teens. The hair was blunt cut, usually at a length to about the base of the neck. The hair was neatly pinned back or a ribbon was tied in the hair like a hair band to keep it off the face.

Long hair was usually braided for play (parted in the middle and braided on each side just behind the ear), then pinned in rolls to the sides of the head. Braided hair was rarely left to hang down, this is only seen on farm/frontier children. Long hair might also be contained in a hair net or rolled into a bun at the nape of the neck. Long hair would only be left down for special occasions, when it would be curled into ringlets

So, since Sarah's hair is longer than the base of her neck, she got a "hair do" (for which Emi was very jealous)

Andy riding the rocking horse

Everyone is nice and warm in their wool outer wraps

Me spinning on National Spin in Public Day!

winding on my new singles yarn I just spun

my basket of wool and my spindle

The cousins playing with the new wagon

Lee Mulder singing tradional Irish folk songs
Lee is the "spinning lady" but I didn't get a picture of her with her wheel

Cartographer

Our camp

Grandpa and Will listening to Lee sing

Will washing dishes with Grandma

man powered lathe

carving a bowl

my attempt at a family picture

nap time ☺

Getting a drink
This is how Will was most of the weekend - barefoot!

Will cooking with Grandma

Emily making her own stew

"petting" a bear fur

Trapper

Huge gourd full of beanpods

shucking beans

Beautiful beans

Sarah checking out the Indian's wares

French & Indian area

The kids watching the Civil War photographer colorizing a photo

S'mores!

Little Red Riding Hood pulling Little Gray Riding Hood

This is how William looked whenever there were "booms"

Boom! 
(Opening Ceremony on Sunday)

The photographer asked if he could take our photograph

Us getting our Tin type likeness taken in the authentic Civil War way

It in the chemicals afterwards

The kids look so "period"!

Indian children playing

Chart showing the types of beans he had

The beanpods he gave me to plant next year

From upper left clockwise: Iroquois Cranberry, Potawatami Lima Pole Bean,
Potawanami Rabbit bean, Cherokee Trail of Tears Bean, ? and center ?

Voyageur's cool tent

I liked this rocking chair