Sheep to squirrel - a needle felting journey

This is Demi-sheep. She's our Iceladic x Corriedale ewe. Her mum was Chalcedony and her daddy was Homer. She loves her morning grain, especially in this winter snow. Demi grows the wool I'm using to needle felt the Arkansas gray squirrels I've been making. 

This squirrel is needle felted from Demi's wool over a wire armature. He's excited to be headed to the Arkansas Flower and Garden show where he'll be a part of the Ozark Folk Center secret garden. 

Textures and teaching - fiber arts classes

I am a texture person. I judge things by how they feel. I was asked yesterday why I don't like to wash fleece. "It feels icky," was my honest reply. Wet, dirty, loose fleece clings to your hands in a way I do not enjoy. Once it is spun into yarn, woven into a rug or otherwise structured, it is easy and enjoyable to wash.

The last skeins of this year's Thyme
wool and Fantasia mohair yarn.

When I shear a sheep or goat, I grade the fleece by touch into a spinning or a rug fleece. I write my choice on the bag, along with the shearing date and who grew the fleece.

Spinning fleeces feel so good on my hands that I want to touch them for the 20-30 hours it takes to spin up a full fleece. Rug fleeces are pretty enough to make wonderful rugs, and I'll enjoy their unique texture for the time it takes me to weave them into a rug. Some very nice spinning fleeces end up as very, very nice rugs, because I just don't have time to spin all the fleeces that I'd like to.

Because I am so kinesthetic, I learn by doing. When teaching, I sometimes find it challenging to work with students who need verbal explanations. I work hard to find the words to use to communicate my actions. I write up hand outs and test teaching techniques on friends. It seems to work, my students come back and take more classes and many of you have become friends.

Right now I'm putting together my fiber arts classes for this season at the Ozark Folk Center. I've got a locker hooking class set up and am considering Rigid Heddle weaving, needle felting, Triloom weaving. These fiber classes are in addition to my spring greens cooking class and the cheesemaking class. I'm also considering coordinating a fiber arts retreat, similar to the Ozark Quilt Retreat.

What fiber classes would you like to take this year?
And do you have a clever name for an Ozark Fiber Arts Retreat?

Right hook

As a lifelong crochet artist, I know what type of hooks I like. I often spend many hours a day crocheting and I want a hook that feels good in my hands and makes my work easier. When Shawn started carving crochet hooks, we worked together to create hooks that are easy to use, match guage and feel good. Yep, I'm spoiled!

He is a talented artist, so his hooks are beautiful to look at - but more importantly to me, they work well.

Lately, between the store and classes, we have been working with many people who want to crochet, but are having trouble with their hands, wrists or elbows. Shawn created his square hooks to help people who are experiencing pain when they crochet. The square shape sits easily in their hands allowing their fingers to relax around the hook. It seems to help many people continue crocheting.

As word gets around about Shawn's Laffing Horse crochet hooks, people are asking him to carve bigger hooks (up to P like the one in the pictures now), longer hooks (22 inch!) and hooks to solve problems. He is now working on an afghan hook in the larger sizes that will help eliminate thumb joint pain. We are trying making one side flat, so that no matter how you hold your hook, you thumb has a resting spot. I'll let you know how it works.

This search for the right hook or the most comfortable to crochet has led me to consider how people hold their hooks and other factors that go into the process of crocheting. My grandmother taught me to crochet. I've been crocheting close to 40 years now and my hands and wrists don't bother me from crocheting. (They do give me some trouble with heavy lifting, a legacy from my days as a mail carrier!) Part of that is because I crochet loosely, with a light tension. That helps keep my hands and arms relaxed. But I also think the open-handed, under-palm way I hold my hook helps make crocheting easier.

I was trying to explain that to someone who has been having trouble with finger pain when crocheting. It can be quite a challenge to help someone with a craft over the phone. So I thought I'd try posting pictures. Boy, this is an awful long caption for some photographs!