Skirting the Fleece Tent

At the festival this past weekend, I skirted* around the fleece tent so I can't tell you what fibre goodness was offered in there this year.

I hadn't planned on bringing back any quantity of fibre bigger than a breadbox. Let me tell you, looking at the washed and prepared fibre in the vendors' tents, my attitude was something like, "no, no, really I'm full. Well, alright. Maybe just a little bit more."

Didn't buy any tools. Did play with a trindle on display. You may have seen trindles on Etsy. It worked as well as any spindle I've tried and looked like nothing else. Instead of a round whorl there are three wires, which are radiating out of the shaft and weighted with beads at the ends to make the spindle rim-weighted.

Got use the trindle to demonstrate drop spindling to two shoppers who had only seen spinning wheels before. Always a pleasure.


*That's a spinning joke, in case you didn't get it. When a sheep is shorn, the fleece is laid out and the edges removed. This is called skirting.