Please don't squish the sheep
 Liz Good under the yarn-bombed deer form at the Fancy Tiger in Denver. | |
Over the Thanksgiving holiday I enjoyed some time off. I played with my kids (puzzles, reading, and science experiments were high on the list), spun some beautifully dyed Polwarth, knitted on my Barton Cottage Shrug, went through my stash of fiber and reorganized it, and met up with my friend and colleague, Liz Good, while she was down in Denver for the holiday. You'd think we see enough of each other in the office—apparently not! We headed to the Fancy Tiger near downtown Denver—they sell fabric, yarn, and spinning fiber. This store is absolutely intoxicating—from the rows of designer bolts of fabric to the yarn-bombed deer form gracing the back wall to the cubbies of luscious yarns labeled with photos of sheep. That's right, the cubbies of yarn have photos of the sheep the yarn is spun from. It's such a lovely experience to squish a skein of yarn while looking at the photo of the sheep. It made me want to reorganize my stash of fiber again, but this time by adding photos of the sheep to my bags of fiber.
One cannot have too many photos of sheep. I have a number of books that I peruse just to look at the warm woolies on the hoof, and I must admit that pinterest.com is a dangerous place for me. That's why, when I'm on the hunt for articles about fiber, I always pull out my well-worn copy of In Sheep's Clothing: A Handspinner's Guide to Wool written by the mother/daughter team of Nola and Jane Fournier. I've marked the pages with sticky notes referencing articles in Spin-Off that have focused on the fiber highlighted on each page. It is a quick and easy reference guide that has served me well for years by providing just enough information about a breed of sheep to get started spinning.
And along these lines, I have a few requests for you. First, if you have taken high-resolution digital images of your sheep (or other fibery animals) that you'd allow us to use in the magazine or elsewhere, please email them to me at [email protected]. Include a little information about the animals photographed, where the photo was taken, your contact information, and photographer credit.
Second, if you'd like to write about a fiber that you've researched and explored in-depth as a spinner, please email me at the above address or check out our contributor guidelines.
Third, in the comments let me know what breed of sheep and other animals you'd like to learn more about and why.
Happy spinning,
