Remember when you were a kid and there would be a field trip, and you would know in your heart that there are only two ways for a field trip to go. Either it is a rare taste of brilliant educational freedom and the fantastic day that you get to sit in the very back of the bus. get partnered with the boy you’re intending to marry, and hold a dinosaur bone…. OR it pours on the day that you’re going to the outdoor eco-centre and you forget to bring your boots so your feet are wet the whole time (even though it said to wear boots on the form) and your partner for the project is that kid Simon who’s always called you four-eyes and made fun of how short you are, and then you open up your lunch (your wet lunch) and you discover that your mum made a cheese sandwich even though you have explained a thousand times that cheese is gross and sweaty by lunch time on warm days and then you get picked to sit behind the teacher on the bus the whole way home and she makes you take bus attendance even though you’re already a short four-eyes with wet feet and no lunch. I’m sure you all remember. Well last week Rachel H, Denny and I had a great field trip. Better even than the museum one where they let you chisel a fake fossil out of a fake archeological dig, or the apple orchard trip where you pick a bag of apples to bring home and you get a caramel apple, and better even than the one to the sugar bush where you see how they make maple syrup, and you stand in the cold air with the big cauldrons of sap billowing steam and you get to pour the syrup on the snow to make maple candy – and that my friends, is an absolutely top notch field trip.
We went here:
Wellington Fibres, to pick up our fleeces from the Royal Winter Fair Fleece Auction. See, when the three of us went to the auction last year, we all agreed on the way there that we simply were not going to bring home more fleece. We totally promised each other, and we were really, really good until we saw that Donna and Lorne were there, and then we sort of snapped, because we took one look at them and saw the word LOOPHOLE just about tattooed on their foreheads. See, they’re fibre processors, and own a wee mill in Elora, Ontario (not far from here) and we realized that if we bought fleece at the auction, and then immediately turned them over to them for processing, that technically, we weren’t bringing home fleece from the auction, and with that we snapped entirely and may have bought coughSIXcough fleeces.
Yeah, six. Wanna make something of it? There’s three of us – and they were prize-winning fleeces and if you don’t support your local breeders then soon you won’t have local breeders and we’re committed to making them successful and they’re counting on us. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)
In any case, we bought the fleeces, handed them to Donna and Lorne and went off to eat that baked apple thing, secure in the knowledge that we were not bringing home more fleeces. That bird didn’t come home to roost until just know, when Wellington Fibres called us to tell us that our processing was finished, and they could mail them or we could come get them, and you should have seen Rachel H and Denny’s faces light up at the mention of a field trip. (Obviously, Simon the killjoy was never one of their partners and they didn’t know how far wrong these things can go.) I went along because I like them to be happy, because I had the car, and because it seemed like it would at least be a little interesting, and because it’s hard to go wrong when I’m hanging out with those two. Turns out? Best field trip ever, and I’m not just saying that because Denny brought good car snacks and because there was fibre, fibre tools and more there at their little store when we arrived.
I’m saying that because when we got up there, Lorne gave us the full tour- showing us exactly what happened to our fleeces.
Step one: Washing the fleeces.
This was really interesting, partly because I had no idea that they were running such a green operation up there. All the water (and a mill takes a lot) for the process is heated by solar panels on the roof, and the soap they use is a gentle, biodegradable grapeseed and citrus extract. It takes a few more washes, but takes way less energy and does far less damage, both to the watertable and to the fleece.
They even use solar power for their dye process. Hot water runs through the walls of the dyepot to keep the fibre and it’s water hot. Even on cloudy days that demand the addition of propane, Lorne is only ever heating the water a maximum of 10 or 20 degrees. (c)
Then the fleeces are dried, which takes only a few hours, because they use an extractor to remove all but 10% of the water. (I hope that’s right.) Behind the drying racks you can see the picker, which opens up the fibres for the carder. The fibre enters the picker, is teased open, and then is shot into the room behind the picker. The idea of opening up a door to a fluff filled closet amused us for hours.
After it’s picked open, the fibre is weighed and goes though the carder in carefully measured amounts,
and rough roving comes out the other side.
The fibre then passes through a pindrafter, which is the last step in production if you’re going to spin the fibre yourself. (Which we are.) This machine combines several of those roving strips from the carder, and combs, combines and attenuates the fibres. The result is beautifully prepared fibre that’s lovely, open, and has nary a knot or nepp in sight. Lovely stuff, and you can see that watching it come off of the machine was gripping.
If your fibre is going to be spun there (or their doing their own fibre) then the next step is the spinning frame, which looks incredibly complex, but is really very, very simple once you get Lorne to explain it. The part that blew my mind is that the roving is fed between two rollers, one moving slowly and the other quickly. “How odd” I thought, until Lorne said “and how fast one goes that the other determines how much the fibre is drafted out” and a bell rang in my head and I realized that this was just the machine version of a spinner drafting the fibre while she spins. One hand moves away (faster) than the other. Once the fibre is drafted, the twist is added by that there spinning bobbin, and it winds on… just like a wheel, only really big and fast.
From there, the last step is plying, and dudes, I can hardly talk about this machine. You’re going to have to go see it. The thing is massive, and that alone is incredible because it’s really just a sawed off chunk of a way larger machine from forever ago. Does anyone other than me remember owning a sewing machine with “cams” where you inserted this disk, a cam, and that cam was read by the machine like a template for how it should sew? That’s how this thing works, except Lorne tells it how to ply the yarn by putting in huge cast iron gears in the right combinations. He’s gotta have 60 of them, all in different sizes, and each yarn demands a specific “recipe” of gears to make it happen. Really awesomely neat.
If you look carefully at the end of the machine left of the “A” and above the “l” you can see where it was hacked off of the far larger version. Tour over, we paid the nice people for our beautiful fibre, admired the flock of Angora goats. (Angora goats make mohair. Go figure.)
and loaded up the car with our bounty.
That my friends, is how a mill works, and how Lorne and Donna turn your stinky fleeces into beautiful roving.
Best field trip ever, and I’m not just saying that because there was no beer on school trips.
Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for sharing! Was I actually first??
That is a way better field trip than I ever went on.
Gorgeous fibers! Don’t you just love all the wonderful smells in places like this?
my only problem w/ your whole field trip is that our beautiful 10 week old son is named Simon and I really hope he is never a name-caller… plus, knowing our genetics, he probably will be a four-eyes himself!
have a great time spinning that wonderful fibre!
Lucky you, what a great antidote to waving your chick goodbye at the airport!
What! You mean to tell me that mohair doesn’t come Moes?! I heard Moes are four-legged goat-like animals that are beautiful, but slightly slightly itchy and slippery on metal needles… Did I hear wrong?
Visiting mills are really great field trips; I’ve learned so much from just a few visits. I’ll definitely be at least virtually visiting Wellington Fibres!
What an interesting trip! And, yes, I do remember the machines with cams. In fact, I have one sitting in my craft room right now. I don’t use it, but it is in working order. I think it’s a Singer 501; it belonged to my mother.
WOW! I knew how it happened, but didn’t realize that I could tour a mill. Now added to my “life list”. You’re so fortunate to have each other to share these experiences with.
Now I feel like I’ve been on a field trip. Thanks!
How cool is that! Makes me want to go take a field trip!
I love that picture of Rachel H next to all the roving. It looks as if she is about to come out of her skin with happiness. Sounds like a wonderful day. Off to try to convince the husband we need angora goats.
I love how Lorne shows you the entire process! I got the tour about a year ago. Lorne and Donna are just so nice. We made a day of it by stopping in Elora for lunch and a little sight-seeing, after we picked up our fleeces. And I will certainly be doing it again. Soon.
That looks almost as much fun as my field trip yesterday to feed the giraffes at our local zoo. Being the first day of school there wasn’t a clutch of kids to wade through so I got a big beautiful male giraffe all to myself. No yarn or fleeces, though.
MMmmm, been there (actually I live only about 20 minutes away. Heh.) it’s lovely.
The thing I found neat about all of those machines is that they are also quite old, and there was a bit of a learning curve in figuring out how to get them to work. According to the guy I talked to at least, who was not Lorne, but this helper (I think?)
What a great trip! I recently went to an alpaca farm in Lancaster county, PA – even my non-knitting friend loved it! It’s so cool to see the animals that the fiber is coming from. Clearly the next step is to find a mill…
Just remembered what I was told a bazillion years ago for Angora/Mohair–Angora comes from angora rabbits; Mohair comes from angora goats because a goat has mo-hair den a rabbit. Always a groaner when I tell this in the sheep and goat barn at fairs.
You are just too funny. I kind of pulled that trick recently, too. My husband lost track of which fleece was the lamb and which was the ewe. His brow wrinkled a little bit, but he never figured it out. I don’t allow him to read your blog.
As a very beginner spinner (nice ring to that!), I have wondered how the roving I have and the pencil roving I’ve spun actually gets to be! I’d love to tour that mill. And someday buy my own whole smelly wonderful fleece!!! Maybe I’ll holler “road trip!” tonight at knit night and suggest a trip…
I am still working on spinning the giant bag of roving that came from the Royal Winter Fair fleece I sent to Lorne. Who knew one fleece could produce so much roving, LOL. Also got the tour, which is seriously interesting. You forgot to mention that Wellington Fibres also runs dye workshops! Send your fleeces there, support local “industry”. I’m seriously lusting after some of those goats for my farm. Kid mohair is one of my favourite fibres to spin.
I’m offended that you called them stinky fleeces. I love dirty fleeces and love the huffing of dirty fleeces. Please don’t hurt my feelings this way.
Wow, that is super cool! Thanks for the info on how all that works. Super interesting…
ooh. beer. plus local & green. plus fibres. plus gears and awesome machinery. plus oh my… what a wonderful and (sneakily) educational field trip. those are the bestest ever. and with great friends. and no i-don’t-want-to-know-stickiness on the floor of the school bus either. enjoy your fleeces in good health. 🙂
How did you get three people and six fleeces into that tiny car?
Wow, that was better than when Mr. Rogers took us to the Heinz plant to see how they make soup! Cool!
That is definitely the most amazing field trip ever!! Absolutely a field trip I’d love to try some day soon. 🙂
Enjoy your fleeces ~ I’m looking forward to seeing what they become.
YAY wellington fibres! I was just there 2 weeks ago and I LOVE Lorne, he is the best tour guide and their dog is such a pettable suck. But here, I clearly fail because all I did was buy yarn from them instead of getting a fleece processed. Clearly I know what I have to do next time.
I love the picture of the goat. I love the way goats and sheep give that look that seems to say, What?
Oh, I am so envious! I’m afraid you are going to need access to a larger vehicle if you aren’t careful!
Wow! Thanks for the field trip. And I’ve been on both kinds of field trips that you describe, though mine was usually being the odd kid out who didn’t have a pre-established partner and got shoved into awkward groups that didn’t want me all day. Boy I don’t miss that. Here’s a toast to grown up field trips!
sw33t! Quite the past few weeks for you 🙂 Bet you would have the best “What I did on my Summer Vacation” essay, ever.
Cheers.
I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna goooooooooo!
(A heartfelt wail from way down here in Kansas. Sniff.)
Yes, I remember sewing machines with cams. Mine is a Singer Futura, which still works, although it will only give me one stitch length. It was a wonder when I got it back in 1974 and a step up from the basic machine it replaced. Now I show it to my granddaughter, who is so used to software running the world that mechanical things amaze her.
Sounds like a fun trip. My sewing machine has cams — a 1965 avocado green Kenmore. What a workhorse!
Great field trip … as a new spinner I am impressed beyond words by the size of your booty !
At SS09 I was the lucky winner of several silent auction items and wrote a check. That check has not cleared my bank. Is it lost ? Should I worry ?
Lust.
I am wondering how the weather is there. Here in the Central Valley of California, it is hot, on the way to 90 degrees, with no humidity in sight. The picture at the fleece market, showed people in coats. Is it cold there already, or was that picture taken in a heavily air conditioned room? The idea of being so cold that a coat is needed sounds good. I am getting tired of the heat, even though we have had a rather moderate summer.
Wow. Just plain old wow. Fiber and cams all in one day and in one place? I’d think I’d died and gone to heaven.
Well, after reading that Canada just moved up about 58 places on my list of Countries I Must Visit (no offence to its previously low position, it’s just that I am (partly) an archaeologist and have to go to Greece, Italy, India etc first). What a wonderful day!!
That is so cool. Thanks for sharing your field trip. I just wish some of the fiber would appear at my house.
Thanks for the fascinating tour! My only sewing machine is my 1974 Sears Kenmore with cams. It still runs great.
I heard you were in Guelph briefly as well! (It’s a small town, and word travels fast among knitters) We were having our Thursday knit night, you all would’ve been welcome to a cuppa (or a pint).
That looks like fan-freaking-tastic fun. However, didn’t you just post a few days ago (on a Tuesdays-are-for-spinning day, if memory serves), that you had tons of fiber that needed to be spun? Where do you store it all?
Sorry. Nevermind. I don’t know what I was thinking – carry on. I think I just channeled my husband for a minute there.
That beats just about every field trip I can remember. Those machines look so interesting – I always find it fascinating how complicated a machine can be needed to do something that people have been doing with relatively simple technology for millenia. Thanks for sharing the pics!
Fiber looks like cotton candy from the fair coming out of that machine! And now I really, really want one of those curly haired goats, soooo cute, he/she would look great in my field!
Great photos, great explanations (only a fibre-interested person would think that), great day.
No wonder I wonder at photos of dyed roving – so much more refined than smelly raw fleeces, and yes Rams, there is a lot of fibre in a fleece. Love the post. (You forgot the mud on the boots, and the bus)
COOL…! (And yes, I learned how to sew on my mom’s machine: lots of cams.)
My Simon was named Madeline, she was a know-it-all PITA who haunted my entire 2nd grade. I got poo on my shoe outside of the Science Museum and was called “stinky poo-shoe” until the end of the term. I still hate Madeline.
Was any of that yarn being spun for the Pretty Thing Cowl?
That is my kind of field trip!!! Looks like you three had a fabulous time!
Now, where are you putting all that roving…
Wow! I had no idea how fleece turns into roving. I’ve thought about learning to spin, but it went as far as buying an ounce of roving and borrowing a friend’s drop spindle. I really should get around to trying it out. Thank you for taking us on your field trip!
Mr. Rogers would have been proud-next time: video! How are the golden sparkly mittens?
WOW! I had the same experience at the Monterey Wool Auction a few weekends ago. I *swore* I wasn’t coming home with a fleece – and then I fell in love with the gorgeous Corriedale/Romney cross (the gray – oh, the gray!) and my enabler^H^H^H^H friend handed me a bidding form and whammo, fleece. Nine whole pounds of it. Now, lo and behold, Shari from Morro Fleece Works was also there buying and sorting and I was able to whisk my bag of fibery goodness straight from the bidding stand to her trailer. Better still, she’s doing colors now – and it might be back in October. Finally, picking up my fleece is going to mean a field trip, too. I hope my trip is as fun as yours.
what a fun adventure! i’m still a non spinner so i’m extra jealous
I had a field trip like that last summer!!! There’s a small mill north of Winnipeg that has “back to back” services (sheep to sweater). And we got to pet lambs!!! squeeeee! Also there was a spinning workshop 🙂
Loved all the pictures and explanation – what a great trip.
bring sock summit to indy next year, and you can tour one of just two sock factories left in the u.s. it’s in a really small town south of here and makes socks for disney, nfl, nba, etc.
how do i know? cuz my knit camp group toured it last year. it was my all-time fave field trip.
Excited to see what becomes of the roving. Still waiting to see the end of the mittens.
Have to say, the photos and description of the apple dumplings moved me to the point that I wrote them into my book.
That sounds like an amazing day! I would love to go somewhere like that.
Yes, I learned to sew on a machine with cams! Great explanation of how yarn is “made” – thanks Stephanie. And a great goat pic too!
Sounds like a wonderful trip. I’m going to have my 7 year old read this post. He wants to learn how a mill works. It sounds like a great field trip. Have fun spinning.
Thank you for posting this! And the photos! Very cool to see!!
Oooo, what a fun trip! Thanks for sharing the process with us! And yes, I do definitely remember sewing machines with cams, my mom still sews with hers, a vintage 1970 (or so) Kenmore. 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful field trip! But please .. give cheese a second chance. It is wonderful in its many forms.
That’s coming from a cheesehead though …
Tracy in Wisconsin
I will share your description of the field trips in your opening paragraphy with my teaching colleagues. Yep, you have it. That’s what kids want from a trip and remember. Now… how do I write that down when I must define the ‘curriculum expectations’ when I justify going on such a trip?
Glad you had so much fun. The fibre looks wonderful.
Wait a minute — are you telling me that you went on a fiber road trip and did the driving yourself? No knitting time? None? While RachelH and Denny (hi, guys!) were knitting? When you have a yarn holder in the door?
Bet you’re sorry you bought that car, however sexy the red may be.
Interesting and educational and fun to read all at the same time.
What is wrong with me that after reading that whole post and admiring every bit of the process and coveting every inch of fiber, I walk away from it at the end thinking, “I wonder if I can find a recipe for that baked apple thing from the auction….”?
Way cool!
Thanks for sharing your trip. It was so interesting seeing all the steps between sheep and roving.
Mmm…I love the smell of fleeces.
I remember when I was really little my mom had a sewing machine with cams. I’d forgotten all about that till you mentioned it. She got a high-tech top of the line Husqvarna shortly before I started machine-sewing, which would’ve been when I was around 10-11. I made a green corduroy skirt. I still remember it.
As a teacher, I have often thought that field trips would me MUCH better with Beer!
I wanna go to the mill!
Not sure if you’re actually going to read this, but I have a few questions in case you do. How much yarn can be spun from one of those bags you put in the car? Yardage wise, I mean. Would it be enough for, say, a sweater? Would it be spun up in small hanks or onto a cone? How long does that actually take? The field trip was interesting! Great pics too. Um..sorry about all the questions, but I was curious about it. Thanks!
My friends thought I was crazy when I took a field trip to the Nebraska countryside several years ago from Denver, so that I could tour the Brown Sheep Plant. That, too, was the best field trip ever…..Thanks for sharing and bringing back those memories.
What fun! Even better than the pizza parlor field trip!
Sounds like a wonderful field trip. I love factory tours especially one that are concerned with fibers. I learned to sew, in the late sixties, on my Mom’s Sears Kenmore, a sewing machine with cams. Forgot all about it till you mentioned it. Thanks for the memories.
Whenever anyone says they are going to PEII tell them to visit Belfast Mini-Mill. It is fascinating and the highlight of a two week trip my husband and I took three summers ago.
I give your field trip report an A+. Your description and illustrations of fiber’s journey from it’s origin to the final product was most enlightening.
I think you should read it to the class. Up front.
SIX fleeces?! Whoa. Lotza fleeces!
Although…if you three bought six fleeces, that means I could buy two fleeces at Rhinebeck, and completely ignore the fact I already have 15 fleeces, right? Unless one of you bought three fleeces, cuz then I could get three as well.
Fess up. This is a Need-To-Know moment.
sounds like an excellent adventure. good for you three!
For a field trip like that, I would hold HANDS with Evil Simon, take bus attendance both ways, and endure my sweaty cheese sandwich with a smile. Thanks for the pictures.
How fun! There’s nothing like seeing how your wool or someone else’s fiber is processed into yarn. I did a tour of Green Mountain Spinnery last year with a bunch of friends and she had one of those mechanical plyers. It was about the same size, same color. I wonder if it came from the same machine.
I am totally jealous, not just of last week’s trip, but of the one to the sugar house. We don’t do those here (I don’t think it’s really cold enough for much maple-sugaring here — I wonder if kids in Maine and Vermont get to go to the sugar house?), and I never knew until now what I was missing.
In my beady-eyed jealous way I observe that in your brilliant description of the mill and all that goes on there you didn’t say you acquired anything besides your splendidly processed fleeces… but you didn’t say you didn’t, either. So give: what followed you home?
That is just about the coolest thing that I have ever seen! I have been curious about spinning and have been doing a little searching for affordable quality fleeces in my area. Then there was the question of washing the fleeces in an ecologically responsible way…I didn’t look that hard! I just knew there was something between the washing and carding step!
My field trip today consisted of taking myself to a new place, having embarrassing questions asked (and answered) and then having my breasts palpitated. (The first part of a physical). I want your field trip instead.
The weather looks great, the sheep look… well a lot like sheep. and I’m (yawn) sure that the whole thing was fun. (yawn)… You deserve a happy field trip memory, and a day with friends… priceless.
See what fun you can have when your entire existence isn’t consumed by event planning? Fun, fun times.
I was a tall four-eyes, but I went to a Catholic school, so we didn’t have field trips. Knowing what the nuns considered entertaining, I’m grateful.
I learned to sew on a much older Singer, that was foot powered, with only one type of stitch. It did that one well, though.
What a fun tour — thanks for documenting your field trip for the rest of us, Stephanie!
I have a sewing machine that uses cams — a Riccar that I bought secondhand in 1976. It still works like a champ!
Hmm, it’s pretty tough to beat a sugaring-off field trip, but I think this may have done it!
Yup. Best field trip EVER! My favorite is the first photo. You can almost hear Rachel’s (evil) laugh, “MMMWWWWAAAHHHAAAHHH!”
That looks like fun!
(Hi, Denny!)
Thank you so much for that post, I loved it. If I ever get a chance to do a field trip like that I would definitely go, even if I knew there would be a Simon situation. It looks so worth it.
What a great trip!!! (and I lead field trips all the time–nothing as good as this, though) Thanks for the pictures of it all.
I still have one of those sewing machines with the cams. And the touch-and-sew bobbin that isn’t made any more.
If you had no beer on your school field trips, then you were doing it wrong! 😉
Also, my mom had one of those sewing machines with the cams, and the pushed it off the end of a table once because she hated it so much. However, my mother-in-law still has hers and has never ever had it cleaned or oiled or tuned up (CRINGE!).
We had one of those machines with cams! It was a Kenmore from Sears and had all sorts of interesting stitches, including many sizes and types of buttonholes – plain straight ones and keyhole shaped ones… I was always looking for excuses to use the interesting pattern stitches. Good thing I don’t have one of those wild computer controlled machines now, or I would be putting those pattern stitches on everything.
Wish I could go on such a cool field trip…
I remember going there just after I got married – It was just a couple of weeks before they were getting all of their processing equipment. Donna and Lorne are seriously some of the nicest people. And the goats – so freakin cute!
REMEMBER a sewing machine with cams?
I HAVE a sewing machine with cams. It was my mother’s, I learned to sew on it, and Mom gave it to me when she inherited my grandmother’s. (Funny that my grandmother’s was the newer of the two, no?) That sewing machine is older than I am, and it’s a workhorse. Last week it cranked out the almost-finishing touches on a linen formal dress and two heavily-interfaced messenger bags. It’s loud and the foot pedal is touchy and I adore it.
as a Word Nerd of huge (and proud) proportions, I just HAD to google the word “nepp” when I came across it in your post… yet, it would seem that google is completely out of the knitting loop, cos here’s what they came up with:
1)NEPP=National Environmental Performance Partnership System
2) NEPP=Nucleo de Estudos de PolÃticas Públicas da UNICAMP
3)NEPP=nepotism n favouritism shown to relatives or close friends by those with power or influence
None of which I really think apply here!
so….. anyone care to elucidate on this mystery??
aren’t Donna and Lorne the very nicest people!
and their operation is stunning!
the yarn… oh my! fabulous! the colours…to dye for! heh.
i have been dealing with them for about 20 years as they have supplied the yarn for the gr.3 project, hats, at the Toronto Waldorf School.
they also dye to order.
a trip to them is totally worth it. and if you have a young child who gets to hold some of the silky,beautiful locks even better.
glad that you had a good trip!
helga
Thank you for the trip to Harlot Yarn School. I love learning how the yarn gets to my needles.
Glad you had so much fun.
Thank you!
Holy Cow…I have spent most summer weekends in Fergus / Elora for the last 15 years and did not know about Wellington Fibres….Shame on me! I will be going there soon….very soon…..Ack! I need to learn how to spin.
Many thanks for this rendition of what is done from fleece to roving.
It has heightened my excitement!
You see, I am going to have my first ever lesson in spinning next week – at my LYS, Gaspereau Fibres in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Drop spindle spinning.
(There are second and third lessons which carry one further in drop spindle spindling, and then past that.)
I have never been able to fully comprehend “spinning roving into yarn”, so I am very anxious to whole-heartedly comprehend the whole process.
Which I expect will convert me from being a non-believer into an addicted and tortured soul who cannot live without a spinning wheel.
Janey
Sounds like a fab field trip. One year, my poor sister’s class was taken to…the local sewage facility. Yeah, not her best memory in life.
Ah, sewing with cams…I still do. I bought my ELNA SUPERMATIC second-hand with my entire $300 tax refund, while in high school. It remains my only sewing machine. I’m on-vacation in “the Peg” and have been using my Mom’s ELNA LOTUS. While away, I am treating my SUPERMATIC to an overhaul/tune-up…it deserves a little TLC, methinks.
I hauled the SUPERMATIC to one of Beverly Johnson’s bra-making classes, and was highly-amused that everyone else – with their high-tech computerized machines – needed help with basics (threading, you-name-it), while my machine was very happily chugging-along, cams and all!
Wow, cams…those bring back memories! I’d trade my bobbin-works-when-it-feels-like-it machine for one with cams any day!
Thanks so much for the mill tour–it is fascinating! As a noob spinner who’s pretty much clueless, the whole process still seems like magic to me. Lorne seems to have a slight point to his ears…and his shoes…yep, definitely magic.
Well, I want to focus on the only non-fiber part of all of the posted photos and ask… who is that stunning wolf-dog doggy dog beside you while you are viewing the goats? He looks soft.
NO NO NO! Tell me it isn’t true! MO-hair is made by MO’s, not dumb ol goats! Ahh the disillusionment! Oh, the poor MO’s. Poor ol Mo’s.
from the Sock-Shaped State, ==Marjorie
Fun! I toured a mill that did everything but spin the fiber about a year ago as part of a farm education program. It was really amusing that some of the people touring with me had no idea you could use the sheep fleece(we are also talking about making sheep milk and cheese related products).
The only thing cooler than visiting a fiber processor is helping out a friend who owns one! I had great fun doing just that for a while, before my friend ended up closing up shop and moving out of the area. I learned a lot and it was like one continuous field trip. Great fun! It definitely helped me to resist adding to my fiber stash because when it was really busy and there were lots of orders to process, I could see exactly what my house could turn into if I wasn’t careful! The only bad part was when a really exceptional fleece arrived, it was really hard to resist the urge to instantly find the farm and go buy one for myself. However, I did get the chance to pet a bunch of nice fiber while I was helping out. As far as solar power goes, that’s very cool. I know that Sara and Dan at Buckwheat Bridge Angoras are solar powered and use green detergents and such. They practice sustainable farming techniques and only sell their own fiber from their large herd of Angora goats and Cormo sheep. I’m sure that there are many more farms like that around. And yep, I remember sewing machines with cams. I love the picture with Denny. She looks like all the fiber in the trunk is hers and you guys are out of luck LOL! The big question is who got the really lovely gray fleece?
My Huskevarna Viking with cams, that I bought 45 years ago to make maternity clothes and children’s clothes is still in use by my daughter, who will be 45 this December. It was the latest thing in sewing machines then.
This is so great. I am the knitter who just goes to the yarn store and never gave it much thought about how it got there.
I kinda knew that there was a process, just as I kinda know that cheesecakes have a process…but just never knew how interesting it was.
Hum…now I want to knit and eat cheesecake.
Cool! I love all the mechanical stuff.
And my mom had a Necchi (sp?) sewing machine that had all these cams – although I’m pretty sure she never used them. She bought it because it was the first home sewing machine available that did zig-zag without some rather bizarre attachment, and she’d worked in the garment industry and couldn’t stand the earlier home machines.
Gads, I hadn’t thought about that in ages.
Very cool! I’m always fascinated with ‘how things work’.
Lucia- you’re quite correct, children in Maine, NH, Vermont- also other northern states, do indeed get to visit sugar houses. My husband encountered his first sugar house at age 3 (and hasn’t recovered- we go every year).
And you add me to list of people who still sew on a machine with cams…mine came from a yard sale when I moved out of my parents house. My mother’s cam-driven machine was eventually worked to death but then she sews more than I do.
What a wonderful field trip! The last time I went on a fun trip like that was 1998 in France, to a winery where they made Muscadet. Yummm…samples…
I just love Donna and Lorne – they’ve been Guild guests a number of times, and they’re just great.
And Rachel was hanging out by the boxes of fluff. Go figure.
So, buying fleece to support local growers is a good thing. I buy them so that when I am retired and on a fixed income and can’t afford to buy fleeces I will, by then, have accumulated enough fleece that I can spin every day even if I live to be 100. 🙂
I’ve also had the pleasure of getting my fleeces back from Donna & Lorne. Some friends and I went out to drop them off and got the full tour too. It was fascinating.
You’re going to love spinning your fleeces. Mine certainly aren’t prize-winning but they spin like buttah!
Enjoy!
How cool! Thank you for the “behind the scenes” tour. =)
Cams – lets talk treadle – my daughter has stolen my treadle machine made in 1923. Fortunately we are in Mennonite country and the singer store still sells shuttles, bobbins and belts AND were able to get ahold of a copy of the original instruction manual for that machine! So the machine whch helped cloth my mother is now turning out clothes for my grandaughter. And it will work for ever – jsut a little oil now and then.
My mom’s machine has cams! I remember learning to sew with them and being really disappointed that new machines didn’t have them any more. Not from loss of functionality of course, but because I thought the cams were really cool!
I recently went to a spinnery in Maine that was similarly “green”. That one used a windmill to power the whole spinnery – super awesome!
Awesome field trip! I’m a huge geek when it comes to machinery (or anything else, for that matter), I would have wanted to spend days there.
My machine has cams! I also have my great grandmother’s treadle machine waiting for me to have room for it in my apartment.
Remember? I still own a sewing machine with cams! Admittedly I had to convince my dad that my mom needed a new sewing machine to get it. I love my machine.
Holy crap that looks like a lot of fleece….. how much yarn does that turn into?
Last summer, I went through a mill called Lonesome Stone in Granby, Colorado. Also a great field trip—-especially seeing the hundreds of Alpacas. Well there was also the yarn.
Wow. Way way envious. Have fun spinning that!
There must be something in the air, because I too got the grand tour of a spinnery – Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, VT. Pix and a much less entertaining narration at my blog.
I don’t spin, but there’s a woollen mill not too far from here, and I love to go there and walk through the various washing sheds, dyeing sheds and finally the carding/blending/spinning machines to watch the process from fleece to ball – and it’s all run on a hydro-electric generator they have in the bottom of the building which gets it’s power from the water running through the stream at the side! Fab!! They even have a “dyer’s garden” there, planted up with all sorts of plants from which dyes are extracted to colour the wool. Mainly they used the yarn to make traditional Welsh blankets and fabric, and the looms which weave them are all hydro-powered too.
Fascinating! I’ve always wondered how that stuff was done…
Thanks for sharing your field trip! I had no idea what actually happened between “fleece” and “roving” (I’m just getting the hang of ‘between “roving” and “yarn”‘), it’s really interesting to see it.
Field trip by proxy! Thanks, that was fascinating. Makes me appreciate all the hard work that goes into the yarn I love to knit.
What fun! Would have loved to see that shop.
Awesome! That’s my idea of processing a fleece, letting someone else do it so all I have to do is spin! Totally worth the money!
Mill tours are the best. Custom Woolen Mill in Carstairs, Alberta is a fun one (they do socks on really old circular sock knitters, but in really big quantities), and there’s a tour you can take in Barrington, Nova Scotia of the Woolen Mill that’s actually a museum. I’m so glad it didn’t rain on yours, and that you didn’t have to sit beside the teacher.
What fun! I keep trying to stifle the urge to learn to spin and you are not helping a bit.
Out of the way-back machine here — I have a 1956 Necchi sewing machine that uses cams! I don’t use ’em, though. It’s my mom’s old machine, and I use it for mending seams and maybe putting in hems. I keep it cleaned and oiled, and it works just fine.
Wow, you blogged about a field trip to a woolen mill on the say day that I did!
Thanks so much for sharing! I thoroughly enjoyed all the pictures and the explanation. I’d love to visit a place like that some day!
I love how wonderfully fluffy the roving comes out. Maybe that is my problem with spinning. It isn’t processed enough (in a bag too long, compressed).
Or maybe I’m just lazy and don’t like the extra work of spindle spinning.
Now all you need to do is tour a brewery. That’s your life list of great field trips completed.
We’re touring a small spinning mill this Spring and I’m really looking forward to it. I don’t think they’re as green as this one, but otherwise they’re probably about the same size…
Christine M. from east of Toronto… I didn’t see anyone else answer this yet; nepps are the little felted into a tiny ball bitts you can sometimes find in a roving. They’re a pain because you have to stop and pick them out.
Oh yum! Thanks for posting pics of your trip. I got to have the tour a year or so ago, but forgot to take pics myself. They didn’t have dyeing that day, so it was great seeing how that was setup.
The machinery is all very cool. Almost makes me wish I had some of it. (The industrial spinner mostly!)
I’m still waiting for my call from them to come get a couple fleeces. I’m crossing my fingers they might have it done for KW Knitter’s Fair and I can pic it up there.
Wow, thanks for that. It was very interesting and totally wicked! Your so lucky to have that opportunity.
Best Field Trip EVER!!!! Fleece, beer, great road trip snacks.. you people Canada really know how to live!!!
Super cool! I have some beautiful yarn, and a bit of fibre too from Wellington farm sitting in my stash from the Kitchener Knitter Fair when I used to live in Ontario. Love it! It was really neat to see your pictures and to hear about how they operate. Thank you!!
I still worry if mine will actually make it on to the plane let alone what he might get into while he’s away and he is 31.
Why are you at the airshow?
Question: You mentioned that the fleece needs several extra washings because the soap is gentle. I’m guessing the mill doesn’t have to worry about how much water it uses? Or does it have a way to reuse some of it?
You all look like kids in a candy shop! Glad to hear you all had a great time.
Thank you for such a lovely guided tour.
Whoa . . . best . . . fieldtrip . . . ever.
Thank you Stephanie! At the end of May 2008, the Halton Hands in Motion Knitting and Crocheting Guild toured the mill and I took a ton of pictures because I found it absolutely fascinating. Even though the mention of pi had nothing to do with eating. I asked them if I could post the pictures and write about it on my blog (along with the first part of the day that was a tour of an angora goat farm near Shelburne). Well….I haven’t yet, so you’ve just saved me a big whack of time! LOL. Plus, I can’t remember all the details you wrote about. However, I think I do have a picture of that closet full of fluff; it was yellow that day. I also have a few other pictures you didn’t show–like the long sausages of rovings that were really neat; I liked how they spiralled as they piled up into the roving patty.
Now I can just post those pictures and link to your post! Thanks! (My mother had one of those Kenmore sewing machines with the cams. Late 70s/early 80s. I loved the little fishes and the hearts, LOL).
That WAS a fun trip! Way better than mine to the Dr. Pepper plant when I was back in elementary school.
And yes, my(working)Elna Super uses cams :~)
Ahh, yes the memories. I agree fiber field trips are much better. Our Spin Guild took one earlier this summer to Stonehedge Mill, in East Jordan MI, on a horrificcally hot day. But oh the fiber and watching the process was wonderful. Glad your trim was as great as ours was.
that really did look like an amazing field trip
So awesomely wonderful and educational! Wish I’d been there but I wasn’t so thanks for sharing!
And my circa 1950 Pfaff sewing machine has built-in cams with adjusting dials…
Reminds me of our trip to Yolo wool mill last year (except I didn’t come home with a boot full of fibre) – very similar machinery, except they aren’t as green (no money to put solar heating up, even though it can be as easy as black polypipe on the roof – not as if Calif. doesn’t have much sun!).
Great to see they have invested in low impact, low added energy systems 🙂
Wow – looks like loads of fun! I loved the tour. And I want that goat! 😉
Hi Stephanie! I have what me seem to be a brazen question (and you don’t have to answere of course) but honestly and truly have no idea… how much does it cost. I have never spun an ounce of yarn…but love the organic, environmentally safe and friendly trip… start to finish. I just wonder what it would cost. My mind is already rationalizing 🙂
Hey!
I’ve been following you forever, never commented before, but this post hit really close to home! First, I’m about to purchase my first spinning wheel from Wellington Fibres after years of knitting. Second, I work for the company that installed Lorne’s Solar Water system 🙂 It’s great how proud he is of the system and shows it off to people, really helps bring awareness! Happy spinning!!
Thank you for the show and tell on your field trip. I always wanted to know how a mill worked and now I know. Wish I was on the trip with you. Your twitte about the air show cracked me up. Years ago, I worked on the 12th floor of a building on California Street in San Francico. It was Fleet Week and the Blue Angles flew right down California Street, right outside my bosses window. He and I were talking, three jets blew buy and I had to help him get off the floor. There was a major upset in the city and they never
did that again. What a treat.
My LYS in Denver, the Lamb Shoppe, hired a bus and took a field trip to Lonesome Stone Alpaca Farm and Mill just an hour up the mountains from us. It was terrific! I chronicled it on our blog, lambshoppe.wordpress.com, but your pictures are MUCH better than mine. It was my first time to see all the steps that are involved between critter and knitter…and all I can say is WOW! and Thanks to the fine folks who do the washing, pinning, carding, etc. so that I can enjoy the yarn flowing between my fingers!
Thank you! This is one of my favorite posts ever.
Yes, I remember cams — tho’ I hadn’t thought about them in awhile. When my mom upgraded her ancient sewing machine, she got a Singer Touch’n’Sew with cams. It made the best buttonholes ever! I still miss them.
We went to the city jail on a field trip in 6th grade. I did go on better ones than that, but I don’t think I ever went on one as awesome as yours. Way cool!
OK, your field trip tops any that I’ve had lately. That was neat, thank you.
The trip looked like a lot of fun, love seeing how everything was done. I just took a field trip to Barbara Parry of Foxfire Fibers ,sheep farm we had a great time, met all her sheep babies and toured her studio, makes yarn purchases so personal, when you meet the producer of the product. Thanks for sharing your trip.
I had the same awesome type of field trip 2 weeks ago! Ours was to Stonehedge Fiber Farm in Michigan. Deb and her husband gave us the most awesome tour (her line is Shepherd Wool and it is just lovely) and even my husband thought it was amazing. He enjoyed it every bit as much as I did and that is saying something. I also got to see them doing some work for Mountain Colors. I just love a good field trip!
You’re doing this just to torment me, aren’t you? Let’s look at my household demographics: two mechanical engineers (100%). One in materials. One in solar energy. Both interested in sustainability. Both interested in fibre arts. Only ONE of us is in good enough shape for biking out to Wellington from KW. (No, it’s not me.)
Dude, I should have been Canadian. I would risk Simon the Killjoy to get a chance to go on a maple-syrup-making field trip.
Is that a wolf I see in the goat herd. That totally makes me laugh! That and the trunk full of fleece! My husband would faint!
“and if you don’t support your local breeders then soon you won’t have local breeders and we’re committed to making them successful and they’re counting on us”
Yeah, uh-huh! “committed” ha-ha-ha! … but then you talked about my favourite sewing machine ever with the cams and all – darn it! Where IS that sewing machine – oh no, I feel another obsession coming on! Thanks for the tour – we (Edmonton Hand-Knitters) go down to Carstairs at least once a year, and Fen shows us her mill – always fascinating. She also has several sock-knitting machines – whoo-ee, do those babies rip! There now, wasn’t it nice to meet up with your prize-winning fleeces again, looking all bright and shiny? Have fun with the fiibre – looking forward to what comes out of it all!
That’s cool– seriously– I WANNA GO ON A FIELD TRIP! (I got to go to an alpaca farm this summer… so I sort of had the best field trip ever too… but we couldn’t stay for the tour…)
I laughed all the way through this! So nice to hear that I am not the only one who used this particular dodge to bring coughtwocough new fleeces into the house this spring! (and no, we won’t talk about the Romeldale fleece that just came to live with me last week through a local destash…)
The word “jealous” doesn’t even begin to describe the level of my envy! Looks like a lovely time… Perhaps the Men’s Knitting Retreats need to go there. 🙂
Those carders haven’t chaged! Sturbridge Village, a 19th C living history museum/farm has a fascinating working carding mill, and the machines look the same! Sounds like a terrific field trip, glad you had fun!
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