Local Cloth Blog
"I have been working for years to find folks from the Navajo nation willing to travel to the mountains of western NC to teach at the John C. Campbell Folkschool. This year is a banner year for me because it is going to happen twice! " Martha Owen
The distinguished teacher:
TahNibaa Naataanii tahnibaanavajoweavings.artspan.com
From her bio:
As a young girl my paternal grandmother gave me my Navajo name of: TahNibaa Atlo'iigii, which means "TahNibaa the Weaver". I believe it was her hope that I may continue the tradition of weaving in our family. After high school, I joined the U.S. Navy and my weaving ceased momentarily. As a weaver today, I am exploring with color and design elements. I am also a rancher, I raise the heritage breed sheep, the Navajo Churro. As a full time weaver, a mother, a daughter, a soon to be grandmother I am honored to walk a similar path my grandparents did."
Felt and Embellishment: Experiments in Wool and Culture
Date and Class description: May 12-12, 2024
Instructor: TahNibaa Naataanii
Skill Level: All levels
Explore hand and needle felting techniques to create bead-embellished wearable art or jewelry, bags, wall hangings, and more. Work with wool from the instructor’s heritage breed Navajo Churro sheep that grow beautiful shades of brown, gray, black, white, and tan, and combine it with merino in many dyed colors. See what happens and how these different kinds of wool behave in different combinations: Churro on Churro, merino on merino, and on! All levels welcome; some physical stamina required.
There is still time to apply for a scholarship.
check here: https://www.folkschool.org/find-a-class/felt-making/
Simply go to the Folk School website, look for- "Find a class", then "Felt Making", then "View Upcoming Classes" and scroll down! Click here for registering for this class.
Martha Owen, a member and participant in Local Cloth activities sends this year re-cap to all!
Dec 23, 2023
Dear Wooly Colorful Friends,
Today is one of the shortest days of the year and I feel like it is time for me to stop a minute and send you the season's greetings! I used to send out a physical annual greeting but now with the luxury of a computer to use, I send you Good Cheer! Yeah, like everywhere all at once. We all had a big year one way and another and I meant to send a few follow up notes for each class and adventure I was part of in 2023. Today is the day to start/finish!
Let see, sheep and wool and conversation, and laughter and stories, that is what it is always about for me. But also a pile of odd Martha Owen things for your interest. Find below information I meant to send along all through the year. If you have something to add and or ask again then send me a hello! Here in North Carolina at the moment it is bright and cold. What is cold you say? Well, 1-2 sweater weather plus sometimes a scarf and a hat and sometimes all that and gloves and wooly blanket to wrap up in! Oh, and big barn boots and wind breaker!
The list of interesting facts from last year and our time together starts with that flash of excitement, honest labor, the frustration of learning, the stress of travel and hoped for and looked for satisfying outcomes. And as we all know, it was and is good to be together.
Here are some of the odd bits I promised someone some time to send along. Read what you wish to read and pass along to anyone who might be interested. I am a student of every living thing. My personal policy is to give, to give, to give! So here you go if you are interested. You have been a great gift to me and don’t you forget it. ( Oh, but remind me when and where we met! So many lucky lovely friends now.)
I have been writing reminders on my lined pad, let's see:
https://youtu.be/QgP9LAGV8DQ?si=l5THOq_acgNGXTEwGXTEw What the Helly Aa? (Your guide to Shetland's Up Helly Aa fire festivals)
https://youtu.be/QgP9LAGV8DQ?si=l5THOq_acgNGXTEwGXTEw
What the Helly Aa? (Your guide to Shetland's Up Helly Aa fire festivals)
I met Zoe last year at the International Fungi and Fiber Conference in Port Townsend Washington. It was love at first meet up! But she fits into this year and next as well! We'll be welcoming her back in the Fall of 2024.
We chatted briefly at the “Anything Fiber Sale” Local Cloth https://localcloth.wildapricot.org about some spinning wheels the Overmountain Weavers Guild was selling that had belonged to Persis Grayson. I have since noticed that you are teaching Great Wheel Care and spinning at SAFF this year.We chatted briefly at the “Anything Fiber Sale” Local Cloth https://localcloth.wildapricot.org about some spinning wheels the Overmountain Weavers Guild was selling that had belonged to Persis Grayson. I have since noticed that you are teaching Great Wheel Care and spinning at SAFF this year.
Exchange Place Living History farm, Kingsport, TN has 3-4 extra Great Wheels we are offering for sale, for $150 each. They have all their parts and need a loving spinner toExchange Place Living History farm, Kingsport, TN has 3-4 extra Great Wheels we are offering for sale, for $150 each. They have all their parts and need a loving spinner to use them. If anyone approaches you looking for a great wheel I hope you will give them my contact information. Interested parties may call and leave a message at Exchange Place, 423-288-6071 or leave a message at exchangeplace.info with the contact tab, or write to my email.
And of course I was so pleased to spend a nice long time with my pal Elizabeth Johnston.
I really think this is enough to be going on about. As I think I mentioned it was some year for the little shepherdess. In 2024 there are a few things coming that I am already studying on. Maybe we will meet again soon?
Always and forever I must mention my home place, the John C Campbell Folkschool ( folkschool.org). I
Online: Lessonface and the Folkschool (folkschool.org/programs/online-classes/)
Home Grown: Fair Isle Knitting Starting with Color (Part B) with Martha Owen (Feb. 26-Mar. 1) Home Grown: Spinning for Fair Isle Knitting (Part A) with Martha Owen (Feb. 12, 14 & 16)
Home Grown: Fair Isle Knitting Starting with Color (Part B) with Martha Owen (Feb. 26-Mar. 1)
Home Grown: Spinning for Fair Isle Knitting (Part A) with Martha Owen
(Feb. 12, 14 & 16)
Please send a hello. This has been an all day visit here from this computer and as I mentioned many times, one lovely ambitious year! I will now go looking for all your email addresses and post a series of pictures on my instagram account @marthaowenwoolens and that will jump over to my Facebook account martha owen woolens. ( My daughter Annie Fain Barralon fainhouse.org set me up!) If you do those kinds of things, please ask to join the Facebook group called Martha’s Flock which a loving student created a few years ago. I faithfully promise that I will only ever ever write about sheep and wool there. If you know me VERY VERY well you might read something else but from here it is sheep and wool and gardens and angora rabbits and music and well it's a big life.
And too, come see us. The sheep say maaaaah and The John C Campbell Folk school says, Welcome aboard.
You have been a great gift to me.
Best Wishes in all things.
Martha Owen
******************************
On Sunday afternoon Nov 19, 2023 Local Cloth (LC) hosted a spinning party. It was actually the regular monthly meeting time for the LC Spinners Interest group down at the studio (408 Depot St, Asheville, Western NC).
I didn’t take a single picture at the event, so some of the photos you see are from other times. I had the urge to snap photos you see, but my hands kept moving to the spinning wheel instead.
Spinning Interest Group at Local Cloth (June 2023). Photo by Susette Shiver
My first spinning wheel. Photo by Susette Shiver
In preparation for the event, all the long tables had been pushed back to form a rectangle. Inside the rectangle chairs were arranged to face inwards, forming a large circle. Twenty two spinners assembled together with all but a few bringing spinning wheels. Unbelievably, of the 19 women spinning (one couldn't because she was missing a piece of her wheel assembly, and two didn't spin because they were the guest speakers). In all, only two of the wheels were identical: a small type of e-spinner. About 5 participants brought e-spinners and the rest brought portable wooden floor models, all different yet similar: wheel that goes round, tension to control the spinning process, and foot treadles to generate rotation. What is an e-spinner? Rather than spinning wheels with one or two treadles worked with the feet to generate the spin, the e-spinners rely on electricity: plug-in or battery pack.
The fiber colors were wonderful. Everyone had different types of batts, roving, rolags, or top to spin. All the fiber was hand dyed. I was plying yarn using the chain ply method, Beth spun art yarn, Lorena was using a long draw. Some folks were novice spinners, some lapsed spinners, and many were long-time spinners; everyone spun while chatting or listening.
Hand dyed fiber for spinning. Photo by Susette Shiver. The results of participation in the Dye Lab monthly get-together at Local Cloth.
When all were settled down, Judi Jetson introduced herself (instigator of the Spinning Interest Group, major mover of LC and longtime spinner), then everyone introduced themselves in turn. Finally, our guests spoke. Martha Owen from the John C. Campbell Folk School spoke about her teaching and roles at the Folk School and how she lives the fiber and banjo life in the country. Martha then introduced Elizabeth Johnston (shetlandhandspun on Instagram).
Elizabeth Johnston (middle) in Detroit area "wooly" gathering. Her pattern is displayed in different colors. (Photo from Martha Owen)
Elizabeth is from Shetland and teaches at the Folk School with Martha. In between teaching they often tour together giving workshops and lectures whilst spreading information via their works. Elizabeth has many personally knitted examples of traditional Fair Isle knitting. Sometimes she is laughingly accused of being too contemporary in her pattern designs. She brought to show us an example of a hand spun, dyed, and knitted Hap, a Fair Isle Allover sweater, and one of their Shetland fleeces. Wonderfully soft it was and full of lanolin (grease).
Click link here to see Shetland sheep and the scenery.
Elizabeth and others feeling a Shetland fleece. Photo from Martha Owen.
Shetland Islands. Photo link here.
Elizabeth hand processes the fleece, then spins lace weight yarn and yarn for her Fair Isle sweaters, hats, haps, and dags. She uses natural dyes to create colors, and tones of brown, grey, and white come directly from the undyed fiber.
What are the meanings of Allover, Fair Isle, hap, and dag? Illustrations and explanations can be found on Elizabeth's Instagram page:
Martha Owen wearing an Allover, click here.
Did you know that Shetland wool from Shetland is rather much finer (the fiber diameter is smaller) and softer in general than the Shetland wool grown in the US. This is principally because of the diet, genetics, and other sheep life factors. The fleece are much cleaner because of the lack of air pollution that can stick to fleece and cause dirt to stick. There is no dirt or leafy matter there, so-to-speak, since the sheep roam on gorse and the soil is peaty. The peat bits more easily fall away during cleaning and spinning, unlike other vegetable matter that catches in the fleece. The gorse sticks mainly to the belly and neck which is separated from the rest of the fleece. On rare occasions, skirting the fleece results in a handful of thistle (ouch!). The wind is strong, trees are rare, growing only in very sheltered spots such as adjacent to a house. It is windy, cold, and wet much of the time in Shetland. Wool clothing is warm and can be manipulated to maximize retaining heat by choice of spinning and knitting techniques. Spinning Shetland wool "in the grease" keeps your hands coated in lanolin, ...nice!
Enough for now, but I want to explore the differences between Fair Isle, stranded, Intarsia, pattern, and double knitting in the future!
let's spin!
Susette Shiver
The Virtual (V)-Handwork Circle Zoom attendees meet every 2nd, 4rth, and 5th Thursdays from 1-3 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend, just sign up so that you get the link! Susette Shiver organizes this portion of the Handwork Circle, but an overlapping set of folks prefer the in person comradery at the Local Cloth studio and the ability to touch and see handworks in progress. Ceil Jensen and Rebecca Norris are the mainstays at the in person meetings.
The zoom loyalists have a different set of advantages compared with the in person handwork circle. One major delight is the impromptu ability to run and get something in the house or studio to show and discuss.
Katya is producing these small detailed shapes for a larger project she is working on.
Tina embroidered a photo printed on cloth and is working on another. This one is sentimental--a photo of Tina and her brother she recently finished.
Ceil was showing us aspects of a priest's stole she is making for her book project. The design rests on historical themes including sculls which you can see just above her head hanging from the door. She is working from her small studio where she has collections of pottery and handmade items related to her book in progress. This book will have an extensive collection of handmade items illustrating the lives of her ancestral Poles migrating to the Detroit area.
In the handwork circle we like to talk about our ongoing creative and craft projects. Sharing them with our friends over zoom is satisfying even though the visual is less accurate than in person (see previous Handwork Blogs at this Local Cloth blog site).
I took a screen shot of Martha's project that is almost done. She later sent me a photo.
We share screens to see actual photos. We commiserate. We support each other. We critique our works. We save commute time and depending upon where we live that time can be considerable. It is crazy fun to meet up with a Zoom attendee for the first time in person! (we are a much less formal in our home settings compared with our "going out" clothes).
I am looking forward to this afternoon’s meeting!
Susette
Here is a correction to the initial version of this blog on SAFF! 9/19/2023
Don't be fooled by this link as I was:
https://saffsite.org/event-information/ where you see a link at the bottom to ...event-schedule/ where "coming in October" is displayed. That link was never updated
INSTEAD make sure you click on the "SAFF 2023 Information" in red at the TOP of the page. This is what you will see (below). Be sure to sign up for classes.
In the pull down menu you will see the correct links but they won't be correct in the boxed links lower on the page.
So many things to do and see. What to do first? It depends on what interests you most: classes, events such as sheep herding, demonstrations? Walk into a auditorium space and be knocked over by the grand, copious, extensive, unbelievable vendor displays of fiber for felting and spinning, yarns to knit and crochet, yarn shops moved lock stock and barrel to the vending space (it seems to me), rug hooking, weaving, hand made fiber items, tools for working with fiber, and so on.
I like to visit the animals and hear the sounds they make. Totally weird and amazing if you never have heard them. And of course, each breed of sheep or goat, for example, looks so different. How about an angora goat (mohair) compared with a Jacob conservation breed sheep (wool)?
As a knitting and crocheting enthusiast I have spent previous years at the SAFF trying out different yarns. I bought my first merino roving there with the notion that I might like to try felting. That's not the only possible new hobby that I saw demonstrated. At a spot where the vendor was working on an Australian Locker Hooking project, I found she sold all the necessary materials for joining in.
I have also established an ongoing relationship with vendors that don't live close by. I wanted more of a particular type of knubby cotton yarn that I haven't seen in stores and was able to order more.
Do you want to buy a fleece and start from scratch? This is a good place to shop and experience the array of choices.
Lots of other vendors sell finished products in addition to offering raw materials and you might fall in love with some beautifully knitted baby booties as I did.
Are you competitive? Enter the competition by clicking here. There are lots of categories to chose from.
*! Seek out the Local Cloth table which will have information on our non-profit organization centered in Asheville.
SAFF starts on the Friday; classes start early on Thursday (no retail or events events).
Note for the SAFF that at the Ag Center only gate 7 is open. On the Events page at the SAFF webpage you will find entry price and directions to the Ag Center in Fletcher where the SAFF fair is held.
Caps for Cancer at the NC Mountain State Fair is now posted online. The fair runs September 8-17, 2023 at the WNC Agricultural Center in Fletcher where the caps we have been working on will be displayed.
This competition event is in its first year at the fair and should run at least the next three years. Caps are entered in the competition or are just plain donated. All of the caps will be delivered to the Messina Cancer Centers of Western North Carolina.
We (Judi Jetson, Martha Brandon, Katya Krenov-Hoke, and Susette Shiver) have been making hats over the summer. We are finished! I delivered 26 hats to the Fairgound yesterday Sept 5 under the name of Local Cloth While there, I saw the display site as hats were being added.
Our group made a straightforward donation, so the hats will be displayed but not judged.
The display is in the EXPO building:
Here are our hats!
5/16/23 last updated
Dear HC friends
We are starting our second collaborative project. If you want to join in and I don't know about it yet (you haven't received an email), let me know by emailing Susette Shiver.
Tori is going to start, Since she was interested in knowing the order beforehand, lets all think about it and sign up below (It's not binding!! We are a flexible group): think about whether you care to be in the early vs. latter stages of the project. If no one wants the 2. position I am happy to take it on, Tori, as you are just down the road!
Remember, we aren't in any rush or deadline, and each artist adds after the piece "speaks to them"! As before, I will finish and prepare for hanging unless someone else volunteers.
1. Tori, thinking "Japanese kimono fabrics and maybe some Sashiko"
2. Susette
3. Katya
4. Paddy
5. Ceil
6. Rebecca
7. Mary
Carolyne has been busy on Thursdays and so has decided not to participate in this second collaborative project.
Tori began with silk pieces and slow-stitched appliques. Susette took up the piece and added stitched hemispheres. The stitching yarn is undyed silk/cotton (45%/55%, respectively). The navy linen was discharged in the presence of indigo to create the pattern.
Next, Katya, then Paddy! Stay tuned.
It is in Ceil's hands now, 7/6/2023
Theresa Stenersen, Franklin, NC, Member since 2022
Spelling Tuesday Farm, with a breeding flock of Icelandic sheep.
Theresa is one of those people that can have a full time job as an Child Care Health Consultant with a nursing background, be a fiber farmer with 18 Icelandic sheep in Franklin, and take classes and expand her fiber art repertoire in spinning and weaving.
Although her father’s mother and sisters were avid knitters (and crocheters, quilters, even doing some tatting!), Theresa didn’t really learn to knit until later in life. However, the family was quite close and her grandmother who lived until 101 years old was attended by her knitting daughters at home every day. Down time was spent gathering round and knitting, remembers a young Theresa.
Her first zap of inspiration into the fiber world was actually what Theresa calls “reversed engineered”. In the late 1990’s, she attended a sheepdog competition. This inspired her. But, to have a sheepdog, one first must have animals to herd. Once you have the sheep, you have a lot of fleeces, and so on. (More later on the number of fleeces in various stages of processing that have been collected into her basement).
Somewhere along the line, Theresa met her husband who is Norwegian and a software engineer. She moved to Norway and lived there from 1999-2011. During this period, she knitted quite a few items to keep herself warm in that cold climate.
As a means of sharing her life with her parents back in the states, and with the help of her husband, Theresa began her own knitting blog and website. If you recall, during that era, the idea of blogging was just getting going and few blog sites were out there to enjoy. Soon a “web ring” developed of knitters with about 30 websites. This was essentially a group of folks that became friends over the internet and around knitting. Amy Singer, the instigator of knitty.com saw Theresa’s blogs and invited her to contribute technique articles, “Techniques with Theresa”. Cool huh?
Theresa has also contributed a pattern to Debbie Stohler’s “Stitch ‘n Bitch” and went on to start Norway’s version of Stitch ‘n Bitch (in Norwegian which she learned being plunged directly into the culture). She and a friend are currently hosting a Stitch ‘n Bitch in Franklin at the Rathskeller Coffee House and Pub on the first Sunday of every month.
Currently, Theresa and her husband live in her grandparent’s old house in Franklin. This was where she became a fiber farmer following up on her interest in sheep dogs. In Iceland, these sheep provide fiber, meat, and sheep’s milk. Did you know that there are four types of cheese that are traditionally made from sheep’s milk: Feta, Roquefort, Manchego, and Pecorino? More commonly in the United States, only fiber and meat are used from the sheep and that is what Theresa and her husband Sid provide. However, as I mentioned early on, much of the fiber from Theresa’s flock of Icelandic sheep have ended up in her basement.
Recently, Theresa attended the first of the Fiber Farmer Listening Sessions at Local Cloth. There she met Jonathon and Ben Hearn, a sheep shearing father/son team. (Their partner, Charlotte Crittenden, has been shearing for Spelling Tuesday farm for a few years now.) She also networked with other farmers and artists. Theresa is hoping to move the fiber from her basement into projects and sales with the help of Local Cloth and its members.
Learning to spin and weave is taking up more of Theresa’s time at present so that she can begin to effectively use her own fiber. Icelandic sheep are interesting in that their fiber consists of an under layer of short, soft fiber (thel) and a top layer of longer, coarser fiber (tog). These fibers can be separated, for example, using a comb or spun together into Lopi, which the Icelandic word for unspun or lightly spun yarn. Alone, the tog is quite useful for projects requiring greater strength such as in rugs, or as a weaving warp. Theresa has recently joined the Nonah Weavers in Macon County. They have a large space and multiple looms available for use, and many experienced weavers who can provide mentoring.
Follow along on new adventures – and baby lambs! - on Spelling Tuesday Farm’s Instagram account.
Interview by Susette Shiver
May 2023
We have finished our first Handwork Circle collaborative project! It is on display at Local Cloth Studio, 408 Depot St, Asheville NC. Note the circle!! Also, can you find the brillig and the slithy toves? [Jabberwocky, by LEWIS CARROLL, " ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves " ] They are thanks to Rebecca Norris, the literary type. These and all the other elements are interwoven into a piece that was created impromptu as we passed it from one to another and let it speak to us individually.
Google us at Local Cloth Handwork Circle to see blogs about our activity (or scroll through the blogs).
Our second project is just beginning if you want to join in (email Susette Shiver).
The Handwork Circle piece on display at Local Cloth (at the back on the left of the studio). The participants are embroidered around the edges.
Susette is showing Judi Jetson elements of the piece.
_________________
This is an ongoing piece that will be finished when our new project is finished!! The v-handwork group had the idea it would be fun to start a project that would be handed off in turns to all who wanted to join. I started off by giving Carolyn Morrison some hand dyed linen pieces left from my previous projects.
The order of participants: (in progress)
Photos:
1. Susette
2. Carolyne
3. Ceil
5.Paddy
7. Tori
This is a blog that is ongoing and will be updated with subsequent discussions, decisions, resources, patterns, etc as we move forward! Check back periodically!
Feb 23, 2023
The handwork circle (both in-person and v-handwork settings) have been busy this year initiating two new projects. The first, a collaborative fiber project I will blog about separately. The second opportunity is to make caps for cancer patients that have received chemotherapy and lost hair.
The subgroup of cap-makers from our handwork circle include: Martha Branden, Gail Cable, Katya Hoke, Susette Shiver, Ceil Jensen, Paddy Lynch, Mary Kelley, Kathleen Lewis, Tori Masaki, Victoria Robertson, and Sara (with tunis, we need her last name!!)
This year the NC Mountain State Fair (third largest in NC) occurs September 8-17, 2023. A new category for competition is the "Caps for Cancer" in which all the caps will be donated to Messina Cancer Center in WNC.
The information that we have at present is detailed in this pdf document. Our group plans to enter in the Club Showcase Class including in the crochet, knitting, and constructed categories.
Yesterday, Thursday Feb 23, at our zoom v-handwork get-together, we discussed for the first time this project. We all agreed that knitting colors for different cancers was "too much information". Privacy might be preferred by the patients when out in public!
Secondly, some of us prefer knitting or crocheting while others prefer constructing interpreted by us as sewing hats. We will not use wool or chenille as suggested (see above pdf document link). The caps should be silk, soft baby acrylic possibly or cotton, tencel, or bamboo.
We all like fleece hats, and Ceil has several that she wears that would be excellent to sew (with the serged seams to the outside so that the inside is perfectly smooth and soft) with perhaps a ribbon on the brim or other types of decorations added. The hat can be worn in various ways and looks almost like a beret but with a band that can be pulled down as far as you like.
Silk caps or caps with a turban-like design with added embellishments were proposed as well as reversible, and other types.
We closed agreeing that we all could try and identify hat styles, patterns, and resources to consult that might be useful. Before launching into making multiples, we will make prototypes to test and discuss. And, we will strive to make hats of the recommended sizes with the dimensions listed in the above link.
The deadline for delivery to the fair is August 25th, so the hats will be collected to one place and then delivered to the county fair on that date. The fair organizers promise that all the hats will be displayed during the fair and then donated to Messina Cancer Center.
______________
Hats for consideration prior to choosing ones for prototypes
Here are some hats for consideration:
1. 2.
3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Resource:
Knots of Love website with patterns-all about cancer caps
Local Cloth, Inc.
408 Depot Street, #100
Asheville, NC 22801828.774.5134
Info@localcloth.org
Copyright © 2012-2024 by Local Cloth, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Artists' work and images are property of the individual artists.