Welcome to my fiber display. This is our home and my prized great wheel. The clothes I'm wearing are all handmade (although I DID purchase the apron at an antique show). The vest is knit of wool/silk and bordered with handspun camel/silk yarn. The blouse is handwoven of commercial cotton yarns. The skirt is woven on a fine commercial cotton warp of very fine handspun 2-ply merino yarn mixed with Swedish worsted (blue stripes). The hem of the skirt is weighted with Inkle tape made of the threads used for the skirt fabric (as is the placket - no zipper).
Under the skirt I'm wearing handknit lace knee socks of handspun worsted yarn.
The rug is also handwoven entirely of handspun yarn, the red yarn is madder dyed.
I've been working with cloth and fibers most of my life, starting to spin yarns in the late 1970's. As the collections of yarns grew beyond simple knitting projects, crochet and weaving were added to my set of skills. Since then, I've been making many of the textile items used in our home - household items as well as clothing and gifts.
From 1971 to 1990 the family lived in Northern Germany in a small farming village 60 miles North of Hamburg - no special reason for being there other than that was where we made our livelihood. In the fall of 1990 we returned to the U.S. and now make our home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
During the 1980's I ran a little business selling finished items, demonstrating in a large open-air museum in Kiel, Germany, and selling our agricultural products - sheep's milk, sheepskins, locker lambs, eggs from the chickens and produce from our garden.
From 1991 to 2006, I "worked full time on the side" in professional MIS positions which limited my fiber activities once again to only that which I can produce for the family.
Since 2002 I have pursued more complex avenues in weaving including drawloom, Jacquard and dobby looms. I continue to enjoy experimenting and following through on complex “what ifs”.
"Retired" since 2006, I now own and operate The Woolgatherers, a fiber shop and weaving studio in Fond du Lac. |
