Historic Interpreting at the Burritt
Teaching, spinning angora rabbit, and allergy season
I officially started my new part-time position at the Burritt Museum Historic Park on April 8th and I’m still getting into the swing of things. It’s field trip season there until the end of the school year, so I mostly talk to 1st-3rd graders about how sheep wool gets turned into clothing in a “sheep to shawl” demonstration that can last anywhere from 10-25 minutes per group. I start with the raw fleece, then card some washed fleece and drop spindle an example of yarn before moving on to the spinning wheel. The last step is to show them knitted or woven samples, or if I have long enough, show them how I weave on the historic loom in the Chandler House. Most of the kids are attentive and fascinated—unless it’s too close to lunchtime or the last group.
When there are no field trips to participate in, I’m in my house either weaving, spinning, carding, or knitting. The two Burritt sheep—Shelley and Bronte—were sheared on the 8th, so one of the other interpreters and I plan to wash fleece in the upcoming weeks.
The Friday before last, a long-time friend brought me some cut fur from her daughter’s angora rabbit—named Reuban—that she wanted spun into yarn and knitted into a baby present for her daughter’s soon-to-arrive baby son. I started spinning Friday and Saturday and had around 139 yards of fingering/sport weight yarn to knit a baby beanie with. Because of work, I didn’t actually start knitting until Wednesday night, finishing on Thursday night to deliver it by Friday. It was my first time spinning unprocessed angora straight from the rabbit and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be—since the staple length was long enough. It did feel a little like spinning a cloud and I could barely feel the yarn in my hands as I was knitting, which is a strange feeling (I like a good toothy wool in my hands), but I managed to get a cute baby beanie off the needles in time. It’s probably the softest thing I’ve ever knitted.
Last Sunday, Ellen and I drove to Sunshine Weaving and Fiber Arts in Lebanon, TN (above Nashville) to teach a 3-hour spinning wheel class. The four hour round-trip drive was pleasant and the weather was just right with 71 degrees as the high for the day. The class flew by, time-wise, and we got home around 8 pm. I had a beginner needlepoint class in Cullman to teach on Monday, so I got into bed soon after I got home. Then, it was back to the Burritt Tuesday-Thursday.
I was supposed to go to my studio yesterday, but because of my workload over the last 8 days, I decided to stay home. I dropped off the angora rabbit baby beanie to my friend for her daughter’s baby shower since she was local and came back home to spin up more Gulf Coast Native samples from the 11 fleeces I brought home from Pecan Grove Farm in Athens, AL. While I don’t normally hang around outside when I don’t have to on pollen-heavy days, I did spin outside with my sheep for an hour or so under a pavilion tent that Brad set up for me to provide some shade since it was in the 80s yesterday. I’m trying to acclimate to the heat since I’m now out in it several times each week at the Burritt in full 1800s get-up (including petticoats and other underpinings).
I washed a sample from the New Zealand Corriedale and Merino fleeces that I got in last week, but I’ve only managed to start processing the Corriedale so far. I’m pleased with the results and after I get through the GCN fleece samples, I’ll be diving in to those, hopefully.
Upcoming classes I’ll be teaching at the Burritt Folk School are Raw Fleece to Finished Object on May 24th, Drop Spindle for Beginners on June 20th, and Shibori Dyeing on July 26th.
Upcoming classes at Sunshine Weaving & Fiber Arts are Yarn Dyeing for Beginners & Yarn 101, both on June 1st.
Upcoming class at the Cullman Senior Center is Shibori Dyeing on May 19th.
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Beautiful work. Btw the wheel at your museum is the same as mine!!