It's harder than I thought. . .

I knew that it would be a BIT of a challenge to try to make mittens, hats, socks, scarves, shawls and other wonderful knitted and woven items from locally sourced fibre.  But I didn't realize how difficult it would be. 

In the old days, a mere four years ago, there used to be this annual event called the Fleece Sale.  It was hosted by the Lower Mainland Sheep Growers Association and assisted by our guild, the Langley Weavers and Spinners Guild.  It sounds mighty old fashioned, but it wasn't. 

It was an annual gathering (first week of June) whereby all the folks who raise sheep quality fibre for hand spinners find a home to sell their stuff.  Members of our guild and their association gathered on a Friday evening and graded all the fleeces.  The next morning, folks from far and wide would line up outside the door to come in and buy unwashed fleeces and give reason for their hearts to soar for another year, or two, depending upon the weight of the fleece.

This event no longer takes place. 

My goal:  find out why is no longer happens.

Second goal:  find out what happens to all these fleeces.

I am running out of fibre. Sad but true.  I have llama and alpaca that I obtained from the Artisans' Sale: Beyond Fibre, but I have very little wool.  And if you are a spinner, you will know that llama and alpaca are wonderful and soft, but you ALWAYS come back home to plain old sheep's wool.  It's simple.  Easy to clean.  Has no guard hair.  Is springy. 

Quest: obtain enough wool to get me through the 2010-11 winter.

Folks are saying its going to be colder and nastier than the last ten winters put together.  I'd better get myself ready for those socked-in snow days that they are warning us about.  Wouldn't want to be caught with nothing to do but housework and read work-related email.