As we enter 2023, I hope everyone has enjoyed the holidays and is ready for the New Year. Here is what has been happening at Withers Wool and Farm year’s end and as we move into 2023.
Withers Wool and Farm is continuing to expand and grow. Two recent activities to highlight are “Crazy Carding” and creating new products using the Needle Felt machine.
Typically the innovative art yarns at Withers Wool and Farm came from the spinning process – e.g. core spinning. The roving and batts, while gorgeous and often multicolored, did not have other variations. “Crazy Carding” is a concept to put as many different colors, textures, and materials as possible into a batt and then spin the batt into a thick and thin single. The creativity comes in the batt preparation versus the spinning. This is still a work in progress but a great start has been made.
Withers Wool and Farm has a Lexi FeltLoom; typically this has been used to turn batts into bolts of felted material which can then be transformed into items like rugs and shawls. A new effort is now ongoing to make coasters. A large issue here is in figuring out how to best (and precisely) cut the desired shape for the coaster. I am experimenting with bonding the felt to cork and using a steam press for different affects.
The shop display continues to evolve. As some may know, there are a variety of patterns and for many of them there is an actual physical product that has been made (usually this is via knitting or crocheting). With each of these physical products, within the shop suggested yarns will be displayed that could be used to make the pattern. Additionally, some of the products – shawls and blankets – are now being more prominently displayed.
No sheep are being bred this year. Angora goats are being bred. There are 6 does with a buck and they will stay with him until the end of January. Hopefully we will see some new kids sometime in the Spring.
The only community scheduled events now are the days scheduled for the Fiber Art Studio (FAST): 14 January, 11 February, 11 March and 15 April. (The Fiber Art Studio Tour is a collective of fiber artists in central Maryland that collectively open/host events in unison monthly.) There are also a few private events scheduled with specified groups.
Finally, an admin note. The facebook page for the business was Withers Wool. However, this was tied to Kathy’s personal facebook account and when her personal account was memorialized in December, I lost all management rights on the account. Facebook has not responded to me (apparently this is not atypical) and so I have created a new facebook account for the business – Withers Wool and Farm. I will post to it and cross-post to Withers Wool for a period. (There are limits on what I can cross-post). So if you follow us on facebook, please switch to Withers Wool and Farm. (The link is on the website.)
Rainbow Batt
Felt Loom
Goats Being Bred