Unusual Spinning Wheel found in Japan

Here is a photo taken by Majacraft's Glynnis Poad of a curious-looking spinning equipment at the Tokyo Spinning Party. It has no wheel and you use a stick which you push on the spindle shaft to make it run. There is no bobbin or flyer either; instead, it has a quill. Glynnis reported at the francophone Forum du Filage that it's simple and quite fun to use. However, the fiber has to be pre-drafted because one can only hold the fiber with one hand as the other is pushing the stick.

Speaking of quills, Glynnis added that Majacraft will be coming out before Christmas with its own quill which will work on all its spinning wheels.

This is an old Japanese postcard I came across...

...and I was delighted to see it in contemporary setting. Photo provided by Glynnis.

It looks like an Indian charkha that my friend, Sandrine, sells at her online shop, Alysse Créations.

Yarn School 2007: We Came, We Spun, We Dyed!

Photos taken by students at Harveyville Project in Harveyville, Kansas, may be viewed here.

More Tokyo Spinning Party photos

I found more photos taken at the Tokyo Spinning Party held last week on the website of Kakara Woolworks, a Japanese fiber shop. Below are photos of Glynnis teaching, and doing a spinning demo on the Majacraft Rose. Bottom photo shows Glynnis's husband, Owen, creator of The Little Gem, with his back turned watching Glynnis spin on a Suzie Pro. By the way, Adrian of HelloYarn did an exhaustive review of the Rose recently. Read it here

Tokyo Spinning Party, Sept. 17-18

No, I wasn't there, but my friend Glynnis of Majacraft was. See photos here found on the website of Spinhouse Ponta which was a sponsor. Spinhouse Ponta publishes the Japanese spinning magazine called Spinnuts.

Back to school this coming weekend.

The Harveyville Project's Yarn School with Adrian Bizilla of Hello Yarn. Which means I will miss The Washington Paper's Crafty Bastards' Arts and Crafts Fair on Sept. 30 for the second year in a row, just as I missed MWSF for the last two years.

obit: Filature Houard

I just received an email from a self-described fiberholic who is going to the Languedoc area in France very soon. She wanted information on Filature Houard. Unfortunately, just a few hours before, I had received an email from Laurence a.k.a. LaineZinzin -- who vacations in nearby Bedarieux in the summer -- and she reports that Filature Houard finally closed down for business August 15.

Monsieur Houard had been trying to fight the imminent closure due to bankruptcy since last summer. He went to court last October and the factory stayed open for 10 more months. I'm glad I was able to go to the shop at least once. It will be missed by spinners and knitters.

The machines of the factory churns out fabulous threads and yarns. Let's hope someone or some entity will take a financial interest in it.

Otto's cashmere

What spinner doesn't know Otto, his fabulous Petite and Finest drum carders and his even more fabulous customer service. No introduction needed here.

We -- Larry and I -- paid a visit to his farm in New Castle, Virginia, five hours from Washington, DC, and this gentle creature was who greeted us before Otto and Joanne could come out of the workshop-cum-office.


More cashmere goats slowly descended from the hill behind. Otto explained it was their habit to come down in the afternoon for treats: quartered crab apples that they nibbled on off one's palm.

We spent a delightful afternoon in the Strauch's porch drinking beer and nibbling on Joanne's tomato and mozzarella platter, talking about the next spinning retreat in France at Mic's place planned for Fall '08 and exploring the craft market in New Zealand. Add to that science fiction films and Hercule Poirot, my favorite film to watch while spinning. Otto mimics the Belgian detective to a T.

We got back home at the stroke of midnight, still thoroughly delighted and hopeful to spend more time with Otto and Joanne on the road on craft fairs and such.


The cashmere goats had already been brushed (no, they're not shorn) so all that's left are the guard hairs. Here's a closer look at the horns.

Japanese boots (jika-tabi) in print

Here's an interesting acquisition from Japan, specifically from a little Nara shop called Tabi-ji. It's a pair called jika-tabi.


Hubby was looking for these boots, usually black or blue, and normally worn by construction workers and Buddhist monks. When he finally found Tabi-ji, the boots came, surprisingly, in prints. And even more surprisingly, the shop owner, named Ryo, spoke impeccable English because he lived for sometime in Eastern Washington State.

As Ryo packed our purchases, he carefully included a couple of his brochures in the bag and said, "If you want anymore, just send me an email. I will mail to the US."

Here's how you contact Ryo:
Tel: 011-81-742-263588
Email：yonezi.come@s6.dion.ne.jp

Ryo in his shop.

Spin your newspaper and, yes, you can crochet or knit it too!

This you will see in the trilingual blog of Pirkko. Her instructions (in French) are here.

Jetlagged, and oh my deer!

It's just a manhole, but since this is Japan, design is a must. The deer is a symbol of Nara, where the rest of the photos were taken last week.

Feeding time!

Do you see the pleased look on this cookie-eating deer?

Larry is beseeched to share his ice cream.

"That looks yummy!" These fellows are not incapable of poking your butt to get you to feed them.

Looking stately and nonchalant among tourists.

This deer, er, dear getting water just outside the temple to cool off.

Ravelry

To toast the Ravelry invite received, I present the French music video of Camille, Ta Douleur, where she gets caught up slowly, but surely in a self-knitting blue yarn.

Abigoy: Indie artist in Manila

So I've been in Manila for almost two weeks now and a trip to Manila is not complete without a weekend in the country with family friends from waaaaay back. One of them is an indie artist named Abi Goy whose hip t-shirts are sold at Analog Soul.

So Abi and I had our "stitch and bitch" time during which she worked on her contribution to an upcoming group exhibition. For the show, each artist was given a blank doll which was to be finished according to the individual's desire. Abi's is a doll with two identities: Fire and Rain. Note the flame on the red doll's right hand and a rain drop on the blue one's. Abi drew the design on the doll with a pencil as she stitched along. That's a true artist, not a mere craftster!

Out for the Summer

Halo-halo is a favorite treat in Manila, especially during the summer months. A tall glass is filled halfway with sweetened beans, coconut meat, jackfruit, yam, plantain, flan caramel, and rice crispies. Then the whole mix is covered with crushed ice, milk is poured on and topped with ice cream.

What goes in halo-halo.


How to prepare halo-halo.


Ice shaver fashioned after the traditional kind made of cast-iron.

JumpSheep gets woven in France

Back in February, Le Forum de Filage held a yarn exchange called,
Le feu couve sous la glace. My godmother was Carine; and my godson, Paul -- not a spinner, but a weaver.

Last month, Paul sent me photos of what he had done with the yarns that I sent him. I was so delighted to see our work together -- a table runner -- and am equally delighted to share them with you. Paul wrote that it was his first time to weave with handspun yarn. Well, it was also my first time to have a weaver work with my yarn. : )





By the way, at last month's spinning retreat in France, Paul won my yarn -- which I had DHL'd when I learned I was quarantined -- at the raffle. It's a plied lace yarn in gold and burgundy.

Le Forum de Filage has opened an English section!

I'm delighted to let anglophone spinners know that the French spinning group Le Forum de Filage has opened a new English section. This is after the spinners' retreat in the Cevennes in France was graced with the presence of anglophones Owen and Glynnis Poad of Majacraft in New Zealand. Also, the European spinners of the forum are planning to come to the U.S. for the Maryland Sheep and Wool and, eventually, visit the Majacraft factory in Tauranga. Therefore, they are brushing up on their English.

So far, we've heard from Andy Poad, son of Owen and Glynnis; Otto Strauch, creator of the fabulous drum carders; Elizabeth of Spinning from the Edge; and Natasha of Luxe.

Andy, along with brother, Rob, are fashioning a new Majacraft flyer as requested by Midian.


As Sandrine, the forum's host, describes it, "It's a small flyer, for baby bobbins and fat-core bobbins. Not a flyer for standard bobbins. Instead of an orifice for fine fibers it's a delta orifice like the standard flyer, but with e-hook. And of course fiber-glass arms."

So, there you are. If you want constant discussions daily, go join the filage forum!

I bring you what I missed...

due to chickenpox: the spinning retreat in the Cevennes region of France. You can view photos taken by Richard and written about by Sandrine right here

More photos below courtesy of Sandrine, Muriel and Paul.

Joelle, the quintessential chic French woman played the ever-gracious hostess, along with her husband, Pascal. Here she is spinning with her suede boots on.

What spinner or weaver wouldn't want to get lost in a place like this:

A basket of fantasy handspuns by Joelle labeled "LamadeLaine". One for each of her spinning guests.

Florence with one of Joelle's affectionate donkeys.

Joelle with a gift from Paul: his own handwoven piece.

Joelle's basket of singles. This picture is so French country.

Owen Poad and his wife, Glynnis, of Majacraft flew all the way from New Zealand to attend the retreat. The francophone spinners are fanatic about the their wheels, The Little Gem and the Suzie Pro.

Laurence, Sandrine and Florence mesmerized by the sight of fleece.

The buffet table.

Table for twenty, at least.

Spinners, weavers and spouses breaking bread.

Joelle's husband flambéing cognac on the hearth.

The May babies: Christine, Spock, Agnes, Joelle and Muriel (me, too). On the right is Pascal who prepared the cake. By the way, Christine is translating the Elizabeth Zimmerman patterns into French for Meg Swensen.

Paul hamming it up with a handspun.

Muriel and Laurence.

The Belgians: Agnes and Florence with the emblematic Belgian beer.

Mic's van filled with swags, spinning equipment and tools.

The view on Monday morning, departure day. A promising sign. Next retreat will be at Mic's place in Fall 2008.

A missed opportunity, a surprise in the mail

At this time today, I should be airborne on the way to the Cevennes region in France for the second francophone spinning retreat this long weekend (Memorial Day in the US; Pentecost in Catholic France). Attending are some 20 spinners from Switzerland, Belgium and, of course, France who hang out daily at the spinning forum, Tricofolk. Special guests at the event are Owen and Glynnis Poad, the couple behind the Majacraft spinning wheels from New Zealand. So apt, as the Tricofolk spinners are diehard Majacraft fans, especially of the Special Edition Alpaga Suzie Pro.

Anyway, hosting this time is Joelle, whom I had the opportunity to visit in October. She has a lovely place where she and her husband, Pascal, offer a country gîte to nature trekkers at certain periods of the year. Pascal was a lawyer practicing in Paris when he decided 29 years ago to go back to nature. Their business is called Balladanes and their service includes renting out donkeys and llamas to carry gear, and arranging for a stay in a series of other gîtes within the region for a guideless tour on foot with nothing else except provisions (Pascal is a fabulous hand in the kitchen) and a map. Unbeatable.

As luck would have it, I caught chickenpox and was forbidden to travel until the end of the month. That sure sucks, except, there's always a next time.

The good news is that, today, I got an unexpected package in the mail from amazon.com. In it was a copy of "Victorian Lace Today" which I have been eyeing at the bookstore, but which I never bought. DH, after opening the box for me, started reading a note on the invoice in French. It was a gift from Laurence, a.k.a. Laine Zinzin, one of the spinners who will in the Cevennes tomorrow. The note read: "Here is something to distract you while waiting for your pox to go away. You need a lot of concentration to work on lace." True, I have been spinning lace lately. It's just appropriate that I should start knitting lace as well. Merci, Laurence!

JumpSheep Handspuns & Hand-dyed Sock Yarns at MSWF

I will not be able to shop for fleece and test-drive spinning wheels due to work, but about sixty of JumpSheep handspuns and sock yarns will be on sale at the Springwater Fiber Workshop booth in the Main building.

Enjoy! I look forward to reading about this weekend in the spinning blogs.

Je serai en voyage à partir d'aujourd'hui

Hotel Rwanda: du 30 avril au 5 mai
chez-Florence: le 6 mai

Vive la langue française!

Et merci à mon amie Bonne Marie pour ce lien:

Denis, t'as pas perdu tout sens de l'humour et c'est pour ça sûrement que t'as survecu à Washington aussi long. Comme moi.