Sunday, August 9, 2009

In which the Rabbit finds fiber at the farmer's market

During the Rabbit's New England sojourn, she went to the Norwich, VT farmer's market. Though traditionally rabbits and farmer's don't get along, the Rabbit braved the market in hopes that there might be some yarn from locally-raised sheep or, even better, some fleece. The Norwich farmer's market did not disappoint.

Below is the first find: 300 yard of handspun made by the delightful owner of "Muscle in Your Arm Farms" in Etna, NH. Such lovely colors; this skein makes the Rabbit think of the Caribbean. No plan for this yarn yet.


Muscle in Your Arm Farms also provided these two beautiful, soft, lofty skeins of undyed Cormo (a breed descended from Corriedale and Merino):


But perhaps the best find of the day was this fleece:


This is Bluefaced Leicester, dyed a variety of shades of green. It's incredibly soft. When the Rabbit brought it to show her spinning teacher, Kassy exclaimed "It's like a salad!" This remark is probably unrelated to Kassy's observation, a few days later, that the sheep who produced it must have been fed a steady diet of olive oil to produce such unctuous fleece.

The Rabbit is planning to spin the Leicester eventually, probably plying it with something else. Watch this space updates on the fate of the fleece.

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