Guest speakers spins wool – and a tale – for local knitters

Blame it on Uncle Henry’s, the publication that no Mainer who wants to buy used stuff can do without. It was the angora bunnies, you see. Sally Michaud of Vassalboro answered an ad in Uncle Henry’s and that was how she met the woman who got her interested in learning to spin. She bought the bunnies.

Michaud was the guest speaker May 8 at the Bangor Public Library knitting group. She talked about preparing the fleece for spinning, washing it, picking out plant matter, forming it into roving strips or bats. She also talked about dyeing wool.

“It’s a lot of work,” she said of processing the wool. “It takes me about two hours to produce four ounces of yarn.”

She showed a child’s sweater she had knitted. It was made of yarn she had spun and dyed with various coloring agents, including Kool-Aid.

Michaud brought her spinning wheel to the meeting to demonstrate her skill. The easily portable wheel, a double-treadle Lendrum made in Canada, is constructed of maple and has a smooth spinning action thanks to ball bearings, she said. She also has at home an 80-year-old Lithuanian wheel, but she said she prefers the Lendrum.

Michaud kicked off her shoes and showed how to draw out the roving, relax the tension and let the spindle wind the resulting twisted yarn.

“I always spin barefoot,” she said. “I sense the motion of the wheel better that way.”

Michaud, an occupational therapist and the mother of three children, ages 3, 5 and 15, said it took her three or four weeks to feel proficient at spinning after she started to learn the craft.

She still feels, after six years, that she is learning. “I wish I had more time to do this,” she said. “It’s satisfying and relaxing.”

Michaud’s fleece comes from her four Finn sheep, known for wool that is lustrous and soft, which blends well with other fibers.

Michaud also has an Angora goat. The Angora bunnies she gave away recently because she needed to cut back on the amount of time she spent caring for animals. She plans to return to school soon to work on a master’s degree at Husson College in Bangor.

“I’m going to miss that bunny fur,” she said. Michaud blends Angora with wool to create a soft, fluffy yarn.

Michaud showed the knitter’s group several books she found helpful as a spinner and knitter – “The Spinner’s Companion” by Bobbie Irwin, “Colors in Spinning” by Deb Menz, “In Sheep’s Clothing” by Nola and Jane Fournier and “The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook” by Lynne Vogel.

Michaud said she first learned to knit with a machine, but after she learned to spin, she decided to learn to knit by hand.

Diane Smith, a library employee, started the knitting group in March. “There are many people in the community who love arts and crafts of all kinds,” Smith said.

The group has 14 members who attend the weekly meetings. “There are no rules about attendance,” Smith said. “We bring our knitting and talk about knitting.”

The knitters’ group meets at 6:30 p.m. each Thursday in the boardroom at the Bangor Public Library. The group is open to all knitters, and will continue to meet until June 12 when the library switches to summer hours. Meetings will be suspended through the summer, but will be activated again in September. To learn more about the group, call Diane Smith at 974-8336.

Snippets

. Children’s Days will be held 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, Friday, May 30, and Monday, June 2, at Leonard’s Mills Living History Museum in Bradley. Among the many activities schoolchildren will take part in will be fiber-related tasks such as spinning, weaving, knitting, quilting, rug hooking, rug braiding and embroidery. To learn more or to volunteer your fiber art skills at the event, call Cathy Goslin at 581-2871 or e-mail info@leanoardsmills.com.

. Kathy Goldner will give a talk at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, at the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft. Her topic will be “Stories of Knitting.” For more information, call the library at 564-3350.

. On May 8, I delivered the last stack of cat mats to the Bangor Humane Society. It measured 3 feet tall. I lost count of how many cat mats the project produced, but a good estimate is 300. Once again, thanks to all you knitters and crocheters who did your part to keep the kitties at the humane society and The Animal Orphanage in Old Town happy. To learn more about how to adopt a cat or dog, call the Bangor Humane Society at 942-8902 or The Animal Orphanage at 827-8777.

ahamlin@bangordailynews.net

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