July 27, 2005
Hi Joanna,
I just thought you'd be pleased to know that our team won the local competition yesterday. Cora's brown Bond fleece attracted LOTS of attention! It was hands down the prettiest fleece there. The judges loved it and wanted to know where it came from - information we gladly shared!
I have attached a photo of the team from yesterday - it was SO hot and humid, after 4 hours of spinning/weaving outside, we look fairly wilted, but we were very happy nonetheless.
The reason we're allowed so many spinners is because in this particular event, we must ply the weft, which takes SO much longer. It's a fun but grueling day. One of the spinners becomes the designated plyer, which was Francie. Everyone did a great job, and the judges loved our color choices, and particularly, Cora's fleece.
Libby Beiler
Lewisburg, PA
February, 2005
Dear Joanna,
I recently completed my first project from Olga's fleece.
I thought you might enjoy seeing the lace scarf and tam.
I painted them after they were knitted.
Olga's fleece is so white my next project will not be dyed.
I am so pleased with this fleece!
Thank you.
Mary Nichols
Asheville, N.C.
|
"Scarf & Tam"
|
September, 2004
From Deanna Nemeth, Instructor at Harrington College of Design (Chicago, IL)
Students at Harrington College study textiles from fiber to fabric. This class is media rich. "Isidor", provided her lamb's fleece, and was an ideal choice and perfect for our 'hands-on' project exploring protein fibers. Developing textile awareness is multi-dimensional. Refining the sense of touch is crucial to the total experience. Feeling the softness of this beautiful fiber and lanolin rich fleece provided a tactile sense of characteristics unique to wool. This initial study helps students understand more clearly how fiber content influences aspects of fabric performance.
Dee says "When I teach, I try to create an environment for learning. Up until this point, I've only been able to have students hold small tufts of scoured wool and examine the fiber under magnification.
Now, we have Isidor: a fantastic introduction to the protein study. The size of the fleece, quality and integrity are quite impressive. As I unroll the fleece, students gather around, both curious and a little uncertain as to what to expect. It's great to observe how their reactions change, from being a little cautious, to getting involved with both hands."
"Tuesday Class"
|
"Wednesday Class"
|
February, 2004
Hi Joanna,
These are the pictures of my two students who spun, wove and felted with
your wool. I am so proud to send these to you. One girl, Melissa Seger
is a 10th grader and made the shamrock piece, and Liza Cyriac made the
landscape. I especially like how she cut off her felt border trimmings
and reattached them on the opposite sides. Hope you enjoy seeing their
work. You were their inspiration!
Sincerely,
Debra A.Price Agrums
August, 2003, Shannon West wrote to Fiber Buy and Trade:
I just wanted to give a report to the list on a great experience I have had with Gleason's Fine Woolies. I ordered two Corriedale fleeces and they arrived today. Joanna was wonderful. She answered my questions, sent samples and even sent samples of the roving. My fleeces are awesome. They are so clean and they are beautiful. I can't wait to get at them. They also raise Australian Bonds, but I didn't get any of them (yet). I'm in no way affiliated, never ever met Joanna, but just wanted to let others know how happy I am with my purchases.
Shannon West,
Slippery Rock, PA
August, 2003
Dear Joanna,
Thanks for another box of beautiful fleeces and roving! Nona, Violet and Ariel
are stunning to look at and a pleasure to handle. Ariel's fleece came
sparkling clean with one wash and one rinse and it dried in big, soft, fluffy,
downy-soft locks. This is another fleece that won't need carding OR flicking
to be ready to spin - I'll be able to work right from the clean locks as I did
with fleeces from Red, Winter and Cora last year.
The browns in the Bond fleeces are incomparable. The articles and newsletters
you posted about the processes of importing them, and your thoughts on long-
term planning for the flock, are very interesting. Holding that beautiful wool
in my hands makes all the hard work worthwhile (easy for me to say - it's YOUR
hard work). It's great to see this next generation produce the wool you hoped
and thought it would. I can't wait to see my show fleece from Helen to find
out how the Corriedale/Bond cross works out. Will report back, of course, but I
expect it to be as superb as all the others have been.
The hand-painted rovings are great, Joanna. Such rich colors! The dyed batts
shipped fine, too - puffed right up to a thick, soft roll of wool when I took
it out of the bag.
I would encourage all of your customers to use the net bags you show on your
fleece washing page on the web site. I'm delighted with the results I've
gotten - nice even "squares" of fleece with the locks intact. So easy to put
on my combs, if I want to do that, or to just tug at the tips and pop them open
for spinning from the lock.
Thanks for all, and as always, I'm already looking forward to the next box with
Helen's and Samson's spotted fleeces. Such fun.
Meg Caulmare,
New Salem, MA
April, 2003
Well - I did it - I made my first piece(s) of felt (using your natural white and dyed wools) last night using the one-piece
bootie method. They turned out soooo cute! It only took me about 45 minutes to do.
Everyone at work is oooing and ahhing over them. It was a learning experience.
1. I understand better now how to make the final felt pattern with the wool. It is
hard to picture how the wool will mesh together at first.
2. It took a lot of wool to make two little booties. Now I can gage better how much
it will take.
3. I learned how thick it will be. I think I would have made them a little thinner,
if I had known how much or little it mats down.
4. I had a great time - but I was worried at first that I wouldn't be able to tell
when it had felted. It turned out to be unmistakable.
I made the felted booties much the same way as seen in the instructions by Ellen Allan at
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/crafting/article/0,1789,HGTV_3352_1812256,00.html
Belinda K Swift,
Douglas, AK
|
|
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
