yes, but yet to totally unlock the code on this one! I did see a huge difference in what the plant looks like come October on a trip to the interior of BC last year versus my coastal locale... the trick as I understand so far is to harvest the stalks when golden yellow- when the latex has gone back down to the roots. (spreading dogbane aka Indian hemp is the same) that was what the milkweed looked like when I was in Kelowna last year and made me realize we were not getting cold enough nights- just wet- so the stalks would rot but not mellow, so to speak. when I harvested a stalk in Kelowna, I could snap the stem and strip the fibres off very easy, the white silky fibres would roll off the remaining outer bark layer when I rolled the fibres quickly between my palms.Anyone try milkweed aka as butterfly weed?
what a lovely offer! Glad to hear the sheltie fibre will get used in some way- we just had a community groom and spinalong in our local park yesterday- it was a ton of fun and we might have to make it an annual spring event!We Will be shearing our sheltie dog next week and I was thinking of writing her to ask if she wanted the wool with its orange and black guard hairs in it. Unless one of you would like it.
Hi Libbie, I teach new spinners on a spindle, to start, and using the shorter fibres is always easiest... learning to draft is the tricky part! Spinning from the fold is my preferred way to spin longer line on a spindle, but I also use a "traveling distaff' sometimes- tying the root end of the fibre to a line that gets tied to my belt loop on back of pants, and then throwing the line over my non-dominant shoulder... this is a an easy way to be able to have fibre on hand for spinning and moving around- something I am sure clever and busy women would have done thousands of years ago! have you read Womens Work, the first 20,000 years? you would love it if not! One of my favourite books...have you ever spun flax with a spindle and distaff?