Woolen Gem

When I arrived in Belfast, the kind man who runs the accommodation complexes gave me some information on events in and around the city. I found a wool event hosted by a museum and decided I would attend. Unfortunately I unexpectedly worked until 4am in the morning, but I went home and slept my eight hours and drove off to the Folk and Transport Museum in high spirits.  I wasn't sure what I would find, but I certainly liked it. This museum, if you could even call it that since its outside and covers a fair area, had much more to see than I saw because I was quite short on time starting out so late in the afternoon. Basically it is a village and little farms run as if we were living 100 years ago with a great amount of interaction from knowledgeable guides. 

I wish I had a photo of me helping to shear a sheep. I was delighted the farmers let me try! 

The sheep they keep are an original breed to the area which all have horns. I thought the horns a little menacing at first, but soon saw their horns are certainly an advantage to people when sheep wrestling (okay so just getting sheep into position for sheering and holding them there!) The fleece comes off like a vest and is so warm I figured the sheep was pretty glad to be rid of it. It's also full of lanolin, which I was expecting but it's much oilier than I predicted.

From there I watched some ladies spinning and I even spun myself a yard of two ply wool yarn. Pretty neat. Maybe I'll use it some day as a small detail.  Sadly they do not spin the fleeces from the sheep there as they say the yarn is just too rough and the only useful purpose would be to make a mat.  What about felting? Ladies did you think of that??? 

Now I wonder what they do with the leftover fleeces? 

Last I visited a small home where I had a very nice chat with the woman inside on natural wool dying. Very interesting indeed. She was dying over an open fireplace, so I'm quite certain this is as real as it gets. There was a little guessing game with previously dyed skeins and small jars of commonly recognized plants to contemplate as we waited for her dye bowl concoction to reach its completion. Madder I knew had to be the tuberous little root giving a lovely strong red colour, but I was surprised about the others, particularly the beets! They produced a lemony colour!!! There was a skein of a very vivid green which came from the lupin plant - flowers, stem and roots. 

Then she asked me what colour the yarn would be when she removed it from the bowl. It was pretty pale looking, possibly greeny-yellow. When she allowed it to contact the oxygen in the air it began changing colour and became a beautiful strong blue! I was impressed. It was like magic!