On Tuesday I participated in a Yarns and Yarns webinar which inspired me.  I learned about it from an email from Uist Wool, a mill in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.  Here is the recording of the event.

The first speaker was Meg Rodger talking about Crofting, Hebridean sheep & Audur the Deepminded.  She spoke of the Icelandic Tale of Audur the Deepminded who has an incredible story and her making a vararfeldur shawl.  This shawl is absolutely incredible.  It is made with a rock weight loom.  It uses different northern sheep breeds’ wool, sheds water and is warm.  As soon as I saw a photos of it, I wanted to make one.

Then there was a presentation from Osteroy Museum about Varafeldur viking cloaks and Norwegian knitting.  This is a textile museum north of Bergen in Norway. She described the history and use of the rock weighted looms.  There is a video from their museum of making a varafeldur shawl.  She helped write the book The Warp-Weighted Loom which is reviewed here.

Then there was a presentation by Dana MacPhee – Uist Wool mill in Grimsay.  I love this mill and would love to visit.

So now I am inspired to make one of these shawls although for now I will use my floor loom.  I found more information about making them from Reba Weaves and Robbie LaFleur.  I even ordered some wool warp yarn from The Weaving Works which is sadly going out of business. I am thinking about making two shawls with wool from my sheep: black one from my Shetland and Gotland cross sheep and a brown one from my Shetland sheep.   I am also inspired to try to read the Icelandic Sagas again.  I did watch the video of the first Yarns and Yarns event as well.

Yesterday I got my drum carder working again.  It had stopped working because the drive bands were old and stretched out.  So I ordered two more from Duncan Carders, and they arrived quickly.  I was able to replace them easily and was back in business.

I am carding my Shetland wools in hopes of making a tribute shawl for my beloved animals.  I have wanted to make a James Herriot scarf since I first saw it.

So I am thinking I can make a wider circular stranded scarf with sheep images made with the different shades from my animals.

So those are my wool dreams.

In car news, Tom sold his purple Dodge Challenger today.  We have not been using it, especially since we have the beagle.  So he wants to get something more practical and useful.  But it was sad saying goodbye today.

In other news, I made Lihapiirakka, Finnish meat pies for dinner.  I figured they would pair well with Kraken hockey.

Go Kracken!!!!