ANTIQUE CHICKEN BUTTER DISH AND SPINNING WHEEL

I had a great Saturday last week! A large old business builidng in our town had a giant antiques auction! My great, great, grandmothers at one time worked for the business from their homes. It was the Lamb Knit Company. They manufactured gloves at the turn of the last century--go figure! And now I'm a knitter--finished a pair of gloves just last week. Anyway, each day the company sent out stacks of gloves to area housewives who sewed up the fingers. My grandma left this info in her diary and that was the exact same historical overview given before the auction. I wanted some memorabilia from the factory and ended up getting this wonderful little spinning wheel. I can't be sure it was original to the Lamb Knit Company, but might have been since the building also housed a school, I believe, according to historical information. The school trained teachers and a tabletop loom was sold that same day, said to be original to the school. I paid more than I would normally pay for any auction item, but I'm pleased with my purchase. I have cleaned it up and will give it several coats of oil to nourish the wood. I believe all parts are there, with a minor exception of eyelets, and it is in working condition.

After the sale, I went to a local Goodwill and purchased this wonderful chicken butter dish. I LOVE this new acquisition. Our old modern butter dish was cumbersome and had no handle, making it difficult to use. This one is way, way better and cute as well! Since I'm a chicken lover, this will be just great. I almost didn't buy it, but for $4.50, how could I go wrong? The spinning wheel price was a different story. Let's just say at least two other bidders thought it was worth what I paid because I sort of had to keep diligent to get this wheel! Blessings, LORI

 

EAR RING

Took this picture on one of my daughter's last days at work this season. We went out to the fields to check corn and I go to ride along! I got the bright idea to put one of my favorite rings on an ear of corn! How about that for an EAR RING?

WOOLY WORLD

Just wanted to share a bit of news. I haven't been able to post lately. But here's a picture of a drum carder that my spinning group had set up at our recent county fair. One of our memebers was kind enough to loan it to our display for the week. I learned to operate it and demonstrate this step in the processing of wool for the many onlookers that visited our interesting display.  After wool is "picked" it is placed in the drum carder, cranked by hand until the drum is full of long strands of wool all going in the same direction. Then the long pinlike tool is used to gently lift the wool off the carder at one location. Once it is "pried" (not a hard job!) loose, it can be neatly pulled off in a uniform "batt." It is then ready to spin or be put through one more process to make roving. Either way, it's "spinnable" at this point.

Several of us ladies sat and spun or knitted all week so people could watch the process and get their questions answered. We had the walls behind us covered with our hand-spun creations. A nice informational board was included that featured locks of many different kinds of wool to show the incredible variety available!

Here's hoping EWE enjoyed this demonstration! Blessings, LORI

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN, I HOPE!

I wanted to post just a little note to let all my faithful blog followers know that I am still here, right here in St. Joseph County and busy! I simply have difficulty posting the higher quality pics here at home and little time to go elsewhere to post! I hope to get back to posting again soon. I am working less hours and hopefully that means more time for artistic pursuits! Blessings, LORI