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Saturday, May 10th, 2008
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9:10p - Fox news, Field trip, and more MUSH
First the field trip. Spinning guild went on a visit to a local wool processor this morning in lieu of our regular monthly meeting. It was fascinating and the machines are wonderfully Rube Goldberg and work very well. Wool still gets washed by hand in stainless steel laundry tubs, but after that hand-controlled machines do the picking, carding, drafting, spinning, and plying. All of the machinery except the pin drafter was new, made to order for the cottage operation by small manufacturers. The pin drafter is 50 years old and was rebuilt for this installation. Like so many things, most of this is no longer done in the US at all. Some equipment comes from Canada, but the pin drafter was US made at a time when the US still had woolen mills. The spinning frame, which can spin up to eight strands of yarn simultaneously, was made by a US maker, but he is a small cottage industry himself and manufactures the machines only on order. So you can't just buy one from stock. It was fascinating, and the Shetland lambs she had on the premises were adorable. Watching snowy white wool travel into the carder on a slow conveyor belt and squirt out the other end as ready to spin roving that looked just like soft serve ice cream extruding from a machine was actually amusing.
Saw a baby fox twice this afternoon. He or she was hanging around our parked horse wagon, playing with a rope that is dangling from it. Each time I cam within view, the kit would dash down the old burrow under the corner of the arena. They are big enough now and have their adult coloration so that they are recognizable as foxen, not puppies. When I first saw them they were sort of batlleship grey in color with darker tails and ears. Now they are definitely fox red, with white and black in all the right places. Kyooot! Just like in Disney's film The Fox and the Hound.
Oh, and for those who haven't heard yet, the Transmontania MUSH now has working guest logins so you can check out the scenery if you like. Only a tiny bit is viewable right now, but you're welcome to pop in.
current mood:  busy (comment on this)
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