overstimulated by social media?

I had a piece run on the CBC a couple weeks ago about my new foray into Instagram @yrnspinner.  Here's a link to the piece:
Self-promotion vs. Self-reflection: How can we use social media better?

The funny thing is that there is always something to post about, and with a shiny new iPad (purchased to help a twin with his Sphero--STEM learning, of course), taking photos and posting is easier.  However, it means I don't post as much here, and I also probably waste more time on it all around...posting rather than making and doing in real life.

Why is it such a time waster?  Well, ahem, if you're me, you might need to look at sheep, and pretty photos of knitting designs and yarn, and see a friend's baby...and it is so easy to get seduced by all the visuals.  It is not even the same as reading a whole article/blog post/email or even, gasp, a book.  It definitely shortens my attention span.

LOOK!  A new photo!  Another person likes my post!  (I can see how people can get addicted to this.)

So, if you're not on instagram, here are some of the photos I posted there.
I bought some Navajo-Churro wool from a Pennsylvania farmer while at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival...while we were in Virginia visiting relatives for Rosh Hashanah. (and yes, I tried it out before the holiday!)

If you're curious, even after writing a book about festivals, like, umm, Fiber Gathering, yes, I still love going to festivals, teaching at them, and speaking at them.  This festival was just a spur of the moment thing, so I went with my folks and my twins and just had fun!

 We came home to Winnipeg and it rained like crazy last weekend.  It seemed like the best Sunday afternoon though.   We had an emergency spinning wheel fix--(someone had been playing and got a drive band caught between the axle and the wheel.  This makes Mommy angry and causes us to do spinning wheel surgery, which involved kid teamwork! Yeah for teamwork!) Afterwards? Playing inside, spinning Churro on my Schacht spinning wheel, and even having the gas fireplace come on at intervals.

The new bulky flyer set up holds a lot of singles.  I also found treadling it made me sore afterwards!  Maybe less is more here? Or maybe I need more spinning as exercise?

 And, here are the bonus photos for longtime blog readers:

We had a lot of cabbage in the frig...when the CSA (community supported agriculture) farm is still delivering, two weeks of produce accumulates fast!  I made Everlasting Slaw.  Three quarts in the refrigerator now.  Fall is here.
 Last, but not least, I am attempting a new fall project...sewing some new clothes for myself.  This involves learning a lot of new moves, including how to make bias tape.  (quality time with my new rotary cutter, my old dependable iron, and some steam.)

More to come soon on this front, I hope!
If you're fasting, wishing you an easy, meaningful one...gmar hatimah tovah! 
 (May you be inscribed in the Book of Life!)

Goats and vulnerability

Here is my latest article from the Jewish Independent.  It's called:

Goats out in the wilderness
I wrote it just before the synagogue shooting in Poway, but with only a couple of edits, it was sadly still relevant.  It's about people, goats like Azazel --and vulnerability.

The piece surprisingly, owes a lot to the research I did for Fiber Gathering, where I met a lot of goatherds, fibre goats, and learned a lot about how they raised them.

The first two photos here are from Crete, where people raise many goats in somewhat free range conditions.  At bottom, there's a photo of me making friends with a goat at a festival.  My husband, the professor, caught me talking to the goat and took my photo...about 12 years ago now!

Happy 5778! and more

Sorry for the radio silence over here.  Just when the second week of school for twins started here, our dear professor (Daddy) went off to England to do some research in museum insect collections.  I am proud to say that we made it through more than a week on our own.  Two six year olds, two older dogs (one pretty sick) and one very tired Mommy.  Holding down the fort is hard work.

Every day, our professor sent us photos of what he saw while he was in London at the Natural History Museum, in Oxford, and then at a symposium in Cambridge.

Here is a little sampling of his photos.
This is the museum in Oxford where he worked.  The red shirts at the front were volunteers for a day of student visits...he said there were balloons and signs and helpers, and lost looking young people everywhere.

The outsides of these museums and the display spaces are really something to see.  Behind the scenes, according to the professor, are even more interesting--sometimes disorganized, dark, and overwhelming.  He saw very old insect collections (like, 400 years old) and more.  Here is a shot of what behind the scenes looks like in Oxford's museum.

In Cambridge, he got to attend a symposium for his grad school advisor.  (Yes, the professor attended that Cambridge for this Master's degree, he's a Churchill College guy.)

Here's a shot of the punters on the river in Cambridge.

 What happened at home?
My article ran on the CBC here.  I got a lot of interesting and somewhat confrontational feedback.   Little of it seemed to apply to managing responsibly as a single parent for a week.  (You'll understand more if you check out the link, it's about creating legislation and education campaigns for the July 2018 marijuana legalization in Canada.)

The 2017 Manitoba Fibre Festival happened, and I was there for only an hour or two with both kids as I didn't teach or help this year.  It was remarkable to be there as a regular bystander.  Only a few people knew me or said hello.  It reminded me how capable others are--there were great classes, many volunteers, lots of helpers.  While I missed some of it, stepping down from being involved was obviously better for getting over Lyme disease,improving my health and taking care of my kids.  However, I was left a bit hollow about the whole thing, still sorting out my feelings there.  I've taught at a bunch of festivals, given a key note at one or two, done booksignings, and helped start this one.  But for now, I am 'between' festivals.

There was also a really super review of my book, and I was so grateful for it.  I have fallen down on marketing it.  However, the short version is that I'm proud of having written From the Outside In and even more pleased that I figured out how to publish all those newspaper columns both affordably and independently, in book form.  That said, I'd also like to break even on the whole thing, so if you haven't read my book, please check it out!

We topped off this very busy time with a really wonderful family Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, to celebrate 5778.  Happy New Year!  Both boys were unhappy that I didn't manage to invite guests to our holiday meals, but one very tired professor (with jetlag) returned just in time... so now we're back to two parents, two elderly dogs, and two very busy grade 1 students, starting a new week of school.  (Easy by comparison to last week)

It was rainy and cold here this weekend, and I'm knitting like crazy to get ready.  Kids keep growing like weeds and need new sweaters.  Winter is coming!  (Winter is always coming in Canada)  Are you knitting anything new?  Need some pattern ideas?

We did it!

The first Manitoba Fibre Festival was on Saturday.  It was a rousing success, despite pouring rain and cold temperatures.  (It never topped 13C --about 55F)  I was there, helping out and teaching, from 7:45 AM until about 4:30 PM, and the venue was about 25 minutes' drive from my house.  I spent most of the day in an outdoor tent, helping with the information booth, the wool show, and teaching. Gosh, I was chilled to my bones by day's end.

However, we had over 20 vendors, great big crowds, and successful classes.  Aside from one or two class snafus and a very damp tent (it was pitched over a drainage ditch), things went smoothly.  Overall, I am thrilled to have been a part of it.

One of the most interesting parts of the experience for me was seeing how incredibly excited everyone was to finally have this experience.  Many of them knew of festivals elsewhere, and some people had travelled long distances to go to festivals in the past.  However, some fiber-arts people took even bigger risks, considering this was the first time we'd had a fibre festival in Manitoba--one group travelled 5 hours from Sioux Lookout, Ontario.  The fabulous wool judge came from Saskatchewan.  There were so many people committed and thrilled to be a part of our one day, pop up, festival extravaganza.  Spinners, knitters, weavers, felters, rughooking, basket-making, dyeing--it was all there.

What would I dream of for future events?
1) A warmer and/or drier day --but we can't control that!
2) A bigger space
3) More volunteers and help
4) More cross border diversity in terms of vendors...I wish there were spinning wheel vendors, a huge number of fleeces of different varieties on sale and at the wool show, and more.  By cross border, I mean--from the US (just an hour away by car) or from Ontario or Saskatchewan or beyond.  I was thrilled by our local representation but wanted more more more...including chances for people to try out wheels, touch large  varieties of sheep breeds, and talk to more shepherds.
5) Some animals would be nice, but this ties into #4.  We need a way to get shepherds to believe in wool sales, and come along for the ride... never mind those who raise alpacas, llamas, goats, rabbits, etc.

It took me a long time to post about things, to dry out my teaching supplies--heck, even to get warm myself. (a big bowl of soup and a hot shower only made a small dent in it!)

Finally, it took a long while to get my household back to normal.  The only way I could be so involved the day of the festival was by having a lot of help from my family.  My parents flew in from Virginia (thank you!!) and with my husband's help, all three were on twin duty for the whole day.  Their hard work kept everybody on track and prevented 2 year old meltdowns on a cold, wet day without Mommy.

The photo here is perhaps incongruous, but it makes sense to me.  For the past 6 months or more, I have had a basket of spinning in our basement playroom.  Believe it or not, that is where I get to spin most--while supervising the boys as they play (and beat up on each other.).  I brought these tools out of the basement and wandered the tent, spinning as I talked to people.  Many were excited to talk about my spindles, and wanted to learn about how one could walk and spin and answer questions about the festival at the same time.  What I wanted to say was--compared to corralling the twins?  It was easy.  Like being on a one-day vacation with like-minded friends. :)

See you next year at the festival?

Manitoba Fibre Festival & A Spinning Class

I may have mentioned before that I've been working with a friend to help organize a fibre festival here in Manitoba.  Well, actually, my friend, Margaret Brook, has done the lion's share (or is that ram's share?) of the work.  I have worked behind the scenes, making suggestions, talking up people at the farmer's market, printing flyers, and trying to support my friend as she does the heavy lifting.  I am so excited and pleased that Winnipeggers will now have a chance to make connections right in town with local fibre producers and to learn, buy, and gather to discuss all things fibre!

Of course, if you live in North Dakota, or South Dakota, or in Ontario or Saskatchewan, this might also be the festival for you...we'd love to have you!

I am also teaching an informal spinning class at the festival.  I believe there are still spaces left!  Here is the description:

 "Ask a spinner!" 

Instructor: Joanne Seiff
Spinning is a solitary activity; lots of questions can pop up on your own. Many of us experiment or research by ourselves, but sometimes it is good to talk out solutions with your peers. Join Joanne Seiff, longtime spinner, fibre arts writer and educator, as she facilitates a question and answer learning session covering anything to do with spinning. Bring your own wheel or spindle, some fibre, and a willingness to ask questions and share the answers you’ve found on your own. 

1:00 - 3:00 pm    2 hours
Registration fee: $20
No materials cost

To register for my workshop (or any of the others!), visit the festival workshop page here and click on the Paypal "Buy Now" button for the appropriate class.

I am really looking forward to seeing you at the festival!

Next year?

I don't want to leave any readers hanging--so a short update is in order. I am fine, I'm still pregnant at 35 weeks, and I'm trying to wait patiently with my feet up. I don't go out much these days and I'm doing a lot of reading and resting. Harry and Sally are the best dogs ever. One or both of them are almost always by my side.. possibly the best companions ever in the circumstances!

I'm a bit sad to be missing festivals this year but my mom went to Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival and gave me a brief report. Wonderful weather, a good time, my friends say hello...but it's not quite the same as going myself! (Honestly though, I couldn't stand up for more than about 10 minutes at a time, so there's no way I'd manage it, never mind all the traveling!) That said, it is hard to smell the sheep barns over the phone. :)

Locally, the professor went to a plant sale and got herbs, flowers and other delights for the summer. He planted them, and the rain is now hopefully going to make them grow big. When I'm up for walking around the yard later on, I'll get to enjoy his efforts. Our forsythia is blooming and everything is beginning to look green around here. I am finding the prospect of spring exciting!

That's the news from here. I kept hoping I'd feel up to snapping photos for the blog, but in any case, haven't seen any sheep at all in downtown Winnipeg! Perhaps you'll just have to refer to past years...look for the beginning of May and you're likely to see sheep in those posts. In any case, I am now much more empathetic when it comes to those ewes who always bear twins, triplets, or quads.

(Oy. I think I know how you feel!)

festival nostalgia

I don't know how other people feel, but I find that the intense, short, and wonderful experiences I have at a fiber festival --any fiber festival--remain with me for several days or weeks after the event. In fact, it reminds me a lot of summer camp. At summer camp, everything is intense, short and sometimes bittersweet, too.

I mean, it was cold and wet last weekend. I didn't actually feel tiptop and I was sort of worried to leave 2 different sets of house guests to fend for themselves. However, that didn't stop me from having a great time at the spinning circle after I taught my class. On the left here is a candid shot of a bunch of us spinning. At any one time, there were 3 or 4 of us, and we created a "floor" in the dirt of the barn with an old sheet. I met some readers of my blog, some fascinated onlookers, and some shepherds who came by just to visit. The ladies nearby at the next table were selling pie. How could I have had better neighborly company than that?

While this was happening, my professor shot photos of possibly the cutest border collie puppy ever (see that photo?) and he spent time watching the show ring. He also met an entertaining kid who showed him all his digital photos and discussed bugs with him...never a dull moment for a biologist! The 4H sheep show part of this event was well organized. I was surprised to see how they numbered the sheep (on their rear ends) and that was definitely different than the arrangements I'd seen at the U.S. festivals.

I made connections with people I'd met on Ravelry or emailed with, and I admired some of the (few) fleeces that were entered into the wool competition. Sheep producers gave me their contact information. This week, since coming home, I've contacted 3 different Manitoba sheep producers. I'm expecting (at minimum...), 2 Cotswold fleeces, perhaps a Romney fleece, some Texel cross wool and maybe an Icelandic fleece or two to show up at my house sometime in the next month or so. Many of these farmers come to Winnipeg to do big city errands. My house will now be on their circuit!

The Professor joked that this fleece delivery system sounded a lot like pizza delivery, only it would hang around a lot longer. With the rate I've gone through wool roving for my weaving, I'm not so sure. :) Plus, we do need more insulation for winter, right?

Lately, it's occurred to me that teaching this graduate level writing class at the university 4 days a week is also a lot like camp. While my earlier class seemed almost leisurely at 2 days a week, this class feels like we're on speed. Several people have dropped out and I'm not surprised...we're on warp speed and I can barely keep up with grading the papers.

I managed today to get down to the Forks and saw my rug, carefully wrapped around a concrete pylon near the river. The colors matched and it looked like camouflage. The tag with any information had disappeared..so it did fade right into the scenery. Oh well..next time I'll have to do something a bit brighter. I went off to get myself frozen yogurt with fruit mixed into it...a great treat during my very quick distraction from work.

On my way to the car, the sun was shining. I ate my frogurt and saw an African man about my age with his 3 year old kid walk by, hand in hand. "Look," the man said to his little boy, "Did you see that beautiful lady!?" I stopped and smiled and said what I'd been thinking-- "Look at that cute kid!" Everybody was happy. It was a perfect moment.

Neepawa fibre festival

Last fall, I gave a talk based on my book Fiber Gathering about fiber festivals in the United States to a group of Manitoba knitters. They said, "What's the closest festival in Canada for us?!" I just didn't really know...I'd only been living in Manitoba for a couple of months...

Now I know. The first annual fibre festival (Canadians spell this "fibre") in Neepawa is about 2.5 hours away from Winnipeg. It's being sponsored by the 4H Club and the Manitoba Sheep Association. There will be sheep dog trials, classes, and sheep competitions. There's a wool judging on Saturday and a fleece auction on Sunday. This will be the place to get Manitoba raw wool for spinning and felting, direct from the producers! Plus, it raises money for 4H, which is a great program in both the U.S. and Canada.

Here's the information below--I'm teaching a class for shepherds on how to market their wool and I'll be at the spinning circle. There will also be a felting class, too. If you're free August 13-15, I'm sure there will be a whole lot of sheep and sheep producers looking forward to meeting you in Neepawa!

If you'll miss the festival, but you're interested in spinning wool that comes from Manitoba, consider checking out this list of Manitoba sheep breeders. If you see a kind of wool breed that appeals to you, call that person up or drop them an email. I'm sure that if the farmer has any fleeces on hand, he or she would welcome your call. If the farmer doesn't have any fleeces left from this year, ask to be put on the list for next year's shearing. You just may fall in love with wool from Manitoba...

Please click on the below images and the information will be easier to read. I hope to see you at the festival! (It will be small this year, but if we support it, it will grow!)