Fiber Femme Focus

Carol Lee of The Sheep Shed Studio

Encampment, WY

http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/index.html

Article by Sandra Bennett

 

Carol Lee is known throughout the fiber industry and well she should be. She grew up on fairy tales, specifically, Rumplestilskein, and has always wanted to spin straw into gold. Now Carol Lee (CL) laughingly admits, “flax is a kind of straw and when spun it becomes worth its weight in gold so I’ve become a modern day fairy tale.”

 

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 FF – How did you get started in the fiber industry?

 

CL – When I began spinning, in the early 1970’s, spinning was on about a twenty-year cycle. I was the only spinner I knew and I was all by myself. There would be little clusters of fiber people but we were few and far between. In the 1980’s people began buying personal computers and the Internet changed everything. Now, fiber people are connected all over the world…spinners, dyers, weavers…all of us are connected by the Internet.  

 

FF - What are the biggest changes you’ve seen both in your business and in the fiber world?

 

CL – The very biggest change has been communication. There’s nothing bigger for our group of like-minded people than communication. Secondly, the availability of all sorts of products related to the field. In the early 70’s you’d have a little group of one or two people, scattered here and there, who would pass along information or share tips but that was about it.

 

Then Spin-Off magazine started and we {fiber people} found out there were other people who enjoyed fiber arts and things started to grow. The down cycle on spinning, dyeing, weaving, etc. wasn’t as sharp nor as strong and the core group kept it going in the down cycle. As communication developed, especially with the Internet, the fiber and other crafts started to soar.  Now, it seems everybody is knitting and the numbers continue to grow. Fiber work is comforting work and it relaxes a person. We live in a highly technical world and fiber work allows us to experience tactile sensations that calm and relaxes us. The hard edge of technology is softened by the fiber arts.

 

The other big change is the number of men who are now interested in the fiber arts. It used to be primarily women and is still dominated by women but I’ve had some classes where men represented fifteen to twenty percent of the group.

 

FF - Who works the business? Partners? Employees?

 

CL – I started the business alone and it was very small business. I sold mainly to students then a little later I ran a few ads in mostly farm magazines and sold to farmer’s wives. Eventually I bought ad in Spin-Off but most of the stuff I sold in the first 20 years was through the workshops I held. I started locally with the workshops; I was asked to teach at the local high school and then moved to Adult Education. I’ve taught in nursing homes, schools, churches, hippie colonies, conferences…virtually anywhere I was asked to teach, I taught. I wrote booklets so people could take the information home and use as a reference and that’s lead to writing books and doing videos.

 

Carl, my husband, has always been extremely supportive of my fiber business as well as anything I’d attempt. He recently retired and that was because of an accident I had. He was a construction project superintendent and one blustery winter the lights had been left on in the carding trailer. I decided to walk from the house, across the path to the carding trailer to shut the light off. It was only a short distance so I didn’t wear a coat or dress very warmly.

 

I slipped on ice, hit my head, passed out and when I came to, there was an inch of snow covering me and a baseball-sized knot on my head. I managed to get back to the house and called Carl. I told him what happened, said I was warming up, functioning again and would, shortly, be headed out again to shut off the light.

 

He called me every couple of hours for the rest of the night to make sure I was doing okay. The next morning he called his company and said, “I’ll finish this job and then I’m going home to stay.”

 

He did and now he’s my business partner and he weaves 75% of the rugs we sell. He’s a better weaver than me and I’ve been weaving since 1978! I  needle felt on his rugs and that adds more texture and design.

 

Our rugs are the biggest thing we produce and we use Karakul, Navajo Churro, Cotswold, Lincoln, Romney, Shetland…mostly long wool breeds. The kind of rugs we weave don’t do as well if the softer wools are used. The rugs won’t keep their crispness, they tend to pack down and are difficult to clean.

 

 

FF – What’s the Academy of Spinsters?

 

CL – The Academy of Spinsters is a learning institution for the fiber arts. We teach carding, spinning on both wheels and spindles, fleece weaving, triangle loom weaving, and natural dyeing. Shared lodging is available and people also bring their own tents, sleeping bags and campers.

 

In the 80’s I was a semi-truck driver hauling livestock and to stay awake I thought of anything and everything to keep myself awake. I kept a notebook and would write down my thoughts. Everything came back to I wanted a spinning school and the Academy of Spinsters came to mind. The Sheep Shed Studio has been the umbrella since 1971 and we’ve had several little business under that title.

 

We live in Encampment, Wyoming and the Grand Encampment Schoolhouse (built in 1900) had been vacant since early 1970’s. It’s made with rough-cut lumber and logs, has almost 30 rooms and can sleep 33 people. It’s the world’s biggest playhouse and we’ve renovated it over the years.

 

It’s ended up being a total fiber school and covers 3 floors. It was built especially for me and because I’m 5’2” the building has low ceilings about seven feet tall. It has lots of wide-open spaces, nooks, corners, and bookshelves filled with massive fiber library. It’s a very comfortable, cozy place that is warm and inviting.

 

FF – What fiber events do you host?

 

CL – Our year begins with Spring Fling, an annual natural dye weekend held the first full weekend of June. It used to be called the Twenty Four Dyepot Workshop Weekend and we always have at least twenty-four dye pots going and sometimes as many as thirty-six dye pots. Students bring food, drink, fibers for dyeing, extra mordants and dyestuffs and each person puts $10 in the kitty to help pay for anything of mine you use. The cost is $67.50 for the weekend and that includes lodging.”

 

Wooly Weekend is the first weekend after July 4^th and is usually a guild from Cheyenne; this is their eighth or ninth year coming to the Academy of Spinsters. The cost is $67.50 and the guild usually wants a fiber focus for the weekend; this year it’s pin weaving. Everyone brings their own fibers, food and drink and shares. If they don’t have their own fibers/yarn they can purchase from me.

 

FF – What’s pin weaving?

 

CL – Pin weaving uses a heavy board and you draw on the board the shape of what you want to weave. Pins are put in to hold your warp and then over/under weaving is done using feathers, beads, yarn, etc. It’s very basic weaving but you end up with a highly individual product. It’s a good place for first hand spun yarn…pin weaving is just perfect for this type of yarn.

 

Anyway, back to the Wooly Weekend…in year’s past we’ve made mushroom paper, fleece weaving, spinning, natural dyeing. The group will tell me this year what they want to learn next year and I’ll have a year to learn and prepare so I can teach a class next year. We’ve had great fun and learned a lot over the years.

 

At this year’s Spring Fling we had sixty to seventy-five dye pots going and we dyed twenty-five pounds of fleece and yarn. We used sagebrush, rabbit brush, Brazil wood, cochineal, indigo, madder, juniper berries, Osage orange sawdust and wolf’s hair lichen just to name a few.

 

FF – What other events are hosted at Academy of Spinsters?

 

CL – The Gathering is the last full weekend in September and it started

as a weekend to thank all the students we’d had during the year. It’s a free weekend where people come for a Fiber Free For All…anyone is welcome to come and people fill up the house, set up tents, sleep on the floor, in their motor homes…people are everywhere! I try to limit it to 50 people and people bring pot-luck to share. The dye kitchen is running, there’s a tent for paper making, tri-looms are under the trees and it’s mostly spinning & weaving outside. Everyone works from daylight to way past dark. Those first few years folks were spinning all night long but now folks go to bed.

 

[Carol Lee laughs…]

 

We’ve all gotten older and can’t take the late nights anymore so we have to go to bed. The Gathering is basically organized chaos. There’s always story telling…some stories are told year after year after year; other stories are new but there’s always lots of sharing, lots of laughter.

 

People find out mostly by word of mouth, Yahoo type lists and the Internet. We’ve had visitors from a lot of US states, Norway and Canada.

 

There’s no charge for this weekend although we ask for a $10 minimum donation for dyeing materials, mordants, etc. We dye between twenty-five and fifty pounds of fiber and have a blast. People share rooms, meals are potluck and everyone has a great time.

 

FF – What fibers do you prefer?

 

CL – My favorite wool depends upon what I’m doing. For fleece weaving or needle felting or spinning I like Cotswold. It’s the poor man’s Angora and has ringlets, curls and nice shine.

 

If I had to choose only one wool, it would be Suffolk, a down breed. It has good quality; it’s light, airy, very soft and dyes beautifully. The first 15 years I spun only down breed sheep like Suffolk, Hampshire’s, Montedale, basically the meat sheep. The only problem with down breed wool is it doesn’t felt but it does make wonderful Superwash wool.

 

For sweaters I like Shetland, Icelandic and Suffolk but not Merino. I don’t do fine spinning because it feels mushy to me.

 

[Carol Lee laughing, “boy, that will make people holler!”]

 

I’ve been to Australia and they have nice Merino; it’s light, open and nicer to spin. It still feels too oily, too mushy and too soft but it’s great for fine spinning. It’s just not my favorite to work with; but to each their own.

 

I spun some Suffolk yarn in 1971, dyed it in 1972 and knitted it into a sweater I’m still wearing and will probably be passed down to a great granddaughter.

 

FF – You’ve written several books on fiber; what was your deciding factor?

 

CL – I get so tired of people saying you can’t do this or that so I write books that show you can do whatever. It might not be done easily but it’s all wool, it will all spin and it all has a purpose.

 

All the books have photos accompanying the text and even if a person doesn’t read English they can follow the photos and still make something or dye something.

 

Fleece weaving shows how to take a not so nice fleece and make something a beautiful product.  Fleece weaving is a fun class and can be taught to three year olds or eighty year olds and is a good use of junk fleece.

 

Sammy’s Shawl is the step-by-step process of taking a raw fleece and using simple, sometimes hand made equipment, turning that raw fleece into a beautiful shawl.

 

What’s in the Pot? I hired a videographer to video a natural dye workshop and the forty-three minute video showcases colors, dyestuffs and the finished product.

 

Mushrooms Are to Dye For is coming out in June 07, and features my favorite mushrooms, colors, samples, different PH factors, etc. It’s a workshop in a book and teaches mushroom dyeing which are the most colorfast, most powerful dyes in the world. They are a lot stronger and more colorfast than most commercial dyes.

 

FF - Carol Lee is the US Representative for the International Federation of Fungi and Fibre held every two years. It’s been held in Denmark, Australia, Finland, Norway and in January 2008 it will be held in Mendocino, CA. It’s being held a trifle off schedule in order to celebrate the 90th birthday of Miriam Rice, author of Mushrooms for Color (now out of print). She’s credited for starting, and making popular, mushroom dyeing in the USA and around the world.

 

FF – What’s in store for you, the Sheep Shed and the Academy of Spinsters?

 

CL – My business is always changing and I’ll never retire again. Something new always comes up and as long as I can stay on my feet and speak a coherent sentence, I’ll just continue to learn and grow and teach.

 

In January 06 I took on a new business as a representative for the Brown Sheep Company. They were looking for someone to handle the mill end waste, a roving made from a machine they called the Beast. Now, the roving is sold as “Beast” roving and we sell about three to four hundred pounds in a slow month. 

 

When we started accepted credit cards our business increased by at least fifty percent; PayPal is also useful in increasing sales.

 

Carl and I are in our sixties and having a blast with the business, enjoying life and each other. I foresee teaching and classes being kept locally because of gas prices. When I teach I bring a truckload or vanload of equipment so I have to drive, there’s no way I can fly all my equipment. I’ll take twenty-five students in a class because my husband and I work together and can handle that many students. Carl is top-flight weaver, excellent spinner and dyer and he’s added so much to the business.

 

FF – What’s the most important thing you could tell us about the fiber industry and fiber arts?

 

CL - Keep the joy and fun in spinning. If it’s not fun, then why are you doing it? Too many people are so serious and they have no joy. If there’s no fun, go out and find something else to do because you enjoy it. Do this because you love it and not because you have to. Above all…have FUN!

 

All photos courtesy Carol Lee.

 

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