sharing the fiber experience

My sister Darcie and I were guests at her daughter Katie's youth group meeting on Wednesday evening.

There were nine girls in the group. I told them that our clothes are made of fibers that come from animals or plants. We showed them how twisting fiber makes it stronger. We gave each girl some Romney roving and asked them to pull a piece apart. Of course, that was pretty easy to do. Then we told them to twirl the fiber like they might twirl a lock of their hair and then try to pull it apart. Not so easy. Katie showed the group her spindle and how it twists fiber when she spins it.

Once that concept was understood, we brought out some Corriedale pencil roving that Darcie had dyed in bright colors.

In pairs, the girls each held an end of the roving and twisted it clockwise.

When enough twist was built up, the roving was allowed to ply back on itself.

The two-ply yarn was then cut and tied to make friendship bracelets. The girls liked them so much that they came up with lots of ways to wear the pretty colored yarn. Katie shows us her bracelet, headband, and ring,
pony tie,

and anklet.

The kids seemed to enjoy the activity and we'll be doing another one with them in a few weeks, letting them try out some spindles and spinning wheels.