Knitting: when weaving in all those pesky ends, weave them up a seam when you can, and when you can't, work a dupicate stitch on the wrong side of the fabric. No matter how you make your ends disappear, they will hide better if you feather the tail, rather than blunt cutting it. What? Hid your tail so well you cannot find it? Hold it against a light source and look through it. Where it looks thicker, there you'll find your end. One final tip in that department: develop a standard way you weave in ends - that will make them easier to find, too.

Weaving: The washing machine is your friend . . . but it can become your enemy. Do use the machine to full your fabric, but constantly monitor it. Some fibers will go beyond fulling to felting in a blink of the eye. It's up to you to pronounce your fabric "done."

Spinning: Here's how I finish my yarns that are either singles or plyed on themselves. First I thoroughly steam the skein. I love to watch it plump and become beautiful! After it dries, I wash it in Dawn or a similar product that removes grease and dirt remaining from the sheep and from the spinning. This is the last time I will wash with this kind of product. Forever after I use Soak or Eucalan (some lanolin is desireable to me). I squish out the water using the spin cycle or roll it in towels and step on them to remove water, never twist or felting could occur. I then put the skeins on a screen or sweater rack to dry, or sometimes I hang them.  I never, ever, never weight a skein as it dries. This technique may make the skein look more perfect and reduce twist visually, but when it grows up and becomes a garment, the garment could twist and shrink. Best to let that happen in the skein.

Stacey, our Operations Manager, joined Heritage when her sons began school at Upland Hills in 2007. She is married to Tom and they have three children, two of whom are twins and will become teenagers next month. They are proud wearers of their mom's hand knits. Stacey learned to knit in 2005. Her current project is the Modern Quilt Wrap from the book Color Style. She's using Silky Wool instead of the mohair scarf we have on display and is becoming an expert at weaving in ends! Stacey is just like most of us -- there other UFOs hanging around that will eventually perk to the top.

As with many people that come here, Stacey has branched out into other fiber crafts. She is a skilled dyer and has a couple looms at home. Becca taught Stacey how to weave on the rigid heddle and soon after got her own 20" Knitter's Loom on which she just finished weaving a blanket. Standing in the wings is an older Leclerc loom floor loom that was given to her.

It was a good day when Stacey came through the door. I appreciate her handling some of the day to day issues because that frees me to design.

Stacey offers this bit of advise: "Knit a swatch first and wash it, and see what the yarn does, especially when making a garment." She continued, "This isn't optional, in my book. It is absolutely necessary to the success of the project."