This is from Fiber Femmes and I thought it was an interesting challenge to answer. Kind of like a meme.
1. Do you raise fiber, animals or plant, or are a fiber user only? If you raise animals/plants...what do you raise?
I used to have 4 angora rabbits but they’ve since gone to that big clover field in the sky. My cats are unfortunately not much good for fibre production. Not that they don’t produce fibre — just that it’s not good!
2. What's your favorite fiber & why? Which fiber do you like the least & why?
I don’t think I have a real favourite. I’ve spun pretty much anything remotely spinnable over the years, though medium-fine wool (Corriedale, Polwarth) is probably the most common fibre I work with. I can't spin silk mawata (hankies) or caps because pulling them out hurts my hands.
3. What's your worst habit relating to your fiber?
Spinning a regular yarn. I don’t experiment as much as I could so most of my yarns are plain old 2-ply sport weight wool. Boring but functional.
4. In what ways does your fiber habit make you a better person?
Gee, does it really? I’ve been working with it for so long that I don’t know who I would be without fibre in my life. A "chicken and the egg" thing.
5. How would your life be different if you had to give up fiber?
There is No Way that I would give up fibre. It would have to be pried out of my cold dead hands first. I've already worked my way through a couple of temporary handicaps. Where there's a will, there's a way.
6. What tools, yarns, books or gadgets can't you live without?
All of them. I’m particularly fond of my book collection, many of which are OOP and not replaceable.
7. What was your first fiber project?
Ummm...I don’t remember since it was about 50 years ago.
8. Do you have any fiber mentors? Who are they and why?
Judith MacKenzie McCuin, who knows more about fibres and spinning than anyone I’ve ever met (and I’ve met a few). She’s also very sweet and extremely generous with her knowledge. Paula Simmons, Mabel Ross and Jane Fournier also come to mind. I learned a lot just being a “scribe” while Jane judged submissions for the HGA's COE in Handspinning one year when our guild hosted it. I also learned that I will never submit for a COE myself and you can't make me!
9. Are you a member of any guilds? If so, which one(s)?
I belong to several guilds: the Greater Vancouver Weavers’ & Spinners’ Guild (21 years and counting), the Vancouver Guild of Fabric Arts, Complex Weavers and the Tablet Weavers’ International Studies & Techniques (TWIST).
10. What's the most exciting fiber project you've undertaken?
I don’t know if it’s considered a fibre project exactly, but I was on the steering committee for HGA’s Convergence 2002 that took place here in Vancouver that year and only the second time ever in Canada. I was in charge of the publications. With over 5 years of our hard work and after hosting about 3000 attendees, vendors and shoppers, I would consider that exciting!
11. How many people have you mentored? In which fiber arts?
I have absolutely no idea! I’ve been teaching on and off locally for 30 years so that must be a few, hey? I’ve taught weaving, spinning, dyeing, kumihimo, tablet weaving, beadwork, knitting and crochet. The folks at my LYS send people to me all the time with questions they can’t answer.
12. Do you consider fiber crafts to be functional or artistic?
Both. Though most of my stuff is functional, I’d like to hope there is some artistic merit there as well. But I don’t just make “art” for art’s sake. I enjoy what other people come up with though.
13. What, mainly, do you make? Do you keep, or give away, most of your projects?
Number One Item = Socks! I give away some of my projects (mostly socks now that my drawer is full) and very occasionally sell one or two things (if begged and pleaded with), but mostly the things I make stay at our house. I don’t think anyone else appreciates them as much as my husband and I do. He also does crafts with wood and glass. As he says “Wood is fibre too!” He sometimes makes tools for me and some of his lampwork beads go in my work.
14. Are fiber crafts an avocation or vocation for you?
Obsession. Totally. No question.
15. How many people are you committed to being a mentor for in 2007?
No idea, though I’m supposed to start a new beginner spinning class next week if there’s enough students signed up.
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