I met up with Martha in the Farmer’s Market again in 2019. She asked me to make some edits, told me she’d been featured on u-tube Have I Got a Yarn For You, Emily’s Garden and share this photo of her new house partner:
I enjoy reading interviews, especially of fiber people. So I sought out folks I already knew, or at least saw regularly. Martha spins at the Attleboro Farmer’s Market in the Summer and Fall, about two blocks from my apartment.
I asked Martha if Wetu Farms was her business.
Not really a business, it keeps me off the streets.
Is this your Fair spinning wheel?
You could call it that. Spinning wheels are cantankerous – like an old loom or any good piece of furniture, it reacts to the weather and humidity. In the summer, I keep my loom in the cellar with a dehumidifier, it’s happier down there.
I like this wheel because it has 8 oz bobbins. I will fill these three bobbins, then ply them later at home. I think all American knitters should spin. Then they’d use local wool, and it wouldn’t be dipped in who knows what.
My Grandson just got promoted to Webelos. He has to wear an official American Boy Scout Shirt: the Boy Scout shirts should be
made of American Cotton, also made in this country, with OUT any
non flamible chemical added.
Do you spin for knitting and weaving as well?
The books say not to weave with hand spun, but if you break a warp, it’s not a problem, it’s an excuse to stand up and stretch your legs. Do you weave?
Me, no, but I did have a weaving frame made for my son when he was curious about tapestries after reading Redwall.
The part of weaving that I like best is the color and texture of the yarn. When I wind a 27 yard warp, for six scarves, it takes me all day but it’s not a problem. Then it takes another day to warp the loom, so I can weave it. Each thread has to go in that place, not another place otherwise it’s not threaded right.
Did you know, that in this country, there were a lot of itinerant weavers (men) who would travel from place to place weaving what the women of the home had spun for them. their loom was in a wagon, and they did their weaving there. They’d go to a farmhouse where the lady would have spun her wool or linen (no cotton yet) he’d weave her cloth to whatever she wanted. The women didn’t do the weaving, the men did. Can you imagine wearing wool underwear in 1776? Did you know that someone sent a flock of merino sheep (Me, the ones with the long fur, from, Spain?) Martha, Nodding “here to New England, but the people were so hungry they ate them?”
We commiserated about carpal tunnel syndrome.
Did you once speak to Elizabeth Zimmerman on the phone?
No, it was her daughter. I was confused about the baby surprise jacket, she said, “Just keep knitting until you get to here, then phone back. When I did phone, she said, ‘Martha, is that you?’ she couldn’t have been nicer. Have you knit that sweater? Just once seam across the shoulders and you are done. I changed the color any place I felt like it – don’t think it would transfer well to adult sizes though.
Martha said she’d not been to the local mall in 9 years, she’s been too busy making things. There are always people who ask, “Why do you spin? Why not just go to Walmart?” They don’t get it. It’s OK.
A friend stopped to chat. Martha is giving a spinning demonstration for her later. The lady asked, “Do you miss nursing?” (Actually Martha was a registered X-ray Technologist)
I miss my little old ladies and little kids. People are 99% fun. The 1% keeps me up at night, that’s why my goal is to become a hermit.
Once I had a little girl with her face all scraped up. I couldn’t get her to let me take a film of her injuries. I knew she went to school in Plainville, so I asked her if she was going on the class trip the next day to the Woodcock Garrison House? I was doing a spinning demonstration there, so I promised her a seat next to me at my wheel. Once she knew I didn’t live in the hospital, she let me do her film. I always kept these pictures of my kids with me, so my patients knew I was a real person.
Do you dye your yarns?
Yes, I use W Cushing from Kennebunk Maine, the same dye as for my hooked rugs. Some of the natural colors are really permanent, other’s aren’t. If you’re going to spend all day dying, it needs to be permanent. Chemical dye, nasty, but the color is dependable. I enjoy the process, I dye outside mostly, I have a couple of hot plates and a hose.
Do you pick your colors according to fashion, or what looks good on people’s skin or…?
No I pick the colors for me. It takes me 2 weeks to weave 6 scarves, can you imagine living with colors for two weeks that you don’t love?
Are your yarns available for sale?
Yes, here at the Attleboro Farmer’s Market, and on Etsy.
A customer wearing one of her woven scarves walked past, suggesting that Martha buy a pumpkin to display a scarf on.
This is why I come here, people are fun.
Want to be interviewed? Download the questions here and mail them back to me with your answers to christine at christineguestdesigns dot com
Thank you!
One Response
This is really cool! 🙂 I might just send in some of my answers…