The next year, new sheep, Rambouillet, and Merino sheep showed up in the pasture. Marianne had been doing her homework. Books about sheep breeds, dyeing wool, spinning yarn arrived. Marianne became an expert. She became a shepherdess, a dyer, a spinner. And she knit more in a week than I usually knit in an entire year. She began spinning, knitting and selling socks to friends, a local buyer. She continued to share handspun yarn with me, and it was really soft and huggable yarn. By now Jenaya was about 5 and she was fascinated with the spinning wheel. Marianne decided we should learn how to use it. I was no longer the teacher, but a rather unwilling learner. I confess, spinning wheels are terrifying animals but I didn’t want to hurt Marianne’s feelings.
becoming an expert: from pattie
