In the spring of 2013, I visited Windrush Farms, a wool ranch in Marin County, California, and several cotton farms from the Sustainable Cotton Project in Firebaugh, California. After meeting the farmers and the animals, and working with the fibers in a variety of capacities, I kept coming back to the materials themselves. I found myself wanting to explore the story behind how it went from plant or animal to textile, and so I started spinning.
I spun each fiber for 12 hours with my preferred technique--on my drip spindle. I spun balls of both cotton and wool yarns. Each ball was labeled with its fiber content, method of spinning, weight and the time spent. A store-bought skein of yarn labeled with its fiber content, method of spinning, weight and price alongside the handspun yarns. Each of these yarns are displayed, side by side, with the spindle I used to spin them.
