Three Sheep Gallery
Saturday, October 29, 2016 Noon—4:00 PM
6010 Market Street, Boardman, Ohio 44512
 
Sinead Tyrone, Lauren Hogue, Susan Dexter
 
Readings at 12:15:1:15; 2:15; 3:15
 
Tips on writing and publishing at 12:30; 1:30; 2:30; 3:30
 
Meet the authors. Books will be for sale through Three Sheep Gallery, and you can have your purchases signed.

What I spun: Jake the Farmpark Jacob sheep’s 2016 fleece (3 pounds) dyed RIT Teal and Hyacinth after the powdered drink mix and vinegar failed to add any color. (Still  smells great, though!) Jake is a mainly brown Jacob, but he does have some white wool, so over-dyeing gives lovely colors. I combed the entire fleece for woolen spinning the week before Spinzilla began. I aim to spin it all this year.
 
How I spun: My 40 year old handmade drop spindle “Pet”. Made by a rug weaver and woodworker in New Bedford, PA. Bought at a Spinner’s Festival in Mercer PA.
 
Where I spun: In the barn, for my horse, Cash. For my co-workers. In the barn, for the new barn kitten, Chloe. For my cat, Kira. At the therapist’s, while my mom did PT. At Spinners Guild, in the Three Sheep Gallery. After my brother’s 60th birthday dinner. During the Presidential Debate on TV.  I did my most productive spinning while watching my DVR. (Poldark!) I did most of my plying while watching Saturday Night Live.
 
How I Did: 1580 yards, spun and plied between October 3rd and October 9th. (FYI—1740 yards is a mile of yarn.)The last two spindles I filled Sunday evening—I spun until 11:45—yielded 167 yards of singles, The rest of my yardage was triple-ply, six skeins of it.

1. Because I’m tired of being used. Rate the Product. Rate the Packaging. Rate the Delivery. Rate the Shipper. Rate the Seller. Answer Questions to “Help Another Customer”….but post a Book Review? I get thanked for reviewing, and then the review comes right down, presumably because as a published author, I am a professional. (I have certainly never concealed that—my first book was published by Del Rey Books in 1981. I had at least 7 books in print before Amazon even existed.)
2. It’s like the worst Loyalty Program ever. Amazon tracks your every move, buying, browsing. Asks for continual feedback. Makes horrible guesses as to what you might be looking for next. Wants you to rate a book you have not had time to read, and maybe share a photo too. There’s no compensation for your work, but Amazon constantly badgers you to do more of it. For them. For Free. I feel used, pestered, and stalked.
3. All customers should be treated equally. I get that it’s customers reviewing for other customers. But let’s be fair—if I buy a book on Amazon, am I not also a customer? Why ask me to review and then toss the review away?

 
   And who needs reviews anyway? As a customer, I am perfectly capable of deciding whether or not I want to buy an item. I don’t require—or put much stock in reviews. I don’t need computer-generated Recommendations to find a book, and I have learned that glowing reviews fail to tell me as much as a quick look inside the book.
   So no more, Amazon! I will spend my time Reading, not Rating..

   There have always been nods to my textile hobbies in my books—Druyan of The Wind Witch weaves and spins, and coaxes prisoner of war Kellis to sort and card fibers for her endeavors. Elisena spins—her drop spindle, with the pattern of little birds pressed into the clay of the whorl, sits in the room she and Tristan share. Elisena wove a self-repairing cloak for Tristan—a handy skill, as her wizard is really hard on his clothes!
   I never really thought, when I was writing Wizard’s Destiny, about what Elisena might have been doing, while she spun yarn and wove cloth. Years later, I have a better understanding. She could spin miles of yarn while Tristan read those numberless volumes of Calandra’s history aloud to her, and they discussed the nights away. I’m sure she spun protections for her family into her yarn, and unlike me, she probably knits. Socks that never wear out, sweaters that the kids never grow out of. She doesn’t have to make all of her cloth, of course, only what she chooses. She’s had no problem bringing to light the fine fabrics stored away in Crogen’s secret rooms, so there’s plainly more to her textile work than simply acquiring a wardrobe.
   In a few hours, Spinzilla begins. I’m a part of team Dyed in the Wool with Three Sheep, and for seven days spinners all over the globe will be spinning to challenge ourselves—to spin more yarn than we have ever spun before, to try new fibers, to boldly try new methods of spinning and plying…
   I have washed, dyed and carded the entire fleece which Jake the Chardon Farm Park Jacob sheep produced this year. It may well be Jake’s final fleece, and I want to do something special with it. So, that’s the fiber I plan to spin for Spinzilla!