If you knit clothes for your family or if you’ve been wanting to start raising fiber animals, you can learn a lot this month. The Maine Fall Fiber Tour, an open-house event at fiber farms across the state , begins this weekend. Now in its sixth year, the tour is expanding into multiple weekends, said promotion coordinator Anne Trenholm.
Alpacas, rabbits and numerous breeds of sheep are represented. The variety of farms shows a growing interest in Maine in raising, processing and using more natural fiber locally in the state — a group called the Maine Fibershed formed just for that purpose and is now part of a national caucus promoting “slow fashion.” Throughout the tour, various sites will have yarn, fleece for spinning, spinning wheels, natural dye kits, pelts, dyed fabric and knit items for sale.
It’s also an opportunity to learn from the farmers, Trenholm said. Some of the farms will offer background on different types of fibers and fiber animals, processing wool, dyeing and learning to spin, along with insights about Maine’s fiber industry and fiber shed. Visitors can learn about natural dyeing with plants and visit a dye garden at Versicolor in South China, where Jude Hsiang has been dyeing with plants for close to 50 years.
Another way to dye will be on display at Seacolors Yarnery in Washington, which dyes wool in seawater with a solar method. Underhill Fibers in Gorham will demonstrate the workings of a small fiber processing mill where fiber is carded and.
