Caroline Dutton and Ruth Wright of Waterboro weave yarn at Curran Homestead at Newfield on Friday afternoon. The girls were among several young people participating in a fiber arts workshop that explored the process — starting with the fleece.. TAMMY WELLS/Journal Tribune
NEWFIELD — On a late winter morning in the quiet village of Newfield, at Curran Homestead, formerly known as Willowbrook, young people engaged in an activity that could have easily taken place 100 years, or 200 years earlier.
They cleaned and carded large pelts of Shetland fleece, spun it with drop spindles, observed the dyeing process that used natural vegetable dyes, and then took up weaving yarn on lap looms.
With Maine students on a winter break, a number of communities held special events to help keep kids busy and active. At the Curran Homestead, young people, some from as far away as Yarmouth, and many more from surrounding communities, took in the day-long fiber arts workshop.
The event is among a number of activities and classes aimed at young people or adults that take place at the village at various times throughout the year. The events, like school field trips and fiber arts classes for kids, or a knife making course for adults, give people a glimpse of how life was in the 19th century.
Reed Pittiglio of Waterboro practices spinning fleece using a drop spinner at a recent workshop on fiber arts at Curran Homestead at Newfield. TAMMY WELLS/Journal Tribune
On this occasion, the young people got to meet Latte and Joy, two unshorn Shetland ewe lambs born on April 1 last year. They began cleaning fleece already shorn from other members of the herd, removing bits of hay and other material that clung to the wool. Then they carded the wool, preparing it for hand spinning.
One little girl asked why one of the lambs was sporting a coat-like garment over her fleece. Instructor Rhonda Junkins explained it was not because the lamb was cold, but so her fleece wouldn’t get dirty.
Junkins, who operates Echo Valley Farm in Cornish with her husband Pat, created natural dye from red cabbage, adding components that changed the color of the cabbage juice, like baking soda, which produced a pale green, or with the addition of vinegar, red. One crock pot full of red cabbage juice was left as is, and produced a purple-like hue.
Junkins had dunked some spun wool in each of the steaming crock pots full of dye, and then pulled some out, showing the young students the result.
Many of the participants of the class do some sort of work with fiber. Ruth Wright, of Waterboro, said she is starting cross stitch, while Carolyn Dutton, also of Waterboro, said she crochets; so far, she’d made bracelets and necklaces.
Juliette Ciarimboli, of Yarmouth, sews, and crochets and has an interest in other fiber arts.
Participants in a recent fiber arts workshop at Curran Homestead at Newfield watch as instructor Rhonda Junkins lifts yarn from a pot of dye made from red cabbage juice. TAMMY WELLS/Journal Tribune
“I’ve always wanted to do it,” she said of the spinning and weaving process.
Her mother Kate said they’d undertaken elements of the process before, but this one was different.
“We met the sheep, (and continued) all the way to spinning, “ she said.
Curran Homestead Director Bob Schmick said the Newfield village is preparing for spring and summer events, and after some thought and projections will be updating their published 2019 schedule to reflect more open days than originally planned — about twice as many, he estimated.
Next up is maple sugaring and an Irish celebration, set for Saturday March 23. And there are classes that take place throughout the year, from letterpress printing to blacksmithing for teens and making a crystal radio and more.
Junkins said Echo Valley Farm, on Route 5 in Cornish, will be open March 9 for a shearing demonstration and a program on the evolution of shearing.
Kate Ciarimboli and her daughter Juliette, of Yarmouth, wind yarn at a fiber arts workshop at Curran Homestead at Newfield on Friday. The workshop featured the process of yarn-making and weaving from sheep to lap loom. TAMMY WELLS/Journal Tribune
The students worked busily, enjoying their tasks.
Then, as the afternoon wound down, the big snow pile outside beckoned.
For more about Curran Homestead at Newfield, go to: curranhomestead.org.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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