Colorado is rich with fibery goodness! On our last full day I got to visit Schacht Spindle Company in Boulder. Besides being wonderful and friendly people, they make high quality spinning wheels and weaving looms. I am happily owned by a Matchless double-treadle. Since Tactile is a dealer, I thought it would be fun to take a tour of their facility.
Pictures kept small since there will be a lot in this post. Click on any picture for a larger version.
A tall stack of wheels waiting to be sanded.
Partially built Matchless wheels.
Every spinning wheel is built by one of these two people.
Hand cards waiting to be finished and have the carding cloth attached.
Gotta love a workshop with velvet Elvis painting!
I have a few more Schacht pictures on my Flickr.
We had a great time. My inner nerd loves to see how things are made. A big Thank you to Jane for showing Roger and I around.
Our next stop was Jefferson Ranch at the south end of Denver. Jane has paco-vicuñas. If you aren't familiar with these animals and their fiber, you should be. Vicuñas are related to alpacas (and llamas). They are endangered and not easily domesticated. Paco-vicuñas (or P-V for short) are alpaca crosses that have many of the qualities of the vicuña while gaining a domesticated temperament and longer fiber length from the alpaca genes. The fiber is very fine (can be 12-14 microns! which puts it in the same range as cashmere).
The animals look very similar to alpaca, but with big soulful eyes. Isn't she beautiful?
A P-V momma and her baby.
They are very curious animals and very tolerant of people walking among them. In this picture you can get a better idea of their color range: white to fawn to chocolate brown. All are beautiful.
Look at this fleece on one of her boys! It is sooo soft, like a warm cloud.
Who can resist a cute baby?
They have great personalities too. Jane says they are smarter than dogs. I believe her. It is enough to make me move to the country and start a fiber farm.
I took a lot of pictures. More on my Fickr.
Lest you think it has all been about fiber, let me assure you that we sampled the local beverages. I can strongly recommend the Milk Stout (on the nitrogen tap) from Left Hand Brewery. Well crafted beers all around. We sampled 6 (a sampler, not pints, we aren't total lushes) beers and didn't find a dud.
We can also recommend Redstone Meadery. They make mead also known as honey wine. These are also very well crafted. The traditional is light, crisp, and very clean on the palate. My personal favorite was the juniper. I expected it to be like gin, but it was much more subtle with a bit of spiciness.
Finally, the best coffee in town is from Vic's. Our favorite location was the one in Prospect. Prospect is interesting too. It is a housing development based on New Urbanist ideas. The basic premise of New Urbanism is to integrate housing, retail, and a job base within the community. Services and sometimes light rail are within walking distance and housing density is greatest near the town centers. It makes for a very pleasant community.
Next stop is Austin, Texas! Yee haw!!!
My dad made mead last year using honey from his hives. I'll have to bring some for you to try sometime!
Posted by: abmatic | April 04, 2008 at 03:28 PM
OMG, what an awesome recap. I'm sooooooo jealous! I want to hear all about it... in person.
Posted by: WonderMike | April 04, 2008 at 05:02 PM
That looks like my kind of vacation. I love the schacht pictures, and the vicunas? man. Keep it coming!
Posted by: julia fc | April 08, 2008 at 07:20 AM
Looks like we just missed each other in Denver. Crap!
Posted by: Beth | April 19, 2008 at 07:15 PM