The Cormo connection

A couple weekends ago my dear Iowa City friend and I took a little road trip. The final quest was Cormo, the journey included a couple quilt shops and lunch along the way. Cormo is a very soft wool. It can be worn against a baby's skin.

The first stop was Grinnell, Iowa. It is such a neat town. I love the architecture of the buildings, all of the flowers and of course the quilt shop. White Stone quilt shop had some great fabric and a really fun block of the month that we both signed up for. The block of the month does not start until 2012 and is called sewing with your feet (using different sewing feet on your machine each month) Grinnell had a farmers market that morning and we strolled through the farmers market before continuing our eastward journey.

The next stop was a shop in Newton, owned by the same nice gal. Cornerstone Quilt shop was also a nice shop with a little different selection of fabrics. We enjoyed a nice lunch in Newton on the town square before heading North to the farm.

The Cormo connection started with a trip to Adel last Summer. My sweet Iowa City friend and I went to the Iowa Sheep and Wool fest in Adel. I purchased some very nice quality Cormo there from a gal that raises sheep on a farm North of Newton. We weren't able to make it out to the Iowa Sheep and Wool this year so we did some research and found Regina's information. I contacted Regina by phone and we decided a date to visit her farm and do a little fiber shopping.

Regina was a wonderful host and very sweet person. We hit it off with her and really enjoyed our visit. She showed us some of her fiber, showed us her beautiful flock of both fiber and commercial sheep and introduced us to a miniature mule family that are the sheep's protectors.

Thought those of you that are spinners out there would like to see a sample of a few of the items that I bought.

This is Cormo and Romney blended and is in cloud. I have not spun a lot of cloud so I am looking forward to giving it a "spin", haha.

This is the CA red braid. The CA red is raised for meat but she also using it for the wool too.

Here is a sample of silk, alpaca and cormo. talk about soft and luxurious! I would love to make a beaded shawl with this when I am good enough at spinning fine yarn.

Finally this is the pure Cormo goodness that we traveled East for. It is so lovely. I can not wait to spin it!

I also bought some dyed Cormo roving but didn't get a picture of it yet. I will post pictures when I get it spun.

Here are some of the flock. Take note that the sheep with coats are the ones for fiber, the ones without will land with a sauce on them someday. The black one is the one that gave up her fleece for my sweet IC friend to purchase. A black cormo fleece, oh my, be still my heart.

This pretty boy is a CA red. (I hope I am getting this all right, if not please leave a comment when you read this Gina!)

Here is me and my Iowa City pal with one of the only 3 asses we met that day. (technically I am not sure if a mule is an ass so just lighten up and laugh at it anyway!).



All and all it was a fantastic day, one of the best so far this year! Thank you Regina for sharing your farm and fiber with us! We can't wait to visit again, spinning wheels in hand!