# here's yer sign....



## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

I take my spinning wheel to the Farmer's Market with me on Saturdays. Last week I just got done spinning a skein and was winding it onto a kniddy knoddy....this lady comes up and asks...do you spin your own yarn????......ummmm duhhhhh Don't people THINK before they ask really stupid questions????? 

She actually stood there and watched me spin the last 10 yards or so.......


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Spinning is something so far removed from most people's every day life. I've had plenty of folks think I am sewing, or knitting or weaving while I am spinning.

Folks just don't know! I always kept some drop spindles and extra roving with me so I could show folks how it is done (and let them try it!), then they could translate the movements on the wheel.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Oh, I know it.

It seems like people will just say any old words in order to have an exchange with you.
Admittedly, I generally say the same thing I do to little kids who are asking silly questions,

"What does it look like to you?" (said sweetly with big eyes). :angel:

I think the thing that annoys me worse is when someone asks you questions and they immediately lose interest when you start to answer them.
You can tell they arent even listening. I wrap up my spiel in mid sentence when that happens. 

But still it is mostly fun to talk to people about fiber. 
I am still constantly amazed that so many people have *never* seen a spinning wheel before.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I had a poster made that explains all the basics ... From shearing to carding to spinning and plying. 

After a couple of demo days saying the same thing over and over, it seemed a good idea.


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

I just went searching for a news article about our Christmas market from several years back. Couldn't find it, but the caption under the photo of my hubby spinning wool said something like "Farmer weaves a scarf on his spinning wheel." At least they got the "farmer" and "spinning wheel" part right. And this was after the reporter spent half an hour talking to hubby about what he was doing. 

Probably better that I can't find that article anymore.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I have to step on my :soap: for a minute here. 

I know we all get annoyed with what we feel are silly or "stupid" questions from people. To us it all seems so obvious :teehee: But, I ask you all to keep in mind that we are ambassadors of out Fiber Arts, our love is this thing we do so much. I'm curious why it is so difficult for us to answer a simple question? Yes, it may be a silly one and it may be obvious to us, but..... Now, I'm not pointing fingers and I'm not picking on anyone in particular, we all feel this way sometimes. I just ask you to take a deep breath and just answer the question. It should be no skin off our noses to do that. It is not a waste of breath or time. Who knows you may very well enable a new fiber hoolo along the way :banana: If every time someone asked a question on this forum that has been asked and answered a zillion times before, and I said, "Search the forum that question has been asked a lot and lots of people took time to answer it before...." or, "What a stupid question....". I doubt we would have a forum to come to. Remember what we tell our newbies? There are NO stupid or silly questions, we all started at the beginning.

Okay I'll step down now. I just want us to be good representatives of our love of fibers. There are so many sooty, nasty people out there and they turn people off every day. What a sad thing that is. So go out and encourage people don't get offended or irritated or at leas if you do keep it to yourself or come here and rant. But remember, once upon a time you didn't have all the answers either and someone took the time to help you find them :bowtie:


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

Point taken, Marchie. You are right, of course. And a truly interested person is not hard to answer kindly, even if they are asking silly questions. 

It's the ones that listen for half an hour, take notes, and still get it wrong that drive me nuts.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Oh I know those types too. There are ears everywhere and we just need to be aware of our impact. Believe me I am not immuned from the want to make a snarky remark . I think that is part of human nature. But I do try to overcome that desire and give an honest sincere answer wherever asked. Weever can attest to my ability to be snarky :teehee:


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Well said, Marchie. We sometimes need to be reminded to take a deep, deep breath before we answer. We really do want to share our wonderful experience. I too like to have the drop spindle handy so I can let them try if they want. Some people do amazingly well! Planting seeds of interest.


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## Caren (Aug 4, 2005)

It was when I was still married and my ex and I stumbled across a civil war renactment that I was first introduced to the concept of spinning wool. I stood and watched her for as long as I could. She was so sweet and explained the process to me and now eight years later I finally am able to have time to sit down and learn. Had she been snarky I may have been turned off from this ancient craft.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

My favourite demo trick is to take a handful of fibre and give it to the person. I take a piece myself and draft and twist with my fingers - just pulling the fibre out and turning it as I do so, to make the single. 

No tools. Nothing but hands and fibre. I tell them it's like when little girls sit and twirl their hair and it gets all tangled (this is easy for me to demonstrate - I have "great lock structure" and "plenty of crimp" in the fleece atop my own head, so I twirl a lock and it quickly tangles up) then I twist the fibre in my hand and they can make the connection between "dreadlocks" and what we're doing with the fibre.

They quickly realize that as soon as you let go it untwists, or that it kinks up if it isn't plyed, so I say "we twist two or three strands together in the opposite direction, like rope, so it stays stable".

That usually answers it.

However ... I'd have been hard pressed to come up with a courteous response to "do you make your own yarn?" when someone was watching me do JUST THAT! _"Well, this is yarn, and it's mine, and you watched me make it so ... I guess so, eh?"_ 

Here's the sign I had made (if anyone wants a banner of their own, I'm happy to share - just PM me to find out how I got it made and so on).


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

I haven't been spinning long enough to demo spinning yet, but I do demo crochet or knit or plucking Angora rabbit wool. It seems that no matter what you are showing, people will always have questions. Usually the very first question is always the silliest: "are you knitting?" (said while I am crocheting) is the most common, because a lot of people have never watched someone crochet. My favorite asked while plucking an Angora rabbit was, "doesn't that hurt the rabbit?" These may seem obvious, but they are always great ways to draw people in to the hobby and to educate them.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Frazzle, I love your sign. How can I get a copy from you for me to print out?

Really, I used to demo at the CA state fair in Sacramento, and the people drove me nuts as the days wore on. Most weren't really interested in what I was doing and only jokingly wanted to know "What do you do when it (the strand) breaks?" and then they'd all tee-hee like it was really funny. There came a point where I wasn't going to break the strand any more to show them. I don't think it generated too many future spinners, to be honest. Sure there were some nice people in the mix, mostly older women who remembered an elderly family member doing it years ago. But not enuf.

But I'm in the race for stupidest question, I think! I had one woman recently, looking at skeins of my yarns for sale beneath a sign that read "Pamper the knitter or crocheter in your life with gourmet handspun yarn.", and ask me "What is it?" gesturing at the pile o yarn. I said "It's yarn. Like the sign says." :teehee: She asked "what do you do with it?" :doh: I think I said, "You knit things with it. Like mittens. It's yarn." And she walked away still not comprehending.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Oh WIHH if you only knew. Yes, I asked my fair share of stupid questions. Not only where the fiber arts were concerned but in life in general. I have learning disabilities so I know what it's like to not get something that others take for granted.

In the fiber arts I know the mechanics of spinning on a wheel stumped me. For knitting it took me years to get the long-tail cast on. I could not do it without reading directions. I think my knit store wanted to throttle me for all the dumb questions. I was very blessed to have a good patient spinning friend who taught me.

I will be demonstrating this weekend at the Scottish Festival here in Kalamazoo. I'll try to keep track of silly questions.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I ordered the sign from Vistaprint, it's actually printed on that plasticky banner material so you can hang it up outside and roll it up and it will survive for a long time.  

They are $10 each and 90 cm x 50 cm (umm ... 35x20 inches). I could order a few and then mail them to folks who want them, if you like - I'll need to do another Vistaprint order soon anyway so I can just add it to my existing order and combine the postage. If you pay for your banner and the postage from me to you, that'd be enough.

Or - feel free to take the text and have a banner made up at your local print shop or whatever. I don't mind!


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## TNnative (May 23, 2004)

Not knitting related but I have this problem at work. At work, I always answer the phone with 'ABC Livestock'. At least 4-6 calls a day, the person will say 'Is this the livestock barn?' I very politely say, 'Yes, this is ABC Livestock, can I help you?' Of course, mentally I'm thinking, 'DUH!'


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## txplowgirl (Oct 15, 2007)

frazzlehead said:


> My favourite demo trick is to take a handful of fibre and give it to the person. I take a piece myself and draft and twist with my fingers - just pulling the fibre out and turning it as I do so, to make the single.
> 
> No tools. Nothing but hands and fibre. I tell them it's like when little girls sit and twirl their hair and it gets all tangled (this is easy for me to demonstrate - I have "great lock structure" and "plenty of crimp" in the fleece atop my own head, so I twirl a lock and it quickly tangles up) then I twist the fibre in my hand and they can make the connection between "dreadlocks" and what we're doing with the fibre.
> 
> ...


Thank You Frazzlehead for the instructions.
I've always wondered how you Spinners did it but was just a little too shy to ask. :ashamed:
That for some reason sounds like something that might be soothing to the soul.
I wish I had a place where I could have animals to be able to do something like that. Oh well, maybe one of these days.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Glad the explanation helped demystify things!

And you do realize you can buy processed wool, eh? You don't have to start with the animal! I might know of an online shop ...


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Well, that OP didn't come out right did it???......I said the lady asked a stupid question..no where did I say that I didn't answer it! I've been doing markets for going on 13 years...I've been answering stupid questions with a smile on my face for 13 years. Sometimes I just. get. plain. sick of it! I'll think things, but won't actually say them! I thought at least in this forum I could let off some steam without getting preached at for it. From now on I'll keep my thoughts to myself.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Lathermaker like WIHH has said none of this was aimed at you or anyone in particular. It was a general reminder to all of us. I'm fresh off the MFF trail and I saw far too many people there that were too involved with personal conversations to help or were snarky when asked questions.

You can always voice and opinion here, I'm a pretty open minded person, I think. I love opening conversation and that is exactly what happened here. I think it helps to know how we deal with this and some of the answers we can offer to the challenging questions.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Lathermaker, dont quit posting your views just because of such as this.

Anyone who has done a lot of vending knows EXACTLY how you were feeling when you posted that. 

One year our FM was having a Farm Tour where the buyers could come out and see the farms where we grew 'their' food.
Sounded like a great idea but boy did those people need constant babysitting.

I had a hoophouse growing full of tomato plants. The inside of it was just like walking through a forested tunnel.
The plants were 10 feet tall and covered, COVERED! with fruit at various stages of ripening.
At least 4 different fullgrown adult people asked me "What kind of plants are those?"
I am not sorry, but to me that is just a really dumb question. 
They are on a farm tour. There are flats of tomatoes for sale right outside the door.
The signs say the names of the varieties....use a bit of reasoning why dontcha?!.

Another favorite question was "Are those chickens real?" 
Give me a break. :teehee: 

So far I havent met anyone who doesn't even know what yarn is, but I am positive that it could happen. LOL


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Oh Lathermaker, please don't feel bad! Like I said, I would've been hard pressed to come up with a civil answer to such a mind boggling question myself! In fact that's why I had the sign made ... After a few days doing demos I got so freakin' tired of the same stuff over and over and over so I thought you know, maybe we can say "there's a sign there that explains the basics" or better yet they'd see it before they started with the questions! Seems to have worked.

As for the various ways to explain, we all share our ideas here ... you no doubt have your responses worked out, but some of the newer spinners might be glad of some different ideas for how to explain the mystery. If we all contribute our stock answers to the thread, we all can do a better job educating clueless muggles, eh?


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

GAM I'd have been soooooo tempted to tell them we brought in robotic chickens just for the tour! 

You know, my stepdaughter (the only extrovert in the household) says the stupidest things on a regular basis: she will ask anything, just to hear her own voice. She knows the answer (we're talking staggeringly obvious things) but she just has to be chattering all the time. We are working on teaching her that saying meaningless things all the time will make others mistakenly assume you are stupid, and to try to find a real comment or question instead of just filling airspace with random words. Progress is ... Slow. 

I have started answering her most obviously vapid comments with "you need to recite poetry": if you need to talk, fine, but if you actually have nothing to say, how about reciting a poem or something?

When adults do it though, I am hard pressed to be courteous. "did you recognize any of the round red things hanging off the branches in that hoop house, perchance?"

Not knowing something is okay, ask questions because how else can you learn? But willful stupidity irks me to no end.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I grew up in a house where it was "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer."
Or often you might get no answer at all to mundane 'what are you doing?' type of conversational fishing.


Willful stupidity is at least remotely understandable in children. 
I find it offputting in adults. 

And no, we are not talking about people who are sincerely curious.
Just the stunning examples of blathering idiocy that you DO encounter, especially when you are having to be super nice in a public venue.
It can be a strain not to give them back a really stupid answer.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Oh Karla, we DO understand and empathize! I have a hard time not rolling my eyes at some of the questions I get in demonstrating fiber arts and questions on the farm ....

Some of the remarks (made in my head) while trying not to roll my eyes .....

No, a bovine that has horns does not make it a bull ... you're looking at the wrong end to determine sex!

Yes, you do eat eggs that come out of a chicken's butt, even if you buy them at the store.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

I have been pretty fortunate with the spinning demos I've done, I think ... so far no really staggeringly daft things have been said (though the guy who asked us if we were weaving when we were drop spindling caught me a bit off guard ... I think I said "no, we're making the yarn ... it is a few steps BEFORE we get to the weaving part!").

One of the coolest things that happened was a man stopped by and sang to us, some song about the young girl spinning ... he sang the whole thing, like three verses and chorus! It was awesome.


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Hi Folks..I owe you all an apology for taking my troubles out on you.. I put on my big girl panties and got over my huff.

The trouble stems from this market itself. We (the vendors) were promised a really big turn-out for this market from the promoters. I forked out hundreds of dollars for booth fees with the idea that it would pay off in the end. I had planned on making enough $$ to pay off some seriously large bills. It's not happening. The market attendance is is no where near what they were promoting.. People are just buying produce and not much of anything else. (I sell handmade soap & my fiber goods) 

That lady was the final straw. I'd been accused of selling someone else's product numerous times. (this market is touted as being a "growers market". If you don't grow it, make it or build it, you can't sell it here) People would ask a hundred questions, but wouldn't buy a single thing. I'm just tired and disgusted.

So, forgive me for being nasty. I really don't mean it.
Karla


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Awww Karla. You know there are no hard feelings. I'm so sorry the turn out was so bad. Maybe you could get a partial refund? Surely they are aware it wasn't all they promised? Couldn't hurt to ask.
:grouphug:

I hope tomorrow is a better day.


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## weever (Oct 1, 2006)

Oh honey. We all get our undies in a bunch once in a while. And sometimes in an internet forum situation, contrasting viewpoints can feel like a pile-up at a high school football game. I am sorry about the market and the bills that are causing you stress. 

I do want to say that sometimes you have to grow with the market. So hang in there a bit longer, to see if people start looking for you. And for heaven's sake, make signs to put out that indicate that this stuff is made by you! Eye catching signs--"made with love by ME, the lathermaker", etc. 

Hugs...


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Oh, my goodness, in that context ("you have to grow your own to be in the market at all") the comment the lady made is downright NASTY! No wonder you were upset, and then to have the market not turning out like you expected ... ugh. Bummer.

I hope things turn around soon - maybe with the season change people will pick up a bit more ... holiday gifting and such ..?

Sending prosperous wishes your way...


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I am so sorry this market is giving you fits. There are absolutely no hard feelings here at all. Please feel free to vent any time. As you can see many of us can commiserate. Weever knows what she is talking about. She and her husband do several different markets along the west of the state. The market in my previous hometown was like yours. But they didn't think it was okay to grow your own fibers and spin and sell them or grown your own eggs. Unless it was produce forget it. The last straw was when people were claiming to be organic and they were not. The market split and it was the best thing for the community. That happened here too with the "winter market" This past winter there were two, one that allowed things other than food and one that did not. I attended the one that allowed all things that were not necessarily food. Hard to say how it will work. I know there are hard feelings at the farmer's market.

Chin up it will all work out in the end.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Karla,
No apology is needed from you in this forum.

I know about FM! I helped start a year round, indoor market maybe 8 years ago +/-. I left the outdoor market I had been selling at for years (with customers wondering where I went). Suffered many a cold, winter Saturday (little heat with an open garage door as the only door into the market). The vendors put in many hours and many dollars of donation for paying utilities (rent was free), fixing this place up, painting it and eventually building a deck and installing a new door and a certified kitchen where vendors could bake or can stuff to sell, as well as having a small 'cafe' to sell cooked items that the vendors raised.

Our original business statement was all vendors needed to produce at least 50% of what they were selling. (I was holding out for 90%, but a large Angus operation could only guarantee raising about 50% of the beef he was selling.)

When new management came in at year 4 (changing the market from being vendor 'owned' to "Main Street" owned), they disregarded our business plan and vendor contract (without setting up new ones). Even though some of the year 'round vendors had already paid for a full years booth fee, they let folks come in with no booth fee for the year and would not refund our money.

When they brought in vendors that only resold items (coffees, spice mixes, and even 2 other soap sellers that resold the 'Soap Guys' (from Chicago) soap, etc.), I brought up the discrepancies in what they were doing and in the contract with the vendors they were doing business with. The 'powers that be' put _me _on notice.

When I brought up to the mgmt about getting a machine so vendors could accept debit/charge cards, I was shot down. (Although it was eventually brought in and made a big deal about them coming up with the idea and putting it in the market.)

When I brought up to the market manager the need to be able to accept SNAP, I was told (in a very loud & haughty voice for all the market to hear) that THOSE PEOPLE do not come to FM (this in front of one of my customers that was on SNAP and in an area with many mfg businesses going belly up and 35% of the population was on SNAP).

Two years later, I was finally told that I needed to leave because I brought up a discrepancy in my booth fees (with the market manager known to have sticky fingers.) The Mgmt told the rest of the vendors that I elected not to be there anymore. When the vendors found out that I was asked to leave, over half of them wanted to boycott the market. I talked them out of it.

Yes, I *know* the frustration of market politics and how they can make you most snarky.

Here in the Fiber Forum, you are comforted by fibery presence and most importantly, True Friends.

Spout off when you need to (just like you did). You're one of us, we treasure you and your input. If you're having a rough day, spew it on us. We'll absorb it in our fiber and give you loving blessings back. I don't think there is a single one of us that hasn't 'Spewed' at one time or another....

Count on it!


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