My neighbor on the lake is a wonderful craftswoman. She has been spinning, knitting, felting and doing other wool crafts for as long as I have known her. Years ago we jointly ordered our Schacht spinning wheels and have been spinning and talking crafts in the summer ever since. I’ve journeyed to ‘North Country’ spinning get togethers with her as well as spun with her on her porch overlooking the lake.
This summer when I stopped by, she introduced me to her newest tool: a lucet. Flo has a huge stock of wool roving, more than she could possibly ever spin (does that sound familiar, fellow spinners?); at a fair she discovered the lucet (an ancient tool that has been used for 100’s of years for braiding) and bought one with a large hole for bulky materials. She has been braiding wool fleece, felting it, and then sewing it into beautiful rugs. She says it goes very quickly; she finally has found a way to use up some of that huge stock of roving!
Large Lucet that could be used for braiding wool roving
Various sizes of lucets available on Este
One of Flo’s specialities is beautiful felted hats. She knits the hats with bulky handspun wool, felts them in the washer, shapes them into lovely hats and adds very special designs and trims. She has taught me how to do this, but my hats can’t compare to the ones she makes! Flo works at a craft co-op in Colebrook, NH where her hats are top sellers.
Flo at work at the Colebrook Co-op Craft Shop
Here is a photo of typical felted hats and below are links to directions for 1)making the hats and 2) using a lucet.
Flo also introduced our family to the joys of wild apples in the north country. Every year we can, we pick up drops from roadside apple trees, which are remnants of old orchard trees and the tart taste of these heirloom varieties makes for wonderful pies and apple crisps. I also cut up the apples for pie, mix them with cinnamon, sugar and a bit of flour, and freeze a good sized pie’s worth in a bag in the freezer. Wonderful to enjoy the taste of Averill in the middle of the winter!
What a wonderful artist, friend, neighbor and craftswoman Flo is. My admiration is showing!!!
Averill Mountain Crafts 