A preview of the article to be published in the 2006 Hand Weaver and Spinner, the Journal of the Hand Weavers and Spinners Guild of NSW. Available for $12 later this year.

The Egyptian
Twenty years ago I made my first homespun vest. At a time when I believed every bit of anything spinnable was precious, I was given a very smelly, moth-infested bag of silver mohair by a friend who was moving house. Now if you think that spinners and weavers are bad hoarders, how about this for a compulsive stasher! My friend Margy had stored this bag of mohair (along with many others) for the day when she might take up spinning.

Many hours were spent shaking out the short spikey moth-chewed bits on the lawn in the sun. What was left was blended with corriedale. I must have done a very good job shaking out the moths and spikes because I still have the vest. Just as I'd done enough to make something, my husband and I flew out of Sydney on a trip to Egypt.